Thoughts on this dwc setup?

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yaboyG

Member
I know the tent is needed around 1600 watts to properly light, our combined wattage is 560, before it was just a open air grow so shouldn't be any worse lol, let me know how we can improve, the airpumps behind the tent are 2 70L/min pumps, before my first grow I had just a 25L/min pump then. idk what ima do about trellis or not, I'll need a fuel pump for that I feel, drain to waste btw

P.s nutrients is going to be cronk 5 part npk plus cal mag and bud booster for the right side, and general hydroponics for the left side(me), if I missed anything else lmk, just looking for opinions and suggestions on the setup yo see what I can improve on, 2nd grow ever.

Edit: my ac is 5000 btu and my room the tent stays in is around 148 sqft and 5000 is rated for 150, should be good on that note.
 

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Delps8

Well-Known Member
Big tent! 4' x 8' ? If so, 1600 watts should do the trick. I'm at 40 watts/sq ft and will be going to 54 for my next grow. Light is the only way that plants generate food so, up to the light saturation point, more light = more growth = > yield.

If possible, add CO2 and raise it to 1200PPM.

Get a light meter, PAR meters are nice but spendy. A Uni-T light meter is $32± and will do the trick. I've written a short paper on converting LUX to PPFD (attached). I use an Apogee but the Uni-T is just as (in)accurate, in practical terms.

Get enough lights to be able to get your plants >1200µmol, corner to corner,The Migro "CO2" light would be my choice for a 4' x 4' tent. I'm retiring my 330 watt Growcraft and getting the G4500 from Spider (430 watts). If you can't add CO2, get lights that will give you at least 1000µmol.

The reason for that much light is that plants grow bigger with more light (up to the light saturation point). I grow in hydro, as well, and run my plants >1000µmol, just like cannabis researchers recommend. Yields are quite something.

The reason to get a big honkin' light is that, according to research, after the second week of flower (maybe third) ambient temps, which are great at 85° in veg, need to drop so that the temps at the flower tops <=78°. That's the highest temp, generally speaking, that you want to maximize THC and terpenes and the other secondary metabolites. In order to get lotsa light at the canopy level but keep the flowers cool, you need lots of watts.

I've grown at very high light levels and have gotten very high yields but my crops weren't as strong as I expected. As it turns out, even though I dropped temps in flower to 80-82, that was still too high. That's why I'm binning the Growraft and going with a 430 watt light — I'll be able to hang that light at 18", or so, and still get 1kµmol on the canopy.

If you're growing in hydro, your grows should be able to handle "lotsa light" (1kµmol). Hydro can be a PITA to set up but results can be amazing.
 

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Y

yaboyG

Member
Delps8 said:
Big tent! 4' x 8' ? If so, 1600 watts should do the trick. I'm at 40 watts/sq ft and will be going to 54 for my next grow. Light is the only way that plants generate food so, up to the light saturation point, more light = more growth = > yield.

If possible, add CO2 and raise it to 1200PPM.

Get a light meter, PAR meters are nice but spendy. A Uni-T light meter is $32± and will do the trick. I've written a short paper on converting LUX to PPFD (attached). I use an Apogee but the Uni-T is just as (in)accurate, in practical terms.

Get enough lights to be able to get your plants >1200µmol, corner to corner,The Migro "CO2" light would be my choice for a 4' x 4' tent. I'm retiring my 330 watt Growcraft and getting the G4500 from Spider (430 watts). If you can't add CO2, get lights that will give you at least 1000µmol.

The reason for that much light is that plants grow bigger with more light (up to the light saturation point). I grow in hydro, as well, and run my plants >1000µmol, just like cannabis researchers recommend. Yields are quite something.

The reason to get a big honkin' light is that, according to research, after the second week of flower (maybe third) ambient temps, which are great at 85° in veg, need to drop so that the temps at the flower tops <=78°. That's the highest temp, generally speaking, that you want to maximize THC and terpenes and the other secondary metabolites. In order to get lotsa light at the canopy level but keep the flowers cool, you need lots of watts.

I've grown at very high light levels and have gotten very high yields but my crops weren't as strong as I expected. As it turns out, even though I dropped temps in flower to 80-82, that was still too high. That's why I'm binning the Growraft and going with a 430 watt light — I'll be able to hang that light at 18", or so, and still get 1kµmol on the canopy.

If you're growing in hydro, your grows should be able to handle "lotsa light" (1kµmol). Hydro can be a PITA to set up but results can be amazing.
Click to expand...
Thank you, we will be upgrading the lights eventually to fit the required wattage per sq ft.
 
Mumbeltypeg

Mumbeltypeg

Well-Known Member
yaboyG said:
I know the tent is needed around 1600 watts to properly light, our combined wattage is 560, before it was just a open air grow so shouldn't be any worse lol, let me know how we can improve, the airpumps behind the tent are 2 70L/min pumps, before my first grow I had just a 25L/min pump then. idk what ima do about trellis or not, I'll need a fuel pump for that I feel, drain to waste btw

P.s nutrients is going to be cronk 5 part npk plus cal mag and bud booster for the right side, and general hydroponics for the left side(me), if I missed anything else lmk, just looking for opinions and suggestions on the setup yo see what I can improve on, 2nd grow ever.

Edit: my ac is 5000 btu and my room the tent stays in is around 148 sqft and 5000 is rated for 150, should be good on that note.
Click to expand...
Looking like you have the makings for a nice grow there! Nice job. First thing I’d ask is have you got any fans blowing directly over the plants there? A good breeze will help the plants develop stronger stems in the early stages and they need lots of airflow once the canopy developes also. (Stronger plants, bigger flower, less chance of mould)
I think that’s a humidifier at the side of the tent? (Maybe?) that’s good too, if you want some cheap (ish) improvements for your grow get some sensors to read and fine tune your main parameters - humidity, temp, res temps, ppfd, ec, ph.. if you can get good at keeping all of those within parameter (see VPD chart for a guide) then you are more than halfway there.. then when you have got a grow or two under your belt you can look at upping your power (lights) and adding the bells and whistles if you like.
Only other thing I would add is whatever your nutrient scheme.. add some silica from early veg..your plants will be stronger and more resilient.
Good luck and enjoy.
 
Y

yaboyG

Member
Mumbeltypeg said:
Looking like you have the makings for a nice grow there! Nice job. First thing I’d ask is have you got any fans blowing directly over the plants there? A good breeze will help the plants develop stronger stems in the early stages and they need lots of airflow once the canopy developes also. (Stronger plants, bigger flower, less chance of mould)
I think that’s a humidifier at the side of the tent? (Maybe?) that’s good too, if you want some cheap (ish) improvements for your grow get some sensors to read and fine tune your main parameters - humidity, temp, res temps, ppfd, ec, ph.. if you can get good at keeping all of those within parameter (see VPD chart for a guide) then you are more than halfway there.. then when you have got a grow or two under your belt you can look at upping your power (lights) and adding the bells and whistles if you like.
Only other thing I would add is whatever your nutrient scheme.. add some silica from early veg..your plants will be stronger and more resilient.
Good luck and enjoy.
Click to expand...
Yes I definitely am going to try and get some silica for this grow, I'm going to be monitoring all those measurements to the best of my abilities, I also did just get a 450w ts3000 and I'm having trouble figuring out where I can fit it in this tent, any suggestions? We're trying to use all available wattage we got here.
 

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bursto

bursto

Well-Known Member
Be careful with the zippers on the 4 x 8, they can give you the shits real quick, i prefer two 4x4's the zips just last longer, and you got the option of different light cycles

couple of the magnetic ballast 600/1000w Hps lights in there would be awesome as @Trap Star was saying
 
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Vegs

Vegs

Well-Known Member
Trap Star said:
If you are in a legal state go with old school 600w - 1000 mh/hps it will be cheaper
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LEDs are so cheap these days, consume low electricity, and put off low amounts of heat. I love my old HPS but it gave off so much heat I had to shelf it and replace with a light emitting ceramic setup before switching to LED UFOs.
 
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DaveT

Member
You might want to run a dedicated breaker (or two) 20 amp circuits with plenty of receptacles to your setup. The best grow setup is one that hasn't fried or burnt something.
 
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