Help! First Time Grow. Is this a good custom setup?

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boothy

Member
Hello everyone,
This is officially my first post on here! A little about me, I never do anything half-assed which is why I'm coming to you all for advice. Just trying to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. Thanks so much in advance.

Here is the setup-
I have a grow closet(built into walk-in closet) that measures 83in wide X 58in tall x 23in deep, and right in the top left corner on the ceiling is access to the attic. I have framed it all up, installed airtight doors, and lined the entire thing with 1/4in reflective insulation. I have a 60in Cool Tube with 1 600watt HPS and 1 600watt MH in it (1200 watts total). I am doing a passive intake through the light via a 6in 475CFM vortex in-line fan placed in the attic. (will this be enough to cool both lights?) As far as ventilation in the cabinet goes, I will be using a Panasonic Whisper Green mounted into the floor of the grow space, with oscillating fans in each corner. For exhausting the cab. I plan to use a 180CFM 6in inline fan mounted in the opening to the attic, pulling air from the cab. through a 6in duct and out the roof of the house. Do you think I will need a scrubber to control the smell? I plan to use CO2 at some point which is why I'm trying to keep a totally closed system. I also want to run a fully timed watering system, any options you would recommend? I am planning to have about 14 plants in the cab. What grow style would you recommend for a setup like this? SCRoG? SOG? Any recommendations/advice is greatly appreciated! thanks!

More questions- Thanks!
Is using a mixed light setup MH/HPS for the full grow cycle worse/better/or the same as using MH for veg. and HPS for flower?
Do I have too much Light for my space?
Am I missing anything?

Thanks a ton!
 

Attachments

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boothy

Member
Thanks for the input guys. I think a scrog setup is going to be the ticket, as I will be able to control the height of the plants much easier.

Bump for more opinions, and answers!
 
B

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
boothy said:
Hello everyone,
This is officially my first post on here! A little about me, I never do anything half-assed which is why I'm coming to you all for advice. Just trying to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. Thanks so much in advance.

Here is the setup-
I have a grow closet(built into walk-in closet) that measures 83in wide X 58in tall x 23in deep, and right in the top left corner on the ceiling is access to the attic. I have framed it all up, installed airtight doors, and lined the entire thing with 1/4in reflective insulation. I have a 60in Cool Tube with 1 600watt HPS and 1 600watt MH in it (1200 watts total). I am doing a passive intake through the light via a 6in 475CFM vortex in-line fan placed in the attic. (will this be enough to cool both lights?) As far as ventilation in the cabinet goes, I will be using a Panasonic Whisper Green mounted into the floor of the grow space, with oscillating fans in each corner. For exhausting the cab. I plan to use a 180CFM 6in inline fan mounted in the opening to the attic, pulling air from the cab. through a 6in duct and out the roof of the house. Do you think I will need a scrubber to control the smell? I plan to use CO2 at some point which is why I'm trying to keep a totally closed system. I also want to run a fully timed watering system, any options you would recommend? I am planning to have about 14 plants in the cab. What grow style would you recommend for a setup like this? SCRoG? SOG? Any recommendations/advice is greatly appreciated! thanks!

More questions- Thanks!
Is using a mixed light setup MH/HPS for the full grow cycle worse/better/or the same as using MH for veg. and HPS for flower?
Do I have too much Light for my space?
Am I missing anything?

Thanks a ton!
Click to expand...
"180CFM 6in inline fan" sounds suspiciously like a Home Depot duct booster fan - this ain't gonna do the job for you.

Realize that the 180CFM is if there's already air flowing through it - on it's own, it'll probably only give you about 90-100CFM, and with any resistance at all (like pulling/pushing through ducting and/or a filter), it's going to be absolutely, 100% worthless.

You're better off getting a centrifugal 4" at 170CFM (which actually performs at 170CFM) vs. a horseshit axial fan.

Just my $.02.
 
Grow'N'Smoke

Grow'N'Smoke

Active Member
If you can easily adjust the height of your lights then I would suggest topping above the second node. It will give you four main cola's on each plant to help maximize your yield. You will need to have the ability to easily adjust your lights because your plants will want to stretch a lot after being put into flowering and you will want to keep your lights as close as possible to minimize stretching.

-Grow'N'Smoke
 
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Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Grow'N'Smoke said:
If you can easily adjust the height of your lights then I would suggest topping above the second node. It will give you four main cola's on each plant to help maximize your yield. You will need to have the ability to easily adjust your lights because your plants will want to stretch a lot after being put into flowering and you will want to keep your lights as close as possible to minimize stretching.

-Grow'N'Smoke
Click to expand...
At six feet tall and running two 6's, you're not gonna need to adjust your lights at all - keep them as high as possible, at all times - you have six feet, which means that the bottom of your lights is going to be about five (if not less) feet off of the ground, and assuming that you want about a foot of clearance, that gives you a four foot height to work with. Then you subtract out your container size (call it foot), and you're left with three feet of usable plant space - trust me, you're gonna want to permanently mount those lights as high as you possibly can.

While we're on the subject, two 4's would work better (and be much easier to keep cool and work with) in that area then two 6's - even though more light is almost always better, the law of diminishing returns comes into play with lights in an enclosed area.

Anyways, welcome to the site, and remember to not just accept people's advice without critical thinking - taking advice from a bunch of strangers on the Internet (many of whom have never grown and have no idea what they're doing) is a recipe for disaster.

Good luck.
 
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boothy

Member
First off thanks for all the advice.
I threw out the idea of running that 180cfm inline the second I wired it up. Now am going with 2 280 CFM marine blowers. (one mounted into the floor forcing air upward, and one mounted in the attic space exhausting) wired through a 5 amp ac to dc converter. As far as the wattage of the lights goes, I figured just get 600watters b/c there really is no price difference between 600w and 400w digital ballasts. Plus if I stay at 600w I get to buy that sweet lumatek dual output 600watt digi ballast :) how much more do you think I would yeild w/ the 600's Vs. the 400's? If its more in greens than it costs me in the power bill, why not right?
 
B

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
boothy said:
First off thanks for all the advice.
I threw out the idea of running that 180cfm inline the second I wired it up. Now am going with 2 280 CFM marine blowers. (one mounted into the floor forcing air upward, and one mounted in the attic space exhausting) wired through a 5 amp ac to dc converter. As far as the wattage of the lights goes, I figured just get 600watters b/c there really is no price difference between 600w and 400w digital ballasts. Plus if I stay at 600w I get to buy that sweet lumatek dual output 600watt digi ballast :) how much more do you think I would yeild w/ the 600's Vs. the 400's? If its more in greens than it costs me in the power bill, why not right?
Click to expand...
All else equal, you'll probably pull about a 1/4lb more per harvest (more if you know what you're doing) from the 6's; that being said, ventilation is always the biggest issue when constructing a smallish grow area, and two 6's are demonstrably hotter then two 4's.

But, if you can figure the ventilation out, I'd do two 6's as well.
 
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boothy

Member
I don't really see ventilation being a problem as the cool tube is a closed system being cooled by the 475 CFM vortex. With the exhaust going straight into the crawl space underneath my house(to provide some radiant heat) and the air that will be cycling through it is coming straight from the outside at about 55 degrees mid-day. Furthermore the enclosure (when it reaches 84 degrees) will be cooled at 280 CFM by the same 55 degree air. What do you guys think?
 
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Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
boothy said:
I don't really see ventilation being a problem as the cool tube is a closed system being cooled by the 475 CFM vortex. With the exhaust going straight into the crawl space underneath my house(to provide some radiant heat) and the air that will be cycling through it is coming straight from the outside at about 55 degrees mid-day. Furthermore the enclosure (when it reaches 84 degrees) will be cooled at 280 CFM by the same 55 degree air. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Sounds like it'll work fine during the winter.
 
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