4-site / 5k watts vertical (DIY- UC x MPB)

[Devlove]

Killing it, those are large and in charge.

 

[crossouttheiis]

those are looking really good. How much longer and how are you planning on flushing?

 

[ALLegal420]

Thanks Devlove!

Cross-
Were thinking of going to 65 days, really need to snag a microscope. As far as flush, were thinking of changing the water twice and just run straight water and H202. Gonna do a little more research to see if we should add anything else.

-ALLegal420

 

[tconch]

great job !! how much h2o2 do you use/gal? the 29%? any proplems with root clogs in pipes? really a great job especialy 1st try!!!

 

[turboz]

There was 3.5 oz of h2o2 (35%) for the whole system (90-95 gallons) once or twice a week. There has been zero issues with root clogs, or anything else with the roots for that matter. The water temps were also kept between 58-62 F the entire time. For us it is apparent where the system can be improved, but I don't think it could have gone much better for the first run. It has definitely been a huge learning experience!

 

[turboz]

Here are a few pics, and some trunk porn. The dark ones are from day 56, and the rest are day 63.

 

[tconch]

is the 3" black pipe pvc or abs where was that purchased?

 

[ALLegal420]

3" PVC piping and 3" abs male/female connectors.

Looks like these are running a little longer, the trichrome's haven't hit the right stage yet. It's not surprising though as most running UC say their plants run about a week longer than in other systems/mediums.

-ALLegal420

 

[jakew215]

damn dude. that's a room full o' pot. dd's would be proud.

 

[KID]

Love the white roots. That trunk porn is bomb!

 

[ALLegal420]

Quick little update since the new site update and loss of a couple posts... Will post in more detail later.

Soil - 27 zips total roughly (wasn't tracked to closely and taken down over time).

Hydro - AVG. Weight per plant was 1.38lbs (22 zips) and largest single plant was 1.69lbs (27 zips)... These don't include the little stuff and large cola's that got choked out from the light that's getting turned into something else (lots of it).

-ALLegal420

 

[ALLegal420]

Round 2 coming soon...

8 buckets with 12 plants (same 5-1k lights *new bulbs*... for now)

Moving setup over to the side so we can divide the room in half and wire up a flip/flop with a second 8 bucket setup. That will be down the road but preparing for it now. The plan is to have 2 grows running about 4-5 weeks apart, eventually.

-ALLegal420

 

[DieselBoy]

Sounds like a great future setup. Can't wait for the show n'tell!

 

[ttystikk]

I dig a flip flop setup; less equipment, easier on power fluctuations, less to keep cool. I'm working my way slowly towards one, myself. I bought a 2 ton chiller as my main cooling plant with an eye towards using the unit to cool both sides. Considering how well it's working now, I shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[ALLegal420]

Ttystikk, I couldn't agree more with you on the benefits of a flip flop. Not only do you get 2 separate rooms harvesting, you have less equipment and cooling requirements like you said (minus the additional cooling for the water since your doubling your system).

Example using our room and 5k watt room:
A/C Cooling... While were running a total of 10kW of lighting, only 5kW is on at one time. So our A/C only see's 5kW worth of heat throughout the 24hour period at any one time instead of 10kW worth of heat for 12 hours.

Lighting equipment... 1 ballast can run 2 bulbs, so 5 ballasts for 10 lights ('Nuff said, lol).

Electrical load... Instead of having 10kW worth of lighting clicking on and running for 12 hours and then clicking off (power spikes, large load). You have 5kW burning 24 hours a day with the DPDT relays switching from 1 rooms lights to the others (eliminates 12on/12off power spikes, constant load).

CO2... Interconnect the rooms with fans exchanging air back and forth from room to room and keep the CO2 constant and temperatures constant in both room. Lights out the plants aren't using co2 but as soon as lights on you don't have to wait for the co2 to fill the room, it's good to go. No need for 2 co2 systems.

Many other benefits I can think of but don't have the time to finish yet. lol

Ttystikk, flip-flop for the win! I'll take photos when I get to building mine if you wanna try a DIY flip/flop. Not sure on your experience so throwing it out there, if you have then shoot me pics. lol

-ALLegal420

 

[ttystikk]

Ttystikk, I couldn't agree more with you on the benefits of a flip flop. Not only do you get 2 separate rooms harvesting, you have less equipment and cooling requirements like you said (minus the additional cooling for the water since your doubling your system).

Example using our room and 5k watt room:
A/C Cooling... While were running a total of 10kW of lighting, only 5kW is on at one time. So our A/C only see's 5kW worth of heat throughout the 24hour period at any one time instead of 10kW worth of heat for 12 hours.

Lighting equipment... 1 ballast can run 2 bulbs, so 5 ballasts for 10 lights ('Nuff said, lol).

Electrical load... Instead of having 10kW worth of lighting clicking on and running for 12 hours and then clicking off (power spikes, large load). You have 5kW burning 24 hours a day with the DPDT relays switching from 1 rooms lights to the others (eliminates 12on/12off power spikes, constant load).

CO2... Interconnect the rooms with fans exchanging air back and forth from room to room and keep the CO2 constant and temperatures constant in both room. Lights out the plants aren't using co2 but as soon as lights on you don't have to wait for the co2 to fill the room, it's good to go. No need for 2 co2 systems.

Many other benefits I can think of but don't have the time to finish yet. lol

Ttystikk, flip-flop for the win! I'll take photos when I get to building mine if you wanna try a DIY flip/flop. Not sure on your experience so throwing it out there, if you have then shoot me pics. lol

-ALLegal420

What do you need my help for? You got it covered, bro! :cool: When I get mine rockin', I will be sure and show and tell. BTW, in case you haven't noticed from some of the other threads I have scattered around here, I do pretty much everything DIY. Mostly because I don't trust other people not to screw shit up, lol.

Heck, you even got me to thinkin' with the CO2 air swap between rooms. I hadn't thought about trying that. Also, if the room air starts climbing, the extra coooling from the other room will help level things out. This is an interesting thought, but I'm not quite sure how I could pull it off with only one environmental controller.

Now, the difference between what you spoke about and my vision really boils down to the cooling plant. For two rooms, don't you need two AC units? If not, how are you plumbing it? I'm using only one chiller and the water goes everywhere, all the time. It only picks up heat from the room that needs to shed it.

 

[ALLegal420]

Yes I've noticed that your quite the DIY guy and I am as well for the same reason, I like to know it's done right. Are you going to build your own flip/flop box?

Our room has 2 wall banger a/c now (16k and 12k btu units) which makes it a little easier. Although with a single mini-split I believe you could achieve the same thing. You would need quicker air exchange from room to room which would be constantly running. Or I believe they make a split for the mini-split which can direct air in 1 room or the other (more expensive but ideal for only 1 A/C.

We are going to just frame the divider and hang 2 layers of the white/black plastic that we're currently running in the room. With no insulation and just using the plastic will allow the temps to regulate from room to room easier and still block the light.
Constantly exchange air from one room to the other. Haven't decided on 2 fans or 4 fans (gotta run numbers on how often a complete air exchange happens). With 2 fans I would mount both low to the ground on the intake side (1 in each room) the outake in the opposite room would be flex tube that went to the opposite side of the room and mounted up high. With 4 fans I would just mount the additional 2 up high and do the opposite on the outakes.
With a quick enough exchange and a constant exchange I believe the co2 levels will be constant in both rooms. Whichever room your pumping the co2 into, you would want the controller in as well. You also would want to disable the photo sensor that turns co2 off when lights are out. It should regulate itself pretty easily and work great.

Water chiller... Run separate water chiller coils possibly? Gotta run here but been thinking about that as well. Got a couple ideas, just depends if the 2 systems need to be isolated from each other or can utilize the same nutrients.

Get back to this later, possibly tomorrow worst case.

-ALLegal420

 

[DieselBoy]

If you go mini-split, you can get 'multi-zone' units that could cover both rooms (or even more!) with only one exterior unit. They just have one wall-hung fan assembly for each zone. Pretty slick ;)

 

[ttystikk]

If you go mini-split, you can get 'multi-zone' units that could cover both rooms (or even more!) with only one exterior unit. They just have one wall-hung fan assembly for each zone. Pretty slick ;)

Yes, I've seen these. A good solution for cooling and dehumidifying two rooms, but it won't be able to do anything else like the chiller can, i.e. chilling RDWC. These work at their best in low altitude/high humidity local climates.

 

[ALLegal420]

dieselboy, thanks, that is exactly what I was thinking about. :cool:

ttystikk, how many items and what are you trying to cool with your Chiller? When the 2 rooms are up and running, will they both be veg/flowering at the same time or are you going to have them a few weeks apart? What A/C are you running or going to be running in the future?
I'll have to dig back through some of your threads again when I get this project done in a week. Haven't spent enough time around here lately and excited to get back to digging through threads again.

-ALLegal420