20,000 Watt Medical Grow Op Construction

collective gardener · May 2, 2011

Wolverine97 said:
You won't need the neem, Azamax is just the concentrated goodness from the neem plant. Just the active stuff that you're after...

Interesting. I did not know that. In that case, we'll hit em with the Doktor Doom once a month or so just to keep em on their little toes.

On another note, I purchased everything needed for another TFRDWC 8 bucket system today: air pump, circ pump, fittings, air stones, buckets, tubing, buckets, res, lids, Hydrotons...the whole works. The total cost: $300.00. I didn't think it would be that much, but it will be worth it. The labor savings alone will pay for the changeover in a couple months. Servicing our first 8 bucket system today took less than 4 minutes. It took Helper D 15 minutes to water and drain the waste on 8 10 gallon potted plants. The time spent cleaning the ststem between cycles will be far less than the time spent transplanting and disposing of soil. The growth rate of our first system is noting short of explosive.

mazand1982 · May 3, 2011

BiteSizeFreak said:
If I owned hell and Cali, I'd rent out Cali and live in hell. lol Seriously though, can't stand the place. Aside from the pretty girls and good weed laws I find nothing else redeeming about the state. I usually don't bring it up for obvious reasons lol

Anyway, I'll just kinda piece out here for a little while or this whole thread will get jacked by people mad that I don't like Cali

PS: Oh yeah, good wine too!

haha ive been alll over USA and abroad outside of the US and id never even think about living anywhere else than orange county southern california, good weed laws and gorgeous girls everywhere u look, asians, hispanics, white, black, everything, absolutely no where compares to southern cali...case closed

Wolverine97 · May 3, 2011

collective gardener said:
Interesting. I did not know that. In that case, we'll hit em with the Doktor Doom once a month or so just to keep em on their little toes.

On another note, I purchased everything needed for another TFRDWC 8 bucket system today: air pump, circ pump, fittings, air stones, buckets, tubing, buckets, res, lids, Hydrotons...the whole works. The total cost: $300.00. I didn't think it would be that much, but it will be worth it. The labor savings alone will pay for the changeover in a couple months. Servicing our first 8 bucket system today took less than 4 minutes. It took Helper D 15 minutes to water and drain the waste on 8 10 gallon potted plants. The time spent cleaning the ststem between cycles will be far less than the time spent transplanting and disposing of soil. The growth rate of our first system is noting short of explosive.

Awesome. I'm interested to see how you do with the Under Current setup, I'm considering giving it a go but I've always been a strictly soil grower...

medicine21 · May 3, 2011

lots of undercurrent threads on thcfarmer. All agree - a chiller is a MUST.

rosecitypapa · May 3, 2011

Hey CG,

You'll have problems with that RDWC setup with using just 3/4" drain lines. The roots will start clogging the lines later in bloom. You could get by with adding another 3/4" drain but you prolly still won't be happy with it. It just will not provide enough flow for proper mixing of nutes for pH adjustments. Screens and strainers can work but will need constant maintenance.

The 3/4" is doable but inadequate for maximum efficiency of the system.

The undercurrent is a good design in that they use flat-sided buckets to enable the 2" uniseals fittings. But as you know, the limitation of fixed plant sites, especially in your situation isn't ideal.

btw, do you have any close up's pics of your plants in bloom? (closer that you've provided thus far)

NDO · May 3, 2011

Wolverine97 said:
Awesome. I'm interested to see how you do with the Under Current setup, I'm considering giving it a go but I've always been a strictly soil grower...

Agreed, I'm really looking forward to seeing this system in action as well...Here's to a room filled with Godzillas! Hopefully Helper D doesn't get eaten alive....Any pictures of the new TFRDWC set-up yet CG?

TheLastWood · May 3, 2011

Undercurrent setups are so sweet. I would love to run one but that's just way too much water consumption for me.

Maybe if I ever move, I will buy a house where I can have running water to my room. None of my spare bedrooms have a bathroom. Only the master bdrm.

Can't wait to see your results.

SupaM · May 3, 2011

mazand1982 said:
haha ive been alll over USA and abroad outside of the US and id never even think about living anywhere else than orange county southern california, good weed laws and gorgeous girls everywhere u look, asians, hispanics, white, black, everything, absolutely no where compares to southern cali...case closed

Preciate the 'inside view'.... I can't wait to see that place one day Brotha!!! ATB!!

collective gardener · May 3, 2011

rosecitypapa said:
Hey CG,

You'll have problems with that RDWC setup with using just 3/4" drain lines. The roots will start clogging the lines later in bloom. You could get by with adding another 3/4" drain but you prolly still won't be happy with it. It just will not provide enough flow for proper mixing of nutes for pH adjustments. Screens and strainers can work but will need constant maintenance.

The 3/4" is doable but inadequate for maximum efficiency of the system.

The undercurrent is a good design in that they use flat-sided buckets to enable the 2" uniseals fittings. But as you know, the limitation of fixed plant sites, especially in your situation isn't ideal.

btw, do you have any close up's pics of your plants in bloom? (closer that you've provided thus far)

I agree on the root clogging problem. As far as mixing nutes, all are pre mixed and PH'd before being pumped into the system. PH adjustments are done by accurately measuring the amount of PH down needed for every tenth of a PH point...so that's not a problem. We do that now when batching a tub full of nutes. Helper D knows that it takes X amount of PH up to bring said tub to the desired PH range. BUT, the roots will be a problem...maybe. I'm using very low flow on the top feed to each bucket...just enough to keep mixing the nutrients throughout the system. I would prefer more flow to take advantage to the hyper oxygenated water from the res. If I just give up on my mobile plant need, options galore appear. I need to think about this for a while. If I use stationary plants, I'll probably go to a 12" PVC pipe in a modified high flow NFT system. I'm on the fence. Thanks though for confirming what has been nagging at me since I started this.

docrock · May 3, 2011

I'm using 3/4 hose and fitting with a screen over the outlet inside the bucket, I've had no prolems with root clog. Have I just been lucky or do the screens work?

rosecitypapa said:
Hey CG,

You'll have problems with that RDWC setup with using just 3/4" drain lines. The roots will start clogging the lines later in bloom. You could get by with adding another 3/4" drain but you prolly still won't be happy with it. It just will not provide enough flow for proper mixing of nutes for pH adjustments. Screens and strainers can work but will need constant maintenance.

The 3/4" is doable but inadequate for maximum efficiency of the system.

The undercurrent is a good design in that they use flat-sided buckets to enable the 2" uniseals fittings. But as you know, the limitation of fixed plant sites, especially in your situation isn't ideal.

btw, do you have any close up's pics of your plants in bloom? (closer that you've provided thus far)

Sr. Verde · May 3, 2011

collective gardener said:
Never tried the Wowie. How's the yield? If we're going to grow a "less powerful" plant or 2, it might as well be a good yielder, eh?

I haven't grown it, I believe it is a on-the-lanky-side sativa.. tropical type plant... I don't think the yield is especially massive, but im sure this depends on where your getting your genetics

I find the maui wowie has a sandlewood/ (tasty) rubbery overtones..

It's definitely something you should check out. You've mentioned going to dispensaries to try different strains, or at least your assistant... You should keep it at the back of your mind to ask about it if your given a chance

It's one of my top 5 strains, if I had the space i'd grow it regardless of the size or yield because it's such a unique relaxing comfortable high. I wouldn't mind having a few spare oz's here and there

collective gardener · May 4, 2011

docrock said:
I'm using 3/4 hose and fitting with a screen over the outlet inside the bucket, I've had no prolems with root clog. Have I just been lucky or do the screens work?

I hope the screens work and I hope you're lucky, too! Given the small amount of water I pump into each bucket, I'm hoping root clog will not be a problem. Fortunately, I'm building an 8 bucket unit at a time. If I do see a problem, it's not like there will be 95 buckets to change over...more like 8, or 16 max. I am leaving 3 plants from the latest clone run in coco for a little light test I'm doing. LOL...which should begin next week. They will be the smallest plants in the grow, but should give us an idea of what the inductive light can do against an LED.

collective gardener · May 4, 2011

Sr. Verde said:
I haven't grown it, I believe it is a on-the-lanky-side sativa.. tropical type plant... I don't think the yield is especially massive, but im sure this depends on where your getting your genetics

I find the maui wowie has a sandlewood/ (tasty) rubbery overtones..

It's definitely something you should check out. You've mentioned going to dispensaries to try different strains, or at least your assistant... You should keep it at the back of your mind to ask about it if your given a chance

It's one of my top 5 strains, if I had the space i'd grow it regardless of the size or yield because it's such a unique relaxing comfortable high. I wouldn't mind having a few spare oz's here and there

Well, for now Helper D has his towering NY Diesel to play with for some head stash. For my Head stash, I'm really digging the laughgani. It is just the type of high I enjoy. Until we get everything going in the new systems and the room producing what I know it can, there will be no more new strains except the new Tahoe OG I was given. The Tahoe is time tested by a trusted grower, so it will go into production of at least 8 plants right away. I get lots of OG requests. The Laughgani is by far in the most demand. If it didn't take 10 weeks to finish I would just grow it. It's one of those buds that will get your foot in the door of most dispensarys...even the ones who claim not to be looking for new vendors.

Mattysville · May 4, 2011

I'm working on designing a similar system as well. i'm going to have 3 separate systems with 4 buckets each to maintain a perpetual cycle within my plant limits. i'll also have another one used only for vegging plants and a homemade aerocloner. i've been playing with an idea to prevent clogs on the return lines that i figured out when brewing beer. when brewing beer i used grains to make my malt instead of concentrated malt sugars as most homebrewers do. to get the mash heated correctly i built a system out of a 5 gallon rubbermaid water cooler (gatorade cooler) with a screen suspended about an inch above the bottom of the bucket for the grain to sit on. when it was time to drain the mash to the pot for boiling hops you just opened the valve on the bottom and the hot water darined out with no grains and no clogs. doing something similar on a RDWC would probably work out very nicely. i used a small micron metal mesh screen cut out to the size and shape of the bucket and held it up using bolts with a nut on either side of the screen to make a table that sat on the the bottom of the bucket. the roots would sit on the screen and the return line fittings can be placed below the screen preventing clogs.

dog · May 4, 2011

SHIT got to the end!!! love your Bubba man just hope mine grow as well?? all 3 have poped out of the soil in 36hr, and now under 150w CMH, im hoping to get my 1000watter up and running again, so i have 1600watt's in that 5x5 room.
+REP very cool thread.

collective gardener · May 4, 2011

Mattysville said:
I'm working on designing a similar system as well. i'm going to have 3 separate systems with 4 buckets each to maintain a perpetual cycle within my plant limits. i'll also have another one used only for vegging plants and a homemade aerocloner. i've been playing with an idea to prevent clogs on the return lines that i figured out when brewing beer. when brewing beer i used grains to make my malt instead of concentrated malt sugars as most homebrewers do. to get the mash heated correctly i built a system out of a 5 gallon rubbermaid water cooler (gatorade cooler) with a screen suspended about an inch above the bottom of the bucket for the grain to sit on. when it was time to drain the mash to the pot for boiling hops you just opened the valve on the bottom and the hot water darined out with no grains and no clogs. doing something similar on a RDWC would probably work out very nicely. i used a small micron metal mesh screen cut out to the size and shape of the bucket and held it up using bolts with a nut on either side of the screen to make a table that sat on the the bottom of the bucket. the roots would sit on the screen and the return line fittings can be placed below the screen preventing clogs.

I understand exactly what you are proposing with the screen false bottom. Just keep in mind that roots are persistant and can work their way through the finest of mesh with time. I may try something similar. The real difference between mine and the under current is my low flow volume. I really just want enough flow to facilitate checking PH, TDS, and changing solution at a central location (the res). Also, tying in the buckets with a res gives us that much more solution. I'm not sure what all that volume of flow does for the Undercurrent system. I mean, it looks cool, and all. I can see the additional O2 for the return water falling into the res. But, I wonder what exactly all that flow does. I'm really just looking for the same growth that I got from 1 bucket and an air stone. I just don't want to service 90 individual buckets. At the same time, I'm not a fan of totally connecting everything in the room. 8 plants seems like a nice number. Those will also fit nice under 2 - 1000 watt lights. I'm leaning more and more towards just having a fixed plant location. It would make my life easier. We would just adjust the plant size with veg time and Bushmaster.

collective gardener · May 4, 2011

dog said:
SHIT got to the end!!! love your Bubba man just hope mine grow as well?? all 3 have poped out of the soil in 36hr, and now under 150w CMH, im hoping to get my 1000watter up and running again, so i have 1600watt's in that 5x5 room.
+REP very cool thread.

Nice work, Dog, blowing through the whole thing. I suppose you saw the boy who wanted the cliff notes.

1600 watts is going to be perfect for that 5x5 room. 64 watts/sq ft is jamming light. Good luck and stick around for the fun.

collective gardener · May 4, 2011

rosecitypapa said:
Hey CG,

You'll have problems with that RDWC setup with using just 3/4" drain lines. The roots will start clogging the lines later in bloom. You could get by with adding another 3/4" drain but you prolly still won't be happy with it. It just will not provide enough flow for proper mixing of nutes for pH adjustments. Screens and strainers can work but will need constant maintenance.

The 3/4" is doable but inadequate for maximum efficiency of the system.

The undercurrent is a good design in that they use flat-sided buckets to enable the 2" uniseals fittings. But as you know, the limitation of fixed plant sites, especially in your situation isn't ideal.

btw, do you have any close up's pics of your plants in bloom? (closer that you've provided thus far)

I'll see about getting some more pics. Most of what we have late in bloom right now is the Laughgani. The closeup pics don't come out too well under HPS light, and we don't remove the whole plant from the room till we've harvested about half of it. I can get you some good Laughgani pics of the next 5 small plants coming out May 21, after 10 full weeks. Those will come out of the room and be harvested in full.

growmomma · May 4, 2011

I may post a couple pics later of our small under current set-up if u don't mind. Would love y'alls opinion on what we've got goin or may be lacking especially with the clogging issues and screens u talk abt. So far so good for us, but we've only vegged in it for 5 wks n then they were transplanted outside so clogging issues during flower have yet to be tested.

Sr. Verde · May 4, 2011

collective gardener said:
Well, for now Helper D has his towering NY Diesel to play with for some head stash. For my Head stash, I'm really digging the laughgani. It is just the type of high I enjoy. Until we get everything going in the new systems and the room producing what I know it can, there will be no more new strains except the new Tahoe OG I was given. The Tahoe is time tested by a trusted grower, so it will go into production of at least 8 plants right away. I get lots of OG requests. The Laughgani is by far in the most demand. If it didn't take 10 weeks to finish I would just grow it. It's one of those buds that will get your foot in the door of most dispensarys...even the ones who claim not to be looking for new vendors.

That's cool dude - I was bringing up the Maui Wowie when you mentioned wanting to find a new not so over-powering strain.

20,000 Watt Medical Grow Op Construction

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