New Grow Room

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by rschalk117, Dec 29, 2014.

  1. Hello everyone,
    I am in the process of building a high efficiency grow room and i would like some of the communities input to help me out, as it is my first time, but i want to do everything as efficiently as possible.
    I have built an 8' x 10' shed with a center dividing wall, creating 2 8'x5' rooms for a total of 40 sq feet per room. I am planning on offsetting the cycles to have more consistent harvesting. I plan to always buy the clones and forget about creating my own clones as i do not have room for another area to veg them. I am going to run a drip irrigation system and have a active carbon filter, along with fans in the rooms. The biggest thing i am trying to decide on is if i should use CFL lighting or HPS, or possibly even both. Can i efficiently veg and flower with just HPS lighting, or will i need 2 different kinds of lights to switch between the veg and flowering stage. Should i use LST growing only for CFL, or HPS lights as well. Any input, recommendations, information and help is greatly appreciated. 
    Thank you

     
  2. You'll get different opinions, some people will say go with LED. I'd say go with 600w hps, as that's the sweet spot for lumens per watt.
     
    I'm not a fan of flowering with CFL but they have their place in my growroom. I use them for cloning and temporary veg (2 weeks or so). You'd be surprised how much vegetative growth you can get with a 4-pack of 26w veg bulbs.
     
    But, I do veg with Hortilux full-spectrum HPS bulbs, they're not cheap but they work great. No stretching and extremely vigorous growth rates. Last grow I got quarter pound autos with a 20/4 light cycle from start to finish with one of their 1kw HPS bulbs.
     
  3. Thanks for the input Thicken Dense, i do think i am leaning toward hps or a hybrid dual arc for MH lights in veg and HPS in flowering, it seems to be more efficient and i am able to afford it and believe there is enough space that with fans it wont get too warm. 
     
  4.  
     
    These are the most exciting times. The beginning of something grand. I'm stoked for you!
     
    I'm currently in the process of redesigning my grow-space. I learned that fluorescents do a poor job at generating "intensity".
     
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    How long will your grow room be in service? 
     
    -PG
     
  5. #5 Afghancamel, Dec 30, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 30, 2014
    CFL's cannot possibly do the job on an area as big as yours. They are great for what they are and when used in the right sort of places they do the job well enough but they have no "power" when compared to HID lamps.
     
    It is all down to the physical size of the lamp and the lumen output per watt.
     
    A 600w HPS lamp is rated at 90,000 lumens or 150 lumens per watt (600w MH is rated at 58,000 lumens). In a largish space that is a lot of light penetration to growth points below the canopy. And it is all because the light is emanating from a lamp that is relatively small.
     
    Now, with the average CFL putting out around 60-65 lumens per watt you'd need almost 1,500 watts of CFL's to get the same amount of light as the 600w HPS. But rather than coming from a lamp the size of a large aerosol can it's coming from, let's say, ten x 150 watt CFL's which are each larger than the HID lamp. That's your lack of penetration right there.
     
    Don't get me wrong, CFL's are great for small growing spaces and for mothers, clones and early vegging and for supplementing HPS during flower in larger grow areas. But you will need the penetrative power that comes with HID lighting for the sort of area you are looking to utilize.
     
    And there is the matter of CFL's losing lumens at two or three times the rate of HID lamps. You'll be replacing them almost as often as you'll be moving them.
     
    I'm about to start up my new grow room any day now after a year of research, planning and DIY construction following many years growing with a simple setup in an "open window" grow room.
     
    The actual grow area itself is within a bedroom and it is a changeable size of 12 square feet (600w lamp) up to 20 square feet (1000w lamp). I have heat issues at certain times of the year and I have to drop down to the 600w lamp to overcome them (despite having reverse cycle A/C).
     
    I have been working on the principle of 6,500-7,000 lumens per square foot of HPS lighting (color 2100 Kelvin) during flower and 3,000-3,500 lumens per square foot of Metal Halide (6000 or 6500 Kelvin) for veg and for the first week after the flip (I'm thinking of getting a MH 4000 Kelvin lamp and using it for first two weeks after the flip). I'll be running CO2 from tanks at ambient levels of 400-500ppm using a grow room controller in a sealed room with A/C, F&D tray and dehumidifier. I cannot vent outside so I'm going with an Adjustawing Avenger as my new reflector.
     
    You can veg with HPS quite well, I've done it many times. But I find that using the MH keeps internodal lengths significantly down during the veg so of course you end up with more bud sites later on (relative to the size of the plant). Also during the first week or so after the flip when the plants go into the stretch they do a fine job.
     
    I think a lot of people switch to HPS too early because they need the extra lumens to deal with an increased demand for, you guesed it, light penetration below the rapidly growing canopy and in larger grow areas that's understandable. HPS lamps put out 50% (approx) more lumens per watt than MH's. In smaller grows, leave the HPS for when they are actually flowering, not during the run-up just after the flip when stretch can be a big issue and they aren't yet in any great need of the lower color temps.
     
    So, with height/space being a concern for most indoor growers I can recommend using MH in conjunction with HPS. And both types run on the same modern digital ballasts. All said and done I'd rather not veg without an MH lamp now but I would if I had to without too much angst.
     
    For BTU's and HID you can work on the following principles with confidence:
     
    Digital Ballast: - wattage x 0.73 = heat in watts. Each watt of heat = 3.415 btu
     
    1000w = 730 watts of heat or 2500 btu (approx)
     
    600w = 438 watts of heat or 1500 btu (approx)
     
    400w = 292 watts of heat or 1000 btu (approx)
     
    Lamps designed for digital ballasts:
     
    1000w = 3600 btu (1055 watts of heat)
     
    600w = 2060 btu (603 watts of heat)
     
    400w = 1370 or 1380 btu (about 402 watts of heat) I'm not sure of the exact figure for this one and I can't find my notes.
     
    If you are running your ballasts on "turbo charge" you should add wattage/btu pro-rata. For instance, my 1000w Solistek ballast can run at 1070 watts if I ramp it up to eleven. So that would be an additional 70w x 0.73 =  51 watts of heat or 175 btu (approx) and the lamp would be running hotter by the same factor again (an additional 9,800 lumens at a cost of 73 watts of heat or 250 btu). That's serious energy for the home grower to have to manage.
     
    One tip I can give you if you do decide to go with HID lighting - get your ballasts out of the grow room where you are intending to flower no matter how you have to go about it. Don't be fooled by the fact that you can put your hand on it without being burned, as you can see above a digital ballast generates significant heat and unless you can use the heating during winter it is heat you will have to deal with.
     
    You can run an extension lead from ballast to lamp of up to 50' without issue when using a top grade digital ballast so take advantage of that feature and your cooling problems are greatly relieved.

    Anyway, I hope this all helps. Good luck with your grow.
     
    Peace


     
  6. Thank you for the replies this has been very helpful.
     
  7. Big spaces.

    You should easily be able to make a space for cloning but that's my opinion. You can't smoke that much weed lol

    There is no way in the world I would use CFL, and I have no see fl experience, in a great space like that.
     
  8.  
    Yep to all of that! This is handy for when one is in the market for an air conditioner. Good info.
     
    BTUs have become a $$ problem for me. Ive been trying LEDs. So far so good. They work without the 8" cooling fans 
    going so its nice and quiet, and cool.
     
    These were taken at 5 weeks in.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    PG
     

Share This Page