First Grow PPP

thanks for all the help daihashi and Cede2Weed (btw i just understood that name while typing it haha), atm 1 seed just poped out of the ground so i just added one of those home depot intake fans to blow the hot air near the hps bulb outside (ill take pics in an hour or 2) and hopefully that will be good enough until this weekend when me and my friend can use all of your helpful advise.

and btw Cede2Weed, that sucks that your in the same boat as i am, ill check out your log and try to help you out as best i can.

alright i got updated photos on should.myphotoalbum.com check em out. atm the fan isnt helping very much, ill check again tomorrow to see how bad it got. gtg eat dinner pce

Well a few things.

1. Relocate your ballast outside of the grow area. This contributes to heat.

2. The fan you chose looks really small. I'm guessing that ducting is 6" in diameter. You should look to get a fan that is the same size in diameter as your ducting. Also take out the bends. You want as little restriction as possible. I believe they make some duct boosters that flow like 300-400cfm. I would get the highest flowing 6" duct booster you can find.

3. In your 9th picture on the "updated room" album there is a white fan facing away from the water heater. Is this fan running? If so you are simply wicking away heat from the water heater and into your grow area.

4. Your humidity is way too low. I see it go as low as 16 and up to 25%. You want your humidity levels to be between 30-60% during veg if possible. I try to stay between 40-50% throughout all stages of growth.

Really you need to find a better location for your grow. This area is really going to be difficult to grow in.

Yea, this is working out horrible, i looked in there this morning and it was 99 degrees!!! i took down the hps, put 4 23w cfls in there with 1700 lumens each and have that on temporarily to try and revive the plants i was cooking:mad:... the temp is now at a steady 86 which is much better even though its still bad, hooked up the fan to blow cool air from outside on the room...

after all this I'm prob gonna sell the hps system and just use what i have to veg, then ill find a place outside i can flower.:(

daihashi, i just saw your post so i will use your advice when i go back tomorrow and hopefully that will bring it down to the low 80s.

alright i had time to change everything and take new pics, i hope this works!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by should

Yea, this is working out horrible, i looked in there this morning and it was 99 degrees!!! i took down the hps, put 4 23w cfls in there with 1700 lumens each and have that on temporarily to try and revive the plants i was cooking:mad:... the temp is now at a steady 86 which is much better even though its still bad, hooked up the fan to blow cool air from outside on the room...

after all this I'm prob gonna sell the hps system and just use what i have to veg, then ill find a place outside i can flower.:(

daihashi, i just saw your post so i will use your advice when i go back tomorrow and hopefully that will bring it down to the low 80s.

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86 is do-able although not great considering you had to go to cfls to do it. Is there any reason you can't move this grow into a closet or maybe use the cardboard box build I described earlier and just set it somewhere in an air conditioned room?

yea, a friend is living with me right now and hes not really into the idea of growing. Ill get the cardbord box in there on friday hopefully. Are the CFLs alright to use for veg or should i double up?

Edit: btw i might have a solution for flowering. my other friend might let me use his basement to put the hps in and ill move the plants to his house to flower. i would move the whole operation to his house but its too far away for me to drive there every day.

ideally you want 5000 lumens per sqft. In a 2'x2' area that would be 20k lumens I believe

However if you could get about 5k lumens directly above/around the plant then I think that would work equally as well.. 2 plants = 10k lumens in lighting.

I wouldn't give up on the hps just yet..

Look into getting a 4" pyrex bake a round tube on ebay. About $15 shipped to your door. Then find the highest flow duct fan you can find (this is the cheap solution.. ideal solution would be an inline fan) and hook it up to one end of the cool tube with ducting. Leave the other end completely open to help draw out air from the inside of the room.

Be sure to place your exhaust as close to the top of the grow space as possible and place a passive intake or 2 down towards the bottom. Hot air rises and cool air tends to settle towards the ground.

Don't run an active intake unless you can match the same air flow as your exhaust fans. This will be more of a restriction than it would be helpful.

alright, thanks for all the help man, i really appreciate it:thumbsup:

ill deff get a cool tube and try that out, in fact ill order it now!:)

Can you cut into the sheet rock at all? Preferably in a room that has a thick interior wall?

Say about 16-24" deep. The reason I ask is this. Studs are supposed to be placed about 16" apart. Many places skimp on this and it gets overlooked during inspection. To save money alot of builders will space their studs out further. I've seen some as far apart as 3ft.

Take a stud finder and locate a stud.. Drive a nail through it to verify that it is a stud. Then with a sheetrock knife cut out a section of sheet rock from stud to stud. You'll want this at least 2 ft high because you'll need to be able to get inside there a little bit to hook up your equipment.

Go to home depot and get the following.

Putty/spackle
Putty knife
2 hinges
2 magnetic latches
1 louvered circular vent
screws
nails
duct tape
sheet rock texture spray can.
a 6' 2"x2" cut into 3 2' sections

After cutting the square hole in your sheet rock take your 2' sections of 2"x2" and lay the edge of your sheet rock against it. With small nails tap the nails gently through the sheet rock and into the wood. Use the nails generously. Repeat this for the inside of the sheet rock on one of the sides where your hole was made. Take your 3rd 2"x2" and place it on the top part of the cut on the wall where the hole is at.

on the cut out sheet rock and on the side of the hole where you placed the 2x2's we'll attach hinges.. screw into the 2x2's.. get the pieces of sheet rock mated as close together as possible.

on the top part where you put a 2x2.. take your magnet latch and place one end on the 2x2 and one end on the sheet rock you cut out.. This will secure the sheetrock in place when the grow area is closed.

about 5-6ft up from the floor cut out a 4" circular hole and attach a louvered vent.. paint the inside of this vent and the ducting that will attach to it black.. This will hook up to your light system hopefully with a cool tube and a squirell cage fan or soething else that moves alot of air.

place duct tape over your hinges and everywhere you made a cut in the wall. Lay putty/spackle over the duct tape and allow it to dry.

Once dry spray the sheet rock texture aresol can over the duct tape.

Paint it to the same color as the wall.

This will provide you with stealth and cooling. The problem is finding an inside wall that's suitable to cut open. Closets and closer towards the boundaries are the house are generally good spots to find additional space in your walls.