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Some Advice for 9x13 automated room setup
- Thread starter cosminc
- Start date
cosminc said:
Nothing personal, you seem like a nice, polite person, but most threads like this where a newish user comes on and asks for a ton of advice, claiming unlimited funds yet possessing seemingly no knowledge, usually turn out to be either trolls or idiots with pipe dreams. If you are sincere about this, it's better to just say what your budget range is in Dollars, Euros, Rubles - whatever. You'll find that you'll get a lot more responses if you do.
More information is needed. Will this entire space be devoted to flowering, or will it have to contain your whole grow-op? What is the climate like where you live? Climate is an important consideration and design component. Describe the situation where the room is located and to what degree stealth, security, odor control, etc. are concerns.
First thing you need to do is get your infra-structure all in. You need to install an electrical supply (call an electrician out and see what it will cost to have a 60 amp -100 amp sub-panel installed), then you're going to need water, especially if you want to be automated, so you need to get water to your room.
PC
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No, do it yourself. Growing weed isn't easy, get that out of your head right now. Problem with an automated room is, where is your fail-safe? Think about it like this, if your automation stops and all of a sudden you have to take care of everything, you'll be SOL because you don't know shit.
DeebeeAhhSee
Member
Mr Celsius said:
Ain't that the truth. This shit is a challenge to say the least...
Ok, sorry for the lack of information 
Ok the room will be used for the whole grow op, the climate is warm and humid but it will be in a sealed room with access to water,the room is approx 9ftx13ft and about 10ft high I would like to know the best light setup and which wattage would be best, I am still trying to decide what cooling method i will use, basically I have a room that i would like to turn into an op and I have been reading but everybody has their own opinion of what works but i also have been noticing that alot of people are building their own stuff to use. I just don't want to make any mistakes in setting up the room and want the best advice anyone can offer and like I said I have no problem paying for the best equipment upfront instead of trial and error and wasting more money. I was thinking about (10-12) 600w digital over (6-7) 1000w digi, I want to have it all from the best water cooler for the res to CO2. I have seen some automated controllers that claim to control everything but hard to find a review of them. Basically i want to pay for the best equipment and not have to worry about anything after its all fine tuned. I would like to know recommendations for all items from, fan type-brand, to automated controllers, i have also seen the ph nanny and was wondering if it was worth looking into. i just want some advice from the best of the best so that i can move in the right direction on the first try. Thanks
P.S. thanks for all the input I'm just trying to avoid trial and error mistakes and get it right the first time
Ok the room will be used for the whole grow op, the climate is warm and humid but it will be in a sealed room with access to water,the room is approx 9ftx13ft and about 10ft high I would like to know the best light setup and which wattage would be best, I am still trying to decide what cooling method i will use, basically I have a room that i would like to turn into an op and I have been reading but everybody has their own opinion of what works but i also have been noticing that alot of people are building their own stuff to use. I just don't want to make any mistakes in setting up the room and want the best advice anyone can offer and like I said I have no problem paying for the best equipment upfront instead of trial and error and wasting more money. I was thinking about (10-12) 600w digital over (6-7) 1000w digi, I want to have it all from the best water cooler for the res to CO2. I have seen some automated controllers that claim to control everything but hard to find a review of them. Basically i want to pay for the best equipment and not have to worry about anything after its all fine tuned. I would like to know recommendations for all items from, fan type-brand, to automated controllers, i have also seen the ph nanny and was wondering if it was worth looking into. i just want some advice from the best of the best so that i can move in the right direction on the first try. Thanks P.S. thanks for all the input I'm just trying to avoid trial and error mistakes and get it right the first time
Here's a real good thread about ventillation.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=80395&page=1&pp=15&highlight=manifold+system
PC
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=80395&page=1&pp=15&highlight=manifold+system
PC
Ok, first off, you need to be able to walk in your room.
Second, 600's put of less heat then 1000's (duhh). Each 600w luminates a 3'x3' area, so a 6'x12' area (smaaaaall walking area) will be 8 - 600w's.
Buy Sun System 2 hoods (Sun Light supply is the company to builds them, most hydro stores have them). Air cool your hoods. So you'll need 3000btu of A/C per 1000w. You'll have 4800w, lets call it 5k. So you'll need a 15000 btu A/C, at least.
Have a large carbon filter and fan to scrub the air. Have your hoods intake air from outside the room and then shoot it to another area outside the room again. Use metal tape (lowes/home dePot) to seal all the air cracks in the hoods.
You need a Co2 burner and sensor (to control the ppm). The burner is going to run off of propane; either pipe it in from your home or go buy bbq tanks. Set your Co2 ppm at 1500.
Buy Hortilux bulbs. Buy Lumatek ballasts. Make sure there is absolutely no light leaks in the room. Line the room with either mylar or panda poly. I like panda poly because it does not create "hot spots" (to much like focused).
As for the system that grows your plants. If you're going soil, read my signature "Organics for Beginners" or look at ebb n' flow buckets. PM me if you have further question. I just gave you 3 years worth of experience and advice in 5 minutes, be happy.
Second, 600's put of less heat then 1000's (duhh). Each 600w luminates a 3'x3' area, so a 6'x12' area (smaaaaall walking area) will be 8 - 600w's.
Buy Sun System 2 hoods (Sun Light supply is the company to builds them, most hydro stores have them). Air cool your hoods. So you'll need 3000btu of A/C per 1000w. You'll have 4800w, lets call it 5k. So you'll need a 15000 btu A/C, at least.
Have a large carbon filter and fan to scrub the air. Have your hoods intake air from outside the room and then shoot it to another area outside the room again. Use metal tape (lowes/home dePot) to seal all the air cracks in the hoods.
You need a Co2 burner and sensor (to control the ppm). The burner is going to run off of propane; either pipe it in from your home or go buy bbq tanks. Set your Co2 ppm at 1500.
Buy Hortilux bulbs. Buy Lumatek ballasts. Make sure there is absolutely no light leaks in the room. Line the room with either mylar or panda poly. I like panda poly because it does not create "hot spots" (to much like focused).
As for the system that grows your plants. If you're going soil, read my signature "Organics for Beginners" or look at ebb n' flow buckets. PM me if you have further question. I just gave you 3 years worth of experience and advice in 5 minutes, be happy.
Y
yamaha_1fan
KIS
Keep It Simple
The only reason for an automated room is lack of human presence. Basically growers who set up a grow far from or travel alot and the grow can not be monitored every couple days.
IMO you need to physically check things. Pump may fail, timer may fail etc. I always have the dumbest shit happening. I use two reses per table and they link together by a 1 1/2 " tube. Twice I have had stuff clog the hole linking the reses causing a flood. This also meant the plants werent getting watered.
Point is every room is different, and has it own unique qwirks.
Put the watering on a timer, lights on a timer and adjust your nutes manually.
I would suggest using tables. Pretty fool proof, can handle SOG or SCROG, most mediums, easy to set up, can run E&F or drip.
I would rethink the digital lights. They seem to be hit and miss on quality, where as the older magnetic style is a tried and trued performer. If you do go digital, buy an extra one as a backup.
As far as 600's putting out less heat than a 1000, yeah. But you need more lights. so 3000 watts of lights is going to be 3000 watts of heat no matter how you get there. Unless I am missing something.
Maybe you should figure out your style of growing before you decide on 600 VS 1000. 1000's have more penetration and are needed in certain grows where you have big bushy plants.
I havent looked at alot of controllers but I prefer to use seperate controllers. they give you more control IMO
Keep It Simple
The only reason for an automated room is lack of human presence. Basically growers who set up a grow far from or travel alot and the grow can not be monitored every couple days.
IMO you need to physically check things. Pump may fail, timer may fail etc. I always have the dumbest shit happening. I use two reses per table and they link together by a 1 1/2 " tube. Twice I have had stuff clog the hole linking the reses causing a flood. This also meant the plants werent getting watered.
Point is every room is different, and has it own unique qwirks.
Put the watering on a timer, lights on a timer and adjust your nutes manually.
I would suggest using tables. Pretty fool proof, can handle SOG or SCROG, most mediums, easy to set up, can run E&F or drip.
I would rethink the digital lights. They seem to be hit and miss on quality, where as the older magnetic style is a tried and trued performer. If you do go digital, buy an extra one as a backup.
As far as 600's putting out less heat than a 1000, yeah. But you need more lights. so 3000 watts of lights is going to be 3000 watts of heat no matter how you get there. Unless I am missing something.
Maybe you should figure out your style of growing before you decide on 600 VS 1000. 1000's have more penetration and are needed in certain grows where you have big bushy plants.
I havent looked at alot of controllers but I prefer to use seperate controllers. they give you more control IMO
Dude yamaha, I just wrote the longest, most beautiful post to refute your 1000's vs 600's... then I had to open a link on accident and it wiped my text.
Maybe later when I'm not feeling so demoralized.
Maybe later when I'm not feeling so demoralized.
Y
yamaha_1fan
Mr Celsius said:
LOL, I am laughing with you, not at ya.
I feel your pain. Using this proxy server does weird things. When I start a post and hit backspace, it goes to the previous page. or open a link from email and it decides to use one of my open browsers
I am open to hear your comments on 600 VS 1000. In my defense I did write "Unless I am missing something." I was prepared for some technical arguement that 5 600's = 3000W would somehow be cooler than 3 1000's=3000w due to more surface area, spread out more, different hoods etc.
I await your response
W
Whatever
It doesn't really matter which...just total wattage. 600's are better for stationary (no mover) growing IMO. 1000's will still work fine and less up front equipment expense.yamaha_1fan said:
Good luck...lol...If you've never setup a large room you've got a lot of research work cut out for you. You can have it down correctly on paper but real world is a different story sometimes due to various factors.
yamaha_1fan said:LOL, I am laughing with you, not at ya.
I feel your pain. Using this proxy server does weird things. When I start a post and hit backspace, it goes to the previous page. or open a link from email and it decides to use one of my open browsers
I am open to hear your comments on 600 VS 1000. In my defense I did write "Unless I am missing something." I was prepared for some technical arguement that 5 600's = 3000W would somehow be cooler than 3 1000's=3000w due to more surface area, spread out more, different hoods etc.
I await your response
Ok, lets try this again...
Yes, 600's are more spread out and dissipate heat more evenly so they can be closer to the canopy, thus have more light intensity and have a more even luminescence.
Lumen per watt on a 1000 is 145
Lumen per watt on a 600 is 146.5
There is less heat and less electricity used by 600's.
Another reason he should use his 600's in his room is the room dimensions. If he wants to actually be able to walk, then he needs to only cover a 6' wide area, which is perfect for 600's. If he used 1000's he would only have 1' of walkway
I think I had other stuff earlier today, I forgot some of it... damn memory.
without going to extremes, Is there any such thing as too much light? disregard the cost/heat/electricity issues. how much is too much light? it seem to me that if one can afford it and keep the temps down, you might as well use 1Ks instead of 600s. kind of faded so just ber with me lol
Pharma Geddon
Member
In the 80's big businesses like electricity suppliers were computerised but for small to medium sized firms it was 'shall we/shan't we?' When they called in an IT consultant they usually started by getting the office procedures suitable for computerisation. Often the firm became so much more efficient that they didn't need to computerise for another year.
A long winded way of saying that whatever system you choose should suit the automation rather than have the 'manual' system you prefer and then try to automate it.
At some point there will be human intervention,cloning,harvesting etc. So what else can the guy do while there? eg. if using passive hydro they can mix up a new res so no need for a pH/ec controller.
You will make mistakes and you will buy equipment that ends up not being needed, it's part of the game. Keep everything as flexible as possible until you have the logistics sorted. eg. Bato buckets work fine but after 1 grow with them you will, in all probability, realise that you could do with altering the number of buckets and/or their location but they're now plumbed in, bummer.
google Cleware. They do usb temp/humidity sensors which are useful for a manual grow and when ready you can add their mains sockets so the computer will turn things on and off at set times, temps and humidity.
Finally, don't get obsessed on squeezing out the last gram from the grow. A reliable automated grow (or dumbed down manual grow) can be easily repeated in a 2nd, 3rd or 4th location if the man hours needed are low enough. My passive hydro set up is averaging less than 1 minute per plant to mix nutes and hand feed them.
A long winded way of saying that whatever system you choose should suit the automation rather than have the 'manual' system you prefer and then try to automate it.
At some point there will be human intervention,cloning,harvesting etc. So what else can the guy do while there? eg. if using passive hydro they can mix up a new res so no need for a pH/ec controller.
You will make mistakes and you will buy equipment that ends up not being needed, it's part of the game. Keep everything as flexible as possible until you have the logistics sorted. eg. Bato buckets work fine but after 1 grow with them you will, in all probability, realise that you could do with altering the number of buckets and/or their location but they're now plumbed in, bummer.
google Cleware. They do usb temp/humidity sensors which are useful for a manual grow and when ready you can add their mains sockets so the computer will turn things on and off at set times, temps and humidity.
Finally, don't get obsessed on squeezing out the last gram from the grow. A reliable automated grow (or dumbed down manual grow) can be easily repeated in a 2nd, 3rd or 4th location if the man hours needed are low enough. My passive hydro set up is averaging less than 1 minute per plant to mix nutes and hand feed them.
Shcrews said:
The plant cannot use more then 75w/per square foot unless using Co2 with a relative humidity of 50% or more. So yes, there is a thing as too much light, its just a waste of electricity and money. Normal recommended amount is at least 50w/per square foot.
I think they're expensive but effective... if you can have an intellidosing system that keeps ph in check, a water timer on an RO filter and the system also doses nutrients, then you could get away with rarely checking on your op.
You'll want to checkout the "Lucas forumla", as that would be easiest for an intellidose system to handle.
Thing is, if you have a bug outbreak and you're not there, your fucked. I've seen spider mites take over an entire plant in less then a week.
You'll want to checkout the "Lucas forumla", as that would be easiest for an intellidose system to handle.
Thing is, if you have a bug outbreak and you're not there, your fucked. I've seen spider mites take over an entire plant in less then a week.
