4 600s or 3 1000s

[RollinEndough]

Curled into a fetal position, cold sweats, thumb in mouth to act as a makeshift vomit stopper and an unsettling manic hum of nursery rhymes.

Wicked sick, basically. Can't wait to see the lighting and plants.

 

[Integra21]

That looks pretty awesome Bob. Its really starting to come together. Get your netpot issues all sorted out?

 

[Bobby Smith]

Thanks for dropping by, guys!

Appreciate the compliments - really, really pleased with where we're at right now - opened up a bottle of Dom P and swigged it while I sat in there and looked at my beautiful baby, and even gave her a little taste.

Integra, no, I haven't gotten that sorted yet - as you can see, the top and bottom wye of each column are the 4" openings, so I was thinking of running by Home Depot (three times today, plus Lowes twice) tomorrow and seeing if there was some sort of PVC reducer that would fit in there and allow me to use 3" netpots.

If not, I'm just going to go to the hydro store and get 3.75" pots, and wrap some duct tape or something around the lip to make it so it won't fall through.

Would prefer to do the first and skip the 3.75" pots that I'll only use for this run (because I'd get 4" pots going forward), but we'll see what happens at Lowes/HD tomorrow.

Gonna get the plumbing (chiller, cool coil, etc.) and all that finalized tomorrow, wrap the reservoir (a 64 gallon hardcore trash can - wanted the 96 gallon but was too large for the space) with the water heater jacket I bought, and then setup the ducting for the cooltube (set up a "T" off of my intake and drill a 6" hole in the ceiling for exhaust), and then I'm gonna try to plop some plants in there.

Also, found that extra 15 amps that I knew was in there, so that's fucking awesome - I wasn't gonna have enough power otherwise, so that's a Godsend right there - this pump takes 500 fricking watts.

Cooltube is coming on Friday, and I'd like EVERYTHING to be setup in there save for that - means moving my veg tent into its new home, etc.

Busy days - worked from 6:30am until right now (with a short break or two) today, and I'm gonna do that for the next three days.

Time to smoke a bowl and relax.............

 

[Socachi]

Alright Bobby gettin closer to grow time.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Have A Question Or Two, But I'll Trade You For A Video

So, found other 15 amps I knew was in there, but now I'm not sure how to go about the wiring - the pics below are pretty straightforward, I think, but hopefully you guys can clear up a point or two for me.

1) So there's a switch which feeds the rear flood lights for my garage - are the wires hooked up the back of the switch the "HOT" feed (from my breaker panel) or are they the wires which simply feed the lights?

I'm guessing I need to get behind there and untie all those wires that are tied together, huh? And then is there a way to know which is which?

2) As you can see from the video below, the 1/6th pump I bought is a fucking beast, and a 633 working with a 396 can't keep up with it - anyone have any recommendations on sizing? A 1/10th should be sufficient, no? As you'll see below, the return pump only has to pump about three feet, whereas the feed pump has much, much more resistance.

EDIT: Forgot the video link.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLsQGDcTevs

 

[RMCG]

Damn. I would have to pee within five minutes of being in that room with the trickling water...


I would get an equal or faster pump than what your feed pump is.

Maybe a sump pump style one that is float activated, so it doesn't run dry if/when it catches up to the feed.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Damn. I would have to pee within five minutes of being in that room with the trickling water...


I would get an equal or faster pump than what your feed pump is.

Maybe a sump pump style one that is float activated, so it doesn't run dry if/when it catches up to the feed.

That's a really good idea, in all honesty...........hadn't thought of that, but also don't think I'll be able to get one with a float valve that will operate in only 6" of water.

Also, you really think a more powerful one for the return?

The feed pump is split into a "T", then run through 15 other tees...........the return pump would just be pumping a three foot straight line directly into the reservoir.

I'm sure I can get away with a smaller pump, just not sure how much smaller............lemme see if I can find a 1/8th pump - I'm pretty sure that would work.

Also, any tips on the electrical? Can't run these 1000 watts of pumps (that hurts me just to type it) without getting those 15 amps.

 

[RMCG]

What are your shrub sprinklers rated for GPH or GPM wise?

The T isn't going to reduce the flow much, but the heads will decide, so add them up.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Meh, no clue........just gonna run over to Home Depot and buy something that strikes my fancy - probably just the same size pump, although I might go a touch smaller and use 3/4" or even 1" tubing, which I think would help even it out.

That 1/6HP pump in there now is supposed (designed) to use 3/4" and I have it on 1/2".

 

[RMCG]

While you are HD, check the rainbird section. They list the flow rate of the heads and should be on the box.

Usually between 5-25GPH @ 25psi. You can adjust them up/down.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Oh no, you're thinking of some actual sprinklers - I just have little plastic shrub water-ers, totally different - mine are basically just pieces of plastic to diffuse the water.

See the pic, it's just a piece of plastic - they were like $.60 a piece.

 

[RMCG]

Oh. Damn. Gotcha.

Pretty unrestricted flow then.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Yeah, I think I'm gonna see if I can find a sump pump that has a float valve that will operate in that low of a water height.

Don't want to risk a pump running dry and crapping out on me, and also don't wanna get an undersized one that could flood my garage.

 

[strictlyHYDROid]

in general , how's everything going with operation "pentagon bobby" ?
have you encountered any problems so far ?

 

[CanadianClassic]

I looked at the thread to IC u linked looks like that guy abandoned his effort or something else happened seeing how he never updated that page,It looks really neat and fancy but in my opinion you could grow way more bud in a simpler set up even using soil hassle free,But maybe you've done that and are bored i dunno,heh Looks sweet just looks impractical to me


Good luck with the ladies!!! :rasta:

 

[Bobby Smith]

I could grow way more bud in a simpler setup, but I lack the available space and I'm not willing to use the power that would necessitate (at least 4-6K, whereas I'm using 2.4K).

There is no more efficient way to grow than to totally encircle the bulbs with plants, so I believe (based on countless hours of research) that this is the most efficient system I could've built.

Anyways, the fucking cooltube isn't gonna be here until the 12th, so I'm gonna put the plants in there today with one or two bulbs to get them acclimated, so they'll hopefully be ready for all four lights to be on when the cooltube gets here.

Leaving Friday night, so they better be ready by then.

Have made some good progress the past couple of days, will post pics later on tonight (hopefully of the system with plants in it).

 

[Boomer242]

want me to come babysit? just leave me a 30pack

 

[Bobby Smith]

Lol........anytime bro.

Hey Boom, you mind taking a look at post #205 and seeing if you can help out with my electical questions?

I know it's crazy basic stuff, but I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before I started messing around with it.

 

[Boomer242]

if u want to figure out what breaker is hot and hooked up to wat plug/light/etc, u can use a volt meter to test it. helps to have sumone else at the breaker box flipping the switches for u to make it faster. but thats wat i do to fig out wat breaker is dedicated to wat.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Oh no, I know exactly what's what in there - that switch serves my rear outside flood lights, which I never use at all, so I was gonna steal that power for my grow.

Just not sure about changing a switch to an outlet, but the power is obviously there to be had.

I'm gonna do some searching on the Net and see what I can find.......