Small Grow Room - Equipment advise

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for your help.

I'm a first time grower and I'm in a legal state. I've just completed building a small sealed grow room in my garage and i'm ready to purchase all the equipment for it. There are so many different options and it's a little overwhelming for this first timer.

First things first...the room is in my garage and is fully insulated. The internal dimensions of the room are 3x5 X 7 feet tall grow room (3x3 growable area with 2 feet left for me and equipment). I've installed a 5000 BTU air conditioning into the room. I will be growing hydro (I loose 1 foot of ceiling height because of this)

Does this look like the correct equipment I will need to start growing?

Lights:
Agrobrite T5 2 X 4 bulb - Seed/Veg
Sun System LEC 315 w/3100 K LamP - Veg/Flower
Titan Control Hades 3 - Lighting Timer

Smell Control:
Phresh Filter 6" x 16" , 400 CFM
Hyper Fan 6 Inch Digital Mixed Flow Fan 315 CFM

Humidity:
TaoTronics Cool Mist Humidifier
Ideal-Air Dehumidifier 30 Pint
Titan Controls EOS 1 - Humidify/Dehumidify Controller (is this needed?)

Water Filter:
Hydro-logic Stealth 150 Reverse Osmosis w/KDF Carbon Filter

CO2 Enrichment:
Titan Controls Atlas 3 - Day/Night CO2 Monitor/Controller
20# Aluminum CO2 Tank - EMPTY
Titan Controls CO2 Regulator/Enrichment System

Environment Cooling:
5000 BTU Window Air Conditioner (installed already)
Titan Control Zephyr 3 - Cooling/Heating Controller

Deadcalm said:

Sun System LEC 315 w/3100 K LamP - Veg/Flower

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not big enough for a 3x5 IMO. 3x3 is optimal.

edit: oops. i saw 3x3 grow space.

carry on!

i think the 4200K is better for veggin and flowering.

I'd run some soil grows through your set up before hydro. It always looks good on paper. As always, devil in the details. It's going to take some dialing in of the grow space environment. It's easier said then done. Some tweaks will be easy. Others a pain.

There's no problem with starting out with hydro. Just starting out growing... it's a lot irons in the fire. You'll be dialing in the room at the same time your dealing with hydro. Get ready for plants to die. Others messed up. It's normal on a fresh set up.

SouthCross said:

I'd run some soil grows through your set up before hydro. It always looks good on paper. As always, devil in the details. It's going to take some dialing in of the grow space environment. It's easier said then done. Some tweaks will be easy. Others a pain.

There's no problem with starting out with hydro. Just starting out growing... it's a lot irons in the fire. You'll be dialing in the room at the same time your dealing with hydro. Get ready for plants to die. Others messed up. It's normal on a fresh set up.

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Thanks for the reply

Ive been testing my hydro (coco - drip to waste system) on tester plants under cheap led for the last two months and it seems to work good. I've been growing coral in aquariums for 20 years and it's amazing how similar and how much they have in common. I believe this knowledge will help.

Do you think all these controllers are necessary and will help me fine tune my environment?

Deadcalm said:

Thanks for the reply

Ive been testing my hydro (coco - drip to waste system) on tester plants under cheap led for the last two months and it seems to work good. I've been growing coral in aquariums for 20 years and it's amazing how similar and how much they have in common. I believe this knowledge will help.

Do you think all these controllers are necessary and will help me fine tune my environment?

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All the controllers will do is automate the temps and humidity. You'll get to fuck with dials.

The dehumidifier already has one built in. Set at 45% and leave it there. Depending on your area. It's usually a fight to bring humidity down not up. Especially from water evaporating off the reservoir or pots in a smaller space.

If the humidity falls below 40%. Turn on the humidifier and let it run. Any excess humidity will be caught by the dehumidifier.

30pint is tiny. Not on performance but on bucket size. You'll need to run a hose off it into something as big as two gallons. Plan on that needing plumbing and space. Save the water that comes off it too. My 45 pint will pull 2 gallons a day with a outside humidity level of around 60%.


I'd save the controllers for a later purchase. That's $300 extra. Stuff you can do yourself because you'll be in the grow room more then you think. You'll be too excited to leave it alone.

That's a lot more gear than I started off with and more than I have now after 16 years of daily growing but I'm getting there.

Have you tried running everything without plants to see how stable you can get the environment?

You're going to want an RH/Temp controller for your fan so it only comes on when needed and doesn't run all the time but your CO2 setup and the controller you have probably takes care of that. Speed controller for the fan? A lot quieter if run at half speed and gives more contact time with the carbon in the filter for better odor control.

Have you got a separate space for vegging/cloning? 3x3 is just big enough for a small crop of flowering plants. Or one plant in a ScroG. Don't really need much for a veg space. Some fluoro lights and an oscillating fan is all I have in the spare bedroom on the main floor and it's fine for veg chores. Down in the basement is the main grow room and I plan to only use it for flowering. It's about 7x7x6.5h and I'm adding on an 8x6x7h space next to it tied in so all the exhaust goes thru the filter in the main room. 8x4 of it will be grow space using a 1000w HPS on a light rail and will be for flowering.

Good luck!

Thinking about this. Why would you need a controller for an AC? When it has one built in also? Set that at 66-68°. Leave it there. I run a 5000btu with manual dials.

Say you used controllers. There's speeds on everything. The dehumidifier, humidifier, fans, A.C., exhaust. All affect the effect. That's where the tuning comes in. A dial controller can't do that.

It'll take an entire year to dial the space in. You have to know what the space will do in the cold months and then in the hot months. Once you think you have it tight. Something will intervene to remind you otherwise.

Oh....and the dehumidifier, at times, pumps out air that's 85°f. You'll have to compensate for that. It'll make the AC run at a lower temp because the temp gauge whatever on the AC is reading hot air off the humidifier....

SouthCross said:

Thinking about this. Why would you need a controller for an AC? When it has one built in also? Set that at 66-68°. Leave it there. I run a 5000btu with manual dials.

Say you used controllers. There's speeds on everything. The dehumidifier, humidifier, fans, A.C., exhaust. All affect the effect. That's where the tuning comes in. A dial controller can't do that.

It'll take an entire year to dial the space in. You have to know what the space will do in the cold months and then in the hot months. Once you think you have it tight. Something will intervene to remind you otherwise.

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Thanks for all the great information

The A/C unit I have is digital and has energy saver mode which means that the fan and compressor turn off when the temp is reached. What the a/c does though is turn on every 30 minutes to test the air to find out if it's above the set temp. I was going to use the temp control to prevent the a/c from turning on and potentially blow cool air into the room.


Thanks for the explaination on the dehumidifier. Sounds like I can hold off on that controller.

The exhaust fan I'm buying has a speed control built into it.

Yeah, then there's that exhaust fan speed. You gotta tune that too.

SouthCross said:

It'll take an entire year to dial the space in. You have to know what the space will do in the cold months and then in the hot months. Once you think you have it tight. Something will intervene to remind you otherwise.

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I managed to dial in my room environment in a couple days so why you think it takes a year puzzles me.

Regardless of the season my controllers keep the grow room at whatever settings I have put them on. We go from +40C in the summer to -40C in the winter but my room is always around 75F with the lights on and 70 when it's dark. All my room air is drawn from the rest of the basement itself so it doesn't change rapidly tho will get close to freezing in the depths of winter but never gets warmer than about 62F on the hottest summer days. A thermostat on a heater makes sure it never gets cooler than the 70 or so it's set at.

I do have the opposite concerns compared to most growers as my temps are always cool for incoming air so no A/C needed and dry so no dehumidifier required as well. I do use a humidifier when vegging in the winter as it gets way too dry in there but I don't mind 20 - 30% RH when flowering at all.

It doesn't matter whether I'm running one 400W or 3 of them or like now a 1000W HPS the controllers maintain a set environment day or night.

OldMedUser said:

I managed to dial in my room environment in a couple days so why you think it takes a year puzzles me.

Regardless of the season my controllers keep the grow room at whatever settings I have put them on. We go from +40C in the summer to -40C in the winter but my room is always around 75F with the lights on and 70 when it's dark. All my room air is drawn from the rest of the basement itself so it doesn't change rapidly tho will get close to freezing in the depths of winter but never gets warmer than about 62F on the hottest summer days. A thermostat on a heater makes sure it never gets cooler than the 70 or so it's set at.

I do have the opposite concerns compared to most growers as my temps are always cool for incoming air so no A/C needed and dry so no dehumidifier required as well. I do use a humidifier when vegging in the winter as it gets way too dry in there but I don't mind 20 - 30% RH when flowering at all.

It doesn't matter whether I'm running one 400W or 3 of them or like now a 1000W HPS the controllers maintain a set environment day or night.

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I live in Texas. It can go from a high of 65°f one day. 80°f the next. And it's not even summer yet. Then night time temps will be 75-80 at night with day time temp of 110.

The hotter it gets the better the AC performs. Colder spells and the temps sway about 5°. AC takes a lick doesn't run efficient.

Then humidity. One day it's literally 19%. The next is 70%.

It took awhile for me to find a balance. A sweet spot that can be maintained. Regardless how crazy the weather is.

SouthCross said:

I live in Texas. It can go from a high of 65°f one day. 80°f the next. And it's not even summer yet. Then night time temps will be 75-80 at night with day time temp of 110.

The hotter it gets the better the AC performs. Colder spells and the temps sway about 5°. AC takes a lick doesn't run efficient.


Then humidity. One day it's literally 19%. The next is 70%.

It took awhile for me to find a balance. A sweet spot that can be maintained. Regardless how crazy the weather is.

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How did you find the sweet spot for Temps and humidity? I'm also in the great state of TX and already worried about the summers high Temps. I'm trying to finish insulating my grow area as fast as I can. I have an AC with ducting running to my tent incase I need to try to lower temps.

rkymtnman said:

not big enough for a 3x5 IMO. 3x3 is optimal.

edit: oops. i saw 3x3 grow space.

carry on!

i think the 4200K is better for veggin and flowering.

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What did you see better when you flower with the 4200k bulb rather than the 3100k? I haven't compared yet.

MichiganMedGrower said:

What did you see better when you flower with the 4200k bulb rather than the 3100k? I haven't compared yet.

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when i bought my LEC kit, the company I bought it from recommended the 4K for better all around growth in veg and bloom. I took his advice since the kit could have come with either bulb and his grows showed.the 4K being better.

without any scientific backing, i personally try to get a K value closer to sunlight which is about 5K. i think hps is too red and mh is too blue. which is why i thought the blue daylight would be awesome as well, very close to natural sunlight. your results show different and i still have a few weeks to go to have a verdict.

rkymtnman said:

when i bought my LEC kit, the company I bought it from recommended the 4K for better all around growth in veg and bloom. I took his advice since the kit could have come with either bulb and his grows showed.the 4K being better.

without any scientific backing, i personally try to get a K value closer to sunlight which is about 5K. i think hps is too red and mh is too blue. which is why i thought the blue daylight would be awesome as well, very close to natural sunlight. your results show different and i still have a few weeks to go to have a verdict.

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So you haven't tried the other bulb?

I have replaced the blue mh back with a Super hps as the over blue lit room has cost more than 20% yield and density and bud structure.

So far my best results are 2 600 hps and 1 3100k LEC. I wonder if switching the 4200k in instead would be better than what I was doing with the 3 different bulbs.

The 3100k has a higher red peak. I am and Phillips is positive it is better for flowering as a single source. Just got the higher par.

Not talked about much since the market sells full spectrum now but plants transfer photosynthesis to the strongest wavelength regardless of what we thing we are seeing or lighting them with.

Sorry for going off track on the thread to the OP.

MichiganMedGrower said:

So you haven't tried the other bulb?

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no i have not.

and also i used to run the older 400 retro white which was 4K i believe. they worked great too.

MichiganMedGrower said:

I wonder if switching the 4200k in instead

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you can find out for about 80 bucks. lol.

rkymtnman said:

no i have not.

and also i used to run the older 400 retro white which was 4K i believe. they worked great too.

you can find out for about 80 bucks. lol.

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The K rating is not a good representative of the actual spectrum.

The Hortilux Super hps and the 3100k cmh are rated just about the same "k" temp.

and Phillips developed the 3100k bulb specifically for flowering. My advice is to start there for anyone asking. It has higher par. And a better flowering spectrum.

They also recommend the bulb if you are only using one for the whole life cycle.

MichiganMedGrower said:

The 3100k has a higher red peak. I am and Phillips is positive it is better for flowering as a single source.

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I haven't seen the spectral graphs for the mogul based 4K/3K bulbs. I'm guessing they are pretty similar to the 2 pin models. I did read that the moguls put out more UV than the 2 pins.