4 600s or 3 1000s

[Bobby Smith]

RMCG, you may be right about the cooltube, but I'm not sure how big this whatever-agon is gonna end up being, and I'm worried that with the cooltube sucking away 10-15% of the lumens from the bulbs it may be underlit.

Trying to finish up the base tonight, and then I'll have an idea of the size of this beast (but it's definitely gonna be big, lol).

Forgot to mention above, it's been rainy the past couple of days, and when I first turned the lights on the Sentinel said "75%RH", and after 100 minutes of running, that number was down to 45% - bare bulbs will do that, I guess.

Anyways, that was a long-winded way of me saying "I'm also considering a swamp cooler" to aid in cooling and also provide humidity while vegging.

Probably gonna stay with the box fan, just because of the larger area of air movement - I'd rather have a weaker and wider air current than a stronger and narrower one, you know?

But if stronger and narrower seems to be a better move, I'll just aim one of my 6" inlines up at them and let that rock out with its cock out.

 

[RMCG]

I didn't think the lumen loss was ~that~ bad on the tubes, maybe 1-2%?

If you are west of the Mississippi, a swamp cooler would work, check the wet bulb/dry bulb temps for your area though.

From your accent in the vid, sounds like you are midwestern, but I guess if they sell them near you, it should work out for you as supplemental cooling.

You should have seen the strange looks I got trying to locally source a small dehumidifier here where the avg RH is ~20%...

 

[Bobby Smith]

I'm definitely east of the Mississippi - born and raised in Philadelphia, but yeah, I've been told my accent comes off as a southern/midwestern combo.

And as far as lumen loss, I believe any glass (i.e. flat glass on a "normal" reflector) takes away like 5-10%, but when you round the glass (cooltube), it's much, much worse than that.

That's what I remember reading but I can't vouch for it being correct or not...........maybe I'll take some light readings off of my 400 with and without glass and see :) - but that's gonna have to wait for a few days.

And I figure on non-rainy days, even with plants in there, the combo of four bare bulb 600s and an AC running fairly steadily will probably kill any humidity left in that room - guessing it'll get down to 30-40% lights on, but obviously that's just my best guess.

 

[Bobby Smith]

A Sneaky Peeky

Figure with all the talk of cooling, we're missing the big picture, which is the pentadecagon that may or may not work..........lol :)

Anyways, here's some pics of that work in progress:

 

[RMCG]

Hahhaa

Your girl must hate you as much as mine does!

Nothing like a chop saw on the kitchen counter.

 

[Bobby Smith]

She's actually probably gonna be pretty pleased because all that PVC was sitting in her dressing room yesterday........it's amazing that this buildout has taken over almost every room in the house, but that's all coming to an end - everything's gonna be in the garage by this weekend, ready or not.

Need to get my exercise room back so I can lose some of these lbs. I've put on over the past couple of months.

 

[Boomer242]

reminds me of building blocks. goodtimes haha

 

[Bobby Smith]

Motherfucker

So I bought two fans and put them in the room and ran it again............fucking 85F.

Just got off the phone with the guy from Octagon Hydroponics, and I'm trying to get their 4L600 rush delivered to me.............there's another $1K down the fucking drain.



This is actually starting to get a touch expensive now........but on a positive note, have all but 10 of the wyes and am gonna continue work on the octagon today - might be able to get the plants in there with the lights turned down to 50%.........lemme go run them like that and see how much heat they put off.

Ratfarts.

EDIT: It's en route, and the owner seems like a real chill dude. Gave me some money off and free shipping, so it's $800 all-in.

DOUBLE EDIT: RMCG, you're right about the AC cost savings - will lessen the load off of everything with a properly functioning cooltube, especially the chillers. Want to be able to get my room down to 75F with the lights on if I so desire, and hopefully the cooltube will allow me to do that.

Gonna have to run a "T" off of the intake hole I drilled into the crawlspace, and the AC and cooltube will share it - both will also be exhausting through the roof and into the rest of the garage.

Hopefully with the AC running less, there will also be less smells and whatnot escaping............just goes to show, you should go with your gut and not try to cut corners.

It's gonna be here on Friday, so I'm still gonna try to get the "system" fully setup and only run a light or two until then, which I was probably gonna have to do anyways to avoid lumen shock.

 

[Socachi]

Well Bobby looks like things are coming along slowly but surely and sometimes painfully as we learn what to do. Been there done that and will more then likely be there again. You are not alone... Socachi

 

[Bobby Smith]

Yeah, I learned that my next grow is going to be in a med state where I can just have a mini-split installed and forget about these portable pieces 'o crap.

14K should be able to bring that room down to 70F, running 2400 watts and a watercooled CO2 generator.

Oh to be in a med state and just have a guy come and set me up with an 18K mini..........but we're back to reality.

Just about finished the base of the 'Gon, will put up some pics tomorrow when it's totally finished.

 

[RollinEndough]

This is about as long and drawn out as they come. Perfect.

I'll keep the belching and other bodily rumbles to a minimum while watching you stumble around intoxicated off glue fumes trying to finish the monstrosity you've begun.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I'm not the quickest, bro - construction isn't really my bag (just turned 30 and couldn't change a tire last year), but if you'll notice, the pace has picked up considerably since I've finished putting up panda - I like automating grow rooms, just not building them by myself.

And that monstrosity is gonna get me 6+ pounds off of 4 600s..........so you should be a little nicer to her :P

 

[RollinEndough]

I'm all for it. These vert systems are always fun to see in action.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I've actually had a bitch of a time finding them on the Internet - seems like every time somebody builds a vert system, they never finish their grow online.

Maybe I should've thought this through a little more before spending thousands on PVC..........lemme go take a funny picture, be right back.

EDIT:

There's about $700 worth of PVC fittings on each bed in our two guest bedrooms.

I'm sure my girl is gonna be SUPER STOKED when she gets home.

 

[Boomer242]

id rec returning the air cooler and re-invest in AC. coming from ur local HVAC boy id go that route. i dont believe much in aircooling anymore. smaller setups yes, but if ure spending that type of money id do AC. especially for when u mod ur system down the line (and you will), ull always be able to use AC units. but if uve already received it and installed. im along for the ride regardless. just dont wanna lead u in the wrong direction.

 

[RollinEndough]

I've heard of white stains on the sheets. This white drains thing is new to me though.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Boom, I hear you - 14K was the biggest portable I could get for the 120V power available to me, and unfortunately a mini-split isn't an option in the area that I live.

I was planning on the 14K being able to do the job, but it can't and I'm not gonna invest any more money on portables - agreed that the cooltube isn't gonna be great for resale value (lol, "8' Tall Vertical Cooltube, $300 or best offer"), but it should help alleviate a lot of my AC power usage, and in just about all states but Cali and CO, peeps like me need to be cognizant of our power usage - already not happy about having to run chillers and all that other shit that doesn't directly contribute to the plant's growing.

I know you legal guy's answer is always "throw more power at it", but that's not an option for everybody :) - to me, using 2400 watts (two 1200 watt portables) on cooling for 2400 watts of light isn't a good way of growing, and I'd go full intake/exhaust before I did that.

Rollin, there's both drains and stains on those sheets, homeboy :)

 

[Boomer242]

Boom, I hear you - 14K was the biggest portable I could get for the 120V power available to me, and unfortunately a mini-split isn't an option in the area that I live.

I was planning on the 14K being able to do the job, but it can't and I'm not gonna invest any more money on portables - agreed that the cooltube isn't gonna be great for resale value (lol, "8' Tall Vertical Cooltube, $300 or best offer"), but it should help alleviate a lot of my AC power usage, and in just about all states but Cali and CO, peeps like me need to be cognizant of our power usage - already not happy about having to run chillers and all that other shit that doesn't directly contribute to the plant's growing.

I know you legal guy's answer is always "throw more power at it", but that's not an option for everybody :) - to me, using 2400 watts (two 1200 watt portables) on cooling for 2400 watts of light isn't a good way of growing, and I'd go full intake/exhaust before I did that.

Rollin, there's both drains and stains on those sheets, homeboy :)

bro i thought u were cali for sum reason haha. oh well i get peeps locations mixed up.
my partner was gonna run 1x14k btu portable AC but i convinced him to go with 2x14k and it covers it. i know wat ure saying about keeping power consumption in check. ure keepin it smart so dont worry, the aircooling will still help alot. just next time u consider an upgrade def look into another 14k unit. if ure running c02 80-85 is perfect anyways

 

[Bobby Smith]

Lol, bout 3000+ miles away from Cali, but that'll be our little secret :)

If I was in Cali I would've just had an 18K mini installed and called it a day.

And honestly, I doubt there's gonna be much upgrading at all - I should be able to get 4-6lbs. a harvest pretty easily (on the low side, as peeps can get 2+lbs. per 600 in this system), and that's plenty for me (will probably only do three harvests a year and take the summer off because of electricity usage with my central AC, actually).

At $4-4.5K/lb., I don't really need more than 15lbs. a year, especially when I start working again full time - not trying to be greedy and do something stupid.

Keeping it nice and breezy :)

 

[Integra21]

Just for your confidence bob, I run a 12k and without the lights being cooled it is on 24/7. But with the lights being cooled, it runs for about 10min of every hour during lights on. Makes a big difference in any kind of small room(smaller than an actual room, like a living room). I think it will make you ge to just the temps you're looking for. Great progress this week. Im impressed. Keep it up any you'll be blooming in no time.