My Indoor 24 plant NFT system

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by plasticcat, Apr 22, 2011.

  1. #1 plasticcat, Apr 22, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2011
    Hey everyone how is it going.

    This is my MMJ grow, just got under way. Me and a few guys are doing a NFT grow this is how its set up

    24 Plant NFT system with 6 gullys each housing 4 plants per gully.
    Currently using 2- 400 W MH lights
    32 Gallon resivor
    CO2 System
    5,300 BTU A/C

    We bought the clones on the 10th thats when they were transplanted into 4x4 rock wool cubes and put under 1 - 400w MH to root into while we built the NFT system.

    If anyone likes my NFT system and wants a full parts list i can provide one

    so anyways here are the pictures

    they are just about 3 weeks and the roots are just coming out the bottom of the net pots

    I know the reflector on the far side of the room is ghetto haha , I just need to find time to build a reflector. My old man has a sheet metal shop at his house and i can build ALOT OF STUFF most people would have to buy saving a TON of money also I have been so damn busy with getting everything together,


    So ask any questions and please give me as much feed back as possible

    the last pic is them at 1.5 weeks in the 4x4 rock wool cubes not in the NFT yet
     

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  2. #2 plasticcat, Apr 22, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2011
    Well i had nothing better to do so i organized a list of materials needed for 1 NFT system that is identical to mine here are the specs and materials

    The frame and gullys not including the return drain that adds only about 6 inches to the width

    Width - 66"
    Depth - 4 '
    Height of taller support rail - 38"
    Height of Shorter support rail - 37"

    The rails are 38" apart so we are pretty close to 40:1 drop.

    Gullys are 10.5" apart

    Any Questions im more then happy to answer



    Here is the shopping list and at the bottom is the same list of parts by in order of assembly instead of sections

    Anything with a "***" means it wouldnt be a bad idea to have some extra of that item kickin around

    Plumbing Isle at Home Depot
    __________________________________________________________

    4 - 2" PVC Elbows
    4 - 2" T's
    20'-30' - 2" PVC
    12 - 1/4" Rubber washers ***
    5-10' - 1/2" Plastic tubing ***
    2 - 5/8 Hose Clamps ***
    10' - 1/2" PVC ***
    6 - 1/2" Slip x 1/2" Slip x 1/2" Female Threaded PVC T's
    1 - 1/2" Slip PVC cap
    6 - Brass or Plastic 3/8" Barb x 1/2" Male thread ***
    1 - Brass or Plastic 1/2" Hose barb x 3/4 male threaded ***
    6 - 1/2" Hose Clamps ***
    8-10' - 3/8 Plastic tubing ***
    1 Roll - Teflon Tape ***
    10-20' - 1" PVC
    2 or more - 1" PVC Elbows
    6 - 1" Slip x 1" Slip x 1/2" Female Threaded PVC T's
    1 - 1" PVC cap


    Building section in hope depot (Usally back behind the dry wall section where the chain link fence is ect.. ect..)
    __________________________________________________________

    3 - 8' 5x5 Plastic fence posts
    12 - 5x5 Plastic fence post caps


    Hardware section of Home Depot
    __________________________________________________________

    12 - M8 or M6 philips bolts/machine screws 4" long.
    12 - M8 or M6 Nuts


    Hydrophonics store or online or just home depot if your going for a trash can resivor.
    __________________________________________________________

    Some sort of resivor That is ATLEAST 32 Gallons with a lid
    1 - Submersible 396/GPH pump
    6 - Plastic Distrubtion Manifolds ***
    6 - Female Low Profile drain port's ***

    Misc stuff you will need
    __________________________________________________________

    2 or 3 Tubes of Silicone
    PVC Glue
    Pvc cutter that cuts up to 2"
    Zip Ties
    Drill Bit set
    Elec saw or you can do it by hand haha
    Drill
    Misc screws
    And just any tool you think your gonna need. Im gonna assume who ever is gonna build one of these has the simple tools it takes to build this



    Now in order of assembly



    PVC Stand Parts
    _________________________________________________________

    4 - 2" PVC Elbows
    4 - 2" T's
    20'-30' - 2" PVC ( You can prob get away with 20' but it depends on how high you need it.... Mine stands 38" high )



    Gullys Parts
    _________________________________________________________

    3 - 8' 5x5 Plastic fence posts
    12 - 5x5 Plastic fence post caps
    12 - M8 or M6 philips bolts/machine screws 4" long. ( For bolting the gullys to the 2" PVC frame )Pic 5
    12 - M8 or M6 Nuts ( For bolting the gullys to the 2" PVC frame )Pic 5
    12 - Rubber washers ( For bolting the gullys to the 2" PVC frame )Pic 5



    Nutrient Supply Parts
    _________________________________________________________

    Some sort of resivor That is ATLEAST 32 Gallons ( I am using a 32 gallon trash can and i will see how it does from what i read 32 is the minium you can get away with for 24 plants Pic 3)
    1 - Submersible 396/GPH pump
    5-10' - 1/2" Plastic tubing
    2 - 5/8 Hose Clamps



    Nutrient Distrubtion Parts ( Pics 2,3,4,5 )
    _________________________________________________________

    10' - 1/2" PVC ( We will only need about 3 feet for the nutrient supply manifold the rest will be used for the outlet/drain )
    6 - 1/2" Slip x 1/2" Slip x 1/2" Female Threaded PVC T's
    1 - 1/2" Slip PVC cap
    6 - Brass or Plastic 3/8 Barb x 1/2" Male thread
    1 - Brass or Plastic 1/2" Hose barb x 3/4 male threaded
    6 - Plastic Distrubtion ManifoldsPics 2,3 ( See picture.... I got mine from the local hydrophonics store)
    6 - 1/2" Hose Clamps
    8-10' - 3/8 Plastic tubing
    1 Roll - Teflon Tape



    Nutrient Drainage Parts (1st Pic)
    _________________________________________________________


    10-20' - 1" PVC ( This depends on where your resivor is draining to so make sure to atleast draw everything out roughly )
    2 or more - 1" PVC Elbows
    6 - 1" Slip x 1" Slip x 1/2" Female Threaded PVC T's
    1 - 1" PVC cap
    Left Over 1/2" PVC
    6 - Female Low Profile drain port's
    6 - 3/4 Female threaded x 1/2" PVC Slip Adapter ( Make sure you get what ever size your low profile drain ports are )


    Now hopfully from all the pics you can understand how to build it. I will prob make a video. My buddy wants one so i gotta build another one

    When its all said and done it costs about 300 bucks to make
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Daaaamn that is one detailed guide. I'm excited to watch this grow!
     
  4. WOW, COOL!!!!!!!! Subscribed!
    P.S.I wish your picture were better quality.
     
  5. #5 plasticcat, Apr 23, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 23, 2011
    Well I was running extension chords to power my op. But i went to home depot and spent more money then i should have and ended up with a sick ass power setup

    But a word of advice
    SAFETY FIRST

    I cant stress that enough... Yea i know i took a risk and ran my op for ~2.5 weeks off an extension chord but nothing F'ed up and it ended up being ok.

    So my modification was a new 220V deticated curcuit to the room.

    I got half the job done so far, got my water pumped, lights ect. running

    What I have installed so far is........
    1 - 30A service dissconnect
    12 - 110V GFI Plugs
    1 Light switch and 2 light sockets for 60W Green Incadesent Work Lights

    Yet to be installed
    2 - 220V sockets ( For lights )
    1 - 220V light timer

    I am a contractor and in no way should you attempt running a deticated curcuit to your room unless you are
    A: Serious
    B: PLEASE KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE DOING

    Unless you have atleast 1 year exp in ELEC work it would be tought for you to pull this off

    Anyways I am using all GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) Plugs
    GFI Plugs are 100% a must. When working around water and elec. There is no such thing as too much protection. I feel 100% safe that i can work in this area with no risk of elec shock.

    What this basically means is i could stand in my water/nutrient resivor and then sick my dick in the socket of one of my 400W light and pretty much come out all right.

    As well as having GFI plugs i also have a service dissconnect with 30A fuses... then as a last protection i have the houses circuit breaker.

    So There are 3 levels of protection from elec hazard.
    1. GFI plugs
    2. 30A Fused Service dissconnect
    3. 30A Circuit Breaker

    I will have pics tomorrow and they will be with a decent camera
     
  6. Wow dude You are a lot braver than I am. NFT for weed. The reason I say that, is that since there is essentially no grow medium to hold moisture, if your pump goes out, your plants will literally start to die almost immediately. It's a very risky way to grow anything.

    I had a friend who use to grow lettuce in an NFT system. 64 heads of lettuce. He checked on everything around noon, come back at 7 and everything was dead. The pump died and the roots dried out. He said the roots were very crispy. It was the last time he used NFT.
     
  7. Indeed but im geting a couple car batterys. and a DC to AC inverter with a few relays to run just the pumps for up to a day .
     
  8. #8 plasticcat, Apr 30, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 30, 2011
    Hey hows it going, update on some major work.... and we are now 1 month since putting the clones in 4x4 rockwoll cubes from the clone 1.5x1.5 cubes.

    I had my friend over and he took some high quality pics but still the magnegitc ballast are fucking up the camera... as im sure you have seen before on some pics


    Changes to the grow room
    - Insulation inside the walls
    - White/Black reflective plastic shit
    - 10,000 BTU A/C
    - 50 CFM Exhaust Fan running 15 minutes every 1.5 hours
    - Legit Elec 220V System including GFI Protection on all plugs for saftey
    - 220V 30A Service dissconnect for shuting off power to whole system the system as well as 30 amp fuses for circuit over load protection
    - Standard Blub Sockets for green work lights and switch
    - Humidifer


    Now i added 2 pics of the A/C i bought and modified

    Im sure you have seen these portable a/c's some come with 2 hoses to put out the window others come with one....

    The differance is HUGE
    The 2 hose design is far superior as it uses the outside air, Inside of a closed looped system to cool on the condensor.

    The single hose design uses air from inside the "conditioned space" IE: Your grow room to cool the condensor then it dumps that air outside.

    If you use a single hose design its basically like a HUGE Exhaust fan. It will dump the air that you are... Cooling, Adding or removing humidity from, Adding CO2 too... Ect....

    Then also as it sucks the inside air outside... the room will pull in outside air from where ever it can to make it up and so you will be bringing in hot outside air... Its just a dumb design.

    So im you are broke like me and can only find used single hose A/C's for sale....thats fine. Because with about 20 bucks and a hour of your time you can make it a dual hose.

    Just look at the pics... if you need a step by step just say so and i can explain...

    Let me tell you the differance......
    before the conversion my max temp and humidity was
    89 F
    21% RH

    and after
    81F
    46% RH

    So you can see that small investment of 20 dollars was WELL worth it...

    These numbers are MAX and MIN temps and RH reached not constant. that is around 2-3PM

    Edit :
    Quick run down on how to convert single hose to dual hose A/C

    1. Locate inlet of air for the Hose (It should be easy to find it will have vent luvers )
    2. Cut out all the luvers using some wire cutters ect... ( DONT USE A SAW ONLY HAND TOOLS IF POP A HOLE IN THE FREON LINES ITS A BITCH TO FIX )
    3. After you cut the hole you will neet to attach a box with a 4" or 5" connection ring in the middle
    4. Tape it into place ( I screwed and taped mine into place but if you dont know what your doing a good duct tape job will do just fine again BE CAREFUL NOT TO POP A HOLE IN THE FREON LINES )
    5. Connect hose to new connection point and place atleast 2-3 feet away from each other
     

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  9. #9 plasticcat, May 7, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: May 7, 2011
    We are at 1 month 1 week... next week it will be 6 weeks of veg and then turning to 12/12.

    We lost 2 plants to spider mites..... 2 were really stunted in growth and had weird spots and we couldnt figure it out.... But one of my buddies found out what the hell was going on. We removed the 2 infected plants and sprayed the rest of the crop with organic miticide, none of the other plants are showing signs of mites... But i will be keeping a close eye out

    Also we used 4x4 rock wool cubes.... way to huge next time we are going with the 1.5x1.5 or 2x2 cubes and smaller gullys.. But it is still going allright

    Here are the pics
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Hi I'm new to this forum but would love to learn more about nft and give my experience
     

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