4000 Watt Sealed Room Recirculating DWC Setup

[simpleword]

So for the past few months I've been accumulating parts and getting an 8.5x10.5 room ready for a 4000 watt sealed room recirculating DWC setup. I am adhering pretty strictly to blazeoneup's style. This is my first grow over 1000 watts and my first hydro grow, it's been quite an adventure just accumulating parts. Here is a list of the parts so far (I may forget a few) I'll have a few questions after I list the parts:

-24 black buckets with 6 inch net pots and all the plumbing a la blazeoneup's tutorial.
-large heavy duty rubbermaid controller with hinged lid
-55 gallon heavy duty trash can reservoir
-80 watt eco plus commercial air pump 88 l/m
-630 GPH eco plus submersible pump
-4 1000 watt lights all with added spectrum bulbs, 3 with a/c hoods and an extra a/c hood on order.(I may not a/c the lights yet, just preparing for the future)
-18,000 BTU fedders air conditioner
-60 amp subpanel
-intermatic t-104r timer hooked up to 4 240 volt outlets.
-2 20lb co2 tanks with CO2 injection system
-CAP PPM-3 CO2 monitor/controller
-eco plus 1/4 hp inline chiller
-hanna grocheck combo continuous ph/tds meter
-a couple of osciallting wall mount fans
-10x100 ft roll of panda plastic
-lots of dynagro nutrients AN big bud and liquid karma and ph/up down
-lots of rockwool and hydroton

I'm sure I'm missing something, this list was just at the top of my head as I'm at work right now. I'll probably be getting a carbon scrubber soon. I do have a few questions:

-Firstly, is there anything I'm missing that anyone would recommend?

-I've included a couple of sketchup images of my setup, what do you guys think would be the best way to lay out the buckets for accessibility?

-What would be the best way to distribute the lights among the room?

-Is it recommendable to put the controller, reservoir, air pump, and chiller in the oddly shaped closet like in my diagrams?

What is the best way to mount the panda plastic? Would a staple gun be a good idea?

Those are all the questions I can think of for now, I'm sure I'll have more soon. The room should be set up within 2 weeks and then all I have to do is go to Oakland and pick up some clones. When I get ready to get everything going I'll post a thread in growroom diaries.

Okay, now here are some images. The images are all thumbnails (large ones at that) that link to a much larger version. The bucket layout in my diagrams is tentative. Feel free to ask me any questions and to make suggestions.







Here's the finished subpanel and timer

 

[humble1]

wow!
i am in awe of the 3d modeling!
design looks solid. gl

 

[simpleword]

Thanks humble1, I appreciate it. Although this is just really basic modeling, it was just meant to get the idea across.

 

[Guest]

Looks good =] Now ya just have to put it all together.. Best of Luck!

 

[Neptune]

modeling is a helpful, always good to start with a plan and think things through.

some things have to be done first, second, last etc.
so, think it out and get started.

 

[simpleword]

Thanks guys, I guess it's time for the real work to begin. It'd be nice if someone could give some input on the bucket and light layout.

Thanks

 

[TGT]

What did you use to make those 3D models? Just curious as it would be nice to be able to accomplish that without much of a learning curve. Thanks!

TGT

 

[bartender187]

only suggestion is flip your feed lines so they are huggin the wall, and have the center feed lines runnin in between the buckets... would help in givin you some footspace to walk through, prevent steppin and possibly causin a leak in a line.

 

[Guest]

everything looks good..If your looking at the first PIC you posted put your air-cooled lights over the buckets with the long sides of the hoods facing your Wall mounted Air Conditioning..So in other words point your lightbulbs at the Air Conditioning...and yes staples work good for mounting the panda ...do not forget to double wrap the top end your stapling to give it extra strength..you can also put cardboard in it at the top...then staple...the line behind the bucket hiding next to the wall is a good idea...good luck

 

[simpleword]

TGT: I used google sketchup. There is very little learning curve involved. There is a free version you can get.

bartender187: Thanks, yeah I kind of thought of that after I did the model. It definitely makes sense.

Respect: Are you saying point the light bulbs at the air conditioning so that the cool air will travel in to the bulbs if it's not air cooled or because of the light footprint? Thanks for the info on the panda plastic as well.

Thanks again guys!

 

[simpleword]

Would it be better for the light footprint if I laid the buckets out like this:

and hung 2 lights over each row?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Would it be better for the light footprint if I laid the buckets out like this:

and hung 2 lights over each row?

Definitely should be better and much more efficient use of light. Dead spots (light-wise) are bad and your original config had a lot of dead space IMHO.

EDIT: nice sketches btw. I think I gotta try out that Google junk.

 

[Guest]

for the footprint only...could have said toward the wall with the A/C using the A/C as a landmark only....nothing to do with cooling

 

[pico]

If that is your CO2 tank you plan on mounting on the wall, I would have that on the ground in a more accessible space. You will be changing that thing out pretty frequently.

Dehumidifier? my sealed room takes 2.

As long as you can easily get to your res/controller then it is fine. If you have trouble getting at it to clean and change during grow then you might want to relocate.

Set up your plants like you just mentioned with 2 lights over each row. Your previous design would waste a lot of light. If possible you would like to get between each row and at be able to crawl around the backsides to check water lines and fix if needed.

 

[simpleword]

Thanks for the input pico. I don't know if I'm going to mount the co2 tank on the wall or not, that was just an idea to save space.

About the dehumidifier, yeah I was thinking that I might need one. I am getting quite low on funds however, but if I need one, I need one. What size is yours and for what room size?

I'm sure I'll be able to get to the controller and res no problem. I just need to make sure that the chiller will be able to fit, that sucker is a lot bigger than I had imagined.

I have one question about the airpump and air lines: I have an 80 watt 88lpm Ecoplus commercial air 5, which by my calculations should be plenty for all 24 buckets. It has an 8 port manifold on it, but I was wondering what the best way to split the lines so that I can have one to each bucket. I was thinking something like this:

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for each row with a T splitter for each bucket, but it seems that the air wouldn't be distributed equally. Of course I could be wrong though.

 

[pico]

I run 2 dehumidifiers that are 50 pints a day each. Room size 10x20.

They are around $200 or so new.

 

[petfish]

yea that 3d modeling is great, nice job bro. nice room too

 

[MickeyBlue42]

that is a mad setup!!!

 

[simpleword]

Thanks guys, I've started a grow diary, which can be found here:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1052899#post1052899