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

[TeaHateSea]

Bulénath That is such a clean grow room, I'm jealous.

So none of the larger Whisper fans have static pressure sensors in them? Just the bath fans?

 

[AcroPhobic]

8 clone update

8 clone update

Good to see old n new blood in here.
Here's a few shots from July 9th of current clones in flower.

Added a few 32watt cfl's in the mix to the 150.

Also added a new pc fan using adapter to blow over canopy and bulb.
Hps

Hps+Cfl's

 

[TeaHateSea]

Howzit AcroPhobic

Looks nice and crowded in there. What's the flavor?

 

[Bulénath]

Just to clarify the fertilizing schedule...

Just to clarify the fertilizing schedule...

I realized that saying "increase the dosage by 20-25% per feeding" can be misleading. So here is an example that has worked for me:

Pure Blend Pro Veg's seedling strength states 7ml per gallon. Typically, a full grown flowering plant will use no more than a quart of water for 5 gallons of soil per day.
So to make things simple for myself, I just round the numbers up to 8ml/gallon which is 2ml/quart.

So your first feeding shall be 1/4 strength- 0.4 to 0.5ml/quart.
The next feeding is 0.8 to 1.0ml/quart.
the next is 1.2-1.5ml per quart.
the next is 1.6 to 2.0ml per quart. And so forth in this exact fashion.

I usually have my plants at 2.0ml/quart by day 21 or 22 Veg, and definitely have them at 2.0ml/quart by day 1 transplant into flowering.

However, usually they are only feed full strength bloom around week 7-8 flower, which is 30ml/gallon. So there is a little space in between for you to play with and figure out what works best for your particular situation, environment and plants.

Oh and I never had PH problems with this...Pure Blend Pro is very self-regulating, and very forgiving. I guess one could add some dolomite lime if they feel there is some PH problem bound to happen.

TeaHateSea,
The funny thing is the Panasonic Specifications are misleading, but here is what I can piece together.

The inline models that I just bought do not have that feature that maintains CFM. And the only difference between the Panasonic inline fans and the rest seem to be the "built in back draft damper" feature.

Then they made a the "Whisper Green Fan" which brags that:

"SmartFlow enabled, which means the fan is designed to perform at a constant CFM, which was nearly impossible until now because of duct length, elbows and other factors that hindered its ability to perform at rated levels. When a Whisper Green faces static pressure, its speed is automatically increased to ensure that the desired CFM is not compromised. This allows the fan to perform as rated and more importantly makes for easier installation, because the installer no longer has to worry about compromising the fan's performance."

But the REAL difference between the Whisper Green Fan and the rest is that it has a "variable speed controller" and also a "motion activation" feature which turns the fan on when it senses motion.

For years and years, there was no specification sheet that talked about the Panasonic Whisper Ceiling Fans' ability to maintain CFM, specifically. However, their ceiling fans all had this feature, and continue to be equipped with them.

So all this talk about a "Smart Flow Enabled" fan that only the Whisper Green Fan boasts, seems to me no more than hype, for the rest of the ceiling fans already have this feature.

 

[TeaHateSea]

Bulénath Thanks for the info but this is what puzzles me. There is a motion sensor but not a static pressure sensor? Is variable speed motor control designed to be a remote wall mount?
It seems like they went away from the engineering that made the smaller Whisper fans so good.

 

[Bulénath]

The backdraft feature...

The backdraft feature...

The back draft feature is nothing but that flap that prevents air from going backward. So the ceiling fans' specifications truly speak nothing of the smart-flow feature. Strange...

 

[TeaHateSea]

Very strange.
I need to purchase a new fan for my single 400w air cooled hood, what Panasonic would you recommend?

 

[Bulénath]

Very strange.
I need to purchase a new fan for my single 400w air cooled hood, what Panasonic would you recommend?

If you want a fan specifically to cool the 400w AC hood, and noise is not an issue, then go for a vortex 6" with a carbon filter at the other end. A vortex fan is about 11" long, and when using a grow box for a 400w grow, space becomes a big factor because it's such a small area. Last thing you need is a 24' long fan pulling on the light, taking up all the space.

If noise is an issue, and you need something quiet, then I am thinking of something a little different...

A conventional set up- passive intake- uses the laws of nature to its advantage. The fan *pulls* air through an intake, displacing the air instead of forcing it in. So it looks like this:

Scrubber--->Light--->Fan--->Exhaust hole

But perhaps with a large model Panasonic Ceiling Fan, you could push air through the AC hood. So it will look like:

Fan w/ scrubber----->Light---->Exhaust Hole.

With this set up you are not forcing the air through the carbon filter, which is perfect and how it should be. However, you are forcing air through an AC hood with a bunch of obstructions like a light bulb, etc.

So in order to make this work efficiently, your entire set up will need to be perfectly straight, with no bends or angles, and should have the least amount of ducting as possible.


It is hard to gauge how much static pressure you will generate with not only an undetermined amount of carbon needed for your particular grow, but also by pushing air through an AC hood rather than pulling it. So to be safe you might want to use the model
FV-30VQ3, 290 CFM, 2.0 Sones, 64 watts, 6" duct, in conjunction with one or more additional exhaust fans/carbon scrubber set-ups installed for the sole purpose of ventilation....
Although 2.0 sones is relatively quiet, it is not exactly stealth.

There is also this model-
FV 20VQ3, 190 CFM, 1.3 Sones, 42 watts, 6" duct.
This should be much quieter, and provided you keep the humidity under 50%, not much carbon will be needed (less than 5LBs for sure). Even though the Panasonic Ceiling Fans push harder when faced with static pressure, there is still a point where the CFM starts to drop off a little, and that is to be expected. I doubt the CFM will drop more than 50% with 3-4LBs of carbon while pushing air through your AC Hood.

It does depend on your environment and grow box specifications so knowing the details will help...

 

[Skillet]

I have the 150 CFM 6" Panasonic Whisperfan and it adequately cools my cabinet (100W MH Veg and 300W HPS Flower) with passive intakes. It's also loads quieter than my old 4" 140CFM inline blower. Like, half the volume. Hope this helps.

 

[Bulénath]

Bulénath Thanks for the info but this is what puzzles me. There is a motion sensor but not a static pressure sensor? Is variable speed motor control designed to be a remote wall mount?
It seems like they went away from the engineering that made the smaller Whisper fans so good.

There are two fans with the whisper green series-
both have variable speed control and a static pressure sensor they call "SmartFlow Enabled".
One has the motion detector in addition.
I have no idea where the speed controller is because I can't find the specification chart, but it seems logical that the controller can be mounted to the wall....like near the light switch in your bathroom.


Here are all the Fans available...(You might get them cheaper on Ebay)

http://www.rewci.com/panvenfan.html

 

[Bulénath]

I have the 150 CFM 6" Panasonic Whisperfan and it adequately cools my cabinet (100W MH Veg and 300W HPS Flower) with passive intakes. It's also loads quieter than my old 4" 140CFM inline blower. Like, half the volume. Hope this helps.

For years and years I used roughly the same amount of light- wattage you do, in three separate cabinets with a total of 230CFM

Two x 150HPS cabinets each with 80CFM Panasonic Whisper Ceiling Fans.
Also One x 60watt Veg Cabinet with a 70CFM Panasonic Whisper Ceiling Fan (discontinued model)

But let us not forget, chances are we live in completely separate environments! After dark, here where I live, the ambient temperatures can remain around 75-80F all night long! Not to mention ambient RH around 60-70%!


So even with that amount of ventilation, my bedroom still required an Air Condition to even out the temperatures and humidity. And by that I mean a 5500BTU window AC on full blast in a 12 x 15' bedroom to keep ambient temperatures in the bedroom at roughly 70-75f and 45-55% RH during the day time (Lights Off)- That is 8-10f and 10-20%RH below ambient HOUSE temperatures and humidi.
During the night (Lights On), Bedroom conditions stabilize at roughly 66-70f and 50-60%RH with cabinet conditions around 75-80F and 40-55% RH.


It all depends on *your* particular growing environment.

 

[TeaHateSea]

Thanks to you both for taking the time to respond.
Sorry I wasn't more specific in my request but it looks like you covered all the options. I currently use a 170CFM vortex fan to cool my tent and although it is quite noisy, nobody notices because its tucked away upstairs in my office closet.

My plan is to build a new 5x10 room in my garage and reclaim my office space. The garage will temporarily house my 400w HPS but will be upgraded to a 600w at some point. I will need a quieter fan when I make the move because of a shared wall between the grow room and a guest room.

I think the 240CFM WhisperLine fan arranged like this, Fan w/ scrubber----->Light---->Exhaust Hole, is a good recommendation. Thanks.

Another quick question concerning your new grow room. Is the height of your tables adjustable? How to you compensate for a fixed level light due to your exhaust system?

 

[Bulénath]

Thanks to you both for taking the time to respond.
Sorry I wasn't more specific in my request but it looks like you covered all the options. I currently use a 170CFM vortex fan to cool my tent and although it is quite noisy, nobody notices because its tucked away upstairs in my office closet.

My plan is to build a new 5x10 room in my garage and reclaim my office space. The garage will temporarily house my 400w HPS but will be upgraded to a 600w at some point. I will need a quieter fan when I make the move because of a shared wall between the grow room and a guest room.

I think the 240CFM WhisperLine fan arranged like this, Fan w/ scrubber----->Light---->Exhaust Hole, is a good recommendation. Thanks.

Another quick question concerning your new grow room. Is the height of your tables adjustable? How to you compensate for a fixed level light due to your exhaust system?

You are going to build a 50 square foot grow chamber and use 400 to 600 watts? You could use up to 4 x 600HPS bulbs in that chamber!
If you need quiet fans for that size of a grow, I think many Panasonic Whisper Ceiling fans will do the trick. But building a lightproof intake to match wont be easy with so many exhaust holes!

The shared wall between grow room and guest room, is it single wall construction?

I have single wall construction between my grow bedroom and my actual bedroom. All fans are pointed directly at that wall! Every night I can hear the "woooshing" of air through the wall. Most of the noise comes from the 6" vortex. Luckily, I have an Air condition running 24/7 so that acts as a perfect decoy to close-range neighbors if they walk by.

You might want to have a fish tank with a large pump in the guest room, just in case guests come over.

As for the distance between the fixed lights and plants:
All plants are in their own pots with soil. For now, each pot is propped up by another pot of the same size. If the plants need to get closer, I will just cut some 2x4"'s or 4x6"'s and use those to prop the pots up. To be honest I am just "winging it" with this grow, as the first batch is always an experiment

 

[TeaHateSea]

Again it appears that I left out some important details. The 5x10 room will have a separate flowering chamber,a vegging area and some condos for my mothers. I have a light rail that I can use so I was thinking 2 3x3 tables when I move up to the 600 and a panda film faux wall dividing the two rooms. Cabinets will house mothers and vegging plants and I will use my 2 150's and some LED panels.

I wish my climate were gentle enough to allow single wall construction but nope, we have Hurricanes and freezing weather in winter. I need the quietest fans possible because my niece will be living with us for her first semester of college. Weekend guests usually get the upstairs extra room but we thought she would enjoy having a little more privacy downstairs and hopefully some peace and quiet. I also don't want to try and explain the whining of a noisy fan to friends or family if they were in the garage for whatever reason. My current grows are noisy as can be so a little less noise with more lumens would make me very happy. I don't mind the noise of the air movement but the fan noise drives me nuts because I work from home and am constantly exposed to it.

The fish tank is a great idea! Now I have a legitimate excuse to get some cichlids.

Good luck with your new experiment and really can't thank you enough for your help.

 

[Börjeblue]

great info here

not a 150 watt, but what do you guys think of the 100w version of this hps lamp?

keep up the good stuff!

 

[Börjeblue]

www.lighting.philips.com/.../pdf/OEM_guide_sdw_t10_97.pdf

sorry, forgot the link

 

[Bulénath]

TeaHateSea,
Not to get too far off topic,
but so far it appears that with these larger 600w grows, three transplants will be needed. With my 150HPS grows, I went from 3 weeks vegging in small square pots directly to flowering in 5 gallon pots, no problem.

Now it seems this is best:

First Transplant: Clone chamber to small square pots under CFL's, vegged for 3 weeks.

Second transplant: Small square pots to 1 gallon pots, vegged for an additional 10-14 days under a 150MH.

Third transplant: 1 gallon pots to 5-10 gallon pots directly into flower.


It's definitely a different ball game with the bigger lights!!


As for your niece spending an entire semester with you...
That is probably anywhere between 2 and 4 harvests! When using my 150's in my stealth bedroom grow, keeping the odor under control during harvest was bad enough. Not to mention all the smell created when going into the chamber to train and adjust the plants...Both you and I are in the same boat.
Keeping the odor under control with such a large grow will be a very hard task toward the end of flowering and during harvest.
I plan on locking myself in the grow-bedroom for 12 hours a day (lights on) with food, water, a 1 gallon bucket to piss in, and a mattress to sleep on when chopping and trimming.

I started growing with 150HPS's about 7 years ago when I lived with my parents. My mother HATES the smell of Ganja for some reason, and every harvest, albeit 4:00am, opening the bedroom door just to go to the bathroom and back would cause the entire house to reek of fresh herb! She would wake up just to scold me that the house "smells horrible", and then go back to bed!
We both need to plan ahead big time, although my concern is neighbors, not room mates!

 

[TeaHateSea]

www.lighting.philips.com/.../pdf/OEM_guide_sdw_t10_97.pdf

sorry, forgot the link

Links not working for me Börjeblue

 

[Bulénath]

www.lighting.philips.com/.../pdf/OEM_guide_sdw_t10_97.pdf

sorry, forgot the link

Sorry the link isn't working for me....

 

[TeaHateSea]

As for your niece spending an entire semester with you...
That is probably anywhere between 2 and 4 harvests!

Haha! More like one harvest with the sativas that I prefer and some added time for clipping, manicuring & drying before curing. Although I always do enjoy having some indicas and hybrids around to expand my palette and my gene pool I do like my long skinnies. Seriously bro, if you got something that we can get 4 harvest out of in an 18 week period let me know in a PM and we can make a cush living and help out some folks in the process.

Thanks for the transplant tips. It's been a long time since I grew under anything larger than a 400 and back then I was a hack taught by hippies and Viet Vets so it's a completely different game for me now. Thanks to the benevolence of people like yourself, my grows are steadily improving.

Funny, my mom also hates to smell 'erb....... even though she looks forward to my special holiday cookies and treats.

But your right...lets stay on topic about 150's while here but expect some more vague, humble questions from myself as I slowly construct my thunder-dome.