New setup New Grow, Peyote Gorilla

[Lockeboxgrows]

Hey yall back again with my new setup all made possible by HLG and @Blastfact for sending me a light and allowing me to expand on other areas of my grow.

Strain: Peyote Gorilla
Seedbank: seedsman
Soil: foxfarm happy frog
Pots: solo cups-1 gallon pot- 5 gallon cloth pot
Nutrients: plan to use botannicare cns17 grow and kind base for veg.
Light: HLG 260 v2 rspec kit
Tent: vivosun 2x4x5 tent
Fan: pc fan for air circulation and vivosun 4" exhaust fan for fresh air
Temps & rh: not sure now but I will know as soon as I setup this temperature monitor that came with the exhaust fan kit.

The beans are currently soaking and have been about 22 hours. Both are beginning to crack hopefully planting this afternoon

Also have a ph meter as well as pH up &down this time around so I'll be pH'ing every watering

 

[Blastfact]

Fantastic! I would look for a project box or something to install the dimmer into. I use Sierra bullet boxs for those type of projects. There the right color and work great. Plus as a loader I always have them in a trash can I can dig one out of. :) Hopefully that tent came with more ceiling bars so you can use the yoyo's and hang the light correctly. You can also put the exhaust fan outside the tent and blow into the carbon filter. I set my exhaust fan and filter on the top of my tents. Wife sews one end of the prefilter closed and I then put it in the carbon filter. Then slip the filter and fan together. As a 30 year pump/fan/blower tech and manufacture rep. All fans/blowers/pumps always blow/pump far better than they suck. When you put a pressure drop on the suction side you take 30% to 40% efficiency and cfm/gpm right off the top because the fan/impeller mathematically can not be loaded properly. If the filter is on the discharge side the suction side remains fully loaded and all that is being done is we are inducing head/psi and using what little psi the fan will make to maintain the cfm in this application and keep the fan blade loaded and not cavitating. Wife and I are very happy for you and wish you happy growing! Get your grow going and some pretty flower and I will send them to the lady at HLG that helped us out.

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Fantastic! I would look for a project box or something to install the dimmer into. I use Sierra bullet boxs for those type of projects. There the right color and work great. Plus as a loader I always have them in a trash can I can dig one out of. :) Hopefully that tent came with more ceiling bars so you can use the yoyo's and hang the light correctly. You can also put the exhaust fan outside the tent and blow into the carbon filter. I set my exhaust fan and filter on the top of my tents. Wife sews one end of the prefilter closed and I then put it in the carbon filter. Then slip the filter and fan together. As a 30 year pump/fan/blower tech and manufacture rep. All fans/blowers/pumps always blow/pump far better than they suck. When you put a pressure drop on the suction side you take 30% to 40% efficiency and cfm/gpm right off the top because the fan/impeller mathematically can not be loaded properly. If the filter is on the discharge side the suction side remains fully loaded and all that is being done is we are inducing head/psi and using what little psi the fan will make to maintain the cfm in this application and keep the fan blade loaded and not cavitating. Wife and I are very happy for you and wish you happy growing! Get your grow going and some pretty flower and I will send them to the lady at HLG that helped us out.

Hey I appreciate it man! A video I watched on YouTube is what led me to set the fan up to blow the air out of my tent rather than pull it in. He said basically if the tent is in a hot or warm room to vent the air out vs being in a cold room where you should pull the air in. Considering summer rolling around the corner I took on the air out approach and set the fan up with the airflow moving out of the tent before attaching to the carbon filter. I see what you're saying and that makes a lot more sense to me about pushing in fresh air from the outside the tent and running it through the carbon filter to provide fresh air. with how I've got it set up currently though it seems to be venting out a lot of heat the light is putting off which I'm liking because when I was growing in the closet every time I opened the door I was hit with a heat wave lol.
As far as ceiling bars go, man you would think it came with more but what I've got in the pictures is everything that came. Before Installing the fan the light went in great, afterwards it got a little wonky

 

[Blastfact]

Hey I appreciate it man! A video I watched on YouTube is what led me to set the fan up to blow the air out of my tent rather than pull it in. He said basically if the tent is in a hot or warm room to vent the air out vs being in a cold room where you should pull the air in. Considering summer rolling around the corner I took on the air out approach and set the fan up with the airflow moving out of the tent before attaching to the carbon filter. I see what you're saying and that makes a lot more sense to me about pushing in fresh air from the outside the tent and running it through the carbon filter to provide fresh air. with how I've got it set up currently though it seems to be venting out a lot of heat the light is putting off which I'm liking because when I was growing in the closet every time I opened the door I was hit with a heat wave lol.
As far as ceiling bars go, man you would think it came with more but what I've got in the pictures is everything that came. Before Installing the fan the light went in great, afterwards it got a little wonky

Your not understanding. Supply and Exhaust are to different operations when using two blowers. The filter can go on either side of the blower. Putting in the tent on the suction side of the blower is common but wrong. Think of that fan setting in your lap and you block off half the incoming air where you have the filter. Thats what the filter is doing. Thus your discharge cfm goes to crap. Leave the suction side of the blower open and cover half the discharge side hole which is where I put my filters. Discharge pressure goes up,,, we call that inducing head. And you lose far less cfm because the fan stays fully loaded. The blower now as full access to incoming air without a pressure drop,,, well except for the crappy flex hose which has a pretty bad pressure drop it's self. Plus when you get the fan and filter out of your tent you free up top space. Just trying to share some very basic hydrodynamic physics with you.

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Your not understanding. Supply and Exhaust are to different operations when using two blowers. The filter can go on either side of the blower. Putting in the tent on the suction side of the blower is common but wrong. Think of that fan setting in your lap and you block off half the incoming air where you have the filter. Thats what the filter is doing. Thus your discharge cfm goes to crap. Leave the suction side of the blower open and cover half the discharge side hole which is where I put my filters. Discharge pressure goes up,,, we call that inducing head. And you lose far less cfm because the fan stays fully loaded. The blower now as full access to incoming air without a pressure drop,,, well except for the crappy flex hose which has a pretty bad pressure drop it's self. Plus when you get the fan and filter out of your tent you free up top space. Just trying to share some very basic hydrodynamic physics with you.

I appreciate the knowledge, I understand what you're saying. It didn't make a whole Lot of sense to me having the filter where it is I was just following the video I had watched. I see now theres better ways to set up it thanks man

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Your not understanding. Supply and Exhaust are to different operations when using two blowers. The filter can go on either side of the blower. Putting in the tent on the suction side of the blower is common but wrong. Think of that fan setting in your lap and you block off half the incoming air where you have the filter. Thats what the filter is doing. Thus your discharge cfm goes to crap. Leave the suction side of the blower open and cover half the discharge side hole which is where I put my filters. Discharge pressure goes up,,, we call that inducing head. And you lose far less cfm because the fan stays fully loaded. The blower now as full access to incoming air without a pressure drop,,, well except for the crappy flex hose which has a pretty bad pressure drop it's self. Plus when you get the fan and filter out of your tent you free up top space. Just trying to share some very basic hydrodynamic physics with you.

How exactly do you mount the fan and filter outside of your tank? I would like to try it but I'm not seeing a safe way I can do it

 

[Blastfact]

How exactly do you mount the fan and filter outside of your tank? I would like to try it but I'm not seeing a safe way I can do it

I just toss it on top of the tent.

You can do what you want. But moving the exhaust fan external that freea up the long bar to hang the light and move the short crossbar where needed to support and capture the exhaust fan and filter and improve cfm. A couple of 6" clip on pole fans would work wonders for you also. One up high blowing on the top of the light preventing heat soak of the light and one down low for the grow area. Wife and I are excited to see what happens in your new grow space!

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

I just toss it on top of the tent.

View attachment 1249204

You can do what you want. But moving the exhaust fan external that freea up the long bar to hang the light and move the short crossbar where needed to support and capture the exhaust fan and filter and improve cfm. A couple of 6" clip on pole fans would work wonders for you also. One up high blowing on the top of the light preventing heat soak of the light and one down low for the grow area. Wife and I are excited to see what happens in your new grow space!

Thanks for the tips man! I have one fan I used in my last grow I can put on the tent floor for a grow area fan and I can move the fan I have in there currently up to the light area because unlike the other it has a clip. I like the idea of putting the fan on top of the tent like you're saying it just makes me a bit nervous with my son learning to crawl and being as adventurous as he is lol. I would definitely like to re adjust the hanging of the light though so I may just end up doing it to fix both the light and improve cfm like youre saying, still kicking ideas around. Will say I'm already having fun and learning new stuff just from messing with this new equipment

 

[Blastfact]

Heres how I did the dimmers for my dual 260. Dimmer really needs to be in a project box and protected.

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Heres how I did the dimmers for my dual 260. Dimmer really needs to be in a project box and protected.

View attachment 1249218

Certainly makes mine look a little rough lol, I will get one ordered.

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

the seeds sprouted today right around 2 days from planting. The taller of the 2 still had the seed casing stuck to it so I removed myself

Also I put in another fan on the floor of the tent and moved the existing one to the ceiling

I've got the light on 30% power using the dimmer (not sure if that's correct but three clicks out of 10) about 40" from the cups, is that alright or does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Blastfact]

Looks good. I mapped power draw in watts with a Kill-A-Watt meter on my dual 260 Rspec after running them a while getting the boards and drivers nice and broke in. I took these numbers with the lights at operating temps and letting them settle at each setting for 15 mins. At #3 my lights at drawing 98.5w and 100w. This is a good place for the seedling and early veg. I don't have ppfd readings that would be useful to you because my 260's are set up dually. A reference point that is useful is my seedling, early veg lights are HLG 100 V2 4000k. I keep one of each in my tents hanging high in storage mode and drop them down and hang them off the main fixtures when I need them. They are rated at 95w each by HLG. Both of mine pull 97w each. They have no dimmer so height is the only adjustment. I start out with them around 35" above the seedlings and slowly drop them to 27" or so over a two to three week period. Only problem is the Rspecs have red in the spectrum and that can introduce some stretch. With the 100 V2's being 4000k they keep the seedlings and early veg stretch under control with the blue dominant spectrum. Just keep a eye on them,,, looking good brother!!!!

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Looks good. I mapped power draw in watts with a Kill-A-Watt meter on my dual 260 Rspec after running them a while getting the boards and drivers nice and broke in. I took these numbers with the lights at operating temps and letting them settle at each setting for 15 mins. At #3 my lights at drawing 98.5w and 100w. This is a good place for the seedling and early veg. I don't have ppfd readings that would be useful to you because my 260's are set up dually. A reference point that is useful is my seedling, early veg lights are HLG 100 V2 4000k. I keep one of each in my tents hanging high in storage mode and drop them down and hang them off the main fixtures when I need them. They are rated at 95w each by HLG. Both of mine pull 97w each. They have no dimmer so height is the only adjustment. I start out with them around 35" above the seedlings and slowly drop them to 27" or so over a two to three week period. Only problem is the Rspecs have red in the spectrum and that can introduce some stretch. With the 100 V2's being 4000k they keep the seedlings and early veg stretch under control with the blue dominant spectrum. Just keep a eye on them,,, looking good brother!!!!

View attachment 1250220

Awesome man thanks for the helpful info! Ive been thinking about downloading the photone app on my wife's phone and paying the 6$ or whatever to unlock the full spectrum led setting. That way I can get an idea of where I'm at with my par values and dimmer setting I'm hoping.
I actually switched the dimmer to #4 earlier just based on a gut feeling due to the 'long' distance from seedling to light. Based on your info I'm guessing the light is now pulling about 135w and Is 40" or so away.

I think in the near future I'll pickup some yoyo hangers so I can drop the light down some and then raise back up as needed.

 

[Blastfact]

Awesome man thanks for the helpful info! Ive been thinking about downloading the photone app on my wife's phone and paying the 6$ or whatever to unlock the full spectrum led setting. That way I can get an idea of where I'm at with my par values and dimmer setting I'm hoping.
I actually switched the dimmer to #4 earlier just based on a gut feeling due to the 'long' distance from seedling to light. Based on your info I'm guessing the light is now pulling about 135w and Is 40" or so away.

I think in the near future I'll pickup some yoyo hangers so I can drop the light down some and then raise back up as needed.

I would have thought it should have came with yoyo's. I would email or call them. I have always got a set of yoyo's with my HLG lights be them kit style or factory built.... Also ask HLG for a par chart for your light. I know they have them. I have the Photone app on a my iPhone 13 Pro Max and a 22 Ultra. The 22 Ultra reads 200 ppfd high against my Apogee meter and on my iPhone with diffuser it was reading 200 ppfd low. I check them the other day and the iPhone is only 50 ppfd low now. But the 22 Ultra is still very high. Also most say Sunshine Direct is the best mode to use with Photone. I bought the Pro version with all the options and the others are out even more than Sunshine Direct... For me anyway. The Apogee Meter is worth it's weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.....

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

I would have thought it should have came with yoyo's. I would email or call them. I have always got a set of yoyo's with my HLG lights be them kit style or factory built.... Also ask HLG for a par chart for your light. I know they have them. I have the Photone app on a my iPhone 13 Pro Max and a 22 Ultra. The 22 Ultra reads 200 ppfd high against my Apogee meter and on my iPhone with diffuser it was reading 200 ppfd low. I check them the other day and the iPhone is only 50 ppfd low now. But the 22 Ultra is still very high. Also most say Sunshine Direct is the best mode to use with Photone. I bought the Pro version with all the options and the others are out even more than Sunshine Direct... For me anyway. The Apogee Meter is worth it's weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.....

Yeah the kit I received had two clip hangers attached with it but both were a fixed length and non adjustable. Not complaining by any means but yeah no yoyo's
I hadn't even thought about a par chart for my specific light that would be awesome and extremely helpful, will get on that for sure.
Hopefully between that chart and possibly the photone app I can find that "sweet spot" for the plants.
I intend to one day invest in a par meter but hopefully until then I can wing it

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Update on temps and humidity.

Lights on: temp stays around 77⁰
Lights off: temp stays around 70⁰

Humidity stays around 50-54% all the time from what I've seen

 

[boomgagem]

Can’t wait to see. I’m using the 260 as well and I’ve noticed the stretching in late veg and transition. I was thinking about doing a t5 or something next time for veg, but I’ll look into that hlg option. Good info

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Day 5 from sprout. Added about an inch and a half of soil due to stretching the other day, haven't noticed anymore.

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

8 or 9 days from sprout. The smaller one has looked a bit strange since it sprouted from the soil and even the tap Root had a weird black spot on it when germinated. Not too sure what's going on but interested to find out, the cotyledons have an almost black like purple rimming around them too

 

[Lockeboxgrows]

Transplanted the bigger of the two plants today. Went from solo cup to one gallon and I'll have to say it was an ugly transplant lol, felt like the roots were gripping the cup or something. Got it done though so we'll see how it bounces back