New grow space, help me design; space allocation and a couple infrastructure question

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have been lurking, reading a ton and learning. Based on info here at RIU, I have my beans, have soil cooking, and am ready to get started very soon.

I am not looking for someone to do all the deign work, just looking for input from anyone who has a similar space and growing goals.

The big thing I need to get done now is create the grow space. I have a space 28" deep by x 42" wide x 86" high (I will need to build a sturdy shelf for the weight of the soil as a divider, so probably subtract 3" from total useable vertical.)

What I would like to do is set it up with 2 spaces, one above the other, the lower for fluorescent light, moms, clones and possibly beginning vegging, then the upper space for plant maturation and flowering. Seems I may need the option to switch light source from veg to flower in this larger space. I plan on a 400-600 HPS for flowering in the upper cabinet.

I'd like to experiment with scrogging and mainlining, and complete a grow at a time in the upper space while starting the next in the lower space. I think based on the dimensions, I'll be growing just 2-3 plants to maturity at a time (Correct me if I am wrong)

So a few questions:

question #1: with those dimensions, how would you allocate vertical space? how high should I plan for the lower moms and young'uns space and the upper maturation space? I want light isolation between upper and lower, so making this "shelf" adjustable in height would seem to be fickle. I'd prefer to just permanently build it at the correct location

Question #2 I figure I will need the right ventilation/cooling for that upper space when under HPS. Anyone have a simple recommendation about airflow for that kind of space? The ambient temps here are never very hot. In winter around 60F and summer 70F-75F max. I am thinking in building the infrastructure, I'll plan for a main vent for the light hood itself, and probably a secondary just to bring new air in, and extra hot air exhaust with scrubber. Conveniently, I can vent in and out with zero runs of ducting, just right through the walls of the cabinet into the surrounding space. How do I calculate the needed CFM and vent diameter?

Question #3: Will the light hood ventilation also need to be scrubbed? It will vent back into the home living space.

Thanks! [/FONT]

Sounds like youre really into this!

First off i would say that you should build your flower chamber below your veg/mother chamber.

Youll have much more weight in flower than you will in veg thus your shelf will have to be alot stronger than if it was the other way around.

If possible i would get a 6" 400+ cfm fan and a cool tube/air cool-able light if you dont already and have that be my main exhaust setup like this.

FILTER>>>>FAN>>>>AIRCOOLED HOOD>>>>EXHAUST OUT THE ROOM.

that way you have the hottest air leaving your room and its cooling the light as well as being scrubbed.

This set up will only really need some passive intakes. maybe a small 6 inch booster fan to blow directly across the leafs.

As for the veg/mother section id get some small 6 inch booster fans to regulate the temperature.

It would also help clones root faster if they were in the top as opposed to the bottom due to the heat that would be on the roof of the flower box.

if possible id us the closet as a flower box and get a small veg/mother/clone tent from online for 75-100 bucks.

Itll be morethan worth it in the simplicity of the whole thing and lessen potential for something to go wrong like your upper box leaking water into the lower one and causing a short circuit or fire.

Thanks BB18. Excellent safety concern for water/electrical concerns growing over/under. I don't have anywhere for an extra tent, so I'll have to come up with a design that takes that into account. I think it would be very straightforward to build the second level with a waterproof tub type floor and drain. Conveniently, this enclosure is over a concrete floor with a floor drain. All I need to do is provide a pipe from the shelf right on down.

Seems like very small cu ft for that much ventilation with 3-6" fans and very little duct/ pressure drop. This is only 59 cu ft.

The other heat issue is this is right over a radiant floor and the base platform will be built over a couple boiler pipes that supply the house infloor heat, So there is a gentle heat source under the floor of this enclosure.

I knwo the fan maybe overkill but when you cram a 1000-600 watt bulb and ballast and some veg equipment youll be needing all that air movement.

The other reason for that is because they dont make any middle sized fans that are less than 400+cfm without them being about ineffective.

youre lucky to have a drain there and thats another reason id put the flower on bottom so you can flush them with water occasionally to make sure ph is regular.

OK, so back to the vertical space question. One level for moms/clones/early veg and the other for flowering mature plants in scrog or mainlined. How would you divide the space? Have about 83" (just under 7 ft) useable vertical height to split.

hmmmmm id probably use 4 feet for flower 3 for veg.

If youre using t5s for veg than you can go lower to about 2 1/2 feet so you could have a little more room below for fans/ducting/lights.