Tiger's Den 4 - Buildout

[muddy waters]

NT, why have you decided to abandon urine? Did it not work out well for you? I'd like to know a little bit more about your experiences... I saw what you posted more than a year back, and I was looking forward to hearing how it went. Drop me a line if ya prefer not to clutter your thread.

Cab is coming along great, btw. I am officially jealous.

 

[bounty29]

Wow stuff is really coming together. Looks great NiteTiger, when are you planning on getting plants in there?

 

[Teh_Baker]

All I can say is OMFG. I wish I had a basement so that I could build a setup like that. You got things going on in there NT. Awesome!!! And I have to say that I love those butterfly flaps in your cooltube. I would have never thought about that, thanks for the idea, dont mind if I steal it from ya do you?

Teh_Baker

 

[NiteTiger]

Wow, everyone's stopping by

Hiya all

That is a great system for the AC! How much condensation does it emit when running? I suppose you can use this to water your plants.

What did you use for the glass tube for your cooltube?

Still learning on the condensation. So far it hasn't been anything that couldn't be collected with a small dish tub.

That glass is a Hurricane Lamp from Michael's Arts and Crafts. $5.99 :wink:

NT, why have you decided to abandon urine? Did it not work out well for you?

It wasn't that it didn't work out, it was more an issue of collection and storage. It worked freaking beautifully, just a bitch to collect and store.

Wow stuff is really coming together. Looks great NiteTiger, when are you planning on getting plants in there?

As soon as everything is done and we get at least a one cycle burn in, plants go in!

I would have never thought about that, thanks for the idea, dont mind if I steal it from ya do you?

Not at all

Updates soon...

 

[DimeBag65]

The room sure is coming along nicely NiteTiger, you are doing a very fine job indeed! Really looking forward to watching it when you have some ladies stretching out in there

i will have to stay tuned for your grow and enjoy the new room!

 

[HeadyPete]

Great, NT, one more question.... What are the dimensions of that glass?

I am having a problem with my reflector, a 24" batwing type. As it stands, I have to modify the socket holding bracket and move it in under the hood to make is less wide, I literally have a half inch of space on either side. I don't know if I could fit a cooltube in that space and orient the bulb the way I want to, so it is perpendicular to the wide grow space, thus throwing it's light properly in the space.

I will try the mod, but I fear that temps will get up there with a 600W hps. I am now dry running the mom/clone chamber and veg chamber (all CFL) and checking heat, but I need to mount and run the hps to complete the testing.

Fortunately I have some time before I need to bloom, but I would feel much better if I knew this all worked in advance.

Hoping you have great results!

Cheers.

 

[NiteTiger]

Heya Heady!

I'm planning on putting batwing style reflectors on my cool tubes as well. I haven't gotten the reflectors yet, but going by the one I had with a previous light, I know what you're talking about.

The type of socket mounting I had on my old batwing was basically a metal plate with a hole cut in it for the socket. That wouldn't work in the middle of a cooltube, just for the simple fact of blocking airflow.

So, what I'm planning on doing is removing any mounting hardware that comes with the wing, and fashioning my own from the same aluminum flat I'm using to make the socket mounting brackets. The plan is to hook the ends of the flat, like a sideways "J", and hook it over the front top edge of the glass and the end of the reducer. That will give my a nice solid full length mounting surface, as well as making the mounting of the chains sturdier.

Did that help?

Hiya DimeBag, glad you like it

 

[NiteTiger]

Update:

Here's where we are now. Not quite done (overslept ) yet, but we're very very close.

Here's the pics!

Poly's up. Yes, we're recycling it, so you do see some tears and holes. Don't worry, we're covering those up :wink:

Flower Pod

Veg Pod

Here's a nice extra we added that wasn't in the original design. A nice, out for the way, easy to wire in Ballast shelf

Had a great idea for the roof. The floor joists didn't line up where we wanted our ventilation to hang, nor our lights. We strung up some 1/2 in hardware cloth, now we can hang all sorts of stuff anywhere we need to So, if we get those monster buds, it'll be no problem to string em up

Over at the cool tube station, things are going quite well. Here's our brackets attached to our sockets.

Wrapping things up as we speak!

 

[Teh_Baker]

Ya got so many great ideas NT, I love watching your builds, cause I get so many ideas from you. You said that your DIY cooltube is built out of hurricane globes you got from Michaels Craft right? I wanted to know what size they are, at the ends and at the narrowest part of the pinch. The only hurricane globes I could find in town were from WallyWorld, and they are a little too small(too restrictive for airflow). Course I only paid just over a dollar/piece for them. If I could find some nice big ones like you got I think it would really help me in cooling my grow area. Thanks for the help NT, and keep up all the good work.

Teh_Baker

 

[NiteTiger]

Further Update:

Ventilation system is in.

Veg Pod

Flower Pod

Still going, but much slower today since I'm working.

 

[HeadyPete]

Hey NT thanks for the info. Boy these things just take way more time than you imagine due to all the "little things" eh? I'm almost there myself.

Rooms are looking great. I wish I could just build em out in the open like that and not worry about hiding the gear. It would have been done a long time ago....the other thing is I want to be able to take out the centre dividing wall, gear and stuff and convert it to a regular storage closet if the need arises, so I had to design it with that possibility in mind. So far so good.

Basically I want a glass globe 6" in diameter and long enough to cover my 600 bulb. I could also get a small enclosed hood with glass and mod it for 6"" cooling pipe.......possibly future project.....

For now, I measured and marked my batwing so the socket bracket is in toward the centre more. I drilled new holes for the screws and nuts and cut a slot for the vertical section of socket bracket to fall through the reflector to hold the socket. It fits in my space now, and the bulb is oriented so the natural throw of the bulb covers the length of the space.

Almost ready to hang the sun and fire her up! Gotta find some chain.

At least the mom part is ready for some beautiful baby girls coming soon...

Good luck with the big finish!

 

[NiteTiger]

The globes I use are hourglass shaped, so it's tough to get a good measure. If I were to measure around the middle, it'd be about 6 inches. But, at the neck, where I mount it to the cool tube, it's about 4". If I wanted to match it evenly on the base, it'd probably be right around 5".

But, I can tell you it is long enough for my 1kw bulb :wink:

And yeah, finishing touches are a bitch LOL You just never remember how many there are

 

[HeadyPete]

Hmmm, good info. My issue is, "why did I spend the money on a 6" fan, 6" ducting, 6" everything only to reduce it down to 4" somewhere"? It defeats the purpose of the 6" system (effectively making it a 4" vent system). I could have saved the dough and gone 4" vortex, ducting, etc.

The gro store lady tried to sell me a scrubber on sale for $70 but it was 4". Good deal but too small. I tried to explain the bottleneck problem to her but she didn't get it.

It's like if I put in 2" water pipe everywhere then reduce it at the end to 3/4", I have restricted my whole system right there.

If I can find a straight 6" cylinder glass globe, then game on. If not, I think I need an enclosed hood small enough to fit in (HydroSun sells one that is 21"x21") and cut 6" holes and mount 6" fittings on the sides, not the ends.

Today I fire up the hps and really see what we are dealing with here. Perhaps the vortex will just take that heat out right away and all will be good.

Yah the details.....It's amazing how tight all my tolerances are and how everything just fits in there where it's supposed to....part planning, part design, part dumb-ass luck!

I'm not sure about posting pix yet....don't know how I feel about that yet....hmmmm...

Have a great weekend NT. thanks for the show.

 

[NiteTiger]

I know what you mean about ducting things down.

My problem came after I got my fan, and realized I couldn't find 8" flex duct Then, I couldn't find any cool tube-able glass in a straight 8 in, so I had to neck down a bit farther.

Still though, even necked down, I don't know that a 4" would pull the same. Once you figure in the duct run (and associated twists and turns), plus the fliter, the necked down 8" may only be pulling the full rating of a 4", but a 4" in the same situation isn't pulling its full rating.

Now I'm in the position of being able to rerun all my ducting in 8" (still haven't found 8: flex though), but I figure, why bother? The setup I've got now is plenty for cooling my 2 1k lights, even speed controlled down. Plus, it's nice to know that if I wanted to add something, I could.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, y'know?

 

[HeadyPete]

Yah good philosophy!

For 6" and bigger you usually need to go to an industrial/commercial hvac contractor or supplier. A little more specialized, and also might arouse suspicion. I got my 6" spiral pipe and 8" end cap for my scrubber from a local hvac place. All other fittings and insulated flex pipe was from home depot. Rigid duct is best, anyway. I used it for 95% of the system.

I went 6" for that exact same reason, that I probably only need a 4", but better to have the larger system work less to achieve what the 4' does at full. It was important to keep it all at 6", however.

I am now finding I have to attach a custom diverter, made room 4x10 to 6" register duct, to get the flow of fresh air working through the mom/veg section. It seems to be creating a stagnant hot eddy of air in that area, as it is working now. I need to blow the fresh air up the back of the area. Maybe I will extend the exhaust duct over the plant area to take heat away right there at the plants. The circulation fans will also help, when installed.

I think the heat from the veg CFLS below are also heating up the mom section above, so when I install the custom reflectors to the veg chamber, they should shield the heat better.

After the thing is built it takes a while to work out bugs and gremlins, heh heh heh!

take care.

 

[HeadyPete]

After taking another look at your gear, you are fine with the 4" globes. Because you have two, you effectively have an 8" opening, so really you are operating as a 6" system. Everything after your fan is 6" and you have 2 - 4" intakes (like 1 8") for your lights.

8" baby! Sweet.

In my case with only one light and 1 intake, 4" is 4"

 

[NiteTiger]

Ah, I see what you're saying. Now, I did run only one opening in the original pod set up, and it still worked, but, as you said, not as effectively.

 

[NiteTiger]

Update:

Well, it's taken a sacrifice to the gods in my own blood to get here, but it looks like we'll be burning in tonight. Got some pics now, but I'm just going to put them up with the finished pics here tonight.

Be back ASAP with the pics.

 

[Teh_Baker]

I suspect yo uwont find any light leaks, and your temps will be right where you want them to be. Great job NiteTiger!!!

Teh_Baker

 

[SpacedCWBY]

Right on NT. Looks like a kick ass setup. Can't wait to see it in full production.