Cheap Flood / Drain System.....DIY

[chucktownskunk]

i have the same tent and i used a 1000watt hps with the a 6" duct and the room stayed at 77 deg all the time

 

[Robertesty]

Im a new grower trying to grow weed in my closet. I have a fish tank. Foil paper to cover the fish tank and fluorescent lights. anymore advice?

 

[VictorVIcious]

will have to do some measuring tonight.. not sure i could run 6 inch ducting with the size limitations im working with. also looking at adding a carbon filter for odor control. total room size is 42"x44"x7'(or how ever high the ceiling is) as for attic venting ill have to do some more looking up there.. last thing i want is every one in the building knowin what goin down

those need to be separete systems. The air cooling for the light is one system, 200cfm fan blowing air through the cooltube and out of the room. Since it is a closed system, no smell, cheap fan. Now the odor control/intake exhaust system is where you would want to spend your money. The reason is simple, if you don't have a good enough fan to create a slight negative air presssure in the room, you will not have odor control, the air will simply leak out of any opening, 25cfm through a pencil lead size hole. BY creating the slight negative pressure all of the air going out of the room will be drawn through your carbon scrubber, you could even use passive intake for your fresh air ( a hole twice the size of you exhaust line) If you want to use active instead your intake fan need to be slightly smaller cfm than the exhaust, again to create that negative air pressure. Please keep in mind the cfm listed for fans is the output with no flow restrictions. Every bend is a flow restriction and t's are one of the worst there are. Never use t's in air handling lines, use y's just like you use for sewer lines, or take the flow restriction into account. VV

 

[overfiend]

subscribing so i can find you later

 

[SlikWiLL13]

Was thinking of upping to a 600w light setup but i think it might be overkill for such a small area, and i think it may cause heat issues.

So a question.... Is 4 inch ducting able to move enough air to substantially cool a 400w light? could it cool a 600w? temps right outside the outside the op rarely go over 70 even in summer

i use a 400W hps over my 3x3 flood table cooled with a 5" muffin(computer) fan being pulled through about 8' of 2 1/2" heavy vacuum hose. my room dimensions are very tight(5'x3' w/3x3 tray) but the small fan and hose keeps the room @79 degrees. i think with 4" ducting and a better fan than i have a 600W wouldnt be too overkill.

 

[Styl!st07]

ok so as i thought the 6" ducting wont work without it being very noticeable. the 4" ducting on the other hand can be run out at near floor level and hidden with ease... even for out the window air dumping if need be. will be doing some looking tonight into options for cooling and the carbon filter.

Sweet let me know how it goes.

Would 600w cooled produce more in the 3x3 area available over a 400w cooled? thanks for all the help

I think if u are in a small space and not enough room for the 6" ducting i wood go ahead a get the 400 w light since space is an issue. U need allot of floor space and head room for a 600w light pluse running all the ducting aroud ur grow space.

When u saty "more" i guess u mean more bud in a 3x3 space. Ur bud will be a lil harder with a 600w but u can cover more square fet too, up to 4-5 square feet.

Lets say u get the 600w light and find out u do have enough head space and it stay above 85deg u might not be happy cuz of the heat issues.

My 600w stays 5-7deg above the out side my tent and has to stay at least 24" above my plant level or it gets really hot.

All im saying is make sure u think really hard about get a 600w light if u are in a small space and dont have enough room for the ducting.

Do u have any pics of ur grow space?

Is this ur veg room, mother room, flower room?

In side ur grow space are u in a room with the 3x3 table inside the room, or is ur space a 3x3 closet or tent?

Pics are a good thing so i can give better advice buddy.

Happy Growing

- Styli!st

 

[Styl!st07]

subscribing so i can find you later

Im rite here...........

 

[Styl!st07]

.

i think with 4" ducting and a better fan than i have a 600W wouldnt be too overkill.

[/QUOTE]

Over kill, i dont think so, as long as u can vent allot of freah cool air u can have a 1000w light but i u have to keep fresh cool air moveing thu the light at all times.

Whit only 4" ducting it wood be hard unless his air cumming in is really cool, pulling it from out side at this time of year is really good.
run the lights at night.

- Styl!st

 

[Styl!st07]

as for attic venting ill have to do some more looking up thre.. last thing i want is every one in the building knowin what goin down

[/QUOTE]

If u are in an apartment building i wood be careful on ventting ur light cuz theese fan are loud when they are on full blast. If u have a 6" fan and have it pushing aloot of air out of the window might not be a good idea. The air cumming out of theese fans need a muffler to soften the sound cumming out. Sum one could easyly here it, I dont know if u are in one are not but just keep that in mind when cool this light.

Im a new grower trying to grow weed in my closet. I have a fish tank. Foil paper to cover the fish tank and fluorescent lights. anymore advice?

U will need sum seeds too!!!!!

Start theese lil bitches in a paper towel and put them in a warm place and wait a few days till u see a tap root/ Once u see this u are ready to make a choice on wheather u are going to grow in soil or hydro.

FYI- starting from seed can be a bitch. IMO

Please let me know how it goes or if u need more advice

those need to be separete systems. The air cooling for the light is one system, 200cfm fan blowing air through the cooltube and out of the room. Since it is a closed system, no smell, cheap fan. Now the odor control/intake exhaust system is where you would want to spend your money. The reason is simple, if you don't have a good enough fan to create a slight negative air presssure in the room, you will not have odor control, the air will simply leak out of any opening, 25cfm through a pencil lead size hole. BY creating the slight negative pressure all of the air going out of the room will be drawn through your carbon scrubber, you could even use passive intake for your fresh air ( a hole twice the size of you exhaust line) If you want to use active instead your intake fan need to be slightly smaller cfm than the exhaust, again to create that negative air pressure. Please keep in mind the cfm listed for fans is the output with no flow restrictions. Every bend is a flow restriction and t's are one of the worst there are. Never use t's in air handling lines, use y's just like you use for sewer lines, or take the flow restriction into account. VV

It all ways good to here from u sir, u took the woods right out my mouth.

I have a 4x4 tent and all i use is a 6" 450cfm fan, pulling air from the inside of my tent thru-----> fan thru------> light thru------> out the window. This creats a neggative preshure in my tent for odor controll and no heat problems.

Works for me

- Stylist

 

[VictorVIcious]

I have an air cooled 1000watt light within 8" of the top of my plants, it does not need, nor should it be, 2' above the canopy, the only time you would need that distance is if your using in over new clones or seeds. VV

 

[VictorVIcious]

Thanks victor! with only a 3x3 table would you go with a 400w or a 600w?

The 600 uses 50% more power and produces 100% more lumens. If the difference in cost is less than $150.00 it will pay you back your additional investment when you harvest the first crop. VV

 

[Styl!st07]

The 600 uses 50% more power and produces 100% more lumens. If the difference in cost is less than $150.00 it will pay you back your additional investment when you harvest the first crop. VV

Thanx VV, its allways good to get a second opinion, xspecially from u.

I didint want to give any bad advice to this fella.

Do u think that with the 4" ducting with a 600w light will be a good thing. When it cums to fans with 4" ducting the air out put is all most half the cfm, like 200-250 cfm and with 6" fan its mor like 400-450 cfm.

Could he vent that 600w light with a 200cfm fan and 4" ducting?

I have allways said, "bigger is better", when its cums to buying new toys for myself.

Im my small 4x4 tent i have to have my light at the top of my tent just to keep the temp down cuz of the small space but i can make it cooler but i have to crank my AC more.

Hey VV,

Thank for helping out with the lighting choices, i was going for the 600 my self but when he said that 6" ducting is not an oppion and no pics i did not want him to get the light and him to have problems venting and heating issues.

So if u think that u can vent this light proprelly i wood get the 600w and grow BIG plant. This is what i went with and my plants love me for it.

- Styl!st

 

[VictorVIcious]

Bigger is better when you refer to line size, you can buy less expensive fans, there are three different types of fans, Axial, Radial and Can. If you have to move down to the 4" lines move up to a Radial Fan at least, you will be fine. If its a real long run or if you have a lot of flow restrictions, like a carbon scrubber move up to a can fan.
Al B Fuct did the testing for what I based mine system on. He posted it somewhere in that Get A Harvest Every Two Weeks, neither of us could find where he posted it. If I remember correct, he used 4" lines with about a 150cfm axial fan, I know he hooked it up to 2 1000 watt lights to run the test. There wasn't a significant (more than 5 degrees) between his inflow and outflow temps. I went with bigger (6" lines) so I could put 'light blocking bend' (180 degrees) and still have enough air movement with the cheaper fan.
When I installed my room exhaust I used 8" lines for the same reason, for less than $30.00 I bought a cheap axial in line duct booster rated at 500cfm, about 25' of ducting, it goes out one of the roof vents at the top of the house, I do not use a carbon scrubber. Been operating 24/7 for a little over two years now. But I have the room.
The smaller the line and the more restriction, the better fan is needed. VV

 

[Styl!st07]

recommend any place good for fans?

www.plantlightinghydroponics.com

for just cooling ducting a line in and out using no air from the room, how many cfm would you say a 600w would need to stay cool? Thanks for all the help +rep both of you

I wood at least go with a 200-450cfm fan.

I use a 450cfm for my 600w light and run it at 100% full blast with 6" line.

I think VV is useing a 200cfm Axil fan ,in a closed loop, to cool his light .
in a closed loop u dont need a real big fan unless ur using 4" line.

 

[Styl!st07]

are you running through a scrubber before the light?

Not at the moment cuz Im still vegging but u can hook one to it u just need a bigger fan to move more air thru everthing.

air inside the room--->Filter--->light--->fan--->out the room

Tjis will cause a neggitive pressure in ur room an may need at least a 450cfm fan to more enough air in ur op, and u may still need another fan to bring more air in to the room, intake fan

air cumming from outside the room--->fan---->light---->out the room

This is the closed loop way of d=oing it witch one are u thinking of doing?

 

[Styl!st07]

I wanted to run a closed loop for the light.. the more heat I keep out the better right. still looking at blowing the cooling exhaust up into the attic spaceSo i was looking at a y pipe and was thinking, what about a closed loop for the light but exhausting it and the scrubber exhaust out a y pipe together, and adding a passive intake into the room.

If i where u i wood put it together this way and im going to show u how to put it together 2 differant ways. one will be the closed loop way and will cost allot more cuz of the all the xtra fans that will be needed.

This is a closed circuit path for the cooltubes. Cooltube air is drawn from outside the room airmass and dumped outside it as well. If the air going into the intake blower is 25C or below and there is sufficient throughflow, you should be able to keep the room at 25C max.

If the ambient air you have available to draw in is hotter than the 25C target, the only thing that will bring it down is aircon. If you must use aircon, cooltubes will make it work much less often- read 'much cheaper'. With aircon, the intake & exhaust blowers should not be on a thermostat, rather should be run on a digital timer for 5 mins/hour during lights on. The aircon will manage the temp & humidity but the exhaust blower needs to run occasionally to draw in CO2 laden air and dump CO2 depleted air.

The cooltube ducting should be as short and straight as possible. Don't be tempted to allow the cooltube to draw air from inside the room (especially if you have aircon). This will affect temperature stability. If the total length of your duct & cooltubes is more than about 4m or if you have more than a couple 90 deg bends in the path, consider a centrifugal blower instead of an axial. Axials don't deal well with pushing into obstructions or long ducts. Centrifs can generate high pressure and cope much better with such demands.

I found this in AL B. Fuct thread and there is allot of info in there if u give it a go.

View attachment 244576
The second way and cheaper is venting with only one fan and pulling air from inside the tent to creat a neggitive pressure, in the tent, to vent all the air thru the light and out the room in to attic. This is the way i have my tent put together and it works well and only requires one 6" Vortex fans 450cfm with a 600w light.

My tent is only 4x4x6 and does not have allot of area to vent thats why i have only one fan, it just works fine for me this way, but u can allways start with one big fan and see how it works. then if u need to move up to the close loop just buy more fans. If u go the other way u are going to have aleast 2 or 3 differant fans, but if u have allot of coin to drop go with Al's closed loop for a better way of cooling and venting and bringing in fresh air.

I get all my stuff from www.plantlightinghydroponics.com they have the best prices around on the net. IMO

Let me know if this helped at all.................

-Styl!st

 

[havefungodumb]

alright, thanks for pic

what easiest besides a flood table,

drip system? i thought drip system would be easiest, pots,drip stick,pump,rez
temp, DONE?

iunno maybe pics are misleading me

 

[havefungodumb]

seems like all the stuff for drip system is at home depot, i saw lots of things there but maybe drip sticks wasnt that maybe it was just a big T shape with no water coming out bottom.

a 400 gph pump is 75 bucks there, i wanna start ordering offline i need lots of things im just such a wuss, with no credit card.

 

[chucktownskunk]

it is soo much cheaper to go to lowes instead of going to your local hydro store when your two friends are a plumber and the other does irrigation

 

[Styl!st07]

alright, thanks for pic

Ur welcome!!!

what easiest besides a flood table,

Watering by hand.lol

drip system? i thought drip system would be easiest, pots,drip stick,pump,rez
temp, DONE?

Drip systems are allot harder to clean in between harvest, cleaning all the hoses, drippers, buckets, and rez. If one of the dripper lines get clogged by the nutes bing pumped thru the lines and u dont notice in a short time u may lose a few of them by under watering them.

Plus every time ur done with that grouth phase u have to clean all thoughs lil parts with a tooth bush with H202. Thats way too much work for a 1st class stoner, like me.

I wood rather just have to clean a few small size pots, flood table and rez. Plus going with a flood/drain table u can find all parts at Lowes....

iunno maybe pics are misleading me

I cant imagine have to pull all that apart ,between every harvest, and haveing to clean all tat build up from the nutes. It much easyer to clean a flood/drain system.IMO

seems like all the stuff for drip system is at home depot, i saw lots of things there but maybe drip sticks wasnt that maybe it was just a big T shape with no water coming out bottom.

U can find all the parts at home depot or Lowes too for the flood/drain.
But its better to go on line for the pump/air pump

a 400 gph pump is 75 bucks there, i wanna start ordering offline i need lots of things im just such a wuss, with no credit card.

That way too expensive for a pump, i got mine for $30, online, and the air pump for to line for $15.

[QOUTE]it is soo much cheaper to go to lowes instead of going to your local hydro store when your two friends are a plumber and the other does irrigation

Then why wood u buy a 400gph pump on line for $75?

I wood got to Lowes and get sum kind of tuperware with a 6" deep lid, 1/2 hoses, air lines for airpump, everything eles u can get on line with a prepaid card, get thoughs at gas station, like Pump to flood table, second small pump to stir nutes 24/7, air pump with to line or more, Flood/drain connections too, that should be it.

I wood go to this web site's to find all ur needs

www.plantlightinghydroponics.com
www.hydrofarm.com
www.cheaphydroponics.com

I shop here allot and they have all most everything i need unless i can get it at the big box stores.

Her is a pic of a flood/drain system, u tell me which one looks easyer?