G
Guest
Howdy folks. This is my second thread, and I hope it's a good one.
I haven't been on here for more than a week, so some might find it presumptuous that I'm already giving growroom design tips, but this one is so much fun that I couldn't help myself.
So let's get started.
The Current Situation: I have a fantastic 10 x 15 foot growroom which sits under 2 1000w HPS and has fantastic active intake (air conditioned in the summer) and carbon filtered exhaust. No smell, no fuss... it's been in operation for 1 1/2 and I've got many of the bugs worked out of it.
My Problem: I have an itchy green thumb and a bunch of extra 400w MH ballasts and lamps. These are shitty old hobby units (Hydrofarm Sunbursts) with the ballast on board. They get hot as hell and are basically useless unless they can be aircooled, which is just about impossible since the unit is basically a big metal box with a couple of vents that are a compete and utter joke. I used to run 5 of these fuckers in the above 10x15(x7) foot room and no matter how much ventilation I used, the daytime temps would hit 90 no problem.
So I replaced those bastards with my 2 current 1000w Powerhouses and the remote ballasty goodness of these new babies keeps my room nice and cool. But every time I pass the stack of old ballasts and the box of bulbs, I dream of the extra greenness I should be producing.
The Solution: I've designed a system to use 3 of the 400w Sunbursts which consists of 3 Mill's Pride C-25 cabinets:
Here is a diagram done by a retarded child (note the excrutiating intricasy and verve of this poor handicapped little boy) that I found wandering on the street (and it only cost 10 raisins and a carrot):
All three cabinet will sit side by side against one wall of my grow room. This will allow intake of fresh air and filtered exhaust (when it eventually leaves the main room) without having to connect the cabinets directly to the exterior of the house.
As you can see, I am dividing each C-25 cab into a light box on top and the plant area on the bottom, separated by the top shelf. The shelf has a pane of glass inset into the middle to allow passage of light but not heat or smell.
The light will hang suspended from eye screws above this glass (maybe about an inch above it).
The ventilation for the lights will go across all three cabinets. Since I can't vent the reflectors with the ballasts crammed up their asses, I'm venting all three light chambers together. To this end, I'll have a 6" Fantech inline fan set into the far left wall (of the left cabinet). Between the middle cabinet and each of the other two, I'll have 12" ducting for passive airflow (about an inch long). and I'll have a 12" opening on the far right wall (of the right cabinet) to allow passive intake into the lighting chamber. Since this will be sealed from the bottom (which will have stronger negative airflow), no smell and no filter required.
The plant chamber of each cabinet will be individually exhausted through the rear of the cab into the grow room behind. Each cab will have a 4" fantech fan directly exhausting (no ducting) and a 12" duct for passive intake.
Each C-25 will be lines with mylar and hold 2 10 gallon grow bags of peat and perlite.
One problem with a pretty easy solution is the inability to adjust the light more than a few inches (since the height from the shelf to the top of the cab is only about twice that of the light itself). The obvious solution is to train the plants to near the correct heigh and use blocks of wood to raise and lower the bags the last couple of inches to get optimal distance from the light.
Another problem with a less obvious solution is the light leak issue. With such large passive intakes on the back of each cab and on the right side of the rightmost cab, light leak to and from the inside of the growroom (since the lights will be on opposite cycles) and from the hallway (through the light ventilation intake) is a very real problem. I plan to place the vents from the room at the bottom of each cab to reduce this issue and I may also attach flexible flaps above each vent that will rest on the bag and create a barrier. The intake from the hallway will probably be covered with an exterior vent cover. This will take some trial and error.
Anyway, there will be a ton of pictures in this thread as I put this stuff together. In my next post I'll go through the materials and tools needed for this project and get the ball rolling.
Any questions or comments are appreciated.
Cheers, SC
I haven't been on here for more than a week, so some might find it presumptuous that I'm already giving growroom design tips, but this one is so much fun that I couldn't help myself.
So let's get started.
The Current Situation: I have a fantastic 10 x 15 foot growroom which sits under 2 1000w HPS and has fantastic active intake (air conditioned in the summer) and carbon filtered exhaust. No smell, no fuss... it's been in operation for 1 1/2 and I've got many of the bugs worked out of it.
My Problem: I have an itchy green thumb and a bunch of extra 400w MH ballasts and lamps. These are shitty old hobby units (Hydrofarm Sunbursts) with the ballast on board. They get hot as hell and are basically useless unless they can be aircooled, which is just about impossible since the unit is basically a big metal box with a couple of vents that are a compete and utter joke. I used to run 5 of these fuckers in the above 10x15(x7) foot room and no matter how much ventilation I used, the daytime temps would hit 90 no problem.
So I replaced those bastards with my 2 current 1000w Powerhouses and the remote ballasty goodness of these new babies keeps my room nice and cool. But every time I pass the stack of old ballasts and the box of bulbs, I dream of the extra greenness I should be producing.
The Solution: I've designed a system to use 3 of the 400w Sunbursts which consists of 3 Mill's Pride C-25 cabinets:
Here is a diagram done by a retarded child (note the excrutiating intricasy and verve of this poor handicapped little boy) that I found wandering on the street (and it only cost 10 raisins and a carrot):
All three cabinet will sit side by side against one wall of my grow room. This will allow intake of fresh air and filtered exhaust (when it eventually leaves the main room) without having to connect the cabinets directly to the exterior of the house.
As you can see, I am dividing each C-25 cab into a light box on top and the plant area on the bottom, separated by the top shelf. The shelf has a pane of glass inset into the middle to allow passage of light but not heat or smell.
The light will hang suspended from eye screws above this glass (maybe about an inch above it).
The ventilation for the lights will go across all three cabinets. Since I can't vent the reflectors with the ballasts crammed up their asses, I'm venting all three light chambers together. To this end, I'll have a 6" Fantech inline fan set into the far left wall (of the left cabinet). Between the middle cabinet and each of the other two, I'll have 12" ducting for passive airflow (about an inch long). and I'll have a 12" opening on the far right wall (of the right cabinet) to allow passive intake into the lighting chamber. Since this will be sealed from the bottom (which will have stronger negative airflow), no smell and no filter required.
The plant chamber of each cabinet will be individually exhausted through the rear of the cab into the grow room behind. Each cab will have a 4" fantech fan directly exhausting (no ducting) and a 12" duct for passive intake.
Each C-25 will be lines with mylar and hold 2 10 gallon grow bags of peat and perlite.
One problem with a pretty easy solution is the inability to adjust the light more than a few inches (since the height from the shelf to the top of the cab is only about twice that of the light itself). The obvious solution is to train the plants to near the correct heigh and use blocks of wood to raise and lower the bags the last couple of inches to get optimal distance from the light.
Another problem with a less obvious solution is the light leak issue. With such large passive intakes on the back of each cab and on the right side of the rightmost cab, light leak to and from the inside of the growroom (since the lights will be on opposite cycles) and from the hallway (through the light ventilation intake) is a very real problem. I plan to place the vents from the room at the bottom of each cab to reduce this issue and I may also attach flexible flaps above each vent that will rest on the bag and create a barrier. The intake from the hallway will probably be covered with an exterior vent cover. This will take some trial and error.
Anyway, there will be a ton of pictures in this thread as I put this stuff together. In my next post I'll go through the materials and tools needed for this project and get the ball rolling.
Any questions or comments are appreciated.
Cheers, SC
