Huge 4000sq ft. Grow Room Ideas

[silverbub]

Hi this is my first post ,but I'm starting off with a bang. I have the opportunity to use a barn on a remote property to grow.
I was hoping to get some tips and or ideas on how I should set this thing up. It is a total of 4000sq ft. 2000 on the main floor 1000 up stairs in the loft and the other 1000 downstairs in the basement. The area has been roughly adjusted for walking space and what not as well as some working room. Each floor is just open space no walls. I know it's weird for a barn to have a basement ,but it has one.
I want to maximize this space's potential. I was think about doing an Ebb & flow system with lots of 4x8 tables and have 2 1000w grow lights for each table with SOG method. I have a lot of money to put into this so I want it to be great.
How should I ventilate and air condition it and add Co2. BTW I live in a very dry climate so the humidity should be less of a problem. My biggest concern is the power supply should I go with a huge generator or solar or what?
I think soil has a lot of cons and to much work ,but it is not completely out of the question. I have grown before, with around 50 plants, I was hoping to use one of two strains either THC bomb or critical skunk.

I'm really looking to hearing from you because of all your experience and all he helpful advice I have read on these forums before.

 

[whitey78]

I hear ya, we've all had grandiose images in our heads when we think about our dream grow room, except it sounds like you have the space & money to do it. However, no one can really understand how much work it is until you've done it. Like anyone else you probably arent going to listen to pleas to go slow and all that, so take this piece of advice with a grain of salt, no matter how much $ or space you have doesnt tell you what to expect. Start out with 1 light, a 4x4 area with 4-6 plants max to flower, get through 1 harvest and multiply that 1 light per 4x4 throughout your space as you think you can handle it.

I dont have $ to burn, nor do I have the space like you but I run 1 4x8 with 2 1k lights as well as a 4x4 veg tent, this alone is a minimum of 2-4 hours of work a day in just plant maintenance, feeding/watering, picking dead leaves and all that shit, never mind everything else that I cant think of at the moment. Automation is a dream of mine thats a long way away.

 

[WeeGogs]

no electric power means no grow. forget solar power you will never get the required wattage.
you would need to use a generator like the one pictured thats purpose is to run huge building sites, and the geny can kick out a huge amount of ampage to run your hps lamps and run on industrial (red) tax free diesel.
and they can be hired or bought.

secondly use the basement first, it is colder down there.

thirdly you are going to need a shitload of cash.

fourthly you will need to think how many lights down there and so how much cooling power from a fan/fans/cooler humidifier/a.c. you will also need to be able to draw in copious amounts of air for the plants, drawing the air in from the ground level and exhausting the smelly warm air out up a chimney/or/vent or window.
think amount of lights/watts verus amount of cooling.

 

[DrManhattan77]

Defiantly going to need a generator that is about the only way you will power what you need. As far as grow room my biggest advice if your just going to go right to it is to sit down and lay everything out that you need Equipment and materials. And also automation and control is a must for big operations it cuts down on allot of day to day work a good control and automation system is worth every penny because with all of the right equipment and set up properly it will maintain the environment for you and some systems can even alert you when there is an alarm or even send you updates telling you how things are running temp, humidity and any other condition you want to monitor. And automation will work very well with EBB & Flow system as you can set the system up to run the Feed & Water cycles and light cycles and with the right system even adjust parameters remotely. And in my opinion if you can keep the environment its self a sealed environment its easier to maintain the conditions and keep them at a steady level. Have the lights vent on their own circuit and control the environment with a air conditioner unit and co2 controller. If you have any questions about control shoot away as I am a controls installer for a living and will be happy to answer anything I can.

 

[silverbub]

Thanks for the help. How big of a generator would i need I'm not sure how to do the math ,but I know I would be using around 200-250 lights? How do you recommend I automate the whole thing?

 

[JimmyRecard]

You've seen pineapple express? Yea do that!

 

[Nikolaj06]

http://www.gopower.com/prod/generators_250kwjohndeerefullypackageddieselgeneratorset_1716_.html
Here's a generator :b
The warranty will just hold you one grow
You'd better buy two of those, just incase one breaks down....... lol..
Also, think about light movers, you'd be able to keep the lights closer to the plants and use less lights..

 

[silverbub]

Thanks for the link.

 

[oakley1984]

dont buy that john deer crap, if your building something that large get a cummins powered generator. PERIOD.

 

[knourgro]

damn that sounds like its gona be a mecca of pot farms lol

you'll definatly need a huge gene lol. but honestly man your first concern should be the heat signiture those lights are about to throw off, not too mention the questions surrounding a 1000 horsepower generator. it sounds awesome and id do it if i could, but be real carful. a grow that big makes you a top candidate for the DEA and local police.

goodluck man, godspeed

 

[DrManhattan77]

I would defiantly recommend two generators at least, you will eventually need to service them and they do break down you always need a back up so that you dont loose your investment. I would also recommend getting a cummins gen set also there top of the line. As far as control and automation there is allot to it but to start I would start by using Sensaphone products they are fairly simple and you can set up the whole building off of the controller here is a link to there product page http://www.sensaphone.com/products.php look through allot and keep your options open and research. And for a scale size your going I would contract some one who has experience you have allot going on a large scale and with out the proper guidance you are able to loose large sums of money or a large crop very easily buying the wrong equipment and materials that just dont work. And to combat your heat problem take a look at water cooled light fixtures I use them myself and I love them it makes it so much easier to keep the environment stable and remove heat from the environment not to mention it creates much less noise then moving large volumes of air. Just a thought hope you get it going well good luck

 

[DrManhattan77]

try using two smaller gens in place of one there quitier and are allot easier to maintain

 

[silverbub]

Thanks for the luck I'm going to need it. I was also thinking of contracting an experienced grower I just don't know any. I have a lot of friends willing to help me ,but none of them have ever grown anything on a large scale. Have you ever-heard of a system called growtronix I'm not dissing on sensaphone but they seem to better fit the niche I'm looking for.

 

[silverbub]

damn that sounds like its gona be a mecca of pot farms lol

you'll definatly need a huge gene lol. but honestly man your first concern should be the heat signiture those lights are about to throw off, not too mention the questions surrounding a 1000 horsepower generator. it sounds awesome and id do it if i could, but be real carful. a grow that big makes you a top candidate for the DEA and local police.




goodluck man, godspeed

OK. It is pretty rural so I think that lowers the risk a little bit and how do you recommend I lower the heat signature.

 

[Frito Bandito420]

I say u don't do it. my .02

 

[DrManhattan77]

Good advice dont use your friends. In my experience paying ppl who know what there doing and have a rep is the way to go they tend to not cause problems and know how to keep their trap shut, not discing on your friends but they will get you busted or steal from you not worth your investment. As far as heat either water cooled light fixture or insulated ducting and when you get your air cooled hoods they do make a heat blanket that will cover your heat signature. The growtronix is fine if that is what you think will work but in my opinion it simply is for the hobby gardener and does a great job but with the size of your plans it simply will not do what you want. With a more commercial controller you have more ins and outs (inputs & outputs) which means you can monitor more and do more with it and program it to your specs. Like for example with my controller I have it set up so that it will txt me if I have any type of alarm I.E light failure, Water leaks, over temp, and even an intruder the sky is the limit because you can program it and buy devices from other manufacturers where with the growtronix you are limited to what they offer you, and their devices are outrageously priced. For example to switch a ballast or a pump you have to buy their controllable outlet which is $99 and you would need allot of outlets where with other systems you can simply buy a 24volt relay for like $15-$20 and turn multiple things on and off with it. I am simply stating with the size you want to go forget small time controllers they limit there devices to what they sell so you cant use other products, you will simply out grow it quicker then you think where a commercial system you can expand infinitely and control everything in the building and some.

 

[WeeGogs]

dont be a mug and buy that generator for 33.000 dollars, hire one, the largest type the hire company can give you, we had one that powered the huts for 50,000 workmen on a massive new hospital build.
it was serviced every three months by them and was turned off for 30 minutes at a time.

 

[oakley1984]

dont be a mug and buy that generator for 33.000 dollars, hire one, the largest type the hire company can give you, we had one that powered the huts for 50,000 workmen on a massive new hospital build.
it was serviced every three months by them and was turned off for 30 minutes at a time.

that there is by far the Most STUPID suggestion i have EVER seen presented on a growing forum... lets build a 100k remote building with generators so some weird fuck from a company can come out every 4 weeks to service it... and look around the property, and fill out their work report for their supervisors, etc etc etc etc..... bringing random unknowns into a situation like that is FUCKING NAIVE.... suggestions like that, will get you ASS RAPED FOR THE NEXT DECADE.

 

[silverbub]

that there is by far the Most STUPID suggestion i have EVER seen presented on a growing forum... lets build a 100k remote building with generators so some weird fuck from a company can come out every 4 weeks to service it... and look around the property, and fill out their work report for their supervisors, etc etc etc etc..... bringing random unknowns into a situation like that is FUCKING NAIVE.... suggestions like that, will get you ASS RAPED FOR THE NEXT DECADE.

I agree that I wouldn't want to bring anyone except myself and the growaer(s) to the site and keep it as private as possible ,but I don't think that renting one would be a bad idea if servicing isn't required.

 

[oakley1984]

I agree that I wouldn't want to bring anyone except myself and the growaer(s) to the site and keep it as private as possible ,but I don't think that renting one would be a bad idea if servicing isn't required.

you cant rent equipment that size without a service man that goes with it.... its most companys rental policy on things like that.