My First Grow and Grow Room 10 x 10

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SmokinGanga

Member
So I just joined this forum, my brother told me about it and how great it is, how helpful the people are on giving advice. I have been reading a lot on here and have learned more in the past several days on growing from this forum, than I have learned in 18 years of smoking, lol. Anyways, I am doing my first grow like I said and after much reading and debating I am doing a NFT system. I rented a apartment just for this, the room I will be growing in is 10 feet wide by 10 feet long and 9 foot ceilings. I am wanting to do a 90 day grow and I have several questions, hopefully you can be as helpful with me as you all where with my brother.

I am growing in 5 different 5 inch PVC pipes that are 7 foot long each with black coating on the inside to reduce mold growth. They are capped with black rubber fittings to reduce mold and make for easy removing to clean.

*My first question is about how wide should I make the holes to put my plants in and my Sure-grow medium?

*My second question is how much space should I put between each plant. I have attached a copy of my blueprints and right now I am spacing the holes 20 inches apart. Is that to much or not enough? By doing this I can grow 5 plants every 7 feet of PVC. Which lets me grow 35. I would like to grow more, but I do not want to crowd them.

*My third question is about this part of my hydro setup. I know I must keep a flow of nutrients going thru the roots of my plants. How fast of a flow should my water and nutrients go thru the roots of my plants? Also how far should the roots stick out of the top of the solution?

*My fourth question is I know that I need to keep a Air Rock at the bottom of the resevor to help the plants get oxygen. Would it hurt anything if I also put a small air rock in the PVC, I marked on my diagram where I would like them with a red $ symbol. It seems to me that it would help the roots get oxygen. The only thing I could see being a problem would be drying the roots out but I could always add a mister inside the pipe on the bottom, so that it would only turn on if the water level drops below the mister.

*Question Number 5 is what angle should I place my PVC pipes so that they drain back to the resevor, I don't want them to drain to fast or become stagnant. Also I am using 1/8 inch black plastic lines to run my nutrients and water to my plants, is that a big enough line?

*And one last question about my basic hydro set up. In the resevor is where I keep my nutrients etc. Do I need to put a power head or something inside my resevor to keep the water circulated and fresh? Also do I need a filter in my resevor such as a carbon filter or something?

If anyone has any suggestions on my basic NFT Hydro set up I am all ears. Its kind of hard to use Windows Paint to show what it looks like. The PVC pipes are not laying side by side, they are basically stacked like stairs (I put a crude picture of it on here), with a 1 1/2 foot gap between them and a 1 foot drop between each one.

Also I am running a home made CO2 system and I need to know how much ppm I need. I am getting a co2 tank from the welding shop down the road, it should come with a pressure gauge for the tank and maybe a flow gauge, it also is rated at 20 CFH. I read that I am only suppose to use CO2 while the lights are on, and I was told that I should quit using it 2 weeks before I harvest. Is this true?

How many ppm should I have of Carbon Dioxide so that my plants will thrive, and since I have to alternate the timing for my ventilation what would be the optimal timing be set to on my timer? Or should I just let my CO2 run all the time? Also I read that I should place the CO2 vent close the base of the plant, is this true?

I AM NEEDING TO FIND OUT WHAT METERS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT I NEED TO TEST MY PH LEVELS AND EVERYTHING ELSE SUCH AS HUMIDITY ETC!!!

AND THE VERY LAST QUESTION! And it seem's to be the most important question of them all. I am wondering how many Lumens or Watts I will need per plant, or total. I have read on this forum and several others that it is smart to use MH lights for the vegetation stage and HPS for the flowering stage. Is this true? Or should I use MH & HPS at the same time thru the beginning to end?. I have the lights on a track that move them around the plants so if I do end up doing HPS & MH at the same time then the light will be spread evenly. Can someone please tell me what lighting process gave them the best yields. Thank You!

Smokin

Also, you thought I was out of questions, I have one more lol. I have a lot of extra mirrors, would it be good to use them to mirror the entire 10 x 10 room, this is what I would like to do, or might that cause hot spots with the reflection from the lights? Or should I use tin foil. I was also told I could use the back side of Christmas wrapping paper, because its a creamy white.:leaf:NFT Set up.jpgside view.jpg
 
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whitey78

Well-Known Member
SmokinGanga said:
So I just joined this forum, my brother told me about it and how great it is, how helpful the people are on giving advice. I have been reading a lot on here and have learned more in the past several days on growing from this forum, than I have learned in 18 years of smoking, lol. Anyways, I am doing my first grow like I said and after much reading and debating I am doing a NFT system. I rented a apartment just for this, the room I will be growing in is 10 feet wide by 10 feet long and 9 foot ceilings. I am wanting to do a 90 day grow and I have several questions, hopefully you can be as helpful with me as you all where with my brother.

I am growing in 5 different 5 inch PVC pipes that are 7 foot long each with black coating on the inside to reduce mold growth. They are capped with black rubber fittings to reduce mold and make for easy removing to clean.

*My first question is about how wide should I make the holes to put my plants in and my Sure-grow medium?

*My second question is how much space should I put between each plant. I have attached a copy of my blueprints and right now I am spacing the holes 20 inches apart. Is that to much or not enough? By doing this I can grow 5 plants every 7 feet of PVC. Which lets me grow 35. I would like to grow more, but I do not want to crowd them.

*My third question is about this part of my hydro setup. I know I must keep a flow of nutrients going thru the roots of my plants. How fast of a flow should my water and nutrients go thru the roots of my plants? Also how far should the roots stick out of the top of the solution?

*My fourth question is I know that I need to keep a Air Rock at the bottom of the resevor to help the plants get oxygen. Would it hurt anything if I also put a small air rock in the PVC, I marked on my diagram where I would like them with a red $ symbol. It seems to me that it would help the roots get oxygen. The only thing I could see being a problem would be drying the roots out but I could always add a mister inside the pipe on the bottom, so that it would only turn on if the water level drops below the mister.

*Question Number 5 is what angle should I place my PVC pipes so that they drain back to the resevor, I don't want them to drain to fast or become stagnant. Also I am using 1/8 inch black plastic lines to run my nutrients and water to my plants, is that a big enough line?

*And one last question about my basic hydro set up. In the resevor is where I keep my nutrients etc. Do I need to put a power head or something inside my resevor to keep the water circulated and fresh? Also do I need a filter in my resevor such as a carbon filter or something?

If anyone has any suggestions on my basic NFT Hydro set up I am all ears. Its kind of hard to use Windows Paint to show what it looks like. The PVC pipes are not laying side by side, they are basically stacked like stairs (I put a crude picture of it on here), with a 1 1/2 foot gap between them and a 1 foot drop between each one.

Also I am running a home made CO2 system and I need to know how much ppm I need. I am getting a co2 tank from the welding shop down the road, it should come with a pressure gauge for the tank and maybe a flow gauge, it also is rated at 20 CFH. I read that I am only suppose to use CO2 while the lights are on, and I was told that I should quit using it 2 weeks before I harvest. Is this true?

How many ppm should I have of Carbon Dioxide so that my plants will thrive, and since I have to alternate the timing for my ventilation what would be the optimal timing be set to on my timer? Or should I just let my CO2 run all the time? Also I read that I should place the CO2 vent close the base of the plant, is this true?

I AM NEEDING TO FIND OUT WHAT METERS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT I NEED TO TEST MY PH LEVELS AND EVERYTHING ELSE SUCH AS HUMIDITY ETC!!!

AND THE VERY LAST QUESTION! And it seem's to be the most important question of them all. I am wondering how many Lumens or Watts I will need per plant, or total. I have read on this forum and several others that it is smart to use MH lights for the vegetation stage and HPS for the flowering stage. Is this true? Or should I use MH & HPS at the same time thru the beginning to end?. I have the lights on a track that move them around the plants so if I do end up doing HPS & MH at the same time then the light will be spread evenly. Can someone please tell me what lighting process gave them the best yields. Thank You!

Smokin

Also, you thought I was out of questions, I have one more lol. I have a lot of extra mirrors, would it be good to use them to mirror the entire 10 x 10 room, this is what I would like to do, or might that cause hot spots with the reflection from the lights? Or should I use tin foil. I was also told I could use the back side of Christmas wrapping paper, because its a creamy white.:leaf:View attachment 1860637View attachment 1860638
Click to expand...



Well I cant answer all your questions but I can give you some help on some of them.


First and 2nd questions: The minimum distance between holes is going to be based on how big you want to grow your plants but the minimum would be 6" center to center of each hole so the plants would end up with 12" of space side to side, and should continue that as you go down the steps. However, I think you may want to reconsider on the steps, I'm not exactly sure what to recommend but if you do want to go with that setup, you may want to take vertical lighting into consideration, or maybe you already have but in that case you would want to keep the plants as close to the light as possible and stepping down and away from each other is going to put the plants at the top farther from the light. If you can work out something to keep them in line, but you'll want to drill your holes in the pipe on somewhat of an angle so they arent under the pipe but leaning out some. Research this before making up your mind but I think theres some more efficient ways of getting it done. As far as the sure to grow medium, I have never used it, nor have I heard anything good about it. I'd suggest buying some small net pots which start at 2" in diameter and go up to 12" and above. Again, this all is dependent on how big you are going to grow your plants. I would think 3" would be a big enough for anything you are going to grow in your setup. From there I would use either rockwool cubes or rapid rooters with hydroton clay pebbles to fill in around the rockwool or RR's to keep light out preventing algae.


Question 3, theres no set speed but you want a pump that will be able to pump enough nutes, I would think a 300 GPH pump should cover it but maybe someone with more hydro experience could answer that one. As far as roots, they are going to grow and grow and grow following the flow of nutrients.

Question 4, the more airstones the better, however the flow of the water will aerate it so I think one good one in the resivoir should cover it but more is better. Also, if you are going to run a sterile res (recommended) yoou should pick up some H202 from nutrilife (aka hydrogen peroxide) which will bump up the oxygen levels in the res as well as keep your res. sterile. Read up on how to use it before pouring it in, it needs to sit for 18-24 hours before making contact with your plants.

Question 5, as far as pitch angle, a 1/4" per foot is more than enough, but I would personally drop 1/8 of an inch per foot 8 feet = 1 inch of pitch.

As far as moving the water around the res, just start pulling it from one side of the res to supply your system and let it drain back into the other side, no need for a second pump. If you are going to use a submersible pump, they create heat in the res, something you want to avoid. I'd also suggest getting a chiller, you dont want to run your temps above 70, and they will climb there easily.

I will find some of my old links for you, I have read a few threads about these types of systems, and I want to just let you know hydro can go from flourishing beautiful plants to an absolute nightmare in an hour. If you have any kind of issues with power going out at any given time, you may want to think about that because power goes out.....plants die, its as simple as that. Its possible to hand water for awhile but if you arent there to witness the power going out its over big time. As well as its not as forgiving as soil/soil less, you can see problems coming and have some time to correct it, if you dont correct a problem with hydro quickly you will spend lots of money and lots of time with nothing to show for it. I just say that so you understand the level of commitment required.

I will post back with some of those links if I can find them, but I wish you the best of luck with your project.
 
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