Sealed Room Questions!

Ok, I've been growing for a couple years now, but never in a completely sealed room. So i have a 25'x20' flower room that is sealed with panda plastic on ceilling and walls. There is 6 1000 watt hps, on 3 9' rails with motors(2 1000 hps per rail). 18 ebb and grow buckets under each rail. I also have a 3200 cubic ft 4 burner c02 generator. Anyone have suggestions on a ac unit to use? Also guessing I would have to run the co2 generator on low 24/7?? If anyone has any suggestions or questions I would really appreciate the help.

UwAnTtOScUbA said:

Ok, I've been growing for a couple years now, but never in a completely sealed room. So i have a 25'x20' flower room that is sealed with panda plastic on ceilling and walls. There is 6 1000 watt hps, on 3 9' rails with motors(2 1000 hps per rail). 18 ebb and grow buckets under each rail. I also have a 3200 cubic ft 4 burner c02 generator. Anyone have suggestions on a ac unit to use? Also guessing I would have to run the co2 generator on low 24/7?? If anyone has any suggestions or questions I would really appreciate the help.

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If you have a grow of this size you should have a CO2 monitor for your generation equipment to keep the PPM's at 1500 approximately.

Someone said the rule of thumb for lights is 3500 BTU per light so you are looking at 21,000 BTU or approximately a 2 ton unit - 24000 BTU. You might be able to get a ductless HVAC unit to use for this. If you are not sure about the usage and how hot it is going to get you might want to upgrade to a 2.5 ton unit capable of about 30,00 BTU.

I was thinking that i would have to get one. Does the co2 monitors work with ther generator? meaning if my room gets to high of a ppm, will it turn it down or do i have to notice it and adjust iy myself? Ok prob just go with the 30,000 btu right of the get thank you. I have a 900 cfm charcoal filter with a 800 cfm vortex fan. Will that be big enough? Also do I just put the fan directly to the charcoal filter and leave it in the corner running 24/7 recurculating clean air?

Yes you can get monitors that will switch your gen on and off most will keep your room around 1500 ppm if you go past 2000 ppm they can burn just like to much fert!!! Also if you are going to run your room with co2 the plants can run at a higher temp anyway like 85 to 90 would be optimal!

Thank you. Didn't know that about the temperarure and co2.

No prob anything to help it feels good lol!

That fan wont be big enough and with 6 lights a big CO2 unit will create alot of heat. Also, CO2 will only benefit you if everything is in top notch condition, if youre doing a terrible job of keeping your lovely ladies healthy, then CO2 is nothing but a waste.

UwAnTtOScUbA said:

I was thinking that i would have to get one. Does the co2 monitors work with ther generator? meaning if my room gets to high of a ppm, will it turn it down or do i have to notice it and adjust iy myself? Ok prob just go with the 30,000 btu right of the get thank you. I have a 900 cfm charcoal filter with a 800 cfm vortex fan. Will that be big enough? Also do I just put the fan directly to the charcoal filter and leave it in the corner running 24/7 recurculating clean air?

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If you are doing an actual sealed room you will not be bringing any fresh air into the grow nor venting any exhaust air out. You will not need a large charcoal filter.

My CO2 generator has a digital monitor that turns it on and off to maintain levels. It turns it on about 1375 and off at about 1475. The room usually stays above 1500 with this system.

That's cool that the monitors do that. Yeah I was trying to do a complete sealed room no in or out. So I should be fine withe that charcoal filter and fan then? Also just having the voretch fan sit directly on top of the charcoal filter chilling in a corner be just fine with plenty of fans moving air around? p.s. I will have pictures soon , just taking forever getiing walls up and everything. thnx guys + rep for ya.

O yeah I was looking at airconditioners, they are soo expensive for the big ones. think I could get away with sitting 2 window ones just sitting the room on my basement floor with it draining out my sub pump drain to sewer?

UwAnTtOScUbA said:

O yeah I was looking at airconditioners, they are soo expensive for the big ones. think I could get away with sitting 2 window ones just sitting the room on my basement floor with it draining out my sub pump drain to sewer?

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the a/c will be the most important thing in your room when you fire those lights, dont skimp on them.

I have a setup similar to yours with 6 1000's and a 12x16 area. I bought 6 cool tubes from hydro farm and am playing with how much heat i can take away with ducting all 6 lights as it is summer and didn't want to buy a huge a/c unit. Ducted all the lights with 6 inch insulated ducting from depot. It sure does help with the heat, But getting them all setup was kinda a pain verses non sealed with fresh air for cooling. I too am slowly sealing my room i have a cd-36 co2 burner and just got the cap ppm-3 co2 controller. got a good deal on a used co2 burner for 300 and the controller new for 350. I have a 12000 portable ac unit that i am hoping will be able to handle cooling the room as i have tested with 4 lights and it kept the room at a perfect 78 will see with the extra 2 lights if it can still hang. will post some pics soon of my setup.

I thought you had to do math with CO2 tanks, using its distribution rate of cubic feet per second and your room size in cubic feet to target that 1200ppm - 1500ppm. They (they?) make CO2 meters that accurately measure concentrations down to 1000ppm?

Where are these available?

SirTitanium said:

I thought you had to do math with CO2 tanks, using its distribution rate of cubic feet per second and your room size in cubic feet to target that 1200ppm - 1500ppm. They (they?) make CO2 meters that accurately measure concentrations down to 1000ppm?

Where are these available?

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Any hydro store will have the controllers. otherwise yes you do need to do calculations if you do a timed setup with either a burner or tank.

Those controllers are pretty pricey, any recomendations on a good one?. Pretty sure I want a digital one that displays ppm at all times.

UwAnTtOScUbA said:

Those controllers are pretty pricey, any recomendations on a good one?. Pretty sure I want a digital one that displays ppm at all times.

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You are talking about a really large grow that you have going on. I am not sure why you want to skimp on a couple thousand dollars when your return will be that much better.

UwAnTtOScUbA said:

Those controllers are pretty pricey, any recomendations on a good one?. Pretty sure I want a digital one that displays ppm at all times.

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The one i got seems to be the cheapest price wise and works fine. cap ppm-3 and my cd-36 from green air products. I found the burner and controller on craigslist i always try to find used stuff first the burner was used and the controller was a return to a hydro store here in sacramneto. even got my portable ac unit off craigslist for 250, more then 1/2 off compared to what a new unit would cost.

Anyone else have good tips for sealed room grows?

first I don't know if that’s true about to much co2 will burn plants.. I am pretty sure to much CO2 is more about wasting money than anything.. Co2 is not a nutrient, it is their oxygen (simply) and they just will not consume what is extra, thus wasted.. (they do need O2 at night though..)
humidity! this is a big problem for first time CGE (closed growing environment) every drop of water you bring in their needs to be accounted for, ie dehumidification or plant absorption. (remember plants do sweat too)
air flow, closed rooms cause air flow issue, since there is no path other than circular. if your venting from outside to outside to cool the light, then you could run into air leaks in the line causing a negative pressure, a negative atmospheric pressure will cause stoma's (plants ability to breath) to close up.
A CGE requires that all the 'simple' stuff is already way dialed in, because you just magnified everything..
BUT on the up side, when dialed in, these rooms do work great!

good luck

Cerebus is right about the water situation, it is probably one of the biggest challenges sealed room users face.

The plants respirate water and any evaporation is also needed to be handled. Your A/C will not be up to the task of reducing humidity.

My A/C runs 24/7 and I have to have a dehumidifier which drains from 2-3 gallons of water A DAY out of the air. I like to keep my room about 30% humidity though.