150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[skaterkrop14]

Hey here is a few pictures of my current closet grow under a 150 watt HPS and random cfls. 2 plants. 1 RRWW, and a Jack Herer clone. The RRWW is what I've been told was White Widow I've grown it from seed. Wondering if anyone knows if this is what widow can look like?

veg shot

 

[Wickedgroer]

After reading your understanding airflow, I think I may not have explained my system properly. My intake is a 6" square hole cut in the bottom side of my cabinet, instead of a fan pulling cool air into the cabinet, I have a cool mist humidifier that is blowing cool, humid air into the cabinet. There is an 8" fan just above the intake that blows the air up towards the light to keep it cool, and blows a moderate breeze to the tops of the plants. On the other side of the cabinet is another 8" fan that is blowing up into the space above the light. The cabinet has two compartments, separated by a shelf. There is a 3"-4" gap between the back of the cabinet and the shelf, I have positioned a small 6" fan inside and above the gap that pulls the warm air from the lower cabinet and blows it out the top of the cabinet. The top of the cabinet is slotted. There are two 3/4" slots between three boards. The slots are about 24" long. Also, there is a curtain that covers the open face of the cabinet both the top and bottom compartments of the cabinet. There is a 1/2" gap between the curtain and the face of the cabinet on the top and sides. I believe I am getting good ventilation. The temps in the cabinet during the day, with the curtain closed and the light on run around 83 degrees with 43% humidity. At night, with the light off, the temps are in the mid to high 70's with the humidity in the high 40s early 50s. For CO2, I mist with selzer water 2-3 times per day. What do you think? Right now I have the light about 12" above the tops of the plants and they seem to be growing pretty well, completing a new set of leaves almost every day. When I put the back of my hand even with the tops, it feels cool, breezy with a very slight hint of warmth after a minute or more. I want the plants to be short and bushy, so can I move the light a little closer? I have posted some pics with this, I hope, so they may help.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

There is no real door to the cab and light leaks out? Not sure I am following...
What you are showing me will create a breeze within the box, but it will not satisfy the physics of a ventilation system. The misted water you are introducing will not cool the atmosphere in the box, but rather the atmosphere in the box will heat up the mist almost immediately to the ambient temp of the box. And I am curious how you are reading below 50% RH with a mist of water being forced in? Just a heads up, HID bulbs hate water mist, and they are in fear of water droplets. One can hose a lamp instantly. And whats worse, buds hate water mist even more...especially in systems that don't have sufficient air flow. I sort of feel that you would not be very excited to find bud rot and mold once your flowers have fattened up a bit.

Many often think folks are throwing rocks at their grow when they get so many suggestions. But the thing is, folks are trying to help them...and if they really didn't care and honestly didn't want to help them, they wouldn't even comment.

As your plants get larger, and fill up more of the grow space, the hotter things will get without proper ventilation. MJ plants are tough and can take a good bit of abuse, but they will always produce more and better weed when the required physics are put into action. It's like anything else if you want to do it right...

Not to mention that a good working stealth system also keeps you out of jail. The most important thing to consider...or at least it will be when you are sitting in your orange eating stewed tomatoes. I would bet major coin that most of the cab grows that get busted are cabs that have light leaks and push out smelly air.
There is no way for you to keep the smell from wafting from that box.

 

[piosh]

27 days of flowering(2x150W) - maybe a month and ill have some smoke

 

[vintner]

You guys are knockin um dead in here. piosh Nice training and trimming man
BTW fellow 150watters, a good friend of ours here of late sends his best and said to pass on that he is sorry but he felt he had to go (delete his account). Says he's going to miss this thread. Dude pulled a HUGE boner and gave his phone number out to the wrong person and brought on a serious security issue. He's safe for the moment, but had to trash everything.
Yall learn from our friends' mistake. I'm sure he wont make it again! I know I'm knocking him, but I'm going to miss seeing him round IC. He's a really great guy. Has an awesome gift w/graphics.
Stay safe everyone & lots of it, but use your heads!

 

[Wickedgroer]

Nevermind. I just wanted to know how close to the bulb the plants can be. I have an electronic gauge that tells me my humidity is right now 45% and my temp is 78 degrees. The humidifier blows cool humid air into the cabinet, there is no mist, that's just the name of it, a cool mist humidifier. I spray the top of the plants with selzer water to wet the leaves and provide a little CO2, not to cool the temp of the cabinet. My temperatures and humidities are fine. I don't understand how I don't have ventilation when I have cool air being pushed into the cabinet, and I have warm air being pulled out the top. The curtain in front of the cabinet is pulled into the cabinet at the bottom and billows out at the top, where the warm air is being pulled out, so there is ventilation. Im a legal grower so Im not worried about getting caught. However, I plan to close off the top and the front when the plants begin to stink and develop some type of scrubber to help with the smell. Thanks anyway.

 

[catman]

I just wanted to know how close to the bulb the plants can be

With good ventilation plants won't burn up until they are within an inch of the bulb in my experiences.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Nevermind. I just wanted to know how close to the bulb the plants can be. I have an electronic gauge that tells me my humidity is right now 45% and my temp is 78 degrees. The humidifier blows cool humid air into the cabinet, there is no mist, that's just the name of it, a cool mist humidifier. I spray the top of the plants with selzer water to wet the leaves and provide a little CO2, not to cool the temp of the cabinet. My temperatures and humidities are fine. I don't understand how I don't have ventilation when I have cool air being pushed into the cabinet, and I have warm air being pulled out the top.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. 78 sounds good. Now lower the lamp within inches of the canopy and see what happens. Lowering the lamp might not change the closet temp but it'll localize the hot spot to the canopy. Again, if it works leave it alone. If it doesn't, you'll do well with the following:

A sealed exhaust capable of exchanging the closet air several times per minute. A carbon scrubber will reduce the air flow so you'll need to compensate. If the noisy exhaust is too loud, add a speed controller and reduce the RPM. This means less exchange and you'll want to make sure you don't end up with less flow than needed. In short, you'll probably need at least 80 CFM exchange. I'd get at least 100 CFM to compensate for a scrubber and speed controller. It's not necessary to vent hot air to the attic with a 150 as you'll exhaust heat and air conditioning along with it. A 150 harvest won't make up for the additional power cost. Just exhaust the closet high (back into the bedroom, whatever) and locate the intake low. The room is large enough to maintain minimal heat recycling.

Passive intake [no fan necessary] sufficient to satisfy the exhaust. It's unnecessary to apply HVAC or industrial air-exchange standards when every custom project has variables that aren't taken into consideration. These variables can be ignored by making your intake twice the size of the exhaust. Negative pressure will be maintained and your fan bearings will thank you. You're still free to use the cool mist if you want, just don't seal it to the intake.

A remote ballast is cooler than a combo. A circulation fan blowing between the lamp and canopy is worth the effort. Set the lamp timer to "on" at night or your coolest ambient hours for best results.

A closet isn't any harder to vent than a cabinet but the way you choose may result in higher AC/heat costs - or - a visible exhaust port from the closet to the bedroom. You'll have to weigh the pros and cons of each and determine what's best for your situation.

IMO, the cheaper solution is to mount the exhaust fan high on the closet door. A vent cover might make the obvious hole in the door less noticeable. If you can't cut the door, check out the fart fan in the bathroom. The same thing in your closet ceiling will work but you'd run it for hours on end as opposed to minutes at a time. Hope this helps.

 

[Wickedgroer]

Thanks discobiscuit, this is very helpful.

 

[piosh]

With good ventilation plants won't burn up until they are within an inch of the bulb in my experiences.

Hmmm. Catman havent you got any problems with RH when using strong ventilation?
When I use around 160cfm (my box is around 0,6-0,65 m3) I have like 26C but to push RH over 40% its really hard.

 

[catman]

Hmmm. Catman havent you got any problems with RH when using strong ventilation?
When I use around 160cfm (my box is around 0,6-0,65 m3) I have like 26C but to push RH over 40% its really hard.

Your exchanging air about 7.25 times a minute. I use a 80CFM fan and my exchange is about 9 times.

My ambient temp RH for the winter months is 20-30%, but I keep the ambient temps around 20-22C. I don't see to have any problems due to the low RH and I think perhaps your problem might be with temps too high relative to how close your bulb is to your plants. Now I know low RH isn't optimal for most part of the cycle, but I have heard that it is better for the final weeks.

 

[Slow Stone]

Hello, 150watters!
This thread was my biggest inspirator and tutor on how to organize my first grow. Thanks a lot.
And here's my humble input
Hardware:


SOFTware:
2xWhite Label's Master Kush'es (left) & 2xIncognito Bagseeds (1 male). 2.5 weeks into flowering.

Incognito

Male on the front left, MK's on the right.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

SS, very crafty in all respects. Where did you get that monster or did it come with the Ponderosa? Just kidding, I'd love to have something like that. Nice floor intake and light trap, looks like plenty of air flow. Oh yeah, the plants look great too.

 

[Rambro]

is it possible to have too much passive intake? and does anyone know how many cfms i would need to move to keep cab temps at the same temp as ambient?(or within 5 degrees) my cab is 23wide,11deep, and 26 inches tall. ive got a 70watt hps in there now with an 87cfm fan.with room temps of like 75 the cab was gettin up to 90 in there(no plants yet, tryin to set up grow room first). another thing, should i measure temp in the shade? cuz my thermometer was just sittin on the bottom of the cabinet with the light about 14inches above it. if i can gt the temps under control for this thing im gonna invest in a 150 and see if i can get that running

 

[GangGreen]

rambro if you have a 70w/hps and the temps are at 90F..with a 150w/hps it will be 125F unless you have tons of air flow :0 goodluck

 

[Rambro]

yea i have a 2000rpm ultra kaze in there, gonna change it out with 3000rpm and use the 2000 to circulate air....even still im gonna have to 12/12 from seed because its too hot during the day

 

[GangGreen]

yea i have a 2000rpm ultra kaze in there, gonna change it out with 3000rpm and use the 2000 to circulate air....even still im gonna have to 12/12 from seed because its too hot during the day

are you using a closetmaid cab.? i built one with a 150w/hps and a s&p fan and it run 78 all day. any pics?

 

[AcroPhobic]

is it possible to have too much passive intake? and does anyone know how many cfms i would need to move to keep cab temps at the same temp as ambient?(or within 5 degrees) my cab is 23wide,11deep, and 26 inches tall. ive got a 70watt hps in there now with an 87cfm fan.with room temps of like 75 the cab was gettin up to 90 in there(no plants yet, tryin to set up grow room first). another thing, should i measure temp in the shade? cuz my thermometer was just sittin on the bottom of the cabinet with the light about 14inches above it. if i can gt the temps under control for this thing im gonna invest in a 150 and see if i can get that running

Do you have exhaust? All the info you need is in this thread. I advise you re-read and get your cab temps in check before you even consider putting plants in there.

 

[foescan]

My third harvest is jarred and curing. Pic below is after hang-drying for 11 days. De-stemmed and trimmed more closely, they weighed in at 86g. Not including the ~20g I sampled from days 45 to 65 of 70 days total of 12/12. It was interesting to follow the plants as the buds ripened to maturity. When I flower their clones I'll harvest a few days earlier.

I'm running a 250w cmh for my next grow. It may get too hot for my 14x23x60" cab. Fingers crossed. I'll probably install a second fan on the cooltube circuit, on the intake, and see if that helps with temperature. But the 150w will still be used; it's time for a second cab.

 

[hazeydayz]

what do you think would yield better, 150 watt hps or 250 watts of cfl ( 6x 42 watts actual)