The Sacred Half Pyramid

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by zackw419, Jun 18, 2014.

  1. I am interested in growing out of a closet I call the Sacred Half Pyramid. I have read about lighting...What I am wondering most is what kind of lighting YOU (experienced grower) would use in my situation
     
    I am also wondering how many plants I can fit in this space and how I might set up proper ventilation.
     
    all help is appreciated as i am a complete newb.
     
    Kitchen/Sacred Pyramid Room:
    [​IMG]
     
    Sacred(unorganized) Pyramid Room (sorry for mess):
     
    [​IMG]
     
    Kitchen to immediate left:
    [​IMG]
     
    Hallway/Shower To bathroom/Window:
    [​IMG]
     
    Bathroom/Window:
    [​IMG]
     
    So, to reiterate:
     
    What grow lights would you recommend for my situation? (power is not a problem, heat is potential problem; will need fans. Smell is potential problem. I cant just push the smell out the window. Security, not much of a problem. I want to cover the walls with mylar and create some kind of wood or fabric (preferably fabric) door that opens or has a zipper. I have full control of who comes in and out.)
     
    I want to grow organic, is it more expensive? what soils do I need (not interested in hydroponics)
     
    What organic nutrients do I need to buy separately from the soil?
     
    What filters will I need to make sure the smell is transmuted and not just pushed out the window? how might I set it up in this space?
     
    How many plants can I grow in this space? (3ft Wide 8ft lond 61/2 ft h where the first clothes hanging bar is, 5ft h where the second is, and 2ft height in the very, very back against the wall)
     
    Can I grow pretty much any hybrid or indica dom strain in this space given that I have the proper knowledge of how to grow it?
     
    thanks very much in advance.
     
    much love
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
  2. Hi,
     
    Since you say you have complete control of who comes in and out I suppose it is a hous that you own, therefore you have the possibility to make some minor rénovations.
     
    First of all, lighting!  You seem to have enough space for a 400W or 600W HPS light, but if you say heat can be an obstacle, LED lights could be a good option for you (if your pockets are deep! ;) )  looking at the size cabinet you have you might need at least 2x decent sized LED lights which would get you up in the thousands of dollars if you get reputable lights.
     
    Ventilation and Filter: now here is the tricky part, you have a couple of options here that dépends on how much work you want to put in and how effective you want it to be. For this part, I will keep in mind that you would go with either the 400W or 600W HPS lamp.
     
    What I would do here would be to get a good 6'' or 8'' Inline fan and carbon filter combo, about 200$ for a good one online. I've tried the PC fan and DIY carbon filter and IMHO, don't waist time on this and get a real Professional made set it will save you many hours and headaches of fiddling and stress from the leftover odours! ;)
     
    Intake can be a passive intake either through the door or hole in the wall, fairly easy and simple. For the exhaust, the best way IMO is to vent directly outside, carbon filter will keep the smell to a minimum and venting outside will make the températures a lot easier to handle. You seem to have a bathroom as the adjacent room, So If I were in your situation I would either make a hole in the wall to get access to the bathroom window or make a hole in the ceiling to reach the bathroom fan duct and vent through there (if this is possible for you)
     
    If venting outside is not possible in your situation, I'm afraid a small AC in your pyramid will have to be a must!.
     
    If you're using and HPS lamp a good thing to look into would be a vented Hood like a cooltube or something!
     
     
     
    Organic Soil
    I've been an organic soil user for about a year now and I would not go back to bottled nutes! (never tried hydro but can only imagine it is even more time consuming).  Yes i can be a bit costly to get started but probably nowhere as near as a proper hydro set-up.  Have a look in the organic section of the forum, you have a lot of good recipies to start a good organic grow. I personally use Organic soil + Wicking system for water, so my set-up is basically Set it! and Forget it! ;) haha
     
    Organic is really easy and cheap once you get started.
     
     
    Hope this helps and don't hesitate if you have more questions
     
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  3. "WE" really need the size of this space, yeah I know we see it, but for a 600w/400w digi Mh/hps, does one square meter/yard very well for 9x 3ft plants in 3 us gallon pots, I don't like your location, as its too central to the house and venting will be a real issue, each foot fall on the stairs I see as acting as a pump pushing smell into the house.
     
    Use a tent in a second bedroom, with access to a window for venting or similar
     
  4. for a 3' x 8' room, you might as well go with 1x 600W or 2x 400W.
     
    My real experience is with LED, and for this big of a space it will cost quite a bit, but it will be less of a hassle to deal with heat and energy costs in the long run.
     
    I would use something like 3x 200W diamond series from Advanced LED lights. (just an example among so many different possibilities)
     
     
    As for the number of plants you can go anywhere from 2 huge plants in a ScrOG to 12 small plants in a SOG method. It all dépends on your needs. With the space you have, a well built set up could get you anywhere from a good pound to over 2 pounds of dank budz. I've seen 18oz from one plant in a small space with only 1x 600W, so you could get some serious budz in there!
     
     
     
     
    As for what Vostok said above, It is very central and you WILL have some smell around that room,  so if you are trying to be a secret grower in the house, find another spot!  But if you live with a couple of herb fanatics as yourself and aren't too worried about having someone find out about your grow room, you should be just fine.
     
    Oh and if you don't vent outside, your house will probably be a fun little sauna in the summer! ;) hahaha.  My friend use to pretty much use his 400W as heating during the winter and had a window crack open pretty much all the time (keep in mind he was in Montréal, so -20*C was not uncommon)  So you can figure what it would be venting Inside with a 600W or 2x 400W in the summer time. My Bedroom temps used to go up to 30-31*C when I was venting Inside with only a 200W LED light.
     
  5. #7 zackw419, Sep 1, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2014
    Yoman and Vostok, Thank you so much for the useful information, this thread is indeed alive!
     
    So now I am finally ready to SLOWLY collect the materials I need and get this thing started. 
     
    Vostok, really good thought about the smell. I live with other people in other parts of the house and I do not own it. The house is split into 4 apartments and the landlord isn't locale. The stairwell is used on avg like, 4 times a day...people don't chill where the stairway is. So traffic is minimal,
     
    It would be really nice to make that room work with a killer vent system, it wont be hard to send it out a window even in that location. Just need tubing long enough. What I am wondering though, is....how different would it smell to the avg person than someone smoking a j in their room and having that leak out?
     
    Neighbors are chill...the smell of what I smoke definitely goes into the house some.
     
    So at this point assuming I am growing out of the Sacred Half Pyramid I would probably go with the two hooded 400w lights. one obviously hanging lower than the other...the plants kept in back would have to be smaller. Yoman, what do you think about six plants, 2  largish ones in front, 2 medium/small in the middle and 2 short ones in back. I want to grow kandy kush, but if for some reason this is not ideal, i don't NEED to...its just one of my favorites. 
     
    For the lights, how cheap can I go? where do I start looking for this kind of lighting system?
     
    Thanks for mentioning that about the filter, ventilation is something I definitely dont want to skimp on. I really want to make this work I just don't know how much these plants will reak. Like I said, if I can keep it to a light smell of marijuana on the stairwell that should be fine...but if its in your face than im not positive.
     
    So assuming that wouldnt be a good idea and I get a tent for the main room which is 12ft by 2ft with decently high ceiling. The tent could be about 5ft by 5ft without getting in my way much. I am really wanting a perpetual grow. I was thinking of getting some kandy kush seeds and then using clones from that and just growing kandy kush for now, but I am open still. I like the consolidated factor of a tent, but it would be in the main room which isnt a problem for company, its just KIND of annoying space wise. I could grow much more in the Sacred Half Pyramid.
     
    for a grow box as described (5x5) what wattage are we looking at?
     
  6. I would love to master the ventilation aspect and just keep it in the Sacred Half Pyramid...
     
  7. Say I got 1 600w. How should I position it to best hit all the plants. Why 12 small plants? I think more plants is better due to the way the room is shaped. Do I need Mylar? And what to cover the floor with?
     
  8. open to others input aswell
     
  9. With a filter you shoild be able to get away with only a small amount of smell, probably barely noticeable. If you dont have filtration, you can expect a smack to the face of weed smell when you open the house door. Thats what it was before i got my filter. As for lighting in a 5x5 tent you could probably get away with 2x 400w but ideally 1000w lamp or 2x 600w would cover it best

    Sent from my SGH-I747M using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  10. I'd borrow a led for a week or 2, for a try out, I wouldn't go past the 400w Mh/HPS just to make the venting easier, 400w does 3ftx 3ft really good, have a bathroom extract fan to the peak of your church to extract all heat and stink, with fresh air coming from the 'john' ...low down and passive like.
    note: in many situations its illegal to have a bathroom, next to a kitchen, for health reason, should your local government discover it ..it could be all over rover? 
     
  11. Yomandude: thats great to hear about the smell thanks
     
    vostok: I simply cant afford an LED light so im not even gonna try one as cool as they are. I want to invest in a nice setup eventually but right now i just want to grow and not spend money on bud anymore. could I make a 400w work if I filled that whole space with plants? I know I am going off topic a bit here but, what size filter would be good if I plant to fill that space with as much bud as possible? whats confusing me is the way it declines...also with lighting...say I get one light, how should I grow the plants to maximize efficiency of the space...like..bigger ones in front little ones in back? I am most likley starting with just three plants already in flowering. I want to clone them and also order seeds, but im anxious to get started.
     
     
     
     
    PS
     
    I have a friend who has vanilla kush, cheese, and grape ape clones that he needs to get rid of. They are a month into flowering, how bad will they smell off the bat? I still don't have my filter yet. I was gonna get the light this weekend and then take the plants, but if they will smell really bad I will wait. 
     
  12. also is it worth investing in a cooltube? what would be the cheapest fixture i could use for the HPS? Where should I look? ebay?

    Also, a Big thanks to both of you for all your help  :)
     
  13. Sure a 400W could do it for your whole space but you just won't get as much bud from each plant you would get from say a 600 or 1000W. But It will work. You might get a lot of stretching from the farthest plants. 
     
    If you plan on going eventually with a bigger lamp, I would start right off with a big fan say maybe 8''.  For a 400w I wouldn't go lower than 6'' but it might be a bit small if your gonna get a 600w or 1000w. So instead of buying 2 fans, 2 filters, 2 sets of ducts... just buy a big fan right now and get a speed controller. For Filter size, it will depend on the airflow your getting from the fan. The filters are usually rated by max CFM. But if you want to be sure you get the right filter for your fan, just buy a Fan/Filter combo off of ebay or a hydro store, that way you are sure of getting a good filter for your fan.  the filters are usually good for 12 to 18 months, but IMO you can use them a lot longer if you vent outside simply because a small weed smell out of my 3rd floor appartment window is not much of a worry for me. But venting inside you will want to change every year. 
     
    And Mylar, that thing does wonders! espacially for you with the sloped ceiling. get some mylar on that and your plants in the lower back of the room will thank you for that. It is well worth the 40$ you will spend on a roll. 
     
    The cooltube will be great to control the heat off the lamp. get one! it is worth it!  You can find some good kits of lamp, ballast and cooltubes on ebay. Unlike LEDs, you can go a bit cheaper with HPS without loosing to much quality.
     
    Hope This helps!
     
  14. ok, thanks to you here is my (current) plan.
     
    get a good 8" fan filter combo and a 600w light.
     
    start growing...
     
    eventually: get mylar, add door to the room, etc
     
    I plant to add onto this project over time for sure. 
     
     
    Now I just need to figure out how to position light to make sure all the plants get the most amount of light possible
     
  15. 8" will be great for a 600w and you will be able to get a speed controller to keep the cfms and noise down for now which will keep your filter clean a bit longer. So with this you will have the essentials of your setup to grow good herbs and from that point on you can get what you feel is most usefull.


    Sent from my SGH-I747M using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  16. Why did you take a pic of your bathroom?
     
  17. Its all one big hallway/room basically. Pics don't really show you how its all connected but where im standing to take the pic of the Sacred Half Pyramid room is the same place I stood more or less to get bathroom pic...keeping ventilation in mind.
     
  18. thanks yomandude
     
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