First Grow- Lots of questions and lots of pics :)

[XxShibbyxX]

Hi all! So Ive been lurking for some time now and Ive gone as far as I could without asking questions and now is the time because Ive used up the search function and ive done plenty of reading.

First things first I have 2k watts in my flower room and a 400watt metal halide and 432watt 8-bulb t5 fixture from hydrofarm in my veg room

I have foxfarm ocean forest and foxfarm happyfrog soil right now.

Heat is kind of becoming an issue due to where I live I suppose I had a few questions about the proper air system in my room because it just doesnt seem to be cutting it.

So my questions are


I have a window a/c in the room which is exhausting outside and an inline fan thats pulling the heat from the lights to outside.

I also have a vortek fan and CAN filter just hung up in the corner of the room working as a scrubber (I think?) not exhausted anywhere

Im using my a/c units fan that came with the house as the "intake" right now is that ok also? I also have to turn on the a/c that came with the house for a little while during the day and thats not very efficient Im sure.

My question is what should I do to make proper air flow and temperature in the room?

Also should I have the more powerful fan as an intake or exhaust?

I should mention my room in mainly "sealed" and I have co2 system going so I know the fans and co2 need to be on opposing timers so the co2 isnt wasted but the window a/c needs to be on 24/7 to maintain temp in the low 80's high 70's and thats exhausting air to outside so isnt that wasteful to the co2?!?!

Let me get some pics up.. They wont be the best but maybe they will help with what Im trying to explain..


This first picture is the room before I defoialiated...(thoughts on that? I saw a few posts on it and everyone was scared to do their whole crop but I see this first grow as my intro to cannabis so I tried everything I thought would help...plus I saw an old timer do it to his whole crop and he turned out with some of the best o.g. around here so I took a leap of faith 2 days ago during the beginning of week 5 flower I think). Anyways see the a/c in the lower corner of the room it wouldnt fit in my window so I built a box around the back of it and and exhausting it out my window under the panda film(I need to improve this obviously)

The second room is my veg room I was thinking of putting up a panda door to keep rH up since the vegers love that stuff lol
Anyways not really any problems with my veg room yet besides the climate isnt up to par.

- Oh real quick about the 55 gallon drum I mix up 30 gallons at a time (full line of botanicare + some advanced nutes and foxfarm) and have a air pump with air stones(2) and an 800gph water pump connected to a hose and 3 foot watering wand for now in both the veg room and flower room until I can set up some trays and rockwool cubes on top feed or some type of gravity fed system.. troft blumat's for the soil maybe?!?! (excited for that grow).

(So is my setup hydro or soil?) lol


This last picture is when I did the first half of the room... what a difference it made! You can actually see the window a/c through the plants in this one after I defoilated the first half...
Sorry about the quality its an iphone for now lol



Im sorry if this was sloppy or hard to read Im not great at putting all my thoughts onto "paper" yet lol anyways any pointers or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Ursus]

I also have a vortek fan and CAN filter just hung up in the corner of the room working as a scrubber (I think?) not exhausted anywhere


from the first picture it doesn't look like your lights are air cooled? I would definitely use that vortek fan and connect them to your lights then exhaust them outside your room.


Im using my a/c units fan that came with the house as the "intake" right now is that ok also?

Thats fine, thats what I do because my a/c unit is an energy star and has is able to turn on when the room temp reaches a certain temperature.
My question is what should I do to make proper air flow and temperature in the room?

Also should I have the more powerful fan as an intake or exhaust?

idk your a/c unit, but the vortek exhaust fan for your lights is plenty of exhaust power.

hope any of this helped.

 

[Stonercool]

I also have a vortek fan and CAN filter just hung up in the corner of the room working as a scrubber (I think?) not exhausted anywhere


from the first picture it doesn't look like your lights are air cooled? I would definitely use that vortek fan and connect them to your lights then exhaust them outside your room.


Im using my a/c units fan that came with the house as the "intake" right now is that ok also?

Thats fine, thats what I do because my a/c unit is an energy star and has is able to turn on when the room temp reaches a certain temperature.
My question is what should I do to make proper air flow and temperature in the room?

Also should I have the more powerful fan as an intake or exhaust?

idk your a/c unit, but the vortek exhaust fan for your lights is plenty of exhaust power.

hope any of this helped.

Huh, good call here:


Im using my a/c units fan that came with the house as the "intake" right now is that ok also?

Thats fine, thats what I do because my a/c unit is an energy star and has is able to turn on when the room temp reaches a certain temperature.

I have a different system in place that doesn't use the venting in my place. Too nervous about smells going through the place and causing more troubles than I want to deal with.

I'm really learning a lot from this thread....

Hopefully more folks can contribute since this is a pretty complicated set of questions......

 

[Penguin59]

Can i just say that i love new growers like urself. Good on you for being ambitious with the 2k watt lighting and doing your research before starting. It's gonna mean that ur gonne be highly successful and produce the best buds now. I wish i had've gone all out for my first grow, would've been epic. Keep growing strong brother.

Penguin

 

[redspaghetti]

shibby,

Welcome to ICmag and congrat on the first grow , you did a fantastic job there so far, now about your questions.

I read that you have a window AC unit for your flowering room, if you choose the setting right it will be able to keep your temp down 82 or below, i used a 600 watts portable to cool 2k barebulb with out any sweats.

You shouldnt use the house AC because you're not using all the rooms thus your bill will go up big time, if the current ac you have dont keep the room cool, go out and get a stronger one, this is better for the long run.

Unless you are planning to use the whole to grow, you wouldnt want to waste those extra juices.

I see that you;re using hood but they are not air cooled, might as well hung the bulb vertical . Also you should have a few fan running in your flowering room,
ventilation, heres a link that you will find helpful
http://www.industrialfansdirect.com/CFM.html

You're doing soil but using hydro nutes?

cheers,
red.

 

[XxShibbyxX]

Ah thanks everyone! Everythings going good so far I've gotten the hoods hooked up to an inline fan I'm just riding out the last 2 weeks then upgrades galore . Once I get my new spot I'll be able to do anything I want. Right now I'm in a townhouse so I can't do all the cool ideas I have in my head just yet. I'm gonna be adding at least anther 1 or 2ks to my next batch along with a co2 controller and a few other key things I just need to get.

Red- I was mistaken the people told me at my local hydro store that I need to go buy hydro standards since I was watering from a Rez. Stupid as all he'll now that I think about it lol. So I just come here when i have questions because my hydro store is duuumb

 

[XxShibbyxX]

I figured I was over feeding my babies so I started flushing them 2 days ago and they are looking good I'm gonna start them on earth juice sugar peak for the last week and 5 days then comes the fun