Hey guys i'm really new to this so bare with me. I'm starting my first grow very soon but i'm still not clear about a few things. The room is about L: 10 ft W: 10 ft H: 8 ft (standard bedroom) and has 1 window in it. For the 12 hours of darkness I am going to get a big white painters tarp to cover the window and wall. But i'm really confused about ventiliation. Is it really necessary to vent the air, humidity, moisture etc. etc. out the window of the room? My biggest problem with doing that is the smell could cause some problems. Also do I need some kind of ventilation sytem or could I just open the window and if so how often? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
If you understood the principles of what you are trying to achieve (by reading, as advised) you would be able to answer the broad questions yourself. Then you are just left with the details, and everyone will be glad to help you with those. -mu
The major issues with indor grows are heat and smell. Most grow lamps produce more heat then an indoor heater and the ones that don't make heat wont give you the same results by a long shot. The type of plant your going to grow will do best in cool temps 70*f. In order to cool your lamp/room you will need a constant forced flow of air. Dry cool air is best. If you can cycle enough air through your room at all times, it will keep the temps down, CO2 levels high, humidity down, and pervent a build-up of smell. I re-did my vent system about 4 times before it was right. My advice is: over-kill your ventilation The type of equipment you will need will be determined by your location, your room layout, type of lamps, and most of all your budget. Make a location best for your intake and one for exhust. Best places for intake is low point in the room. Or best source of cool air. Best locations for exhust are high point in the room. I might consider bringing air in from the window and out through the attic (if you have one). The tarp is a bad idea. It wont seal the light from going in or out. The room must be 100% light tight. Go get some Black & White Poly or start building (wood or drywall). That tarp you thinking of using will glow in the dark for all to see. Smell can be delt with a lot of ways. Budget is a key factor on how you deal with smell. Do a search here for diy carbon scrubber. Or ask for a good link ( I have seen millions). I hope this helps some. Peace, R.
you might want to do a search on relative humidity, and then re-read the above posts. then you will see why it is important to read first, then ask questions.
That's a good idea. I'm definitley going to have to buy some Black and White Poly for the 12 hours of darkness. The room is already painted white and has plastic on the floor. Its 20 plants with 2x 1000 W HPS lights (roughly) w/china hats. So for the 12 hours i'm lighting them i'm going to open the window in the room and the door to let oxygen and co2 flow in. I'll also have 1 or 2 fans blowing over top of the fans as well as a charcoal filter in the room to get rid of the smell. Hopefully that will mask the smell. Does that set-up sound good to you guys so far?? Also isn't their fans you can install in the window to bring CO2 and Oxygen in? Budget isn't a factor with me at all and there's plenty of Hydroponics stores around where I live. Would it be wise to invest in something like that? Thanks for all the help everyone.
So long as fresh air is constantly entering the growing area, there will be plenty CO2. One exhast fan can do that, pulling air into the room as it pushes air out. Venting in from a window is sometimes unpredictable, depending on where you live, the temperature changes can be wild. It can sometimes be better to vent out the window, and take air in from some cool area in your living space, where temperatures are more reliable. CO2 levels are naturally higher there, too. -mu
I agree with MU, I like to have complete controll over my exhust. Routing the exhust through a carbon scrubber kills two birds with one stone. A 8" in-line duct fan like this one http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=CMF625 would cool and clean a small room. Most fans wont pump air through a pipe more then a foot or so. A quality duct fan or squirrel cage blower will pump air through pipe/ducting. Good luck, R.
That looks great. I'm definitley going to invest at a duct fan. So you could just program the temperature you want right into that fan and it will do all the work? Would that fan also be able to bring CO2 into the room from outside or would you still need to leave another door in the house open?
vancouvercanuck, this is what I mean about understanding the basic principles of things. What is air? How does it work? Does hot air rise or fall? Is CO2 heavier than it? What happens to it when it passed through different sizes of space? etc. etc. If you have an enclosed space, and you push air out of that space, fresh air will be naturally pulled into the space from somewhere. Unless the grow space is totally air-tight, in which case it will create a vacuum and then implode like a supernova (well, perhaps the fan might give out first). What Rumpleforeskin is saying is that you need to take control of every molecule of air in your growing environment, so decide, how will fresh air enter the grow room? If, for instance, you boarded over an open window, and exhausted your air out via a hole in that board (up high, warm), and left the grow room door open, as air is removed at the window, fresh air will be drawn in the door, naturally, basic physics. A vent would be better than a door, usually around twice the size of the exhaust, coming from somewhere in your living space, somewhere cool (ie. near the floor). Also, as well as having a reliably temperature, the air inside your living space will also be naturally high in CO2. Just opening a window or door every now and again isn't nearly efficient enough. The environment of an indoor grow space will quickly become too hot, humid, and CO2-depleted without constant fresh air moving through it. The fan doesn't control the temperature, at least, not by itself. If you want, you can hook it up to a thermostat, and have it only kick-in when temperatures get high, but it's usually far better to calculate its size correctly, and then leave it running 24/7. More stealthy, too. There's a good fan calculator, here. Which doesn't seem to work correctly in Firefox, so you might have to use another browser, but it's definitely worth it (that "IE Tab Firefox extension is handy sometimes). For something really quiet and powerful, check out S+P's "TD" range of duct fans. Dunno if you can get them in the US. There are loads of good fans out there, I just happen to like these... "Unique to the MIXVENT-TD fans is the facility to remove the motor / impeller assembly from the fan body without disturbing the adjacent ductwork. This feature also enables a ducted exhaust system to be converted in to a supply air system with ease." -mu
Very good advice MU. I like the super-nova metaphor. I have my duct fans in the attic. One for the grow space and one for the light. This 8" fan cools the room. This 4" fan cools my light. Best of luck, R.
I'm buying a CO2 injection system, the one that runs off CO2 tanks and has plastic tubing which runs around the top of the room and sprays it down on the plants. Do you think the heat still be an issue with the door closed, fans running, and exhaust fan in the window and CO2 enrichment w/ an injection system?
to take full advantage of co2, you should invest in a controller. a controller will turn off fans and exhaust blowers and let the co2 be taken in by the plants. when you're running co2, you can run at higher temps. with no problems. the higher temps. are desireable. the stomata open wider at higher temps. and are able to take in the increased co2.
Perhaps CO2 tanks and injectors and timers and controllers is a bit ambitious for a first grow. What about simply starting some homebrew, and positioning it above your inlet vent. Voila! Constant supply of CO2 in your air. -mu
You would have to have a bathtub size vat of sugar and yeast to make even a small ppm dent in a 10x10 room. I could never get more then 100ppm increase with a gallon home brew set-up in my small grow closet. I tried like hell to dump the $12 tanks for a cheeper solution. Nothing coud get the room to 2000 ppm other then tanks ( I wish this was not the case). A constant supply of freash air and Voila! Constant supply of CO2.
There's no doubt that CO2 cyclinder+regulator is a superior method of getting CO2 into your grow, but for a new grow(er) there are probably other limiting factors, and it seems like a lot of investment for an uncertain return. Cyclinders are also filled from recycled CO2, which is great news for the environment. It's something I'm definitely considering, when I have the cash to spare. But in the meantime, the homebrew method certainly produces useful amounts of CO2. I don't have any means to test the ppm (which I guess you need to to at the plant-tops, right?), but if I've not had a batch (of homebrew) on, and then put one on, within a day I notice an improvement in growth and heat tolerance (my veg room gets quite hot, and CO2 falling down onto it helps with that). Of course, a constant supply of fresh air provides plenty CO2, and is totally FREE! -mu
Anyone who uses a home-brew method to make CO2, fits the profile of a real cannabis lover and enthusiastic grower. Nothing but good things can happen. A step by step for growing in a full size room can be seen on this british video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6583702968043014177&q=How+to+grow+Weed&hl=en And another good place to learn grow room set-up by watching video is http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/series/pottvseries-112-0.html R.