Dave's Area 51/Inda-gro combination grow

[nevergoodenuf]

No, I just have it in the garage if needed. Just make sure the car battery is full of juice. And only run the must-have on it. You never know how long the power could be out.

 

[daveroller]

That Area 51 RW-150 is on sale right now for $465... It's really tempting me because the Inda-Gro is so hot.

Does anyone have advice on how to deal with the Inda-Gro's heat?

 

[chazbolin]

The surface temp on the lamp is 200 degrees f. The driver only emits 115 degree f. Thermal contribution is 1500 btu/hr which is what a 400 watt LED panel would produce as well. For a room that size I'd be shooting for 3 air turnovers a minute. Heat from the 420 should not be an issue with that type of exchange.

 

[daveroller]

The surface temp on the lamp is 200 degrees f. The driver only emits 115 degree f. Thermal contribution is 1500 btu/hr which is what a 400 watt LED panel would produce as well. For a room that size I'd be shooting for 3 air turnovers a minute. Heat from the 420 should not be an issue with that type of exchange.

Thanks, Chaz. I have my MaxFan set to Medium, but have no idea how much the Green Gator filter might restrict the airflow. I'll try turning it up to High after I turn the 420 back on. I was trying to avoid that if I could, because the sound from the closet is already a little annoying.

 

[greatbranch]

I really like that car battery idea! I have an inverter that puts out a lot of watts. Did you rig it somehow to automatically kick in when your house current went out? I wouldn't know how to do that.

Hmmm...it might be time to talk to that discreet electrician friend again...that's a really good idea!

 

[daveroller]

Hmmm...it might be time to talk to that discreet electrician friend again...that's a really good idea!

The inverter I have comes with clips to hook up directly to a car battery's terminals:

It just converts DC to AC. This one's 400 watts... not enough to power the Inda-Gro, but maybe at least an Area 51, the exhaust fan and the 2 pumps. I got it either at Menard's or maybe Sam's Club for about $30-40.

It would be neat if your electrician friend could hook it up to automatically kick in if you lose your house's power.

 

[daveroller]

Just thinking about the heat issue some more... When I use the Area 51 panel the closet temp is about 4 degrees lower than when I have the Inda-Gro on by itself.

I think the Area 51 maybe adds 1 degree and the Inda-Gro about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. That isn't too bad. If I use the air conditioner to keep the house around 78 degrees or cooler, the closet temp probably won't be awfully bad.

I'll check the airflow to make sure it's not obstructed in any way that I can do something about. But even when I leave the doors open and the big fan on, the temp stays high, so I don't think that's the problem as much as the radiant heat hitting the thermometer. I would guess that the Inda-Gro must put out a lot of infra-red, which would create a lot of radiant heat. But that's just a guess.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

The a51 panel is around 150watts and the indagro 420 is 400watts +, the wattage difference is substantial........so adjust your cooling/exhaust appropriately friend.

Go 12/12 from seed/ flip asap & Run your lights at night if you don't wanna spend more $$ on upgrades/cooling gear.

good luck

 

[daveroller]

Here’s Teeny today, the poor girl, after that pump malfunction. The older leaves look awful, but she’s getting better.

I like to see them holding their branches straight out like this. She looks happy!

New growth is coming out better. Here’s a before and after picture showing the new leaves growing at the top in about 5 1/2 hours today:

I topped her tonight:

Teeny's leaves drooped down during the course of the day. Does that mean anything?

 

[daveroller]

I noticed something strange about my Advanced Nutrients liquid hydro nutes... When I add it at 1/4 strength, the tds of the res water is already around 400 ppm. That tds seems pretty high. I'll never try for full strength with this stuff again. I got burned trying to do that in my last grow. My plant did well for a while at around 1000 ppm, but eventually suffered serious nute lockout.

My bottles of Sensi Grow are 4 years old now. Is there an expiration date on this stuff? I guess I should ask AN.

Edit: Ok, I emailed Advanced Nutrients about both of these issues.

 

[daveroller]

Here's the reply I got from AN:

Sensi Grow has a minimum 2 year shelf life, kept in a cool dark place it can last much longer, if there are no crystals in the bottle and no fowl smells that product is just fine.

Mixing it at 1 mL of each part per liter of water will give about 300 ppm, feed week 1 of veg at 300 ppm, week2 600 ppm, week 3 -6 at 900 ppm, in bloom start at 1000 ppm and depending on strain and size of plant increase gradually to a maximum of 1400 ppm – 1600 ppm by week 4.​

I guess the high tds is normal. I'll still try to keep it under 1000 ppm unless the plants obviously need more...

 

[HockeyBeard]

Subbed! I plan on running LED/Induction combo, can't wait to see how the areas that get both lights do!

 

[daveroller]

Subbed! I plan on running LED/Induction combo, can't wait to see how the areas that get both lights do!

Well, I've been thinking about this for a few days and decided to sell the Inda-Gro back on eBay and replace it with a second Area 51. The heat is just too much for my closet to handle. The noise from my exhaust fan is pretty loud, too, so it'll be nice to keep it turned down to its lowest setting. My electric bill was pretty high when I used the IG as well. It's not a bad light, just probably too big for my closet. Like Chaz said, it draws the same power and gives off roughly the same heat as a 400 watt HPS.

If I can't change the title of this thread, I might have to start a new one. Stay tuned... I just ordered the Area 51 RW-150.

 

[hyroot]

bummer.. It is to big for your closet. Personally I like my ig more than the a51. I don't know how the rw 150 compares to my sgs 160 though. You haven't had a chance to use it with pontoons. It covers a 5x5 with pontoons. 2 a51's in a row will cover a 2x6. Which might be better for your closet. Add a uvb t5 along the wall. Then you will have some uvb like the ig.

 

[HockeyBeard]

I'm going to be working with a bit more space, and actually am concerned about a lack of heat in certain months, so that news is actually somewhat of a relief to hear. Did you throw it up on eBay yet? Link?

 

[daveroller]

I'm going to be working with a bit more space, and actually am concerned about a lack of heat in certain months, so that news is actually somewhat of a relief to hear. Did you throw it up on eBay yet? Link?

Yes, I will post the eBay link here once I have it.

 

[daveroller]

bummer.. It is to big for your closet. Personally I like my ig more than the a51. I don't know how the rw 150 compares to my sgs 160 though. You haven't had a chance to use it with pontoons. It covers a 5x5 with pontoons. 2 a51's in a row will cover a 2x6. Which might be better for your closet. Add a uvb t5 along the wall. Then you will have some uvb like the ig.

That's great advice, Hyroot. My closet is almost exactly 2x6. Thanks.

 

[daveroller]

The Chronic Thunder seed failed to sprout. Its seemed to peter out after it popped open. But the Critical Kush shed its outer shell and is ready to come out of the paper towel. Got some Rapid Rooter plugs coming tomorrow.

I also started soaking another seed. It's one of my new Liberty Haze seeds. That one's supposed to flower for 60-65 days, so might be ready to harvest a week later than the LSD plant that she'll be sharing a big tub with. Rubba dub dub!

 

[daveroller]

Teeny is doing much better. New growth is coming along nicely now. Here’s a before and after pic showing one day’s growth. You can see that the leaves in the middle grew nicely since this time yesterday:

Both of the free seeds that I tried to sprout are kaput. One didn’t germinate and I accidentally broke the other today while trying to stuff it into a Rapid Rooter plug. I have to handle those little sprouts very, very carefully because they’re more fragile than I expected.

Here’s what I’m attempting to sprout now:

Got 2 of these seeds in between wet paper towels now. I think that as soon as they pop open, I’ll just put the seeds into their Rapid Rooters this time.

 

[The Dawg]

I gotta admit, Dave. I am getting awfully nervous about venturing into hydro. Pumps...power outages...I am figuring out that I have to have a disaster plan. Lots of guys run redundant air pumps in case of a pump failure. Thinking maybe I should invest in one. More air will just be a good thing, I think. Any idea how long plants can stay in stagnant water before death? I guess during a power outage, I can pull the res,so the roots are in the air, and hand feed until the power comes back on, but worried what happens if I am not home?...these are the nightmares you guys have...well, maybe not you...you have a bit of a hybrid thing going on there that gives you a little bit of a buffer - I never really paid any attention to the differences or their reasoning before.

On a side note, I just got my bubbleponics system. I'm trying to do some homework before starting it up in late July.

Brother Greatbranch I Wouldnt Worry Too Much About Power Outages.I Personally Have Fucked Up And Left My Powerstrip Off For 12 Hours With No ill Resluts.Food For Thought Is If You Have A Prolonged Power Outage I Belive Theirs More Important Things to Worry About