Looking For Advice DIY 10x10 Grow Room Setup`Hydroponics

[Alienpus]

With 50 gal in tables a single 75 gal reservoir would be perfect, you can keep up to 25 gals in the reservoir and when you need to adjust solution drain tables into the reservoir, adjust, and refill, safety wise your res holds all the water in the system . If you have two joined reservoirs or can't drain your tables adjusting PH and PPM is more of a pain and more time consuming.

400 gal pump sounds good as far as actual flow, it would circulate the entire 75 gals up to 5 times per hour, but I don't know how it would perform at your elevation and split 5 ways with 1/2 hose. Best way is to try it, should be enough.

Net pot size and medium is a matter of choice and would depend on how you clone and veg, in the end their job is to hold the plant. I like 3 or 4" RW cubes/baskets, you can put a cutting rooted in either a cube or a bubble cloner in the hole, you can do quite a bit of veg in a 4" hand watered cube before it needs to go in a system.

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

Awesome man thanks for all your help! I'm sure ill have many more questions to come.

 

[Weaselcracker]

From the other thread....

me
Hey weaselcracker, not trying to hijack this thread, but you commented on mine the other day k im just curious under your 2x 600 watt whats your square footage and how many plants do you run in a cycle whats your yield average? Very interested to hear back from you if possible comment back on my thread and come help me work through my problems as they arrive! Any help is greatly appreciated!

As it happens I know exactly what space I have in flowering because I made a scrog system this year, which is four screens per light. They each measure 19"x24" so put them together and that's 38" x48" per light. My reflectors are little pieces of crap and the light always looks a little dim around the edges of this light footprint. I keep looking at the buds on the edges thinking they won't be doing well, but it just isn't the case, so I guess it's working out ok.
At the moment I have most of those screens set up with one plant per screen, except a screen that has two in it. I'm going through a bunch of new strains at the moment. Probably going to grow one plant per screen for a while, or two sometimes, but I'm attracted to the idea of just doing one per light. Just trying a dozen or so new strains at the moment and figuring out what I like the most, so it may take me a year to go through them and find the keepers. I'm growing in promix but keep squirreling supplies away to try a Cap'n style setup someday, or maybe coco. No experience with hydro
You may hate this but have absolutely no idea what I do for yield. I have been wondering that...maybe that sounds crazy but I never tried to figure that out. I'm running a perpetual grow with a separate veg room and there's constantly stuff coming and going. Generally I don't bother to weigh anything anyway. I just use it for personal as well as a trade system among friends and weight hasn't come into it much. I suppose i could make some attempt to figure it out over the next few months especially now that I have those screens in there so I can measure weight produced per area better. Also- I don't always have the space under the lights filled with plants as sometimes I feel I'm producing as much as I need already.
I'll start keeping an eye on that yield thing out of curiosity.
I think I do ok but I can guarantee it's not as good as Alienpus'.

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

Awesome thanks for your time weasel i ordered 4 inch net pots and clay pellets for my setup, they will be here tuesday, and i was just trying to figure out a good spacing for them on my flood table is 40" x 100" with 2x600w hps, any suggestions on spacing and how many anyone?
Alien is this lighting sufficient of should i maybe order a 1000 watt setup for between the 2 600s or maybe replace one of them? I dont have enough money to buy 2 1000w at this point in time.

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

From the other thread....



As it happens I know exactly what space I have in flowering because I made a scrog system this year, which is four screens per light. They each measure 19"x24" so put them together and that's 38" x48" per light. My reflectors are little pieces of crap and the light always looks a little dim around the edges of this light footprint. I keep looking at the buds on the edges thinking they won't be doing well, but it just isn't the case, so I guess it's working out ok.
At the moment I have most of those screens set up with one plant per screen, except a screen that has two in it. I'm going through a bunch of new strains at the moment. Probably going to grow one plant per screen for a while, or two sometimes, but I'm attracted to the idea of just doing one per light. Just trying a dozen or so new strains at the moment and figuring out what I like the most, so it may take me a year to go through them and find the keepers. I'm growing in promix but keep squirreling supplies away to try a Cap'n style setup someday, or maybe coco. No experience with hydro
You may hate this but have absolutely no idea what I do for yield. I have been wondering that...maybe that sounds crazy but I never tried to figure that out. I'm running a perpetual grow with a separate veg room and there's constantly stuff coming and going. Generally I don't bother to weigh anything anyway. I just use it for personal as well as a trade system among friends and weight hasn't come into it much. I suppose i could make some attempt to figure it out over the next few months especially now that I have those screens in there so I can measure weight produced per area better. Also- I don't always have the space under the lights filled with plants as sometimes I feel I'm producing as much as I need already.
I'll start keeping an eye on that yield thing out of curiosity.
I think I do ok but I can guarantee it's not as good as Alienpus'.

Awesome Long Live The Barter System!!!

 

[Alienpus]

600w are very good lights, once you gain some experience and feel you have maxed out your yields with the 600w then think about switching to 1000w.

Spacing...I'd say 14 plants with holes on 14-15" center would be a good start, it's a good compromise between plant size and veg time and 20 clones is easy to make/mange, something like this:

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yes. Totally agree. 600s are good. My ballasts are switchable up to 1000 watt- well actually 1100 W or somesuch, but I decided to just go with 600 W till I get better at what I'm doing. Which was five years ago - getting better very very slowly.

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

600w are very good lights, once you gain some experience and feel you have maxed out your yields with the 600w then think about switching to 1000w.

Spacing...I'd say 14 plants with holes on 14-15" center would be a good start, it's a good compromise between plant size and veg time and 20 clones is easy to make/mange, something like this:

Awesome looks good, I' am working on getting all my plumbing supplies together, I assembled a feed line running down the floor with ouputs to each tote, i have some pvc fittings ill be putting in the base of totes for an entry point, between the main feed and totes intakes im thinkin 7/8 id tubing with shut off valves, My question is drainage would i be able to get away w/ using a diameter equal to my intake or am i just gonna flood my grow room? If so could this be avoided by say using a fan control on the water pump or using the valves in the feed lines to control flow? Would this still be sufficient circulation?

 

[Alienpus]

You don't need to pierce your totes for the 1/2 feed lines, if there is no check valve in the line then when the pump is off it will siphon back into the res. use drain fittings with gaskets to make sure there are no leaks

I modified mine to use different height peanut butter jars for level so there is no chance of roots clogging drain, and just unscrew the jar for a quick drain

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

You don't need to pierce your totes for the 1/2 feed lines, if there is no check valve in the line then when the pump is off it will siphon back into the res. use drain fittings with gaskets to make sure there are no leaks

I modified mine to use different height peanut butter jars for level so there is no chance of roots clogging drain, and just unscrew the jar for a quick drain

Awesome! Great post about not piercing for feed lines i was actually going to ask you if the pump would allow for a siphon if i put feed on top, great insight u read my mind on that! As for the pb jars i love the idea and was definitely planning on incorporating them into my system,maybe w/ window screen over jar to further assist keeping roots and other debris from entering drains and reservoir! I will be making some adjustments to my intake manifold placement and i will take a trip to the hardware store tomorrow to see what they have for drain setups! I greatly appreciate all your help alien, you are indeed a smart man, with a lot of insight, with a lot of hard work and determination i would be honored to be half the grower you are! You are very resourceful and I am nothing short of amazed at your vast amount of knowledge! Witch bring me to my next question hows your ph controller coming?

 

[Alienpus]

A screen over the drain would have the opposite effect and would tend to clog, use a leg from a nylon stocking attached to the end of your drain line in the reservoir instead to capture root bits and debris. As for the PH controller it worked like a charm and has paid for itself already by saving the current batch while I was at the hospital

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

A screen over the drain would have the opposite effect and would tend to clog, use a leg from a nylon stocking attached to the end of your drain line in the reservoir instead to capture root bits and debris. As for the PH controller it worked like a charm and has paid for itself already by saving the current batch while I was at the hospital

Amazing! Must have been very fulfilling to come home and see your work being put to use and saving you so much money! Just in the nick of time, I'd say pat yourself on the back but i don't want you to hurt yourself! Hope your taking it easy over there, wishing you a speedy recovery brother!

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

hey guys here's a random question about 8 days ago i took my first batch of clones ever, as I am new to indoor growing. I used 1.5" rockwool cubes, when i took the clones i had no ph down so the cubes were soaked in a ph of 7.0, i used root tech gel w/ 45 degree cuts approximately 4 or 5 nodes down i scraped lower inch of stem an sliced up the middle of bottom edge, i trimmed lowest node off as well as tips of upper fan leaves. the clones are in a tray w/ a humidity dome that i air out occasionally when I'm working and i mist inside dome to keep humidity high. the only source of light they are receiving is indirect from a 600w Mh that is about 7 or 8 feet away. Temperature in the dome maintains low to mid 70's and humidity is never under 60%. They look healthy not wilted but after cutting away a couple rock wool cubes to see if i had any root growth i see none. i understand ph should have been lowered prior and might be the entire issue for all i know. My question is where did i go wrong can they still be salvaged? what should i do, wait and see what happens, set up a bubble cloner and put them in that instead, help idk what i should do! If there a total loss I'm fine with it my main justification for taking them was i wanted to get my mothers branching out so next session I would have more to clip plus a little practice to build on my technique. Any one have any suggestions for me Thanks

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

Also one of my 600 watt lights was in a vertical socket w/ a cone hood, long story short i put it w/ my original 4x4 grow tent and sold the entire setup to help me fund my grow room. i currently have 1 600w quantum series ballast w/ gull wing, was just going to buy a replacement 600 w/ gull wing hood to match, any suggestions here when i was looking of course i was stuck looking led's should i buy a 400w led panel instead?

 

[Alienpus]

hey guys here's a random question about 8 days ago i took my first batch of clones ever, as I am new to indoor growing. I used 1.5" rockwool cubes, when i took the clones i had no ph down so the cubes were soaked in a ph of 7.0, i used root tech gel w/ 45 degree cuts approximately 4 or 5 nodes down i scraped lower inch of stem an sliced up the middle of bottom edge, i trimmed lowest node off as well as tips of upper fan leaves. the clones are in a tray w/ a humidity dome that i air out occasionally when I'm working and i mist inside dome to keep humidity high. the only source of light they are receiving is indirect from a 600w Mh that is about 7 or 8 feet away. Temperature in the dome maintains low to mid 70's and humidity is never under 60%. They look healthy not wilted but after cutting away a couple rock wool cubes to see if i had any root growth i see none. i understand ph should have been lowered prior and might be the entire issue for all i know. My question is where did i go wrong can they still be salvaged? what should i do, wait and see what happens, set up a bubble cloner and put them in that instead, help idk what i should do! If there a total loss I'm fine with it my main justification for taking them was i wanted to get my mothers branching out so next session I would have more to clip plus a little practice to build on my technique. Any one have any suggestions for me Thanks

You didn't go wrong some can take 2-3 weeks to root, with a heat mat they usually root faster. Genes also affect rooting times.

As far as HPS vs LED that's a big ass can of worms I won't touch.

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

You didn't go wrong some can take 2-3 weeks to root, with a heat mat they usually root faster. Genes also affect rooting times.

As far as HPS vs LED that's a big ass can of worms I won't touch.

LMAO I posted this question in the correct section as well and have received some valuable input from others perspectives! As for the heat mat i dont have one yet but i have been using a heated blanket i just have to turn it on 8 times a day lol, it shuts off after 3 hrs realistically i have been catching it 4 x day because i have been doing so much tinkering in the area here is the link to the thread there was def some valuable information about using aloe and honey! i have heard of the honey but not the aloe I am going to be doing some research in regards to aloe and the other benefits of it being incorporated into growing!

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

hey alien im not sure if you will look at the post but, i squeezed some water out of the rockwool and measure the ph and it went all the way up to 8 im going to flood them w/ ph adjusted water and let them soak any suggestions how long or should i just set up a bubbler for them i was thinking quick bubbler have plenty of materials to slap something together

 

[Alienpus]

Aloe, Honey? there is no link. You need to start a journal

New rock wool always drives up PH that's why they say to pre soak it in lower PH water. You just need to run water through the RW to rinse it out. Its only been 8 days and if you ever want them to root you will have to leave them alone. Just lift the cube and look underneath to see if roots stick out. Why not build the bubbler and try both

 

[SmokyMcPot247]

Aloe, Honey? there is no link. You need to start a journal

New rock wool always drives up PH that's why they say to pre soak it in lower PH water. You just need to run water through the RW to rinse it out. Its only been 8 days and if you ever want them to root you will have to leave them alone. Just lift the cube and look underneath to see if roots stick out. Why not build the bubbler and try both

Cloning Help 8 days 0 roots Oops!

 

[TylrDurdN]

Hey Smoky! I'm gonna come and join you on this one! Setup is very cool. Im impressed. Looks like you have some top notch help in here with you, too! Hoping to one day setup a similar system so this thread is definitely interesting. Keep it goin man! I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out!