Need some help planning grow room

[Ineffable]

Hello all, I have been reading the IC forums for awhile now . Well my brothers and I have finally decided to start our own grow, and after a LOT of reading have decided to go hydro. We are leaning towards bubbler buckets but figured it would be best just to post specs on the area we are going to be using and see what you guys think would be the best set up. The space that will be used for flowering is 20ft x 11ft not including the "buffer" area around the edges we left to be able to move around. Its a crawl space so the ceiling is kind of weird. Below is a poorly drawn picture so you can get the idea.



The floor is dirt so we can dig into it to make a little more room for plants. Eventually we are going to just turn it into a full basement but not on the agenda atm so trying to keep digging to a minimum. We have about $1500 USD to spend on setting up the room. After a ton of research we have decided to jump right in with CO2 (yes I have read the posts about how its not recommend for newbs). Shooting for something around a 90 day start to finish time from clones. The 'goal' is for 15lbs if you guys think its possible. The reason we set it that high is because we know we will probably screw some of the crop up since its our first time indoors with hydro so better to aim high and fall short. As far as strains go we are thinking of setting up three different reservoirs so we can grow AK47, White Widow, and something else, feel free to chime in with suggestions. So what does everyone think?

 

[Guest]

Honestly?I think brothers growing together is a recipe not for failure but for disaster,friends growing together are merely a recipe for failure.I say this from a lot of experience on the subject,successful growers grow alone.

 

[TaxiBoy]

Soilman is right, Ineffable. I partnered with my brother on 2 outdoor grows and it was disastrous. Greed, egos, and plain ol' stubbornness got in the way of our otherwise close relationship, and it caused us to not speak to one another for a lengthy period of time. After parting ways in respect to growing, we eventually mended the fence and have since became close again. You should take the advice of those who have gone before you, in this case. Is it worth troubling your relationships with family for some bud (and what sounds like pure profit motive to me... Not much need for 15 elbows of fine grade buds unless you've got debts to pay or donations to your local compassion club to make.)?? As Soilman stated, it is very difficult to partner with someone on a successful grow. I'm not saying that it's impossible, because we all know exceptions to the rule, but in general it is easier all around to shoulder the weight (pun intended) yourself.

That said, I wish you and your brothers luck. Please take what I have said here with a grain of salt, as I am simply trying to pass my experiences on to others. In regards to the questions you asked, I think 15lbs is a lofty goal on a $1500 budget. Please do not forget to skimp on odor control, as that much flowering bud will be sure to attract attention. Perhaps a smaller scale grow that could net you as much as 4-5lbs is a more feasible starting point?

Cheers and goodluck!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's no way in hell you're gonna pull 15lb's off $1500 worth of equipment. A decent CO2 setup alone is going to run close to $1k...that means you'll have enough money left to buy 1k of light, a pump and maybe a fan or two for the room - that doesn't leave squat for nutes, plumbing, environmental control or any of the other mandatory things you WILL need.

If you're gonna partner up, you need to partner with some people that have some money...and make sure you discuss EVERYTHING with them before doing anything. Miscommunication is the biggest problem with partners, so make sure they know what's expected of them and what they should expect for their investment of time/money. There's absolutely no reason to have parters for a single room setup IME.

 

[cocktail frank]

shit, i spent almost 1500 bucks on 3400 watts of light.
grand total, with thousands of seeds and everything else i needed to grow (no co2) cost me upwards of $5000 +
i grow in soil too, hydro would be even more money.
especially with the prices on plumbing parts these days.
good luck with your pipe dreams!
Thoro

 

[Guest]

Your the first person to say its better to aim high and fall short. Wouldnt it be a better thing to do is aim low and land high?? That way when you do better than you previously thought possible you'll be happier. 15 lbs per run with 3 months total would probably require around 10,000 watts. With 10,000 watts you will need to run environmental controls such as fans, scrubbers, dehumidifier, CO2. The room would require being completely or almost completely sealed from outside air. The controls alone for this would run well over your budget.

My suggestion is to build a simple flood and drain bucket system from stuff you can purchase at Home Depot or the likes. Use 2 x 1000 watters and aim for around 2-4 lbs your first harvest. Get yourself a medium range inline fan which can be purchased w/ a carbon filter combo. GH or PBP nutes will run ya a little over $100 for the complete set. Depending on your water quality you may also have to look into a new source of water besides the tap. I think the R/O water filter would put you over budget.


I just setup a 8x12 room w/ 36 buckets and 4,000 watts of light. After all said and done i am somewhere around $3,000 +

 

[58FLH]

Depending on your motives 15 elbows is a lot. If you've decided to partner no matter what get the group together asign specific duties and divison of proceeds right up front. Another key concern would be consiquences for not performing your duties. Final step would be to designate a person in-charge over all. Maybe you'll also want to purchase a couple pairs of boxing gloves. Good luck

 

[Hempstress]

Hey, Tokinafaty, I am in the very first part of construction on a new room the size of yours, only I was thinking of 3000 w of light, mostly due to heat control. I want the electrical done first. We have an electrician lined up to run new circuits from the box directly above to the basement grow room. There are plenty of blank spaces in the box. How many amps do you have running into your room?

 

[Ineffable]

Sorry I re-red my post and I didnt make a few things clear. First the 15lb mark is just a number that we came up with guessing on the amount of plants we could fit in the room and the yield using C02. As far as the budget goes I ment it was for the hydro system itself, room has already been sealed, environmental controls (including C02) are already in place and the lighting has been ordered. All that is needed is the system itself. As far as it being profit motivated this isnt really true, we know we wont hit the 15lb mark and this is more or less a project that we have talked about together for awhile as something to do together before one of my brothers leaves to move to germany in November. Yes, we may get rid of an elbow or two to cover some of the money spent setting up the system but once again its not for the profit. We are pretty well off and as retarded as this may sound are just curious to see if we can do it. I know this forum probably sees a number people that come in and just think "well I will just grow a ton of weed and make a lot of money" but i can assure you thats not the case. I really do appreciate all the input so far though.

 

[Guest]

Hey, Tokinafaty, I am in the very first part of construction on a new room the size of yours, only I was thinking of 3000 w of light, mostly due to heat control. I want the electrical done first. We have an electrician lined up to run new circuits from the box directly above to the basement grow room. There are plenty of blank spaces in the box. How many amps do you have running into your room?

I have 100 amps set aside for my growing areas. Split into 2 - 50 amp circuits. Make sure this eletrcian you hired will not use the standard 12 AWG as you are gonna need something heavier. I went with 9AWG wiring which can handle a maxium of 64 amps and a continuous load of 19amps.

To Ineffable In that case $1500 will be plenty to setup a very large hydro system. I'd recommend you start with a multiflow setup or DWC.
Look at blunt69 magic trays, I am thinking of building one to try atleast once or twice.

 

[Guest]

Is there really a #9 AWG size wire?

 

[Guest]

I've seen 8 gauge and 10 gauge wire. Nine is a new one for me

 

[Guest]

Well apparently so I found a roll stashed away from ages ago.

 

[Guest]

I believe you. I've just never seen any 9AWG wire in the flesh. All I ever seen is even numbered wire sizes.

listed here though

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

[Guest]

Maybe it was 8. I'll read the jacket tonight just to make sure. I am starting to have doubts myself.