My New 1200 Watt Flower Room

[MCMC]

Here is a shot to show you the new room.

How can I set this up to be the EASIEST & most productive garden possible? I emphasize ease because I wont be there all the time to take care of them! I am using 2 tiki torch wicks per plant in 1,2 or 3 gallon grow bags. Depending on the plant size. So far it has been keeping even the 3 gallon bags full of light-mix wet enough. The mix has enough food for a week or two so I have to chose by then what fertilizers these ladies will get.
My buddy who takes care of the garden doesn't know how to grow anything. He's a newbie! I need to keep it as simple as possible for him.
I wanted to get some feed back on which method to grow? Not really how to grow but more on how to nourish and feed the plants...
I see the method of pre-mixing all the goodies(bone/blood, worm,ect) into the dirt beforehand and letting the plants eat how and what and when they want it, whatever IT is! Just getting the proper ratios into my mix would be the hardest part of feeding. That sounds like The way to go EXCEPT that the dirt needs to sit for a month before being used. He says outside is better which I just don't want to do. Nothing outside, if it can be helped, because of nosy ass neighbors.
The way that I have always done is hand water each plant with some type of liquid food. Chemmy B.C. hydro fertilizer when I started out. Last grow I was using Pure Blend Pro and I might try out Sweet & Heavy fertilizers next time I hand feed. But to the question at hand...
I want the most hassle free system possible. At least until my partner/helper gets better at knowing what he's looking at, which he now has not a clue what anything is at all. The simplest thing I could rig up in a jiffy was the wick system. I have big shallow clear tote tubs, filled with water. There is a metal shelf laying over the top of the tubs with the plants on the grating and the wicks hanging to the bottom. I haven't covered the trays with black plastic yet. That system should get the ball rolling and producing while I figure out which avenue to take.
What are your opinions? If I mix up a "super soil", with coco, and use the wick? Or what should I set up or do to get the Most, Best Quality possible, for someone that doesn't know how to grow?
He thinks he will mess up, so I want to take that possibility completely out of the equation! Thanks ahead of time and sorry for such a long post.

 

[skylined]

The first thing I observe about this (because I'm kicking back up to 1200 W by year's end as well) is that your hood ducting system is overly complicated. Also, that many twists and turns will decrease your cfm by quite a lot. Thirdly, just because you want to divide the airflow evenly doesn't mean it will happen unless both sides of your ducting are absolutely symmetrical. A simpler way to hook that up would be this: Filter -> duct -> hood -> duct -> hood -> duct ->out. When you are doing this, make certain your reflectors are WELL sealed, I'd recommend cool sun 2's as I've heard a lot of positive stuff about em on this site and I plan to get a couple myself. I wouldn't recommend wicks unless you need to leave for a week and have no alternative as I'd worry there'd be no time for the soil to dry out and get O2 to the root system. What I'd do for your newbie friend is draw up a schedule for him based on parameters. For example - if the top three inches of soil are dry and the pot feels light, its watering time. If you see yellowing at the bottom, she needs N...etc. Just a couple of refinements I figured might help. Best of luck.

Peace,
~Skylined

 

[MCMC]

So far that's what I mean

So far that's what I mean

I didn't think that we really needed wicks either... It was more to make it totally self sustaining. So far it seems to be working except that there are thick tap roots growing into the water. I don't want to give them a chance to dry out but they are hard to get through the grating without doing damage.
I also have to cover the resivoirs since they are getting pond scum and algae.
Would aan air stone remedy that or should I get rid of the wicks all together?
Remember I have 1,2 & 3 gallon pots drinking just water from the tubs. I feed them from the top.
My setup reminded me of jeftek's organic hydro where he splits pots into 2 zones. Half pelite and the other half soil. He fertilizes the soil like a normal dirt schedule, but he waters the perlite daily with plain water. Organic hydro!
Dirt with feeder roots that can drink as much as they want. I thought I would get hydro growth, especially since I added the coco mix into the wicked pots.
What else does anyone have to say?

 

[maryj315]

i do not know about the scum i clean mine every two weeks but i do know that adding a stone took away a bad smell that would come up after a week worked in my diy areo cloner too keep us posted.

 

[TGT]

I too would say the cooling system for the lights is much to complex and has far to many twists and turns to be efficient. Your best bet would be to have all three inline, so the carbon scrubber connected directly to the two hoods in a staight line, and then out through the fan. Try to have the least amount of turns as this will greatly decrease your fans CFM's. It is probably impossible to have it completely inline as the size of the room will make this difficult, but do your best and it should work out well.

TGT

 

[MCMC]

The picture isn't exact...

The picture isn't exact...

The ducting is connected with the least amounts of turns or extra ducting. The duct that goes from the T to the fan is rigid duct since it doesn't move. I used the more flexible ducting to be able to raise and lower the lights. The rigid duct wouldn't be able to do that without lots of work. I kinda thought that the fan was more than enough to cool everything, even if it wasn't perfectly divided through the T. Both lights stay cool. I tried to make them exactly the same distance and tube length from the T.
The room is 4 feet deep and 7 feet wide.the reason why I have the lights pointing back is to cover 3.5 feet wide, lit by the side of the bulb, and 4 foot deep, lit from base to bulb tip. Get it? I just thought it would light the room more evenly. Here's a Pic... What do you think???

And Here Is a pic of the bag & wick setup...

 

[cobain420]

Room design B is better hands down, no question. Couple questions for you, just wondering...

What type of fan are you going to use? Do you have a link? What CFM is required for a setup like that?

My experience with fans is they are LOUD when you use high CFM models, will there be a large amount of noise at the end of the ducting, where it exits through the wall?

What diameter ducting are you going to use? 6 inch?

I have no experience using wicks, just plain old soil and watering the old fashioned way, sounds pretty cool though.

Good luck, looks like its going to be a killer flower room! Lets see some pictures when construction begins...

 

[GrassRoots]

Room B

 

[gimpy12]

oh wow never seen the wick setup before looking forward to see a journal.

 

[smokadepep]

definitely room B, it only creates one right angle in your ducting, and also spreads the light better i think, since your depth is the biggest side, it would be better to have the two side angles of the hood covering that, just a question of interest, in the first one were you crossing both the intake flow and the exhaust flow?

 

[skylined]

Third light arrangement option

Third light arrangement option

If you want to keep the reflectors turned the way you had them in the first drawing, you could set up something like this. It would require more twists and turns but would still work.

My art skillz are so l33t!



Peace,
~Skylined

 

[skylined]

MCMC - what arrangement and setup did you wind up building? Hope everything is going smoothly.

Peace,
~Skylined

 

[MCMC]

Figuring it all out...

Figuring it all out...

Room design B is better hands down, no question. Couple questions for you, just wondering...

What type of fan are you going to use? Do you have a link? What CFM is required for a setup like that?

MD Hydro Fans
I thought I got a 10 but I guess it is the 747 CFM 8 inch Vortex Brand
The vortex brand is DEFINITELY worth the extra money! Comes with a 10 year warranty. Way quieter than the other brands. I have it mounted to floor boards and you can feel slight vibration right above it but nothing to worry about.

What diameter ducting are you going to use? 6 inch?

It's 6-inch rigid from fan to the first "T". Everything else is 6-inch flexible duct.

in the first one were you crossing both the intake flow and the exhaust flow?

No, both lights are being sucked into 1 "T" connector then to the extraction fan. It wouldn't work like that. I'm not that much of a newbie

 

[skylined]

So I guess it was option C. Let's see some pics of the setup!! Also, I have I think a standard or w/e 6 inch extractor fan and it sounds like a fucking jet taking off. Is the vortex quieter than this?

~Skylined

 

[MCMC]

Some info on Fans noise, my opnions

Some info on Fans noise, my opnions

So I guess it was option C. Let's see some pics of the setup!! Also, I have I think a standard or w/e 6 inch extractor fan and it sounds like a fucking jet taking off. Is the vortex quieter than this?

~Skylined

Way quieter, Well, Quieter, but still not silent! It kinda does sound like a jet engine if you plug the 747 CFM vortex without any duct connected.
It's not nearly as loud if you have duct connected to it.
When you say an extractor fan, which type do you mean?
The vortex's are much quieter than the cheaper in-line like the active air. The in-line can fans are almost as good as the vortex. All of the in-line centrifugal fans sounded quieter to me compared to the "normal" bladed fans.
The squirrel cage fans are much, much louder than any of the fans I mentioned. Here is a link to a Squirrel Cage Fan
They move a lot of air, but they do it loud. I think the price you pay for the fan almost directly relates to the noise as well as the CFM rating.
Connecting ducts make a huge difference also. If you don't want to fork out money for another fan, consider building a simple wooden/plywood box. There are tons of plans on-line if you look.
My advise would be fork out the $150~$200 buck on the good stuff.
It is an investment, you get out what you put in. The 10 year warranty sold me.

 

[skylined]

Yeah next run is gonna be in a secret jardin tent and dammit it's going to be QUIET. So I'm thinking a centrifugal...I don't mind spending cash to get the good equipment. I've run a few grows before and it's a real pain in the balls when you are not an expert at DIY and you don't adequately plan and prepare. 10 year warranty sounds good.

~Skylined

 

[samba]

I'd still say go with B, better cooling...

 

[GrassRoots]

I agree, are you able to keep your temps alright with the current setup? Also, considering that you have 2 lamps you are essentially covering 3.5 feet by 4 feet with each one. Don't reflectors spread the light more towards the sides therefore making room B the better choice for light spread since you've got 4 feet to cover in that direction?

 

[CelebrityKush]

i agree that room b is a better setup. it is definitly better for air flow and cooling. and depending on the type of reflector you have it is probably better for lighting too. I have the hydrofarm reflectors, and that's how i set em up. the less curves in your ducting the better...also daisy chaining your light like in setup b is always better than splitting them with a "T" connector. because you won't always get the same amount of air flow through each one if they are split...


i like your diagrams...they are very helpful.

 

[Dozja_Budo]

Yeah room B