Baby stages of planning for first grow. 5x6. Diagram included. Impart that knowledge

[SmokeTheState]

Hello there ICmag. I can't believe I have been lurking this site for almost 3 years and never once posted. Anyways, after all this time, the planets have aligned perfectly and I can begin my first grow.

Let me introduce myself, I am a patient here in Southern California. I suffer from a pretty specific illness, so I won't divulge the details. Pretty much this chronic illness leaves me with intense nausea and weight loss. I discovered MMJ after spending a while suffering with my new chronic illness and a friend let me in on a secret. That secret turned out to be a major factor in the way I live my daily life and has helped me achieve more than just zoning out in bed on prescription drugs.

Anyways, this is it my first grow. I've been doing some research, and I was hoping to get some critiques. I will do my best to be descriptive in my drawings, but I am no artist. If something is not clear please ask me to clarify, I will gladly do so.

If something is moronic from the outset, let me know as well. I am not sensitive and need no pandering. I want to do this right, no shortcuts and no bullshit.

Also, no major measurements yet on how much lighting, btu, etc I will need. Just trying to see if I have basic design principles down. If you have suggestions though, I will gladly take them.

Enough riff raff, let's get down to brass tacks.
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The space is a connected garage unit. I plan to section off a corner with some temporary 2x4" framing and visqueen plastic. In a month or 2 I can have 2 more semi-permanent drywall walls put in.

Here is the corner I plan to use. The space I plan to section off will be around 5x6 feet. Give or take a half foot.

Here is a birds eye view. Wonderfully drawn.

So the window will sit some kind of window split A/C to cool the room.

Does this seem right, or even close?

The intake will pull air from the garage, but perhaps I can have the room pull air from the window?

Also, is my basic principle of how to use air cooled lights correct? I have the airflow separate from the room itself, right?

My goal is to make this smell proof as well. I want to seal the room the best I can.

Once I get this part down, I can start crunching real numbers and stuff.

Appreciate all the opinions and help, thanks guys.

 

[blazedndazed]

Hey man, This looks good to me.

Your principal of the air-cooled light is correct, Although there are different methods

My only concern with yours (I might not understand your picture) would be the intake to the light, Is this coming in from the window? Not sure how easy that is to do/prevent light leaks as I only grow in cabs.

An easier and less expensive way to vent the light would be --

Hang the carbon filter on the window side (your diagram), connect the filter to the light intake, then connect the light exhaust to your fan. This will pull all the smell through the filter, then cool your light.
This way you will only need one fan and your ac unit, Less holes to cut and less equipment to buy, might muffle the rush of the air a bit better as well.

Other than that it looks excellent

 

[SmokeTheState]

Hey man, This looks good to me.

Your principal of the air-cooled light is correct, Although there are different methods

My only concern with yours (I might not understand your picture) would be the intake to the light, Is this coming in from the window? Not sure how easy that is to do/prevent light leaks as I only grow in cabs.

An easier and less expensive way to vent the light would be --

Hang the carbon filter on the window side (your diagram), connect the filter to the light intake, then connect the light exhaust to your fan. This will pull all the smell through the filter, then cool your light.
This way you will only need one fan and your ac unit, Less holes to cut and less equipment to buy, might muffle the rush of the air a bit better as well.

Other than that it looks excellent

You are correct, the light would be drawing from outside of the window.

I took your suggestion to heart, let me see if I understand it correctly.

Something like this?

 

[blazedndazed]

yeah man that’s exactly what i meant, You can hang your filter anywhere, you can have it at the other side if you wanted. i only mentioned window side because i though my explanation was not very clear lol
But you have got the idea, Your first idea was also correct, The way I do it is just different. It just saves having two extractor fans, Those things are loud lol

Good luck with your plans, keep us updated

 

[toastfighter2]

Looks like you have a good idea on how to set it up. I have a few suggestions for you though. First, skip the visqueen and pick up some panda paper. It will not only stop light from getting in(which can cause hermi's, and messes up your light cycle during flowering), but it will "reflect" some light back at your plants. Also, you may want to put up a piece of plywood over your window(w/a cut out for your a/c of course). Also, what style of grow are you growing with(bushes, scrog, sog), and what type of grow system are you going to use(soil, e&f, dwc, areo)? The only reason I ask is you have the opportunity to built the room to best suit your "style", which can be a major bonus.

 

[SmokeTheState]

Thank you both for the awesome answers. You guys are a great help.

Looks like you have a good idea on how to set it up. I have a few suggestions for you though. First, skip the visqueen and pick up some panda paper. It will not only stop light from getting in(which can cause hermi's, and messes up your light cycle during flowering), but it will "reflect" some light back at your plants. Also, you may want to put up a piece of plywood over your window(w/a cut out for your a/c of course). Also, what style of grow are you growing with(bushes, scrog, sog), and what type of grow system are you going to use(soil, e&f, dwc, areo)? The only reason I ask is you have the opportunity to built the room to best suit your "style", which can be a major bonus.

I will definitely check out panda paper. Having a bit of trouble finding it online, it's available at most hydro stores, right?

The plywood idea is definitely going to be used. The window is an old style, flap window, that opens with a little crank. No way in hell it is going to fit an AC, so I was just gonna pop the entire thing out.
I don't have a ton of handyman experience, but I hope it pops right out of the frame. Then I can throw a cutout piece of plywood with an AC unit inside.

I gotta keep my plant numbers within 12. So I was thinking bushes would do good. Even though other setups would be more efficient, I gotta keep my plant numbers low.

I will probably go with a soil or soilless based mixture, fox farm nutrients, although I am still talking to people seeing what others locally like to use.

Loving the ideas guys, keep throwing them at me.

 

[toastfighter2]

If you can't find the panda paper, look into emergency blankets. They normally run between 2 and 5 dollars at a army/navy surplus store, and are slightly more heavy duty than what Mylar would be.

 

[globel]

i would say ditch the ventilation and try to just seal the room and pump it full of co2. maybe have a carbon scrubber running but that's it.

 

[SmokeTheState]

i would say ditch the ventilation and try to just seal the room and pump it full of co2. maybe have a carbon scrubber running but that's it.

Is that usually easier to mantain atmosphere with?

Does it offer better smell reduction?

Thank you for replying.

 

[blazedndazed]

Is that usually easier to mantain atmosphere with?

Does it offer better smell reduction?

Thank you for replying.

Hello again, I personally have never used co2 so i can not comment on that but smell is one thing I do know about. The key to no/low smell is negative pressure,

basically the idea is to have slightly negative pressure so all the air has to pass through your carbon filter. you seal the room completely (you can use silicone sealer or that weather proofing stuff ( i use a black silicone sealant that is used on cars because it doubles up to seal the light leaks as well) so the only air getting in to the room is being pulled through the intakes. because of the sucking action of the fan. I don’t know the extract measurements of intake and exhaust but you only want/need a very small amount of negative pressure to kill the smell.

By the magic laws of physics lol all the air in the room must pass through your carbon filter so the smell cant escape

I have negative pressure in my box and i can stand by it and not smell a thing, as soon as i open the door however it skinks the whole top floor out within minutes because the negative pressure no longer exists

I'm also not familiar with how an a/c unit actually works, i assume it pulls hot in. cool's it down and throws it back out? Not sure if this will affect negative pressure or not

will go find some links for you because I’m not very good at explaining things lol

 

[blazedndazed]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=100823 - Air flow explained better than i did lol, basically you want to pump out slighly more air than you pull in

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112862 - another air flow thread

As for bushy plants i use LST (low stress training) http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=98355

Peace