Sea of Green: Get a harvest every 2 weeks

[jimbojones5678]

I've never used 1000W HPS before, so can I ask how many lollypopped plants you can fit under each?

You say two trays under each light but how many plants are on each tray? 12????

And you say the 250mm centi handles that size room ok? What is it - 3x3m?

Do you have to run axial intake blowers?

 

Jimbo

[Al B. Fuct]

Each 2'8" square (820mm^2) tray can fit 23 pots, each pair of trays has 1x 1000HPS. Each 1kW light is covering 46 SoG style plants.

 

The room is about 8'w x 9'l x 7'h, about 504 cu ft in the old money, or 14.25 m^3 or 14250 litres. The Spectrum Customline C250L 250mm blower moves 280L/sec, enough to change the room air volume in 51 seconds. BTW, that's the low flow, 195W, quiet version of the C250 fan; there's also a Customline 475 watt animal which will move 420L/sec (model C250H). Hold on to your hat.

 

I have bodged up a couple of old axial fans as intakes, a 150mm and a very sick old 200mm, both which I really should replace... Axials are fine on the intake as they are really loafing, never pushing any static pressure- in fact, the room is at a slight negative pressure; the intake fans just make the throughflow a bit more efficient and also makes it easier to light-trap the air intake.

[jimbojones5678]

Thankx AL!

I have just bought a couple of new 250mm CL's and wasn't sure what to match them with for intake so I'll go with 200mm inlines - sound right? Great tip for the light leaks in the inlet btw... I am just using two semi circles of cardboard stuck inside the ducting to make a light trap atm but I would prefer to be able to remove them to increase flow.

 

Oh one more Q....

if I was running CO2 in the room with an air conditioner - a split system (new but I don't know the BTU rating atm - hopefully more than 14000) how can I attach a odor filter to an air conditioner unit?

 

Jimbo

Edited July 29, 2007 by jimbojones5678

[Al B. Fuct]

Thankx AL!

I have just bought a couple of new 250mm CL's and wasn't sure what to match them with for intake so I'll go with 200mm inlines - sound right?

 

Yep, just about anything will do for intakes. Passive intake works but adding an intake fan/s that can do 80-90% of the flow rate of the exhaust makes the whole thing work so much better. Don't go overboard with intake fans. They should not exceed the flow capacity of the exhaust, else the room will run at positive pressure. This will force air out of small gaps and make odor control more difficult.

 

Great tip for the light leaks in the inlet btw... I am just using two semi circles of cardboard stuck inside the ducting to make a light trap atm but I would prefer to be able to remove them to increase flow.

 

I did a little blurb about serpentine light and sound traps over here, might be something useful for you there.

 

Oh one more Q....

if I was running CO2 in the room with an air conditioner - a split system (new but I don't know the BTU rating atm - hopefully more than 14000) how can I attach a odor filter to an air conditioner unit?

 

Won't need any odor filter if you are running a split system aircon system. There's no air path from the grow room air to outdoors. The indoor unit simply recycles any air in the airmass it is located in. The heat is removed by way of the refrigerant which runs in tubes to the outdoor unit. Bob's ya muthafuckin' uncle with CO2.

 

My only question is upon installation, how to keep prying HVAC workers' eyes away from the op. Even if you buy a split system for cheap at Bunnies, there has to be refrigerant piping installed between the indoor and outdoor units and then the system charged. Can be difficult if you can't let the HVAC installer near the indoor unit.

 

Anyone got any experience installing one of these systems as you buy them at retail?

[jimbojones5678]

Yeah thanks Al,

luckily the AC was already installed so no dramas about the HVAC man...

Plus I wanted to add to this thread by saying that 9-10 week plants can be done in this 4 tray system by simply waiting 1-2 weeks before placing the new clones into flowering.

 

Jimbo

[Al B. Fuct]

Having a try with Fytocell.

 

Did a batch 2 wks ago, half in floc, half in Fc.

 

 

The Fc plants didn't croak so I did a whole tray's worth in Fc today.

 

 

Note each pot has a knee-hi stocking to prevent Fytocell crumbs escaping via drain holes.

 

Root development in batch 1 is better in Fc than in floc. I've always thought floc holds too much water. Fc is not as absorbent and may want to be watered 2x per lights-on instead of once.

[roachclip]

hey Al hows it going just wanted to say you have some great knowlege i recently followed you over here from rollitup. so i am in the process of rapping up my grow room construction im going off ur blueprint for the harvest every two weeks write up but i have come across an idea that may inprove on your great technique if i am to understand you have two 1000watt HPS each over two 4x4 flood tables i was thinking that if you had the lights on a mover you would be able to not only get more even light coverage but also more light intensity becouse you could put the lights closer to the plants with out burnning them. get back to me on this idea i think it could considerably inprove yield thanks ROACH Edited August 31, 2007 by roachclip

[Al B. Fuct]

Hiya roachclip, welcome to OSA.

 

OSA is a much better technically performing board than many others I've used (Grasscity is obviously hosted in Lower Urinistan on a 2-squirrel powered server) but the biggest plus is that you'll find that the OSA crew are among the most knowledgeable and thoughtful on the net.

 

I believe I wrote in the '2 weeks' post on rollitup that the tables are 4x4- they're not! I'd guessed when I wrote that post. They are actually 820mm^2 or 2.7'x2.7'. Makes a big difference in watts per sf, so please excuse my error.

 

There's thus no need for a light mover in my op. Each reflector comes within about 8" of covering the entire area of the 2 trays each serves. If you math out my HPS watts per lighted area, I'm at about 61W/sq ft. If I had under 50W per sf and my tables were a lot bigger, a light mover might be the gee-oh, but it's working OK as it is, as you might expect with that much light power hitting the flowering plants.

 

I am planning to cooltube the 1000 HPS lights in the flowering area in time for summer. This will also allow me to drop the lights lower, but if I do that, I won't cover the far fringes of the flowering trays as well as I do now. Will probably cooltube the lights but leave them close to the same height they usually run at.

[zulunovo]

Having a problem recently with leaf chlorosis in late flower. They go bright yellow and brittle after wk 6 or so. Plants are not gaining height and leaves are smaller than usual. Bud weight's down, too. Looks kinda like a Mg or Ca deficiency, .... All suggestions for troubleshooting this one are most welcome.

 

 

People underestimate the importance of iron in their micronutes. pH is important in allowing ions to be available to the plant but the ion that is most lacking in non-nutrient mixes is iron. The best type is to use chelated iron. Mix 10 grams in 10 litres of water and apply to the mix before planting and supplement after 8 weeks with about a gram per 10 litres of water. Works for almost all vegetative plants and makes herbs grow very strong and resist disease better.

[Kibong]

I have just started looking into setting up an operation but I dont want to use as much space as you do Al B. Fuct so i am thinking of trying to size yours down for a bit more ease of hiding it. If only it was legal and i wouldnt have to worry about that.