FNG Small Apartment Grow Room Setup

[blueberry_skunk]

Bear with me on this one, I probably wouldn't post this seeing as I have already basically set my mind on things, more or less do to the fact that its hard to get help without getting reamed somewhere?

But here it goes, anyone with experience please give me some advice, Iam open to change in Ideas not so much equipment.

Thinking of buying a growtent for my small apartment with a 1000 w cool tube for flowering, 400 watt area for vegging, basically just to save money, I don't want to run a 1000 w for 18 hrs., and Compactfluro for seedling stage in soil 2 or 5 gal bags! I would only every run either the 400 w or the 1000 w at a time I guess so they would be in the same tent actually? LOL iam thinking this stuff as i go along lmfao


I did some reading since I have the flower diff. than the veg area so i would always have the Carbon Filter on in the tent.

Is it ok to go Filter, Fan, Light, Exhaust? And is it ok to go go 6 to 8 from the light to the exhaust? Then have 8 in ducting for the rest to help with the noise?

I have a muffler also wats the best way to use it?

Also whats the best way to vent if I want to keep it 70 or 75 degrees F

Then get it 5 degrees F warmer at nite?

I was thinking about a controler for that but i don't want to waste my money?

This is a lot of work Iam thinking maybe not ready to make it work to its full potential, so i was just thinking of running a 150 w grow for one plant grow till i understand more.

I plan on swithing over the rest of my apartment to Fluros to save energy!

Where is a safe place to Vent exhaust in an apartment?

I got some killer genetics i want to grow out and get sum seeds so i can become fully self sufficent, and dont want to fuck it up or waste a lot from a bad grow setup.


Thanks in advance!

Please post pictures also Iam grammer understanding weak, but understand a picture very easy with minimal explanation depending how complicated getting the picture into reality!


Also I was reading managers make doing this a living hell?

 

[Guest]

i think the rule of thumb is 200cfm per 1kw. i think it would be worth your while to run the 400w and the 1000w at the same time. while your plants are 12/12 under the 1kw you could have your next round vegging for two months under the 400 and when the plants are done flowering you could just jump right into the next cycle. i know i wouldnt want to throw away a good two months.

about where to vent and the managers, thats more on you to decide as we dont know your place as good as you. they should notify before they come so you can adjust. dont leave crap out in the open. stealth the exhaust. drownd out the exhaust noice with something else.

every apartment growers worst nightmare is the emergency visit, you have to be willing to risk your ass. a building inspection can also cause you to tear down. if they ever come to inspect i would stash some clones, destroy the other plants and hide the supplies. ive heard of people loading the plants up into a u-haul or taking them to storage to ride out the inspections.

try to save up some extra cash before you do this. if you ever get into a position where you are depending on a harvest to make your rent payment you could end up doing something stupid.

 

[Guest]

I don't know where you are located but running 1400 watts in an apartment could be a little suspicious. At 1000 W x 12 Hrs a day and 400 W x 18 hrs a day you're at almost 20 KW/Day X 30 days is 600 KW a month before any exhaust fans or anything else in your apartment like a fridge, stove, computer, tv, lights, microwave, vaccuum cleaner, air conditioner, etc.. That's a fair amount of power for an apartment. Do you pay your electrical bill or is it included in your rent? If it's included in your rent the first thing I would do before I even considered growing in my apartment is to find out if your suites have individual meters for power or if the whole building has one big meter for itself. If there are individual meters and your electricity is included in your rent, chances are your manager is going to take a look at your power usage (which will hit 1000 Kw/month with everyday electrical + grow electrical) and become suspicious right away. A suspicious manager will use every trick in the book to have a look inside your apartment, I know I've had it happen to me a couple of times with excuses like 'We think your baseboard heater has shorted out' etc... And that was for a small 400 Watt setup. I would'nt think of running a 1400 W setup in anything smaller than a large 2 bedroom apartment, there's just no way to explain away all that power usage if you are confronted by the building manager or the electrical company.

Another thing to consider is do you really need 1000 W for flower? I use a 600 in a 3.5 x 3.5 foot cab and it is perfect and I have more plants in there than I know what to do with currently. 1000 W is going to throw alot of heat and in order to keep it nice and cool you are going to have some fairly loud exhaust noise to deal with.

Not trying to be a downer on you man, but going big in an apartment needs to be carefuly planned, I find landlords and building managers are naturally suspicious of their tennants to begin with and the ones I have met in the past are some of the most nosy people I have ever encountered in my life. Be safe!

 

[Guest]

i wouldnt worry about the 1kw in the winter. lots of people run space heaters that use a lot more than 1kw and they run them constantly. id be cautious in the summer time though. youre going to have to run the ac a lot more and youll be chewing up mucho wattage.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=15498&highlight=apartment+usage

 

[Guest]

id like to get some more input on this. im in the same position as blueberry skunk. i have 400 and am debating wether to get a 600 or 1kw. supernuck has shaken my confidence.

 

[UmphreyMcgee420]

good luck with that... when i had an apartment grow, it was a tough process for ventilation. the stealth was perfect.. id suggest a 600w as the biggest lamp you should use in a apartment, unless there are some circumstances such as it being a large sized apartment company, that doesnt check you out unless you miss bills etc.

 

[Guest]

How big is your apartment?
What is your local climate like?
Do you pay your own power bill, if not, is it a communal meter or individual meters?
What is your current monthly electrical bill? If you go to a 1K and your bill suddenly doubles, someone might take note.
How big is your grow space? 1000W is about 4' x 4', in the event of an apartment inspection, how do you conceal 16 square feet of grow room?

I'm not trying to make anyone in this thread nervous, not at all. An apartment is alot more dangerous than a house though because you don't own the property and if the landlord thinks somehting is up, you have 24 hrs, if your lucky, to get everything torn down and safe. If they come at you with the 'We think there is an electrical fire risk in your apartment' defense, i would'nt be surprised if they tried to get in their asap, ie before you have a chance to tear down. What if someone above you has a water leak? They can be in there with no notice if something like that comes up, just stuff to keep in mind!

 

[blueberry_skunk]

Sorry I was trying to reply to this had it all written out then the server goes down? oh well..........

Anyway I pay my electric bill separate from rent, dont know if the circuit is individual or not. I haven't actually moved in it yet, but will soon! So i will set my electric bill the same as soon as i move in.

Ya i probably should have gotten just 2 400 watters instead so they could both run all the time, one for flower one for veg.......but I at least got the 1000 w digital with cool tube so it should be fine for heat.

So maybe i should run the 400 w all the time in the summer and the 1000 w and 400 w in the winter........and exhaust the 1000 w into the apartment to cut down on heating costs.

I know about the loud fan thing, but iam gonna get the expensive thermo ducting, duct muffler, suppose to the quietest fan around 390 CFM, and insulation.

I would have the normal appliances but i wouldnt have them plugged in or use them, except for maybe the A/C.

Just plug in the T.v and computer if there is inspections, maybe throw up a clothes line in the room and be drying some clothes to hide the tent. another reason to only have enough that will fit in the tent at one time. something like that

Ya i already have most of the equipment, but now iam damn i might only want to do a 150 watt grow and get only one plant at a time. But if i can get this system down it would help with the worrying!

I am gonna get a soler polau 6 inch or 8 inch exhaust fan!

Also i will be on the top floor, if that matters......

The tent I was lookin at would be 4x4x6

Thanks for the info Supernick

 

[blueberry_skunk]

But iam talkin like a small apartment, less than 700 sq. feet

 

[highasakite]

i run 1400 watts in my apartment and my energy bill is only 89 dollors a month. cause winter is here and it's cold as shit out. vers this summer when i was running it and both 10,000 btu A/C's were running constantly my bill was closer to 140.00 a month. one the energy company is only going to get nosey if your bills are like 200.00 and up as far all all the venting and all that i don't even bother i just leave my bedroom window open all winter long. and i crack a window in the opposit side of the apartment to get a good airflow. my plants are fine i was on a budget when i started this. and the only thing i have changed is moving from a 400 hps to a 1000. and i still have my 400 mh.

 

[highasakite]

oh and i forgot glade plugins work great to cover up the smell my mom knows what i do. but she says she cant smell anything and she has a nose like a dog. and the energy company doesn't know that you don't have space heaters or not those bitches take alot of juice

 

[blueberry_skunk]

Nice I have the same reflector on my 400 w,

Ya 90 dollars sounds like my target don't want to go over that in the summer so with my air conditioner i would probably switch to the 400.

do you use ur 1000 w exhuast to heat ur place in the winter?

It sounds like i started out the same way u did, I was growin with my 400 w to start also, then I had to shut everything down. Then i found a sweet deal on a 1000 w digital system. With cool tube, and like 4-6 hortilux bulbs for like 650.

 

[cobo]

Go with a ENVIROLITE , for vegging , low energy lights so you dont have to worry about HEAT , or electric bill , i use them with good results vegging and flowering , but you really want one of theses for Vegging , they are the dogs bollox.

ECOLITE (Envirolite) i've got good results from them , they are low energy which helps keep the electric bills down and you will have " NO " Heat issuses to worry about freely available in the UK ... i got the eco lite instead of the envirolite as grow shops said too many enviros were coming back with faults ... have a look at what you can get with eco lite






Envirolites



My ECO lites at work

 

[Guest]

My first year of growing was done 100% with envirolites, they are great I flowered 6 AK47 X Blueberry's under them in about 6 square feet and got about 3.5 oz's total off them with no liquid ferts (Organic soil only) and no real ventilation or temp control, I was very pleased with the results! Flouros make great veg lighting in my exp as I can get my flouros right down on my plants without hurting them and you save some $$ on your power bill.

 

[Guest]

i feel better about doing a 1k today. i was falling ill and i can be a downer when that happens. ill just unplug my fridge and shut off my hot water heater to conceal the extra usage.

 

[purrpullkush]

I wouldn't worry about running a 1400 watts any time of year....that is absolutely NOT enough to arouse suspicion. period.

 

[cobo]

i feel better about doing a 1k today. i was falling ill and i can be a downer when that happens. ill just unplug my fridge and shut off my hot water heater to conceal the extra usage.

Dont worry about turning anything off .... just pay your bill and you'll have no worries

 

[blueberry_skunk]

Thanks