ACMPR Grow Room Build Log

[MidnightSun72]

Hi Just starting this thread so I can keep track of my build with pics and organize my ideas. I am building some 4x4 LED fixtures (actually 47"x 40"). I am going to play 4 630W CMH 8x315W bulbs in between the LED lights to give some UV and I just love the way the bud grows with CMH and give some radiant heat to the girls.

The room is 9'9" wide X 17' long X 10'6" ceiling. It's got a 1/2" copper water line and valve coming into the wall around the middle of the right-hand side.

This model is to scale of the room and my lighting fixtures so hopefully everything should fit like this. This is 144 pots, I could probably sneak in some more at the sacrifice of access and convenience. Each LED fixture is capable of 756W thought I will likely have them dimmed to about 640W until the last couple weeks of flower maybe, or we'll see how it goes. The room is sealed.

I am planning to use CO2 after the winter (when we stop having free cold air). I don't have the A/C yet but planning a minimum of 36,000 BTU I HAAAATE fighting temps. This room is insulated tighter than a nuns cunt right now. I got a 500w work light from home depot and that keeping the room toasty with an ambient outside temp of roughly 0-4*C. Getting a full Trolmaster system quoted to control CO2 and lighting/emergency dimming.

Happy to hear any suggestions or ideas on how to utilize the space better. I was thinking of getting the water outside the room but that complicated the feed setup requiring heating currently unheated (and uninsulated) areas etc. My hope is to achieve a very high-efficiency room that makes great quality bud. Rows are staggered to allow the door to open. Fixtures are shown at a height of 7' ft from the floor. This may be more like 5' in reality. although I am thinking about running them high up DE style but I am too dumb to figure out the light spread right now. Also was thinking of a better reflector for the CMH lights to spread the light out more.


TOP


SIDE


FRONT


PERSPECTIVE

 

[MidnightSun72]

Ordered a 30,000 BTU mini-split. Good time of the year to buy a mini-split in Canada. I got a couple of 12,000btu window shakers with wifi control I can throw in too if that turns out to be not enough.

 

[MidnightSun72]

For HVAC it will be a 30,000 BTU mini-split. It's bought now, but I don't run it likely until the spring where I don't have free cold air to cool my lights. So the room has a total volume of 9.75x10.5x17=1740 cubic ft.

I have a 12" 1100CFM fan with around 1100CFM 12"x40" vortex carbon filter on a temperature controller this can change the room's air in under 2 minutes. For backup, I have a 750W construction type Axial fan that is set up with no obstructions to suck out of the room its 2000CFM full blast. This will kick on at 35*C or 95*F

For air circulation, there will be 6 active air 16" oscillating fans mounts 4 in the corners and 2 in the middle of the long walls. These are supposed to be 2222CFM each which seems insane to have 6. But looking at other people's rooms usually there is at least a fan per light. Someone school me on this. I can run the mini-split in fan mode (add more air circulation if needed) and it can do heat as well in case it's needed in the night (lights off) over the wintertime. Got the mini-split controller from Trolmaster to manage this.

 

[2klude]

Nice setup... looking forward to your updates.

What mini-split brand did you go with?

What strains are you planning to run? You in BC by any chance?

 

[MidnightSun72]

Nice setup... looking forward to your updates.

What mini-split brand did you go with?

What strains are you planning to run? You in BC by any chance?

Thanks man, No I am in Ontario. I got a Senville unit. Most mini split in the world (60% of them) are made in the same factory in China. Lol. Anyway this model is 19 seer. Looking to control it with the Trolmaster minisplit day night controller.
Planning on running purple space cookies for my first run. Clones from a buddy. But I got a nice bushy sensistar that I love, and a sandstorm by cannabiogen. I have like 16 other strains going right now but I am getting rid of everything and keeping just those threes and eventually just 1.

 

[MidnightSun72]

Sandstorm by Cannabiogen 6 weeks in

Sensistar random cutting I got. This plant has zero stretch and has been very low maintenance. So I like it.

 

[2klude]

I'm starting a new build after xmas this year... just waiting on my renewal which is taking forever.

I'm gonna be running a couple Senville 36k split type units. I spoke to another guy on ICMAG... he's been running (2) units for 3 years, no issues. Can't beat their price too.

 

[Lerms]

watching

 

[MidnightSun72]

So garage started out like this. I was away in australia last year so when I cam back I threw all my shit in the garage and took me some good time to clear it out. so here we are:



The garage door rails were held up by a wooden frame which was killing headroom. So I made up some brackets to mount to the adjacent concrete block walls instead.

 

[MidnightSun72]

Framed up for insulation



Insulating walls and so on


Then I put reflective foam on all the walls


Then dry wall

 

[MidnightSun72]

Some toys came in the mail. Got my fans and other stuff still waiting on some ducting.

 

[2klude]

Nice toys... do you buy most of your gear online? Which vendor do you like or who do you think overall's got the best prices.

 

[calvin.m16]

For HVAC it will be a 30,000 BTU mini-split. It's bought now, but I don't run it likely until the spring where I don't have free cold air to cool my lights. So the room has a total volume of 9.75x10.5x17=1740 cubic ft.

I have a 12" 1100CFM fan with around 1100CFM 12"x40" vortex carbon filter on a temperature controller this can change the room's air in under 2 minutes. For backup, I have a 750W construction type Axial fan that is set up with no obstructions to suck out of the room its 2000CFM full blast. This will kick on at 35*C or 95*F

For air circulation, there will be 6 active air 16" oscillating fans mounts 4 in the corners and 2 in the middle of the long walls. These are supposed to be 2222CFM each which seems insane to have 6. But looking at other people's rooms usually there is at least a fan per light. Someone school me on this. I can run the mini-split in fan mode (add more air circulation if needed) and it can do heat as well in case it's needed in the night (lights off) over the wintertime. Got the mini-split controller from Trolmaster to manage this.

Awesome setup and build. I like your designs what app are you using to produce those results if you don't mind? You have some great height to work with. I've got a few comments to make if you care to read.

If you are going to run Mini Splits there is no reason to ever bring outside air in. That is just asking for way worse problems than temperature. If your running LEDs your going to want your room 78-80 F anyways with 45-50% Relative Humidity for bloom. Adding in the HID lights was smart because if you ran all LED you'd be needing you temps to hit as high as 80 F ~26 C to have really productive growth. HID lighting usually will increase the Leaf Surface Temperature at the canopy +4-6 F when properly positioned. Ideal LST (Leaf Surface Temperature) is going to be 78-82 F 25-26 C.

I have the Perfect Aire 3 ton Mini Split and it cools 8 x 1000 watt DE HPS Gavita perfectly. I had 6 originally but learned I can squeeze 2 more in with a max temperature of 75-78 on average with everything cranking.

Your room is a bit larger in height than my basement but the basement is much larger in length that I'm working in. You should have no problem cooling some little 315 watt CMH and any Quality LED drivers. I say quality beacuse I know my 720 watt Growers Choice ROI-E720 gets less hot than my 300 watt Mars Hydro TSW-2000.. lol and its like 4 times the size with over double the power.

Have confidence in the mini splits they are a necessity in an indoor garden in my opinion they serve as a temperature balance as well as humidity control as they actually pull a lot of humidity believe it or not. Not sure exact pints per hour or anything but its definitely more than a walmart "70 pint" dehumidifier.

 

[MidnightSun72]

Awesome setup and build. I like your designs what app are you using to produce those results if you don't mind? You have some great height to work with. I've got a few comments to make if you care to read.

If you are going to run Mini Splits there is no reason to ever bring outside air in. That is just asking for way worse problems than temperature. If your running LEDs your going to want your room 78-80 F anyways with 45-50% Relative Humidity for bloom. Adding in the HID lights was smart because if you ran all LED you'd be needing you temps to hit as high as 80 F ~26 C to have really productive growth. HID lighting usually will increase the Leaf Surface Temperature at the canopy +4-6 F when properly positioned. Ideal LST (Leaf Surface Temperature) is going to be 78-82 F 25-26 C.

I have the Perfect Aire 3 ton Mini Split and it cools 8 x 1000 watt DE HPS Gavita perfectly. I had 6 originally but learned I can squeeze 2 more in with a max temperature of 75-78 on average with everything cranking.

Your room is a bit larger in height than my basement but the basement is much larger in length that I'm working in. You should have no problem cooling some little 315 watt CMH and any Quality LED drivers. I say quality beacuse I know my 720 watt Growers Choice ROI-E720 gets less hot than my 300 watt Mars Hydro TSW-2000.. lol and its like 4 times the size with over double the power.

Have confidence in the mini splits they are a necessity in an indoor garden in my opinion they serve as a temperature balance as well as humidity control as they actually pull a lot of humidity believe it or not. Not sure exact pints per hour or anything but its definitely more than a walmart "70 pint" dehumidifier.

I am not running the mini split the same time as the cold air intake. It's an either or situation but the room will be setup to intake an exhaust nonetheless so that I can clear the room of CO2 when I need to enter as well. For intake it's 2" 8" intakes 1 with a 8" stealth fan. The other one is passive. And the exhaust is two fan fan 12" HO. I am sure this could cool any amount of lights during the winter months. And the mini split is there for the summer.
Since people run higher temps for CO2 as well as with LEDs it seems you would save a bit of cash not running the Ac so hard right? Good to know on the AC I was gonna buy an additional dehumidifier.

I might try to run CO2 and AC right away but my AC is only good for -15*C ambient so I'd have to switch to fans on days colder than that anyway although I might make a little heater cabin for the condenser to defeat this short coming.

can't thank you enough for the post. How many wall mount fans are you running? Are you running them at canopy level? Higher or lower?

 

[MidnightSun72]

Also the design app is Google Sketchup.

 

[MidnightSun72]

Nice toys... do you buy most of your gear online? Which vendor do you like or who do you think overall's got the best prices.

I used indoorgrowingcanada.com they price matched and their customer service was nice so I used them. Also they will give you discount for ACMPR. I put in a fair size order so their that too. But in general they seemed to have everything I needed in stock and all the Trolmaster was on sale and their website was easy to search. So I went with them.

got some of the stuff at a local hydro shop call astral grow as well the 12" can fans were an unreal price.

 

[MidnightSun72]

All the aluminum for the 6 light fixtures has been cut to length. Final dimensions are 39"x47".

 

[KimoOne]

oooh nice!

 

[MidnightSun72]

Got the fixtures all assembled
bitches are heaaavy, though I haven't weighed them.
Made a total of 8 fixtures. 1 will go in the veg room, 1 will go to the testing tent. for the flower room






co




tested all the fixtures And got them working daisy chained from each other and all dimming off the Trolmaster controller.
Next thing to do will be to finish sanding the dry wall, cut holes for all the vents and paint then hang the lights.

Also need to figure out what reflector to use to spread the 8 CMH bulbs over the grow. If I hang them top down I'll have to make a reflector of less than 8" width to fit between the lights enough to fit between the long ass LED fixtures. I also thought about going bare bulb and position them tot he outside of the rows in a side lighting fashion.

 

[Apalchen]

Wow nice build. One run with the c02 and AC and the venting will only be used for backup. I ran for years venting, I am still air cooling one of my flower rooms now, but as soon as I can afford it I'm adding ac and C02.

I doubted the difference C02 makes before I tried it, but it way more than pays for any extra electric cost associated with AC.

I have foam like you used on one of my walls, you just drywalled right over it? I'm thinking I might do that. Did you use and plastic for like a balor or moisture barrier anywhere?