2000-2400watt Sealed/non sealed grow room construction....HELP in Design

[globel]

seal the room and pump in co2 at 1500ppm put temps 85-90 plants grow very fast.

 

[pico]

I am switching my 1000w lights over to 600w lights. I am a fan of more points of light in the room with less intense hot spots. Plus if you do it right, your canopy will be so dense that you don't need the penetration from the 1000w.

The Sun Systems GroPro dual 600w ballasts are $290 including shipping from www.seedsetc.com probably the best deal ever.

I have had good results with 1000w lights but let me demonstrate what I mean about not needing the penetration if you do things right.





This is one of my current grows. Four 1000w hps lights. As you can see 1000w lights deffinately work. but notice how dense that canopy is? Nothing gets any light at all below that screen. I mean all the leaves died off and budsites won't produce a thing. This is why I don't need the penetration from the 1000w lights. If you were growing single cola style it is a different story. I like nice even canopies.

Another interesting thing to note is that the biggest densest best buds are not the ones in the middle of light (5500 foot candles). The best buds are on the edges of the aisles. They are getting less intense light(1600 foot candles), but they are getting more points of light because they are closer to the lights on the other side. The buds right in the middle get too much light and don't do as well.

I have another grow with 600w lights and I think I will be changing these four 1000w lights over to six 600w lights.

I run a sealed room and have to say they are the shit. Plan on spending more money then you planned for

 

[hazeywonder]

I agree with pico.. On the note of penetration. While the 1000's tend to "dig a little deeper" the 600's do the job just fine. If you fill out the canopy then you really should not have problem with penetration plus you'll probably end up trimming up so you don't have to deal with popcorn anyways. Your foot print is a few feet smaller than mine and my 600's are the shit. Plus the fact that I run all 4 cooled off a 8" fan and get the tops about 4" off the glass. Which is a better use of available light than you could do with a 1000.
Also so true. plan on spending way more than you expected haha but I guess in the end its worth it.

 

[Guest]

At 420 cu ft I'd go with the cd-6,especially if you plan on using a cyclestat timer to control length and duration of burn,it will charge the area up a lot quicker in a shorter period of time.A cyclestat costs about 105.00.If you can afford it,get a cap PPM-3 for 500 dollars,the difference is noticable.With the cyclestat,length and duration of burn is determined by room cu. ftand with time intermittent charging you have a wider PPM swing,anything over 300 isnt too groovy.With the cap the generator kicks in 50 below setpoint,charges until setpoint,than co2 will increase another 200 PPM normally.I set mine at 1500PPM,it kicks in at 1450 PPM and burns until the cap reads 1500 then cuts of,the PPMs will climb to 1700 though,then slowly drop back to 1450PPM before recharge.With the cyclestat you havent that control,and you havent the results eitherEDIT Bla bla bla in plain english the cyclestat only recognizes the size of the room when discharging co2,it doesnt take into account the amount of foliage,the size of foliage,none of that,it doesnt recognize foliage.With the cap the opposite is true,it works based on ambient co2 levels regardless of the size of the room.There,I knew I could do it in ingles..

 

[pico]

I am a cheap bastard and only paid $350 for my CAP ppm-3 monitor.

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-ppm3-co2-monitor-and-controller-120v-p-373.html

or check ebay, they also have them for $350


Don't waste your time trying CO2 unless you are going to get the monitor/controller. Well, that and a dehumidifier, air conditioner, air cooled lights with insulated ducting......

 

[pico]

I would at least go with the CD-6. They will all work, but there isn't too much of a difference in price between teh cd-3 and the cd-12 I don't think. The bigger the unit, the faster your room will come up to correct ppm. Plus it gives you room for expansion.

Being that you are doing buckets I might look in to getting a water chiller. If you are going to run a sealed room you will be keeping your room temps around 85 and you want your water temp around 68 if possible. I tried buckets last year without a chiller and ended up shutting down that grow.

 

[Guest]

Sombiltch??You owe me 150 bucks pico..Just goes to show,NEVER buy anything expensive at the hydro store.Since then I've got everything on-line much cheaper,R/O systems,rainbarrel wall mount oscillators,all much cheaper online.I didnt expect to save that much on the cap though,thats without a doubt the cheapest I've ever seen it.EDIT Listen to pico on the cd-6 too,my room is 850 cu ft and unfortuanelt I just got a deal I couldnt turn down on a new cd-6,otherwise I wouldv'e got a 12 for sure.Same as the 6 except dual burners instead of a single and maybe 40-50 dollars more

 

[globel]

i would never buy lights online. I local store should replace anyhting under warrnety and send it back for you. I have had countless lights go out thank god for my local store for alwase helping me out replacing them everythime. the ones i buy online i get no help =( i got 3 bad lumitek ballast from bghydro

 

[pico]

Well I doubt the local store could have returned those bad lumateks for you either. I hear lumatek doesn't like to honor the old warranty. Fuck digital.

I do buy all my lights in town though. Mostly because I like to support my local shop and pay cash for everything. Plus with a large enough order they will give you a break.

But for green air stuff the price difference between online and in town is huge. You can get the CD-12 for $390 on ebay currently. I still think I paid around $350 for mine.

 

[Guest]

I do support my local growshop too,got all my lights there and spend plenty on ferts monthly,I have it made with these folks they are cool.I woudnt buy lights on-line either,although since I discovered 100 bulbs .com I have to admit,they get no more of my lamp money lol.Some things are just much better online or can only be found online,like a 50 gal. rainbarrel.Man I took my 5 stage R/O system tap and used 1/2 inch clear tubing to run behind the counter maybe 7 ft to a 50 ft rainbarrel,I just need to flip the tap and walk away.I've ended up more than once forgetting resulting in a clean shiny kitchen floor lol,I dont make that mistake much anymore.It may be a good setup for some of you,I love it.

 

[Guest]

I see a lot of you sealed room guys air cool your lights and run a dehumidifier... are you runnin both the a/c and dehum during lights on?

It's been my experience that when the a/c size is matched to the room (4kbtu per 1k of light) the a/c runs enough to keep temps in line and keeps humidity down as well....this is without venting the lights. when venting the lights the a/c runs less, humidity goes up and then a dehum has to run.
I quit venting my lights and I don't have to run my dehum during lights on.

 

[Guest]

I know what you mean,I run uncooled vertizonatls and although I do keep dehumid on dering light hours,its very intermittent and draws little water compared to dark hours when it runs constantly and can give me over 2 gal in 12 hours sometimes.

 

[StealthSniper]

I see a lot of you sealed room guys air cool your lights and run a dehumidifier... are you runnin both the a/c and dehum during lights on?

It's been my experience that when the a/c size is matched to the room (4kbtu per 1k of light) the a/c runs enough to keep temps in line and keeps humidity down as well....this is without venting the lights. when venting the lights the a/c runs less, humidity goes up and then a dehum has to run.
I quit venting my lights and I don't have to run my dehum during lights on.

My dehumidifiers are running 24/7, as is my chiller. I chose to vent my lights so as to reduce heat in the room, but more importantly I can drop the shades down onto the plants without burning them.

It's working well for me!

 

[pico]

Yeah I have a 6000 btu AC unit and it keeps my 4000w sealed room under 85 deg. I also run 1 or 2 dehumidifiers.

 

[Guest]

Damn pico really?I have a 12K BTU for my 3 verts in an 8 by 8 room,now that I think about it I set it around 76 degrees to get an 85 degree ambient temp,the fucker goes to 60 lol.Hey,it gets HOT down here later on!

 

[RamCTD1027]

Thanks for all the help thus far everyone. Every question I have asked has been answered. Its been a big help. My final hurdle is the purchase of the lights. I am still torn btwn 600s and 1000s. It seems to all be personal preference when it comes to lighting. I'll have to put some more thought into it before I go out and make the purchase.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[ThereIsHope]

Thanks for all the help thus far everyone. Every question I have asked has been answered. Its been a big help. My final hurdle is the purchase of the lights. I am still torn btwn 600s and 1000s. It seems to all be personal preference when it comes to lighting. I'll have to put some more thought into it before I go out and make the purchase.

Thanks again for all the help.

I had the same dilemma and went with dual air cooled hoods and 1k watters.

More light = More buds.

You are worth it.

 

[pico]

more points of light with similar wattage = more bud

2000w in a dual hood is too much light in 1 area to be efficient.

 

[ThereIsHope]

more points of light with similar wattage = more bud

2000w in a dual hood is too much light in 1 area to be efficient.

Nothing beats the canopy punching power of a 1k watter. You can place those same 1k watters as additional points of light and will still outperform the 600 watt set-ups everyday.

More light = more buds

 

[pico]

You only need canopy punching power when you have an uneven canopy. If you get a nice even canopy no matter how much light you have it can't punch through.

five 600w lights will outyield three 1000w lights every grow of the year.