Pink's New Grow Room: Perpetual Fun and Games

[Ganja Goose]

Hey @Pinktiger777 I too am moving my grow into the basement. Just curious how you approached the ventilation - did you ventilate to the outside or are you ventilating directly to the basement into the basement? Also curious how warm the exhaust temperature was?

GG

 

[Pinktiger777]

We didn't even think about exhaust and where it should go. So, we dealt with humid, warm air, 90 degrees and rising, humidity nearly 100 percent. Two days later, my husband designed a way to exhaust the air outside, through a window. He cut some foam core into the size of the window, and then cut a hole 8" in diameter for the duct. It is working well. Our room temps are from 68 at night to 73 during the day. Before this, the air in the room was 90 degrees and 95 percent humidity. I measure the room air and humidity every day, along with measuring the air quality in each tent. Because we have negative air pressure in the room, eventually all the air gets exhausted to outside and new air is brought in through the bottom of the door. Right now all is good. I may have to have more air flow in the room, and this would require a vent in the door for air to come in.
So basically, here's the deal: the 5 x 5 has an eight inch exhaust going out the window. Air comes in through an eight inch intake fan placed in the bottom of the tent.
The two small tents have six inch and four inch exhausts coming out the top or side, and then this air is sucked into the large tent and exhausted out the window.
Hope this helps.
You didn't say whether the grow in your basement will be in a tent or just out in the room. I'd find a way to exhaust the air. If in the room, and if you have a window (my house has a walkout basement and windows in the bedrooms) I'd exhaust out the window. The room I'm using is halfway underground, and the walls are concrete block. If in a tent or tents, have the largest tent pull the air into it from the room and exhaust it. If you don't have a window, you will have to vent it somehow. Like I said, we didn't even think about this. But we soon realized we had a problem and needed to solve it.

 

[Pinktiger777]

Update
.
This week I have been fine-tuning my growing method, adding H2O2. I got some of the 35 percent Hydrogen peroxide at the local grow store, and every time I add significant water, I dilute four ounces of this in a half gallon pitcher, and add it to the reservoir. I've been using it proportionately in all the reservoirs, and I'm getting more time before I have to change the water. This is a savings in time and nutrients.
I need to create a graphic for topping nutrients and adding the H2O2. When I do, I'll put a copy up. I've also worked out a way to code the information I'm taking every day on the room and tents.
The tents are all humming along wonderfully, no issues at the moment.
Turning down the light to reduce the intensity was necessary this week, as the plants in the flowering tent were going through stretch. Now instead of growing up, they are growing out. Bud development is happening quickly, and by tomorrow or the next day, we will see white tops on the plants. I've been bending some of the branches to keep them from getting too tall.

large flowering tent.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

flowering 2.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

flowering.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

under big.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

No problems in the Mom tent, which is also in flower. (I'm flowering before choosing which to keep as a Mom. Then I will reveg.)
The five plants in the Mom tent are all doing great. White tops will be apparent in a day or two. Stretch has just about ended here, too.

Mom tent.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

Mom1.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

seedlings no more.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

Harlequin a.jpg

• Pinktiger777
• Oct 11, 2020

 

[Ganja Goose]

We didn't even think about exhaust and where it should go. So, we dealt with humid, warm air, 90 degrees and rising, humidity nearly 100 percent. Two days later, my husband designed a way to exhaust the air outside, through a window. He cut some foam core into the size of the window, and then cut a hole 8" in diameter for the duct. It is working well. Our room temps are from 68 at night to 73 during the day. Before this, the air in the room was 90 degrees and 95 percent humidity. I measure the room air and humidity every day, along with measuring the air quality in each tent. Because we have negative air pressure in the room, eventually all the air gets exhausted to outside and new air is brought in through the bottom of the door. Right now all is good. I may have to have more air flow in the room, and this would require a vent in the door for air to come in.
So basically, here's the deal: the 5 x 5 has an eight inch exhaust going out the window. Air comes in through an eight inch intake fan placed in the bottom of the tent.
The two small tents have six inch and four inch exhausts coming out the top or side, and then this air is sucked into the large tent and exhausted out the window.
Hope this helps.
You didn't say whether the grow in your basement will be in a tent or just out in the room. I'd find a way to exhaust the air. If in the room, and if you have a window (my house has a walkout basement and windows in the bedrooms) I'd exhaust out the window. The room I'm using is halfway underground, and the walls are concrete block. If in a tent or tents, have the largest tent pull the air into it from the room and exhaust it. If you don't have a window, you will have to vent it somehow. Like I said, we didn't even think about this. But we soon realized we had a problem and needed to solve it.

Yes my grow will be in a 4x4 tent in the basement. I think I'm on the same page as you - I designed a little styrofoam piece to sit in the window with a 4" cutout for the exhaust. I put a little check valve that they typically use for dryer vents within the exhaust hose at the window to try and prevent the cold air from coming back into the tent during dark hours (live in Canada). I've had some people comment that might not need to worry about the cold air if I've got a charcoal filter but I'm not sure I understand that thought process yet.

I'm also going to consider leaving the exhaust fan run 24/7 to keep cold air out

Thank you for taking the time to provide that explanation of your design. Very much appreciated

GG

 

[InTheShed]

Looks like a well-oiled machine Pink!

Is that huge filter in the back going to get in the way eventually or is there room behind the plants?

 

[Pinktiger777]

Looks like a well-oiled machine Pink!

Is that huge filter in the back going to get in the way eventually or is there room behind the plants?

LOL, @InTheShed . Its a optical illusion. The fan and filter are above the light at the back of the tent. And I can’t believe it, but stretch has essentially ended. I’m shorter than the plants. So it looks like that.

 

[InTheShed]

I knew it was above the plants but couldn't tell it was above the light as well! It looked like it was behind it.

I just meant is there a space below the filter where there are no plants (in case the bud production decides to push the plants higher). None of that matters if it's above the light .

 

[Pinktiger777]

Yes my grow will be in a 4x4 tent in the basement. I think I'm on the same page as you - I designed a little styrofoam piece to sit in the window with a 4" cutout for the exhaust. I put a little check valve that they typically use for dryer vents within the exhaust hose at the window to try and prevent the cold air from coming back into the tent during dark hours (live in Canada). I've had some people comment that might not need to worry about the cold air if I've got a charcoal filter but I'm not sure I understand that thought process yet.

I'm also going to consider leaving the exhaust fan run 24/7 to keep cold air out

Thank you for taking the time to provide that explanation of your design. Very much appreciated

GG

Tell us more about your grow! Soil or hydro, tents or one room for all of it. Welcome, and good luck on what sounds like a fun grow.

 

[Pinktiger777]

I knew it was above the plants but couldn't tell it was above the light as well! It looked like it was behind it.

I just meant is there a space below the filter where there are no plants (in case the bud production decides to push the plants higher). None of that matters if it's above the light .

It is behind The light, but you can’t see that. I will take another photo for you.

 

[InTheShed]

No need! I was curious if there was airspace below it. If it was over the plants I was going to suggest moving it outside the tent since it's so big!

 

[Ganja Goose]

Tell us more about your grow! Soil or hydro, tents or one room for all of it. Welcome, and good luck on what sounds like a fun grow.

I don't want to hijack the thread with my grow info lol. It's up on my intro to the community, but hey since you asked how could I not share!! - we are doing our 2nd grow in soil (1st one was Rockstar in soil and was a disaster). Using a 4x4 tent that we outfitted with a 4" inline fan and we are currently using two - 200W CFL's. One if them is 6400K and one is 2700K. We have 1Chemo and 3 Black Ice that have survived so far so we are really excited. We have been using Advanced Nutrients and we just got EC and PH pens (better late than never!) and found out we probably locked up these plants with the crazy EC of 3.3 that we had been feeding. All that said, we are crossing our fingers that they make it to harvest in a couple of weeks!! (just started the 2 week flush - even tho I now know its a controversial subject

Thank you for asking and if you have any initial thoughts please let me know. I look forward to seeing how your grow progresses.

GG

 

[InTheShed]

If I recall correctly, a lot of folks run AN at 50% strength! I could be wrong but that's my memory.

 

[Ganja Goose]

If I recall correctly, a lot of folks run AN at 50% strength! I could be wrong but that's my memory.

Yes they do. We had seen a few opinions stating that exact thing and we decided to go with the manufacturers feeding schedule unfortunately. We will be starting off our next feed at our 0.8 EC and then plan on monitoring runoff to make corrections. I guess you learn a little bit more each grow

GG

 

[InTheShed]

That's the best we can do!

 

[Pinktiger777]

I don't want to hijack the thread with my grow info lol. It's up on my intro to the community, but hey since you asked how could I not share!! - we are doing our 2nd grow in soil (1st one was Rockstar in soil and was a disaster). Using a 4x4 tent that we outfitted with a 4" inline fan and we are currently using two - 200W CFL's. One if them is 6400K and one is 2700K. We have 1Chemo and 3 Black Ice that have survived so far so we are really excited. We have been using Advanced Nutrients and we just got EC and PH pens (better late than never!) and found out we probably locked up these plants with the crazy EC of 3.3 that we had been feeding. All that said, we are crossing our fingers that they make it to harvest in a couple of weeks!! (just started the 2 week flush - even tho I now know its a controversial subject

Thank you for asking and if you have any initial thoughts please let me know. I look forward to seeing how your grow progresses.

GG

Feel free to comment or talk to others on my threads. I wish people would. Sometimes I think my journal is a deep dark secret. For one thing, everybody seems to do soil. I’m indoors and hydroponic, ebb and flow. I realize soil grows are much less expensive to set up, and require twice daily attention to thrive. Welcome!

 

[Pinktiger777]

That's the best we can do!

Hey, Shed, should I be using less nutrients in hydro? I’ve always gone by the manufacturer recommendation.

 

[InTheShed]

I think that whole don't-follow-the-directions thing is specific to AN nutes.

 

[Pinktiger777]

I think that whole don't-follow-the-directions thing is specific to AN nutes.

Oh. That explains it. Thanks!

 

[chenzi]

Hey Pinky, I noticed earlier you mentioned stretching you res changes...? In my personal experience yield suffered as a result of stretching changes of nutrient

 

[Pinktiger777]

Hey Pinky, I noticed earlier you mentioned stretching you res changes...? In my personal experience yield suffered as a result of stretching changes of nutrient

Yes, you are correct. The water quality has remained excellent, but I still have frequent res changes. There are two indicators that make it obvious that the water needs changing — first, the ph starts going down instead of up, and second, the water looks depleted. Waste products accumulating.But before, I changed water every week and now I can do every other week.