First Grow - 10 Plants; Underground | Few Questions

teaaet

Active Member
Greetings all; I will be starting my first grow soon.

I have a few pertinent questions regarding some choices in equipment for the grow.

I will be growing these plants in an underground circular room with a diameter of 7ft. The room houses a 10 gallon sump pump, so most of the space is quite free. I painted the walls in flat white a few months back and have exhausted the room for the last few months. I plan on growing ten plants in here, each in a 5-gallon pail, and all will be in the center of the room. The room is 7ft high with a slopped/concave ceiling that goes up to about 10ft high in the center. In the center is a hole about the size of a manhole cover, this hole is covered with thick ply and leads to a large raised platform in the garage. I plan on hanging the HPS light from this, on a pulley system, and will also make (3) 4in holes in the wood. Two of the holes will be for intake/exhaust for the HPS light and the third hole would be for room exhaust... though I am uncertain if I need this.

I am tossing between using 600W and 1000W HPS and am uncertain which to use. I would like to use the 1000W but do not want to look suspicious to the power company as I live in a town (not a city) and the local power company is the city. I use between 800 and 1200 kwh per month right now and have been for a few years. Would cutting back on the space heater (dropping down from 1200 to 800) and adding the 1000W light be suspicious?

Next I am curious to know how hot the room might get if I am exhausting the sealed lights and have the ballast out of the room. Would I need a room exhaust?

I'm curious as to how the carbon filters work... does that large filter I see at HTG Supply fit on the end of the exhaust... is that the last thing in the chain? Where would I put something like that? Also how loud are the fans that push about 250cfm?

I also plan on adding a CO2 generator to the room, and will have a humidifier in there as well. The room will be more or less completely sealed.

About lighting, when doing say the 16/8 lighting do I need to do 16 on and 8 off in a full manner or can I do say 2 on and 1off through a 24 hour time period?

In the end... if I go the 600W would that be sufficient for 10 plants... obviously 1000W would be better.

Thanks all!
 

teaaet

Active Member
Yeah... it's sure an interesting room. When we purchased the house many years back it was quite... disgusting... moldy and such... looked like it was used as a cellar. I cleaned it all up a few months back (scrubbed walls with TSP and painted them over). It looks nice now... like it was meant for growing =)

I am curious as to what it was originally... we've had many guesses (storm drain, septic system, well, etc.) but I dunno. Any ideas? It looks like a big plastic milk jug without the handle.
 

NewGrowth

Well-Known Member
Yeah... it's sure an interesting room. When we purchased the house many years back it was quite... disgusting... moldy and such... looked like it was used as a cellar. I cleaned it all up a few months back (scrubbed walls with TSP and painted them over). It looks nice now... like it was meant for growing =)

I am curious as to what it was originally... we've had many guesses (storm drain, septic system, well, etc.) but I dunno. Any ideas? It looks like a big plastic milk jug without the handle.
Maybe an old bomb shelter? I don't know the man hole cover and all is interesting.
 
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