I Need Some Feedback On My First Grow Room Setup!

[GonnaGrow]

First off, Thank you for viewing my post, and taking time to give me your feedback. This is my first indoor grow, and all the information I've gotten has come from online or just from friends locally. My room is still a work in progress, and I hope to complete it within the next week or two. Here's where I'm at now and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The room is in a basement, and I started by putting up some studs.

For the walls I used these 2" thick panels made of two sheets of fiberglass with 2" of foam in between. The panels interlock. After that I sealed all gaps and and the seams between the panels with silicone. I then Painted the walls flat white, and hung my 1000w XXXL air cooled reflector, carbon filter, exhaust fan, and duct work. That's where I'm at today.

Next I plan to drill a hole for my air intake fan, and for a short piece of pipe where all my cords will go through. I also have a 10'x50' roll of panda film that I will use to cover the walls, ceiling, and floor. The dimensions of the room are 6x6x7. After this room is done, it will become the veg room and I will build the flower room right beside it. The flowering room will be somewhere around 7x10x7.
How do you think I've done so far? I don't know how I feel the wye duct connector between the carbon filter and the exhaust fan. Originally, I wasn't planning on using it. Instead, just have two fans. One for the filter, and one for the lights. More to Come later.

 

[Marzbadrock]

Using the Y between your filter and hood is pointless. Run ducting from filter to hood, then duct from hood to exhaust, using the Y you will not draw air through filter and will essentially be a decoration.

 

[GonnaGrow]

@Marzbadrock I had considered the setup your talking about, and it sounds like it might be my best option. The temp outside right now is 30 degrees F. I don't have central heat or air in the basement so I'm trying to use the heat from the light to keep the room a consistent temp. Here's what it would look like.

 

[Ascended Master Kief]

Interesting heating option. Have you considered any possible temperature differences between HPS and MH? I don't know if there is one, but I think it'd worth finding out before everything's set in stone.

Aside from that, I like the 2" panels you used. Reminds me of screen-room insulated roof panels. If that's what they are, then they are designed for reflection of sunlight, which is a HUGE plus, right off the bat. I'd put silicone at the seams of them, since you're setting up in the basement, to prevent moisture coming in. Nothing fancy for roofs, but simple ALEX or straight silicone. I'm assuming you want to be able to tear this all down easily and without breaking anything, so ALEX is easy to cut through with a razor if you need to do that. Silicone, with the light, may break down, I know it does in sunlight after a year or two, on fiberglass RV bodies, anyway.

Very impressive work on your room. It looks very clean, and easy to keep clean. If you have a drain in the room, you could almost hose your walls down. And, the room looks big enough to grow a few monsters! Keep it green, be well, and have fun.

 

[GonnaGrow]

@AscendedMasterKief
I briefly tried both MH and HPS. From what I found, I think MH runs a little higer with a 1000 light. With the fan speed controller's I should be able to control the temp. manually. Once I get my environment controller, it will do all that automatically. Including my Co2, humidity, and such. The panels are used for building structures and I caulked every seam with ALEX quick dry to the max! On any gaps bigger that 3/8" I back filled with fiberglass insulation then filled with ALEX. Ill have some more pics here in a few days. Im really close to done. Until I replenish my funds and Buy a pre-hung door Etc.
Ive started 5 seeds, 3 Blue Cheese from Big Buddha Seed Co. and then 2 choco o.g. x orange o.g. . What are your thoughts as far as a ideal number of plants and watts?

 

[Ascended Master Kief]

You've got 6x6 veg and 7x7 flower floor space, right? Spacing will depend totally on your choice of growing. If you wanted to do SOG (Sea of Green), you could about 4 per sqft, really cramming them in there. You could grow just a couple really huge plants. You could grow one big monster that takes up the whole room. I'm sorry that I'm not too familiar with lighting yet. I do know, however, that 1000w will work for at least a few plants, though I don't know its exact footprint. I think if you arrange it all right, you can fit all five of those beans you planted under it.

 

[GonnaGrow]

@AscendedMasterKief The room I just built is 6x6 and the one i'm planning one building is a few months is directly beside the current one. I've been thinking about doing a scrog, but I'm gonna wait until I've got everything perpetual. Here's a few update pics of my current setup. Is there anything you would change? There is a fan speed controller on each intake/exhaust fan. Here in a few weeks Ill have a new environment controller and everything will be finished.

 

[Ascended Master Kief]

Looks good, mate. Personally, I'd run the room, and only change something if it either went wrong, or was about to. Room looks good.

 

[CoNerd]

I'd suggest venting the heat from the lights back into the basement. This will dump most of the generated heat into the house and will lower the humidity in the basement. The cement walls in the basement will help buffer temperatures both during lights on and off times. Draw cool, dry air into the grow rooms from the basement through a fine screen if temperature or humidity gets too high, venting through the carbon filter to the outside. The rooms should run negative air pressure relative to the house. Avoid pumping air in. Suck air out.

 

[GonnaGrow]

@CoNerd My intake fan sucks air from the basement into the grow room, through the light and is then released into the grow room. While the light is on it keeps the grow space a pretty steady 75 degrees. Only thing is, the humidity is only 22%. Then the air in the room is sucked through the carbon filter out the wall and into the closet I'm going to use for clones. The closet isn't airtight so the air is released back into the basement. I thought about running a duct from the closet back to the intake so the closet acts as a lung room. Since it isn't air tight do you think that would provide enough new fresh air for the room?
Also about your power supply suggestion, I installed a 20 amp breaker and ran 12-2 through the garage and into the clone closet. I installed a two gang outlet and into that I plugged my 1000w light, and my exhaust fan which is on a speed controller (actually made to control neon lights) it actually works better than the fan speed controller I bought especially made for that purpose. My oscillating and intake fans are ran to a different outlet. I had to add a little heater that's on a timer and it comes on when the light goes off. It has a thermostat that kicks it on and off to keep the temp around 70 degrees. I manually turn the intake and exhaust fans down to a crawl when the light is off so it is still bringing in new air. What are your thoughts?

 

[Ascended Master Kief]

Sounds like a great setup. Pretty close to automated environment.

 

[STOP]

that wont work carbon filter doing nada.but i see you changed it now.neg pressure is the way to go

 

[CoNerd]

It's encouraging you are thinking, asking, thinking, doing. and really working on it. Every setup is different, so you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

@CoNerd My intake fan sucks air from the basement into the grow room, through the light and is then released into the grow room. While the light is on it keeps the grow space a pretty steady 75 degrees. Only thing is, the humidity is only 22%.

As they say around here; That's just your first problem.
You are using the first blower to pressurize your room with clean, hot dry air. If the blower is stopped, there's an open tube between the house and the grow room. Double plus bad. I'd say; don't dump the lamps waste heat on the plants. Move that clean air somewhere useful or dump it outside, somehow. If you vent into your house, people will know you grow cannabis the second they step into your house. Carbon filters work pretty well, but they are not perfect. You want all ducts and fans to carry only clean air.

@CoNerd Then the air in the room is sucked through the carbon filter out the wall and into the closet I'm going to use for clones. The closet isn't airtight so the air is released back into the basement. I thought about running a duct from the closet back to the intake so the closet acts as a lung room. Since it isn't air tight do you think that would provide enough new fresh air for the room?

Depending on your local climate, I'd say you are building a mold bomb in your basement. What are average outside temp , humidity day/night summer/winter where you live? Do you have AC in the house? Are there any windows in the basement?

Right now things are working 'cause your plants are tiny. When they fill the room you will be adding gallons of water and somewhere around 12kwhr of heat into your basement every day. Soon your basement will be a pungent tropical zone unless you use something to pump the heat and water elsewhere.

@CoNerd

Also about your power supply suggestion, I installed a 20 amp breaker and ran 12-2 through the garage and into the clone closet. I installed a two gang outlet and into that I plugged my 1000w light, and my exhaust fan which is on a speed controller (actually made to control neon lights) it actually works better than the fan speed controller I bought especially made for that purpose. My oscillating and intake fans are ran to a different outlet. I had to add a little heater that's on a timer and it comes on when the light goes off. It has a thermostat that kicks it on and off to keep the temp around 70 degrees. I manually turn the intake and exhaust fans down to a crawl when the light is off so it is still bringing in new air. What are your thoughts?

Gotta get to full auto somehow.
I'm from Colorado and cannabis grows very well when nights fall to 60 degrees. You don't need to run a heater in a grow if the intake air comes from a heated living space.

If I were you, I'd put the following on my checklist:
* Safety first! Move all electrical equipment and cords off the floor and out of the way. You've got a ways to go on your cable management. Install a HD GFI breaker as first outlet.
* Figure out how to separate Lamp cooling from room ventilation. One blower for each purpose.
* Move the lamp cooling blower into the room. Change the lamp ducts to intake from one room in your basement and exhaust into another room, not the closet. Put the lamp heat blower on the light timer.
* Make the duct to the closet the intake vent to the grow. Exhaust filtered air to a room with a window.

I purchased a cheap temp-humid controller and turn on a fan that blows the hot air down when the temperature goes over 80F. I have LED lights, so I don't need lamp cooling. The Humid control is set to turn on the vent fan.
Lights come on. Temp goes up in the top of the room. Fans turn on and distributes warm air. Plants transpire and the humidity goes up. When it goes over desired threshold, the filtered vent fan turns on. I have a simple flapper intake valve that opens when the blower is on. Cool, dry air is pulled into the grow room. When the humidity goes down, the vent fan goes off. The vent fan cycles every 5-50 minutes for about 1-3 minutes. The vent fan is slowed to the minimum.

At night, the room closes down. The still air eventually gets humid from the plants and the vent fan kicks in. There's plenty of heat left in the grow room and roots to carry through cooler night time temperatures.

We all start at different places, so you'll have to use your own judgement. The method I use works for my grow because it is in a 60-75F basement and the inside humidity is often less than 30%. I vent my basement via windows. If you can't vent to the outside, you'll probably have to place a dehumidifier and an ozone generator in the basement in order to avoid the mold and pungent smell of buds

Hope this helps.

 

[GonnaGrow]

@CoNerd O.K. this is all great info. Thank you for taking the time to give me your feedback. Now I just need a minute to process all this info. Ill go ahead and tell you I live in KY, and right now the temp drops to the teens at night. Last night it was 30 degrees in the basement so I gave in and turned on a baseboard heater. Temp instantly rose to around 55-60 degrees. I don't let it fall below 60 F in the grow room. Here in a few weeks Ill be getting a enviroment controller. It will control my fans, Co2 dispersment, dehumidifier, and/or heater ect.

 

[GonnaGrow]

It's encouraging you are thinking, asking, thinking, doing. and really working on it. Every setup is different, so you'll have to figure it out for yourself.


I still cant figure out how you reply with multiple quotes, but anyway.

1. Thanks! It's nice to know my way of doing thing's is working out. So often my friends tell me that I drastically over think things. Also I'm pretty A.D.H.D. So I have a pretty hard time concentrating on one task at a time. When I was preparing for this build, I thought I had it all planned out. Once it was underway I ran into ALOT of problems. Slowly but surely I took care of each one, and finally got to where I could start installing the equipment. It's all setup in it's final spots, but where I can still break it down and move anything I want.
That's why I joined the forum so experienced grower's can let me know of problem's I'll run into in the future that someone inexperienced like me can't foresee.

2. Up until las night when I turned the baseboard heater on it was 30 degrees in the basement and 14 degrees outside. The basement isn't well insulated due to damage along time ago. I'm gonna take care of that next. In the meantime I was using a little Holmes brand heater in the grow room, but the thermostat is not very accurate so I just decided to turn on the baseboard. I made a partion across the middle of the basement and it keeps the grow room side warm (60F). I'm trying to only run the baseboard at night with its coldest and the lights are off. The heat from the lights keep the room 75F during the day with no baseboard. Hmmm I wonder if the lights where on at night instead what temp it would keep it during these cold nights.

3. Ky Climate is F'd right now. It got so cold so quick this year. Just check out the weather.com website or something its nuts.. Humidity in the room is really low, but I did have the dehumidifier running on full blast to remove the dampness in the basement since the before the build. I have turned it down now and am waiting on the humidity to come up some. I can take the light exh. or room exh. outside if I need to. Closest neighbor house is 50-100 yards away.

4. I've kind of just been waiting to see what the temp levels are as I go. Right now its 30F outside 61%Hum. In the basement with the baseboard set to 55F its actually 60F because I've got that half separated now. Inside the GR it's 60F 43%hum. Its more humid in there today because I just watered. As they get bigger I figure it will change. During the winter I suppose I'm gonna have to use the baseboards. I've tried to be conservative since my funds are low, but it will be a cost I just have to pay.

5. I hope this controller gets me to full auto with my heat situation figured out for now.


Its almost 4 am here I will have to address the rest tomorrow.

 

[GonnaGrow]

I got these post so messed up now!

 

[CoNerd]

I still cant figure out how you reply with multiple quotes, but anyway.

It's easy. I chop them up by adding more "QUOTE" start and end tags (with brackets) to the original text. I type in the end quote tag, type my reply and then and cut and paste the start quote tag to the end of my reply.

1. Thanks! It's nice to know my way of doing thing's is working out. So often my friends tell me that I drastically over think things. Also I'm pretty A.D.H.D. So I have a pretty hard time concentrating on one task at a time.

Contractors use a "tag" or "punch" list for each project. Get yourself a notebook or something and make lists. When you think something needs added or fixed, add it to the list. When you wonder what to work on next, look at your list. Highlight what must be done. Try to tick off as many items as possible each work session. Like a test, if you get stuck, move on to another item. Focus on checking off each item in the list to call it done. I often use 3x5 cards for the small project stuff. Moving things out of your head onto paper really help make room for more productive ideas and less stress. They end up being a nice record of accomplishment and a good source of a few laughs (and tears) over the dumb things you actually tried.

When I was preparing for this build, I thought I had it all planned out. Once it was underway I ran into ALOT of problems. Slowly but surely I took care of each one, and finally got to where I could start installing the equipment. It's all setup in it's final spots, but where I can still break it down and move anything I want.

Reality usually foils the best of plans. Ya don't know what you don't know. When I do something for the first time, I assume I'm going to learn more about what not to do. Never assume a first attempt will be worth keeping.

That's why I joined the forum so experienced grower's can let me know of problem's I'll run into in the future that someone inexperienced like me can't foresee.

2. Up until las night when I turned the baseboard heater on it was 30 degrees in the basement and 14 degrees outside. The basement isn't well insulated due to damage along time ago. I'm gonna take care of that next. In the meantime I was using a little Holmes brand heater in the grow room, but the thermostat is not very accurate so I just decided to turn on the baseboard. I made a partion across the middle of the basement and it keeps the grow room side warm (60F). I'm trying to only run the baseboard at night with its coldest and the lights are off. The heat from the lights keep the room 75F during the day with no baseboard. Hmmm I wonder if the lights where on at night instead what temp it would keep it during these cold nights.

3. Ky Climate is F'd right now. It got so cold so quick this year. Just check out the weather.com website or something its nuts.. Humidity in the room is really low, but I did have the dehumidifier running on full blast to remove the dampness in the basement since the before the build. I have turned it down now and am waiting on the humidity to come up some. I can take the light exh. or room exh. outside if I need to. Closest neighbor house is 50-100 yards away.

4. I've kind of just been waiting to see what the temp levels are as I go. Right now its 30F outside 61%Hum. In the basement with the baseboard set to 55F its actually 60F because I've got that half separated now. Inside the GR it's 60F 43%hum. Its more humid in there today because I just watered. As they get bigger I figure it will change. During the winter I suppose I'm gonna have to use the baseboards. I've tried to be conservative since my funds are low, but it will be a cost I just have to pay.

5. I hope this controller gets me to full auto with my heat situation figured out for now.


Its almost 4 am here I will have to address the rest tomorrow.

Dude! 30F in your basement? You need to light one up and walk around your basement and see where all the cold air is coming from in your basement so you can fix it. It was -17F here, and my basement was 62F in the rooms with no heat vents. House is set to 68F and I have no insulation in the basement walls. Half are bare concrete. You're blowing through $$$ trying to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. Man, top priority is to weatherize your house. People tape plastic over their window frames in the winter, here in Co if their windows leak a lot. To grow good cannabis, you'll have to be able to control the environment. Right now, you need to get your house environment under control, cause that's going to be the source of air for the plants. Don't worry, you've got weeks before your plants get big enough to start causing issues with your current setup.

In KY, you will likely need to run the dehumid year round in a normally weatherized basement with a grow op. Keep that thing turned on and set at 40%. Once you get everything nice and air tight (try, try and try again) you will start to have heat and humid issues in the grow room, not dry, cold issues. Add a dryer vent to the outside for filtered exhaust air and pump hot or moist air from the grow rooms to the outside. As soon as your plants flower, you will be in a panic about the smell in your house and will have to resort to masking the smell if you're still exhausting into the basement.

One other thing I'd suggest is to avoid hanging any fans from the ceiling. You want all motors supported by the concrete floor or walls. The wood sub floor can act as a sound board and make it obvious when they kick in, especially at night when everything is quiet.

 

[GonnaGrow]

.
* Figure out how to separate Lamp cooling from room ventilation. One blower for each purpose.

Ok here's a little progress. The air from my GR is no longer being recycled. Next I just need to put the lamp on its own exhaust, so its not just being released into the room. It will have to wait a bit until I can get two more fans. This is what you mean correct? Damn why is it turning my pics sideways?

 

[CoNerd]

I think you have enough centrifugal blowers for your single room already. I see people cooling multiple HPS lights with one fan and ducts between the lights, so you might get away with 3 blowers total for your planned 2 rooms. Like most tents, each room needs at least 4 total vents. 2 for the light cooling, one air inlet and an exhaust vent. The clone closet will get refreshed by pulling air through it into the grow room. Keep the clones out of the direct air flow through the closet.

Free hanging electrical romex are a big no! Use cable staples 6 inches from where it enters and exits and every 2 feet. Electrics should also be pushed through their own holes. Don't run cords through the edge of a duct passage. You need to seal around the duct holes and will need to be able to plug and unplug things without disassembling parts of your rooms. Eventually, they are going to get crowded and you'll want stuff to be as out of the way, and cleanable as possible.

You're making great progress. Keep it up You have a really good start.

Oh. Just thought of this. You should buy some paint returns (any color) at your local store and paint all bare wood surfaces, even those that will be covered. Mold grows well on damp, bare wood and is difficult to remove. Painting the surfaces will prevent this. All wood in basements should be treated before covering. I learned this from the FEMA inspector who came to look at our flooded house last year. If mold covers more than 100 sq ft in a home, even if it's covered, the EPA will require the owner to do commercial remediation. Mold growing in a house is a much bigger deal than most people think. Inspectors are much more strict about mold and mildew. Be very careful in this venture. You'll be on you own if you damage your house. Insurance won't cover anything if the grow room is involved in any way. (At least in KY).

BTW: It's wonderful when cannabis prohibition ends. It really helps when people can be open about their farming projects. It ends up being a lot safer for everyone.

Cheers.

 

[GonnaGrow]

Hello again, sorry I've been gone for a few day's I work double shifts on the weekends. I had a little time to squeeze some work in on the GR. Now before you shit your pants when you see the exposed wire, just know that I was just mocking it up. Tonight I'm going to put the wire on the other side of the wall and run it through the studs. I installed a 40 amp 240v breaker and ran the wire from the box to the grow room. I secured it with plastic staples like you said and drilled a separate hole for it to go through instead of running it through that old air duct hole. I installed a 240v GFI in the middle of run and then a 240v 500w baseboard at the end.

I originally bought the Sun System Trifecta kit, and the xxxl reflector.

It runs on either 120v or 240v, and I was planning on using the ballast from it plugged into my new GFI outlet. I'm a little confused as far as how to set it up. I think I need to buy the 240v cord for the ballast that wasn't included (seen here)

. But my 240v receptacle doesn't have the same prong setup. So do I need one of these

.

Also on the ballast itself there are two inputs for either hps or mh. The cord coming out of my Sun system xxxl reflector has the same prongs as the hps input on the ballast. Currently I'm using a mh bulb so I'm assuming I just plug the reflector into the hps input no matter which bulb I'm using right? I hope this makes sense.