3KW Liquid Cooled and Sealed Coco Grow

[Tesseract]

Hello all!

I finished building my new room from scratch by myself and would like to share my first coco grow.:cake

I have been growing for 4 years in a 4x8 wood box I built in my renter house.
Now I have my own home:makeup

I framed and insulated the room using standard construction requirements and adding 5/8" FireCore fireproof drywall for added safety.
All wiring in proper spec down to the plugs and is controlled through a 30amp breaker with a single trigger.
Ballasts were hung on the ceiling and walls painted with flat commercial ceiling paint.

DIY 4x8 Tables x2
3 1KW C.A.P. Nextgen Ballasts @ 240v
3 Hortilux HPS 1 KW Bulbs
3 fresca Sol Platinum water cooled fixtures
DIY reflectors
1 C.A.P. Ebb and grow system ripped apart and used for a reservoir, growing buckets, and the controller to pump my waste water out.
Chiller for light reservoir
100gallon light reservoir
Co2 Bottle on regulator via timer
1 oscillating fan
1 box fan
floating screen of green x2
TallBoy Outdoor h2o filter

I am using the following in my reservoir for bloom
Pro Bloom
LK
Blast Off
Cal-mag
Sweet
Silica Blast
Hydroplex boom enhancer
all @ 5.8-6.0 ph

Added Great White by hand to the coco coir, as well as a foliar spray of AzaMax

I am using 100% Royal Gold Coco Coir in a drain to waste set-up.
2x 396 gph pumps in each res for each table since I am running two strains.

My room stays very controlled being a liquid cooled micro climate. The best part about it is the fact that in the winter, I can heat my laundry room with the reservoir chillers heat extraction. The chiller sits outside the room and provides heat to my walkout basement garage. I have an 8k BTU window AC unit for dehumidification as well as emergency cooling, but there is need to run it during the fall winter and spring.

Future upgrades include 1 more light, liquid cooled natural gas burner (already have a line), Chill King 2 hp chiller, Co2 Probe. RO Merlin.

I have Blue Apollo and Afgooey clones from a friend of a friend. They were not the best quality cutting but then again I am starting from scratch. I do have plenty of beans and friends in CO though!

This is day 4 of 12/12

 

[Tesseract]

More pictures

Some orange glow for ya!

Pictures below are of various parts in the room.
The drain to waste controller bucket has 2 pumps working on different floats as a safety measure to insure that 1 will always work.

There is a picture of the drain and chiller plumbing connections as well.

After the pictures were taken I have cleared more undergrowth off and have spent a load more time training new sites.:beer

 

[Tesseract]

and a few more...

co2 and trigger timer for ballasts.

The ducts have nothing to do with my room. They are part of my hvac in the house and did not want to spend the time moving them.

 

[Tesseract]

Today I cleaned the reservoir and scrubbed it down with 91% alcohol including the pumps and stones to make sure things will stay nice and tidy due to my reservoir being in the room. :banana:

filled with h2o from the tallboy and started with 40g in each res. PPM's were @ 140 and ph was 6.9 to start.

Added: @ 1/5th Botanicare's dosage
Pro Bloom
LK
Blast Off
Sweet
Silica Blast (@ 1ml/g)
Hygrozyme (@4ml/g)
Cal/Mag (@1ml/g)

140ppm (h2o including some cal/mag already present in the water) - 750ppm (total tds in solution) = 610ppm (nutrients)

Ph set @ 5.9


I am on day 12 of 12/12, which I would say is week 1 leaving out the first as a transition week and when they were transplanted.
My runoff in the controller bucket while pumping was 750 ppm @ 6.2 ph which tells me they are eating well.:icon_cookie:


I also picked up a 1900 series filter for the room to help aid in keeping it fresh, mite, and spore free. I decided to attach it to the dehumidifier out side due to the fact that it cycles air constantly in the room. I will also install tomorrow, a box with a heppa filter to aid in sucking outside o2 into my air pump for the reservoirs.

Some of the Blue Apollos were freaking out when given to me and exhibited signs of lockout and clawing. They are finally correcting themselves and nice fan leaves are starting to emerge.

Cleared some more underbrush out and temps seem to be great!!!:cool0041:

enjoy

 

[Tesseract]

ANyone else running Botanicare Pro bloom in Coco?

 

[motherlode]

figured Id pop in here and see whats going on, major upgrade form growing in a box!

though by judging by your setup Im guessing it was a pretty cool box - lol

only have used Botanicare supplements, so cant help ya there

way to start your first log off

 

[biggun4me]

Nice looking grow bro... I noticed you said you used AzaMax foliar feed, do you also add it to the res to keep it in the leaves? I do and foliar spraying is no longer needed.. I use 2ml per gallon every feeding and no more critters anywhere... Peace

 

[Tesseract]

figured Id pop in here and see whats going on, major upgrade form growing in a box!

though by judging by your setup Im guessing it was a pretty cool box - lol

only have used Botanicare supplements, so cant help ya there

way to start your first log off

Thanks for stopping by Motherload:rock

My old box was pretty nice but hard to work in. It was a 4'x8' space made from a 2"x4" frame and 3/8" plywood for the sides and walls. I had 2 600's and a rockwool recirculating drip system that pretty much was 3'x7' thus filling the room. I had the lights inline with the ac and co2. It was pretty efficient but since I was in a renter, I had to go with a lower odor strain.
I can't tell you how many times that basement would flood. It was critical to hand equipment high or else it could be trouble. The funny thing is, with all the floods and 2 years of growing in that space, I never cleaned my system (only the res). With this new place, I must make sure that things are very clean.
Here is a few pics of inside the box. I don't think I have actual pictures of the box but it is still being used by a friend so I can take some later on.

T

 

[Tesseract]

Nice looking grow bro... I noticed you said you used AzaMax foliar feed, do you also add it to the res to keep it in the leaves? I do and foliar spraying is no longer needed.. I use 2ml per gallon every feeding and no more critters anywhere... Peace

Thanks for the tip Big!

Since I was more of a hydroponics user before, I never had to deal with bugs. THis is new to me. So far I only have a few fungus gnats which the fly paper had eaten up but wanted to have some safety and squash the little buggers out.
I purchased the Aza Max sprayer with pre measured dosages to make it easy on me. I sprayed the leaves and the top of the coco where they live. After 1 day, their habits are already changing and they seem be, for lack of better terms, "bugging out".

Can you dip rooted clones in Azamax as a young preventative? That would be nice!

T

 

[leadsled]

Nice setup and looking good. Good to see another coco diary.

I have used pure blend pro with coco. If using r/o water I add calmg @ 5ml a gallon then the pure blend. Gets me to 250ppm with r/o and 5ml a gallon calmg+

Hope the azatrol kill them gnats for ya.

 

[Tesseract]

Nice setup and looking good. Good to see another coco diary.

I have used pure blend pro with coco. If using r/o water I add calmg @ 5ml a gallon then the pure blend. Gets me to 250ppm with r/o and 5ml a gallon calmg+

Hope the azatrol kill them gnats for ya.

Thanks for stopping by:beer

My h2o is filtered through a Hydro Logic Tall boy and my water does not have choramines. It is 140 ppm and 6.9 ph from the unit. our water is soft to moderately hard, and honestly, I have done my last system with bennies, hygrozyme, in a recirculating drip system with never a problem and just let the h2o sit out for a day.

With that said, I would imagine no more then 50 ppm's of calcium and magnesium in the water at any given time.
I know that Pro Bloom has cal/mag in it as well as some of the other Botanicare products I am using.

This is my logic...

I have read that water cooled lights tend to increase the need to uptake both cal/mag as well as growing in coco. With that said, usually I could get away with no cal/mag in the old system using my waters content mixed with the Bloom and extra from the additives. With the new lights and coco, I am adding 1ml/g extra. I may bump it up to 2 because they seem to need it, but will also do a foliar feed with some Pro Bloom/Penetrator/ and very light Bushmaster solution.

If I am at all wrong or perhaps missed something please chime in. I am not a hard head by any means, but simply want to grow some beautiful plants while giving back to the knowledge train:party0045:

What was Your Botanicare Schedule BTW


Thanks again!

T

 

[Tesseract]

DIY air pump filter box

I no longer wanted my reservoir air stones to feed on the air from within the room so I decided to build a box using a nice vacuum HEPA filter.

I put a 3/4" hole into the laundry room and mounted the box with the foam stripes on the opposite side of the wall in the grow room and secured with L brackets to the wall.

I made a box frame out of treated lumber and a 2x4 i had around and put them together with a few screws and some glue. I then glued and secured some firecore sheetrock to the back and made sure it was sealed. Then it was a simple matter of putting the air hose into the hole and sealing it with a few layers of reflective ducting tape.

now I have fresh and clean HEPA filtered air for my reservoirs:party0023:

 

[biggun4me]

Thanks for the tip Big!

Since I was more of a hydroponics user before, I never had to deal with bugs. THis is new to me. So far I only have a few fungus gnats which the fly paper had eaten up but wanted to have some safety and squash the little buggers out.
I purchased the Aza Max sprayer with pre measured dosages to make it easy on me. I sprayed the leaves and the top of the coco where they live. After 1 day, their habits are already changing and they seem be, for lack of better terms, "bugging out".

Can you dip rooted clones in Azamax as a young preventative? That would be nice!

T

I have never dipped cuttings in AzaMax, I just start using it the 2nd watering after I transfer the rooted clones into a cup full of sunshine mix.. But the cutting are coming off a plant that has already been fed AzaMax... Peace
You can check out my grow and offer any advice I would be grateful...

 

[Tesseract]

I have noticed that there is foam in the reservoir of both my tanks. It is not a bacteria problem due to the fact that everything has been scrubbed with iso alcohol.

I think it is Foam Fractionation due to the use of a commercial air pump in my standing reservoir. Too much agitation with organics can cause a breakdown and froth.

There wasn't much foam @ all but decided since I don't have a protein skimmer nor want one, that I ditch the stones for a pump. There is no more foam and the ph is pretty stable after 12 hours.

There is a noticeable smell from the reservoirs but it isn't that bad.

Does anyone have some FAQ on this issue?

Should I add some small air stones or just keep the pump?

 

[Tesseract]

I have decided to move my reservoirs outside the room.

with the heavy foam fractionation and me removing the air stones but leaving the pumps in the reservoir has also excelerated what I believe to be is Cyanobacteria. They are not damaging to the plants and the fact is that I have Great White and plantacillin as an inoculant, but can cause the solution to become foul, depleted of nutrients, and ph fluctuation if left alone for a long time.

The temperature of my reservoir stays at 76-77 degrees, which in a dwc with bennies or any circulating system for that matter, works wonders. With the problems stated above and my solution being anaerobic but mixed, it only helps the spread of the Cyanobacteria and other harmful things.

Moving the reservoir outside helps to keep the reservoir cooler and out of the light, which my res is lightproof, but the light still adds heat.
It will also free up more space in the room to walk, or get another light in that space eventually. I can also clean the reservoirs without feeling like a cramped gypsy which is nice.

Is my logic correct in assuming this?

Any input would be awesome.

 

[Tesseract]

Seems to be some good answers people! Keep up the work:sleepy


Anyways...

This seems to be a better setup

I am going to flush with 7ml/g of clearex @ 5.8 ph.

H2o is 72/71 degrees out of the tap and the basement is 65/55 at night so it will keep the nutrients perfect. Later on the basement will dip into the 50/40's and a heating element will be used in each reservoir to maintain 65/68 degrees.

This will get them nice and leeched before I add more nutrients.

 

[Jxroberts]

Jah bless

 

[Tesseract]

Jah bless

Gratzi!

Thanks for the blessing...I think it worked.

leaching was a sucsess and a new batch of nutrients mixed. My 3-1 ph/tds was fucked up causing my solution to be slightly on the acidic side. Luckily I have a few more meters laying around.:cool0041:

Feeding 1/4 Strength with no hygrozyme. I replaced commercial air compressor with a smaller Tetra pump to keep the mixture from being anaerobic but to not cause foam fractionation from the degradation of organics into N and toxic buildup. I also kept the two water pumps in the reservoirs, but put them on a timer as to mix the solution well 30 minutes before watering but once again, not to cause foam fractionation :banana1sv6:

Here are a few pics right after lights on.

First one is all the space I gained from removing the reservoir. Extra light maybe... chair and table for reading, hanging out, and cloning...maybe.

Others are of the ladies, slightly green from ph imbalance and a flush, but instantly perky and looking better!

Enjoy

T

 

[Kaiser Puff]

Subbed! Awesome work bro, your DIY skills are considerable. I love fabricating solutions out of what I can scrape up. How cool does your chiller keep the light res and what hp? I was looking at doing a 6 fresca vert grow, DTW CO2 gen, I'm really like the idea of a liquid cooled op so I'm following intently :passingjoint:

I use Botanicare nutes, I got through a flower cycle in my Aero unit with a free pint of PBP Bloom, Sweet and Liquid Karma I bought. I used Mayan Microzyme as a innoculant/nitrogen source. I'm using CNS17 Bloom start to finish in my new hempy grow. I decided to buy a gallon because it's cheap ($25/gal) has all the micros and good amounts of Ca and Mg. With beneficials, especially a product with nitrogen fixers should cover the lower N from using a bloom formula in veg.

 

[Tesseract]

Subbed! Awesome work bro, your DIY skills are considerable. I love fabricating solutions out of what I can scrape up. How cool does your chiller keep the light res and what hp? I was looking at doing a 6 fresca vert grow, DTW CO2 gen, I'm really like the idea of a liquid cooled op so I'm following intently :passingjoint:

I use Botanicare nutes, I got through a flower cycle in my Aero unit with a free pint of PBP Bloom, Sweet and Liquid Karma I bought. I used Mayan Microzyme as a innoculant/nitrogen source. I'm using CNS17 Bloom start to finish in my new hempy grow. I decided to buy a gallon because it's cheap ($25/gal) has all the micros and good amounts of Ca and Mg. With beneficials, especially a product with nitrogen fixers should cover the lower N from using a bloom formula in veg.

Thanks for the kind words bro! It is true, I do have the love for some DIY.:muscle

I am using a considerably less rated HP chiller then what I need. I can get away with it for now, being the winter, but come spring, I will have to upgrade.

i am using a 1/4 HP ecoPlus chiller paired with a 90 gallon water source. I keep the reservoir @ 64 and by the time the lights go out, it reached 84. The room stays the same temperature though.

Realistically, I should be using at least 1/2 hp per 1000w bulb and the reservoir should stay the same temp using only 55 gallons. I will be purchasing a 2 hp chill king unit to run 4 total 1000w bulbs. This will save me $$$ in the long run because the chiller will run more efficiently. For 6000w, I would go for their 3 hp model.

It is by far easier and cheaper to cool water then it is to cool air. The Fresca Sol Platinums are the way to go. A little extra money, but are of way better quality and a longer spread.

i will also be using my chill king to cool a natural gas co3 burner.


There is a lot of liquid cooled faq. on the Best Coast Growers website that sells the frescas's.

Before my current config, I had them turned vertical. The layout just didn't fit my room to well but was pretty awesome. There is a member here with a room running 12 vertical platinums I think. I am fairly new to the farm and have not gotten a lot of time to read fellow members pages.:(

I will look forward to your thoughts on the CNS17 Bloom all the way through. Sounds like a fantastic idea and very worthy of a shot!:joint:

T