new grow room design help

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by phr34k, Jan 19, 2009.

  1. Im moving to a new house and it has a shed in the back that is about as perfect as it gets for a grow room.
    The room is about 12x8 with a 12x6 loft above. i want to use the top for one lighting cycle and the bottom floor for another light cycle. (just an idea) the whole thing isnt insulated so that have to be done to avoid IR detection and for winter.


    i have some questions that im hoping someone with more experience could help with.
    1) how should i prepare the walls and roof for insulation and security
    2) the loft will be warmer so should i have vegitative or flowering plants up there?
    3) what kind of hydro system should i use? im thinking a max of 6 upstair and 6 downstairs... price? link? materials?
    4) what plants should i place outside to eliminate odor or something for inside.
    5) where should i get my seeds?
    6) what other work area should i consider in addition to grow area?
    7) organization and storage of nutes and ferts tips?
    8) what tools etc should i get?
    9) lighting setup? best kind for each cycle? wattage?
    10) is mylar the most reflective?
    11) intake vent on the bottom and exhaust on top?
    12) what did you mess up on your first time?
    13) please tell me there some way to fully automate the nute system with like sensors and computer stuff...


    please any other advice would be stellar im just trying to start off on the right foot
     
  2. Alright where do I start, first off if you are only doing 12 plants max your dont need both the downstairs and the loft. Because heat raises and the Concrete floors are cold I would choose to grow in the loft, this will also be easier to hide your room from people that might wander into shep. Your can buy a 100ftx4ft roll of Block-IR Infra-Red Barrier for ($250), you will need to buy foil tape with it to. This reflects just a good as mylar.

    Divide your room up, 4ftx6ft and 8ftx6ft. use the smaller room to veg and clone your plants. I highly recommend buying two 4ft T5 fluorescent lights ($350), to light up your veg room, trust me this will be all you need to grow big healthy green plants.
    In the larger room, I would use two 600w HPS ($550) on a 6ft light mover ($200), this will be able to cover every square inch, plants will grow evenly and will receive more lumens.

    Assumeing your loft is 8ft tall, 12ftx6ftx8ft =576 cubic feet. The fan should be able to replace the air volume of the grow room in less then 5 minutes, 172cfm ($150) vortex fan will be able to barely be able to do this, a 449cfm ($200) vortex fan will be better. An intake fan is the same as the exhuast fan, except it blows fresh air into the room. The ratio of 1 to 4 is should give the room a little negative pressure. Delivering fresh air to plants ensures they will have adequate c02 levels. An intake fan with 172cfm (150$) vortex fan will be perfect. Are you worried about the smell, you can choose to buy a carbon filter, a 400cfm($290) will do the job. Buy 3 oscilating fans ($50), one for veg room, and two in flower room, one on each side of the room. These fans will mix the air, make plants stronger, elimante hot spots, and allow for the lights to be closer to plants. It is crucia to have oscilating fan. Intake fan should be placed low and opposite side of room as exhuast. Exhuast should be placed high, going out a window, or vent. Place a fine screen on end of your ducting so you can keep out unwanted insects. Try to make your room 90-100% airtight if possible. You will have to get creative. To futher help the smell plant lavendor plants around your shed.

    Get a cabinet to store your nutes, extra containers, etc... Keep it close to your grow room so your not always walking in and out of your room, possibley letting unwanted bugs into your room, that can later ruin your grow. Keep measuring cups, scissors, razor blades, ph tester, mounting hooks, rope/chain, staple gun, and hydroperoxcide to steralize, and what ever else you will need to maintain your room and plants. Keep your room clean.

    Your growing 6 plants so i imagine you are going to grow some monster, I recommend DWC, using 5 gallon buckets to house the massive root systems. Buy 6 5gallon buckets with 12" net pots ($60), and a 50liter bag of hydroton ($35). Then buy an 8 way airpump ($30) 8 air stones ($15) and tubing. Fill buckets with nutes and water to bottom of netpot, place an airstone in and hook up to pump. Buy a 50gallon trash ($15) can with a lid, fill up with water and nutes, this will supply all of your plants water when water levels are low, drop your two remaining air stones into garbage can, this will oxygenate your water and keep nutes mixed up. Also get a small waterpump ($25) place in bottom of trash can use tubing and clamp on water pump to deliver water directly to plants, it will make your life that much better, trust me on this one! Space these buckets evenly across your room. For your veg room, use 2" rockwell to clone, when rooted place into 6" rockwool cubes. Flower when roots start apperaing out the bottom of the cubes.

    Where to buy seeds, buy your seeds from well recongized seedbanks, I perfer Vancouver seed bank personally. Getting seeds to the US is harder, many companies perfer to not ship seeds to the US because of the strict law and assholes wearing suits in washington dc. Canadain seed banks are cheap and have great strains, European seed banks usually are more expensive but they carry the super chronic strains. Be careful who you buy from, some places are scams, be sure to read reviews and even call the company if need be.

    My first grow, my biggest mistake was not having the knownledge to grow. Poor Ventalition and sloppy techniques, and bug problem hurt me the most, not to metion the catipillers that took over my plants, nested into the buds and ate the buds from inside to out leaving a trail of poop and ruined colas behind them. Buy The indoor/outdoor medical growers bible by Jorge Cervantes`($25). Read it and reread it over and over. Watch a few grow dvds this will help you understand what it is your doing.

    For $2000 you will have a room ready to grow, trust me you will always be making improvements and thinking about your next investment for the room.
    Most of all never tell anyone about your room!:smoke:
     
  3. First id say read up on everything PNW told ya. Rumpleforskin has a good tutorial on bubble buckets(DWC) and theres also a recirculationg DWC tutorial on ICmag.com that has a really good setup. Id recommend using rumples setup and parts since there less leak prone and easier to come by, but the recirc tutorials by blazeoneup and big toke are also really good. Id say read up as much as you can and make a system that works for you based off of their systems.

    2nd, PLAN BEFORE YOU START BUYING! Ive wasted tons of money rebuilding my room but I have never had to buy a new fan/ballast/any of the really expensive stuff. If your really going through with this then actually throw down some money on good equipment. Shop around and be sure to check ebay/craigslist.

    3rd Dont buy everything from the same place. It will bring you unwanted attention

    4th Post some pics of what you have to work with and more people will help you. People respond to pics on here and its easier to picture what your working with. Plus the pics give us ideas as to what we would do, then you can just pick what you think works best.


    Im going 2 bed I gotta get my shred on tomorrow. PEACE!

    GOONie
     


  4. first off THANKS! im thinking about having the bottom floor not the loft because the loft has a lower cieling. i dont have a picture to explain the loft but the roof is at an angle so its kinda like a corner of an attic. i dont think that will be proper space to grow. maybe just clones.

    heres a picture of what im working with...
    the exhaust vent installed is at the top near the window and i think im going to make the intake on the floor on the opposite corner.
    the picture of the inside is taken with the door behind me and the loft is above.

    sorry the pictures are pretty bad i wasnt planning on having to use them in an explanation.
    im reading rumpleforeskins post right now...

    what stores sell these kind of lights and nutes and stuff?
     

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