Thoughts on a 3-Stage Build

[Riever]

Hi, I've been lurking and reading for months doing research across the web and among friends. I'm small partner in a commercial grow operation, and I'm branching out on my own.

Our commercial warehouse operation is all Gavita 1000w HPS, other than a handful of T5s in the vegging rooms. I started down that road, believing I'd keep those same lights (because that's what all the established growers are saying) but my initial budget is small ($12,000 US) and I only have 8' ceilings.... so I began looking for alternative lighting that didn't involve as much heat. That's when I took the path to believing in CMH.

All of my grow area for initial operations will be just under 8' ceiling. It's my unfinished basement. My initial space, Phase 1, is a 13x13 flower-only room - I'll be vegging at our commercial facility to begin with. After that, I'll be able to build 2 additional 13x13 rooms, with a 26' long, 5'wide "hall" between the rooms (the Phase 1 first room is 5' from the stairs, the Phase 2 room and Phase 3 room will be 13x13 rooms flanking the hallway which runs alongside the stairs through the back of the basement).

Soo... at the point where I've come up with a decent beginning plan, I figure I'll throw out what I have and see just how far off-base I am, and what I should adjust...

Room Build:
Wall studs for the interior walls, sheetrock over them. Foamboard insulation glued on the outside (concrete) walls, framed with some studs, and sheetrocked as well. Sheetrock on ceiling. Am mudding and taping seams. Plan to use silicone and/or hvac foil tape on air leak problem spots. Was considering painting and using poly as a vapor barrier. Then read about elastomeric paint to seal the sheetrock. All of that lead to research on 11 mil Orca film (not 6 mil Panda) which would provide 1) a good seal as well as 2) a 94% diffuse reflective surface and 3) could easily be stretched and clamped in place using a technique I know from stretching poly on greenhouses, while 4) being relatively easy to clean up. White concrete epoxy on the floor. Possibly covered with Orca poly. Not sure about that last part.

Lights:
12 CMH fixtures. Leaning toward Cycloptics Greenbeams complete fixture. Though the price is about $125 steeper per fixture than the cost of a comparable Phantom Reflector/Ballast fixture. Bulbs will be Philips Agro 3100.

Controller/Other
Link4 624 controller. Titan Controls Helios light controller, TC CO2 regulator. CO2 tank, no burner for now. 25' of TC CO2 rain tube. 9K head of a 24K BTU mini-split. 4 16" wall-mount fans. 1 Floorstanding 16" fan, 1 16" floor-height pivot fan. 8" Active Air fan, Phresh Filter, Phat Muffler for air scrubbing.

Water/Medium/Nutes:
Ideal 1400 GPD chlorine filter. 40 gallon holding tank, aerator, heater, 1/4 HP utility pump and hose. 30 gallon mix tub for nutes. 1/4 HP utility pump and hose. Plants will have vegged for 8-9 weeks, and super-topped to be 2-2.5' wide and about 2.5' tall, and will be in 15 gallon pots of Advanced Nutrients coco/soil blend. Using the Sensi Bloom A+B, Bud Ignitor, and Big Bud from AN. DynaGrow Pro-Tekt, Earth Juice Hi-Brix Molasses. Have thought about an RO unit, but am on the bubble about it beyond the chlorine/choramine issue - am on "town water."

I'm sure I've left out more than a little. Any thoughts on the choices and possible ways to improve on them? I've been reading about UV B and the Far Red/Deep Red benefits, so I'm considering those things at least before going into the second harvest.

Riever

 

[Mikell]

You're on a budget and windowshopping Greenbeams and Orca film?

 

[Riever]

Yeah. Going with premium products might seem counter-intuitive at first, but I don't believe in doing things twice if I can help it. It's been my experience that doing any job right the first time (even if having to scale it down some) is better than doing it half-assed (on a larger scale) and having to redo/repurchase a lot of things later. Especially on important things, like in this case, lights and room reflectivity.

 

[Mikell]

Can't recall too many who replace flat white paint (the go-to surface from hobby growers to commercial) with Orca. Ignoring those who substitute money for experience/practicality.

Your attitude is more or less correct, just misguided. Luxury products do not equate to "doing it right the first time".

Doing it right means getting to harvest without breaking the bank or trading your independence for security (loans, favours, etc). Going out on your own is an entirely different game.

Greenbeams are a good investment but that attitude unregulated will wittle down the deepest of pockets. Unless you've got an in, 12 GB's is well over half your budget.

 

[mowood3479]

Only one 9kbtu head unit for ac? Or am I reading that wrong

 

[Riever]

Actually I got that wrong. I was originally going with an 18000 btu heat pump, splitting it into two rooms. I bumped the unit to 24000 btu, so it's half of that - a 12k btu head for that room (and the 2nd 12k btu head for the 2nd 13x13 flower room which will be beside it and share a common wall).

 

[Phaeton]

My first commercial garden had a $20,000 budget and I spent most all of it ($17,000) split between two bud rooms, CMH and HID, and a clone/veg table plus veg area.
Five years later the entire system was traded for a heart stent.

The new system of rooms ran $15,000 and the bud room portion is a single room of alternating LED and CMH. The overlap gives superior growth over either units used alone and the same growth as before uses 2000 less watts.
The LED brand went from 450 watt Hydrogrow to 400 watt Black Dog. The two have almost identical spectrum but the Hydrogrow company performs extremely poor in warranty fulfillment.
The CMH is 4000K 400 watt GE, it barely outmatched Phillips, either works just fine, the 315 watt bulb is likely also the same, just less watts.

I ran a 1600 watt light performance testing room to figure out real world growth rates before planning the rooms.
The clone and veg areas are still T5/LED combo's.

Ceiling paint comes with reflectivity numbers. anything over 85% is good and I can find 92% at the local specialty paint store, rivaling Orca at a third the cost.
For close in light curtains the Reflectix brand insulated mylar sandwich material is used. It comes in widths from 6" up to 48" with a puckered surface to avoid hot spots. The quarter inch thick material holds smooth curves able to redirect light from vertical fixtures to a wide parallel beam.

The CMH gives intense yellow/green spectrum lacking in LED fixtures as well as the red/blue for sugar production.
The LED directly feeds just the chlorophyll in the leaves with targeted spectrum, causing intense growth.
The combo is synergistic, the sum greater than the parts.
Mildly easier to cool, the LED heat can be taken directly out and the CMH heat has more room to dilute itself.

Alaska's prices run 20% higher than anywhere else making our budgets close enough to toss in my nickel's worth.

 

[Riever]

Putting the UV B and Deep Red/Far Red supplemental lighting on hold. From what I read, it appears that both help HPS lights most, and have marginal effect (if any) on the CMH lights I'll be using. Also going with a 100 gallon holding tank (instead of 40) for filtered water and a 100 gallon mix tub (instead of 30) - a relatively minor thing to mention, but I'll have 12 plants in the first flower room and 12 in the second one (being built in Phase 2) and we currently water with 2-3 gallons per 15 gallon plant/pot. The extra capacity will go toward any extra needs for the veg room (Phase 3) and/or handling any extra plants, like mothers.

Where I'm using "town water" - any thoughts on not going with a full RO unit vs using only a chlorine/chloramine filtering unit?

 

[Riever]

Can't recall too many who replace flat white paint (the go-to surface from hobby growers to commercial) with Orca. Ignoring those who substitute money for experience/practicality.

Your attitude is more or less correct, just misguided. Luxury products do not equate to "doing it right the first time".

I agree completely with those statements Mikell - luxury doesn't equate to doing it right, and I'm very practical in nearly all situations. I guess my worry about doing any part of the room "less than I should" has had me leaning toward Orca when I should be more than satisfied with the diffuse reflectivity of paint, and keep the "Orca money" in reserve for other things.

The Orca film had been winning out in the sense that I figured it would be a big help in sealing the room to make it airtight. But I should just focus on getting it airtight with tape and silicone and then use paint.

Doing it right means getting to harvest without breaking the bank or trading your independence for security (loans, favours, etc). Going out on your own is an entirely different game.

Greenbeams are a good investment but that attitude unregulated will wittle down the deepest of pockets. Unless you've got an in, 12 GB's is well over half your budget.

Again, I agree wholeheartedly. I already owe a few favors to friends who've helped me some. But I don't want that courtesy to turn into too many favours and "owing" a lot for them.

As for the fixtures, your comments and those of a few others had me reconsider the "worth" of the Greenbeams. I was already debating their worth, and I've come down on the side of practicality, and will "build" a more economical CMH fixture.

 

[Riever]

My first commercial garden had a $20,000 budget and I spent most all of it ($17,000) split between two bud rooms, CMH and HID, and a clone/veg table plus veg area.
Five years later the entire system was traded for a heart stent.

My setup is going to be pretty much the same situation as yours. It will be about $18-22K over 2 steps most likely, with 2 13x13 bud rooms, a 3rd 13x13 veg room, and a 5x13 cloning/early veg room... with the first step/phase including the install of the mini-split.

And ouch on the heart stent. I feel for ya, sounds like you bounced back pretty well thought... and it sounds like you might be as old as I am

The new system of rooms ran $15,000 and the bud room portion is a single room of alternating LED and CMH.

Damn. That makes your project (if it's about the same size) a lot more efficient $-wise than the first, and more efficient $-wise than mine. My wallet is already thanking you for taking the time to chime in...

The overlap gives superior growth over either units used alone and the same growth as before uses 2000 less watts.
The LED brand went from 450 watt Hydrogrow to 400 watt Black Dog. The two have almost identical spectrum but the Hydrogrow company performs extremely poor in warranty fulfillment.
The CMH is 4000K 400 watt GE, it barely outmatched Phillips, either works just fine, the 315 watt bulb is likely also the same, just less watts.

I ran a 1600 watt light performance testing room to figure out real world growth rates before planning the rooms.

And knowing that you do your homework on the lighting, it's obviously not just more efficient. it's much more effective. I'd looked at the cost of LED lights, and the mixed reviews on their effectiveness over CMH, and "wrote them off" early as just not being ready yet. I didn't, however, look into mixing them into a CMH/LED blend for increasing effectiveness as a hybrid solution.

And I agree on the issue of support and warranty fulfillment. Warranty is nothing if they don't back it up. What spectrums do the Black Dog lights cover?

The CMH gives intense yellow/green spectrum lacking in LED fixtures as well as the red/blue for sugar production. The LED directly feeds just the chlorophyll in the leaves with targeted spectrum, causing intense growth.
The combo is synergistic, the sum greater than the parts.
Mildly easier to cool, the LED heat can be taken directly out and the CMH heat has more room to dilute itself.

So did you order a specific setup for the LED lights, or did they come configured as you wanted? Hmm... are they configurable when you get them? I remember schematics on two sets of light spectrum for chlorophyll, but the nm ranges escape me at the moment. And I can see how the synergy of CMH and LED when done properly would have a gestalt-like effect making the whole greater than the sum.

From a heating/cooling standpoint, I take it from your comments about directly cooling the LEDs that they are fan/tube cooled. I was hoping to avoid the logistics of that, with having the sealed room and CO2. How difficult did that prove? It sounds like the logistics issues were worth it in yield and quality.

The clone and veg areas are still T5/LED combo's.

Hmm. From reading how there is a benefit to staying with the same array of lighting from clone/seedling through harvest, I'm curious why you chose T5 + LED for veg vs. CMH 4200 + LED?

Ceiling paint comes with reflectivity numbers. anything over 85% is good and I can find 92% at the local specialty paint store, rivaling Orca at a third the cost.

Thanks for the tip. This along with some reflection on comments/feedback from Mikell and others, I'm going to save my nickels and go with paint. And I can hit up the local Sherwin-Williams and see what they have for reflectivity in their ceiling paints.

For close in light curtains the Reflectix brand insulated mylar sandwich material is used. It comes in widths from 6" up to 48" with a puckered surface to avoid hot spots. The quarter inch thick material holds smooth curves able to redirect light from vertical fixtures to a wide parallel beam.

This is a first for me hearing about using Reflectix in that manner. I've used it before - the 15-16" wide stuff - over floor joists when retrofitting some heating with radiant in-floor 10-12 years ago. I've been mulling the idea of having movable curtains to "bring in the walls" when the plants are smaller, but was always pondering Orca for it. The Reflectix would no doubt be less expensive as well, no?

I also have a shit-ton of extra radiant Pex piping - 3 huge rolls of it - sitting in my garage, now that I think of it. Now I'm wondering if I could find a way to use it to augment cooling? lol

Alaska's prices run 20% higher than anywhere else making our budgets close enough to toss in my nickel's worth.

Absolutely. And I really appreciate it. Being able to stretch the budget AND make better informed purchases is a huge help to me.

 

[Riever]

Regarding the CMH Light Fixtures, Ballasts, and Bulbs...

Regarding the CMH Light Fixtures, Ballasts, and Bulbs...

This is where things stand at the moment....

BALLAST
I made calls today and am strongly looking at the Welthink ballasts that have been mentioned in another thread for about $85 a pop (delivered) when ordering 12 or more.

Beyond the price value (the Phantom ballast best price is about $155+ or so) it's also a 210w/315 watt switchable (and dimmable) ballast, which should allow for a sunrise/sunset like we currently do with our Gavita 1000w HPS lights at the big commercial facility.

The only competing thought for ballast is with the name brand Philips Advance IZTMH210315RLFM ballast. I've seen it for as much as $285, which was ridiculous. But recently found it for $126. It's also 210/315 switchable. Debating on whether the $40 price diff to have Philips-branded units, compared to the Welthink, is worth it.

Anyone have any good/bad/indifferent stories about Welthinks? Cycloptics used to bundle them with Greeenbeams but switched. Not sure if there is a story there or not... ?


REFLECTOR/HOOD
Current plan is pairing the ballast of choice with a less costly hood. Whatever the choice, it will be a vertical bulb-position hood that handles T12/T9 bulbs.

As much as I love the GB hood, it's just too damn pricey. Starts just under $300, might be able to get 15% off, and maybe free shipping. But that's still $255 or so.

So, the most economical reflector I've found in that category is the Phantom. Best price is in the $110 range each (delivered) when buying a dozen or more.

I've even considered going with a parabolic hood, like the Sun Vertizontal. It's 48" aluminum reflective hood which would certainly spread the light. I believe it's about the same cost as the Phantom, but it has a Mogul socket, so each one would require an adaptor, which adds about $25 to the cost of each, making them about $135.

Anyone have thoughts on another good hood/reflector to consider?

BULB
This is just for a flower room, so only looking at flowering bulbs. At the moment, this comes down to a choice between two versions of the Philips Elite Agro 3100 bulb - T12 or T9.

So far, I like the T9 version. It's compatible with T12 socket, but uses the PGZ18 base vs a PGZX18 base, and it has slightly better perfomance (120 Lm/W v 115) and 25% longer life to both the 5% life failure (12500 hrs v 10000) and 10% life failure (16000 hrs v 12000) points.

Also, it's single jacketed, which should allow for more UV B in the room (based on past research of any extra glass diffusing much of the UV B from lamps). Best pricing, shipped, is $69 each.

Any thoughts on other CMH bulbs?

INITIAL CONCLUSION (Best cost/value options so far)

Welthink Ballast/Phantom Option
Bulb - $69
Hood - $110
Ballast - $85
TOTAL: $264

Philips Ballast/Phantom Option
Bulb - $69
Hood - $110
Ballast - $126
TOTAL: $305​

The totals are close enough that going with the Welthink ballast option allows for 11 lights at about $80 bucks less than the cost of 10 lights going with the Philips ballast option.

Significant, but even more significant is comparing them to the best price at the moment for a Greenbeams complete package (when ordering 10 or more) which is $466 plus shipping (I'm still working on getting it to the $431 including shipping, but it's not looking likely).

That's $202+ more than the Welthink and $161+ more than the Philips. You can do the math and see that for the cost of 12 GBs, I could grab 18 Philips or 21 Welthinks.

That has me considering the possibility of pushing up the build of the 2nd 13x13 flower room to start immediately after the first room is complete. Why & How? Much of the other infrastructure for room 2 will be done - the mini-split head for the 2nd room will already be done, the Link4 624 will be ready for it, as is the CO2 control (built into the 624). The common wall is done, it Just needs one more wall, a door, the paint, and (of course) the lights.

Note also - this is for the CMH lights. Based on Phaeton's input, I'll most likely be augmenting the CMH lights with LED boxes.

 

[Phaeton]

The Hydrogrow and Black Dog are pretty much full spectrum minus the yellow and most of the green. Black Dog throws in some long wave UV and near infrared, not enough of either to make a difference. The six bands of Hydrogrow are essentially the same as the fifteen bands in Black Dog.
420 actinic blue and 380 UVA are used the same by the plant, as is 615 orange and 630 orange/red. 660 red is mostly used only if 730 red is present (see Emerson Effect) in the same quantities.
Ratio's of the colors are what drives the plant, the basic six colors in the correct ratio's will do fine, more bands only help if the light is not duplicating functions.

Far Red used alone is a "trigger" frequency appearing in nature in the hour before during and after sunrise and sunset. The plant uses this as a signal for morning and night. The slow reaction catalyst used in Florigen production require two hours of darkness to activate, this delay ensures a big thundercloud does not initiate flowering.
The Far Red signal activates the catalyst immediately, the net result is two hours less dark required each day for the flowering cycle to take place.
I use BML for this, they have four foot LED bars of 730 nm Far Red for $300 each. I grow in rows eight feet per section so two of these alongside the Black Dogs and CMH covers five plants. Just passed the first full year of using Far Red and reduced dark.

The T5 and LED for clones are the same as used for sidelights in the veg and bud rooms. Just the overheads are missing. I say clone/veg but the veg part is only establishing the roots, then it spends a week before transfer to the veg room.
CMH at a distance was standard for many years and clones rooted and grew quickly. The T5 and passive LED grow a more compact plant at a slower pace, taking six to eight weeks before transplant. This longer time frame fits my schedule better and does not seem to affect veg growth rates.
The actual veg room is the same row style as the bud room with 1350 watts of LED overhead and 1200 watts of T5/LED side lighting, CMH does not help veg growth as much as it does the buds and is not included.
The increases by CMH in the bud room may be influenced by the heat radiated as longwave infrared. Wavelengths longer than 850 nm stimulate cell division in growing root and branch tips.

I tend toward the technical in growing, but within limits it does help.

 

[timmur]

Hey Riever. I'm watching with great interest your build out. I'm doing something very similar, but have made a few different choices than you. I'll be especially interested in the performance of the Phantoms. IMO, the Greenbeams that you originally planned were the better choice. They are tough on the budget though!

I too like Phaeton's idea of mixing LEDs. Of course if you're on a budget it seems like they would break the bank too even as supplemental lighting. COBs are where I'd

You didn't mention medium. Are you soil or hydro? I chose RDWC as I wanted the fastest veg growth possible as I will not be doing a separate veg room. I actually think of this a benefit of CMH over HPS. I know some people actually veg under HPS and get good results, but CMH just has a better spectrum for all stages of growth.

Edit: My bad. You did mention soil/coco! Gotta learn how to read!

How much light do you plan to deliver to the canopy? Do you have a target DLI in mind? My set up actually pushes the limits regarding light as I'm trying to maximize yield on a square foot basis. Stop by my thread when you get a chance. I'm always looking for feedback.

 

[timmur]

-snip-
Just passed the first full year of using Far Red and reduced dark.
-snip-

How much of a reduction in darkness using the far red? Were you able to maintain yields? Thanks. Sorry for the thread jack.

 

[Chunkypigs]

I suppose every basement is different. if you own it and will stay forever building the walls might be desirable but you are insulating yourself away from an awesome heat sink that those concrete walls supply for free.

running tents with the existing concrete basement as a lung room might save you money and lots of time and work building rooms. my two cents, good luck!

 

[Phaeton]

How much of a reduction in darkness using the far red? Were you able to maintain yields? Thanks. Sorry for the thread jack.

All the research shows two hour gains possible using far red at dusk.
I give it an hour and a half, 13.5/10.5, and this works on both sativa and indica so far.
The yields did not change even though the extra one and a half hours a day add up to two weeks of extra light at the end of a 11 week bud cycle. This may be from me reducing the intensity levels from 950 umol to 800 umol and the temperatures from 85 F to 82 F.
Reducing the intensity and the temperature took a lot of stress off the plants. Not a single hermie this year using the same clones. All without losing yield.

I was going for increased yields but am getting too old and am really happy with where this ended up, losing the hermie problem is the same as increased yields as I can let them flower for the full time. In the past one of the sativa dominate strains would make so many seeds I would harvest early. That no longer happens.

The 4000 watt bud room uses 164 watts of 730 nm Far Red.
50 watts from BMI (4' bar), 79 watts from Phillips (6 floodlights), and 36 watts from ILS (4' bar).
The bud room is 'L' shaped and the floods take it around the corner. Intensity is less important than even coverage.

 

[timmur]

All the research shows two hour gains possible using far red at dusk.
I give it an hour and a half, 13.5/10.5, and this works on both sativa and indica so far.
The yields did not change even though the extra one and a half hours a day add up to two weeks of extra light at the end of a 11 week bud cycle. This may be from me reducing the intensity levels from 950 umol to 800 umol and the temperatures from 85 F to 82 F.
Reducing the intensity and the temperature took a lot of stress off the plants. Not a single hermie this year using the same clones. All without losing yield.

I was going for increased yields but am getting too old and am really happy with where this ended up, losing the hermie problem is the same as increased yields as I can let them flower for the full time. In the past one of the sativa dominate strains would make so many seeds I would harvest early. That no longer happens.

The 4000 watt bud room uses 164 watts of 730 nm Far Red.
50 watts from BMI (4' bar), 79 watts from Phillips (6 floodlights), and 36 watts from ILS (4' bar).
The bud room is 'L' shaped and the floods take it around the corner. Intensity is less important than even coverage.

That's what my research indicated, but I'm glad you confirmed with real world results. Thanks again Phaeton! Your real world experience is invaluable!

 

[Riever]

Sorry for the absence, I've been busy ordering, building, revising, and now growing, lol Stopped by to look up some help on a few things, and figured I needed to at least pop in and give a quick update...

Hey Riever. I'm watching with great interest your build out. I'm doing something very similar, but have made a few different choices than you. I'll be especially interested in the performance of the Phantoms. IMO, the Greenbeams that you originally planned were the better choice. They are tough on the budget though!my thread when you get a chance. I'm always looking for feedback.

Well, you'll be proud of this then - after a great conversation with Flip and Jeff at Cycloptics, I bit the bullet and went with the Greenbeams. I knew they were the best and I didn't want to mess around with "second best" when it comes to anything in the groow room, let alone the lights.

I too like Phaeton's idea of mixing LEDs. Of course if you're on a budget it seems like they would break the bank too even as supplemental lighting.

That went "off the menu" when I went with GB's. Spent all my lighting budget and more on 12 Greenbeams in my 13x13 room. According to Flip, 12-16 fixtures is the sweet spot range for it. I did 12 to start.

You didn't mention medium. Are you soil or hydro? I chose RDWC as I wanted the fastest veg growth possible as I will not be doing a separate veg room. I actually think of this a benefit of CMH over HPS. I know some people actually veg under HPS and get good results, but CMH just has a better spectrum for all stages of growth.

Edit: My bad. You did mention soil/coco! Gotta learn how to read!

LoL - yeah, stayed with the soil/coco blend because that is what my previous partners had chosen and wanted to keep continuity.

How much light do you plan to deliver to the canopy? Do you have a target DLI in mind? My set up actually pushes the limits regarding light as I'm trying to maximize yield on a square foot basis. Stop by my thread when you get a chance. I'm always looking for feedback.

I need to get back into the thread and study your DLI approach and refresh myself about it. Flip sent a couple of great graphics and micromole numbers to support the amount of lights needed for the room I built. That's where the 12-16 range came from (for the number of GB's). When I get a bit more time, I'll shuffle through his e-mails and see what those numbers are exactly and post them.

I just went and read your thread before reading this one and caught up on what I've missed in the last month or so, lol... Excellent tuff, love the scientific approach you have, and will chime in soon enough... just not a lot of time at the moment.

Just some more info...

I went with RadiantGuard (97% diffuse reflectivity) vs Orca (which is still great, but is a few points less according to Jeff and Flip at Cycloptics). For those who crunch budget numbers like me, the RadiantGuard was $149 delivered to my doorstep for a 1000 sf roll (4' x 250'). And it was great to work with.

For the walls, I halted my contractor buddy and his desire to go with sheetrock. Ended up with both interior walls and the ceiling 'rocked. But did plywood, with no insulation on the outer walls (against the concrete) because I wanted to test it without insulation, and see how it helped/hurt the room environment.

The room has a 12000 BTU head from a Daikin 39000 BTU 3-head capacity heat pump inverter.

4 16" wall fans - 2 mounted high up, sweeping across the lights and ballasts at the 7'6" ceiling height. 2 mounted about 6' high, angled down, sweeping tops of canopies. 2 16" Floor Pedastal fans - sweeping about 2-25' height, keeping the underside and pots "aired out"

8" inline fan on top of a 8"*22" Black Ops can - filtering the aroma so it doesn't fill my house.

Titan Controls Helios 12 light box. Using just the first 4 plugs as "Room 1" and ran power strips from them - the ballasts plug into the strips, the amp load is so low for the 315w ballasts, it's not an issue.

CO2 with regulator controlled by solenoid. Went with a big ol' 50 cubit footer - heavy as hell for two of us to manhandle, but the price was right compared to using 20 cf cans. And I didn't have the budget for a burner either. And I didn't want to add to the temps of the rooms if I didn't need to.

All of it is run with "Room 1" of the Link4 624 2-room controller box.

Lots of fun details and build stories I can add... but they'll have to wait. Am glad I swung by and was able to catch up some tho.

Again, I appreciate everyone's feedback in here, and your posts throughout the site on various topics. This forum, and you guys, have been key to making things as good as they have been so far...

My room, from when I first "plunked" some plant into it... the "girls" were not really happy that day, they had to sit for a couple days in my living room while I finished up, but they're happy now

 

[Riever]

Can't edit yet I guess - but ...
* the pedestal fans sweep 2-2.5 feet... not 25!
* CO2 is cubic feet, not "cubit" lol
* my apologies for the sideways pic and not having them size right in the post - my first pics, didn't know exactly what to do

 

[Riever]

I suppose every basement is different. if you own it and will stay forever building the walls might be desirable but you are insulating yourself away from an awesome heat sink that those concrete walls supply for free.

running tents with the existing concrete basement as a lung room might save you money and lots of time and work building rooms. my two cents, good luck!

Definitely heeded this advice Chunky... I halted my contractor buddy about insulating it. Just used "thin" studs - ripped 2x6s in half, and put 3/8" plywood on them. And I will definitely just be using that approach for all future walls and even ceiling, because I can hang anything I want wherever I want, and it will hold. Unlike with sheetrock.