Grow Room Floorplans. Here to help.

cobragro said:

Awesome Scooby, really appreciate you taking the time to help. I will start setting this up. The room is heavily wire as I originally planed to use as a workshop, but I will probably have to add more circuits to handle the hids. Will have to get a book because my electrical, carpentry, etc., skills are minimal at best. Hey, thanks again, take care of yourself and we will talk whenever you are ready. Later Scooby.

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the carpentry and electrical is simple enough if you have some basic experience. I would use 2x4's to frame it out and then rough in all you electrical exactly where you need it. then do plywood or drywall on one side; insulate with fiberglass from the other side and seal it up with plywood or drywall. that way you get good insulation on your room and also eliminate a lot of the noise. also, when hanging drywall use silicone on the edges to create a tight seal where it will hit the studs. seal the floor studs as well. if your "barn" has concrete floors and it gets cold where you live look at making a subfloor out of 1x1's or 2x2's and plywood on top. will help keep that cold floor from sweating in your room and creating humidity. plus, will help you control the temps of the room a lot easier.

Thanks Scooby. The floors are wood and I will just need to insulate then put up some type of cover on inside walls, sheetrock or plywood. Now, you go catch a big fish and send us a picture. You are the best!

ScoobyDoobyDoo said:

i think wheels is trying to get you to provide more info. it's kinda hard to design a room without knowing all the equipment that will be in there; the size of the plants; number of plants; electrical situation; plumbing situation; space layout; etc... if you are building from scratch like i did you still need to know a lot of stuff to get the design just right. if your design isn't going to be close to exact then there really is no point in doing it. you can use a simple 2D program like SmartDraw or one of the free ones just to give you a rough idea of what you are gonna need.

i did this on SmartDraw but i already had the program for interior design and layout.

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Hey Scooby, in your design you have 9 plants per 1000k. What's been your experience with this ratio of 9:1? Im thinking 6 per 1000k and 4 per 600k.... Thoughts?

menuink said:

Hey Scooby, in your design you have 9 plants per 1000k. What's been your experience with this ratio of 9:1? Im thinking 6 per 1000k and 4 per 600k.... Thoughts?

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I have 9 per light because of the size of the plants. I like growing mid sized indoor plants. the pots aren't that heavy and they are easy to maneuver. You can grow 48 plants under a 1000w light or you can grow 1. just depends on how long you veg them and any training techniques you use.

ScoobyDoobyDoo said:

I have 9 per light because of the size of the plants. I like growing mid sized indoor plants. the pots aren't that heavy and they are easy to maneuver. You can grow 48 plants under a 1000w light or you can grow 1. just depends on how long you veg them and any training techniques you use.

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Cool man, thanks! I figured I would be ok, but with so much information out there, the more you read the worse it all becomes!!!

Here's something I'd like to get your opinion on...

I want to build a veg "station", however I want it to be two tier. It's going to be "over/under" and be an 18'x6' PVC NFT system, used for a max of 3 weeks of veg before going into my flower rooms. What I'm having trouble with (and granted, this is all height related) is deciding upon what kind of lighting system woud be best. Obviously, for 3 - 6'x6' section per level, a 1000K MH would be best to veg, but because they're stacked Im concerned about the heat transfer from the lower section to the upper immediatly above it.

I'm considering using t-5's for this, but I'm concerned about getting the best veg possible before flowering.

Anyones thoughts are much appreciated!!!

~ b.

hey all I'm new to this site but I have a small grow cab I built for people that live in big cities like myself with little room, this my cab, Im using an ebb & grow system:



It has a conversion ballast and a 200cfm fan connected to a carbon filter that vents outside. I usually yield about 3-4oz's a run.

Yea Scooby, I understand you would need more info to do something as exact as what I have seen you do. I am leaning toward 2 - 24 pot flo n gro systems from Titan Controls. All my experience has been outside with exception of now growing in the Stanley and Brian XL combo cabinets from Accelerated Technologies. Iwill have to have something to cool the reservoirs and the room. I have a 10K BTU window ac that I could build into the inside the barn 10ft. End of the room. Will have to use 600W HIDS because of the 6.5 ft. ceiling. Would appreciate ideas on what system might be better for fairly new hydro grower and the best way to supply co2. Scooby I read some of your previous threads; are you one of us, or could you give a little insight in regard to AREA 51, LOL a lot! Anyway, if you could help I would appreciate it , but again, no real rush, as I know you are very busy. Thanks Scoob.

cobragro said:

Yea Scooby, I understand you would need more info to do something as exact as what I have seen you do. I am leaning toward 2 - 24 pot flo n gro systems from Titan Controls. All my experience has been outside with exception of now growing in the Stanley and Brian XL combo cabinets from Accelerated Technologies. Iwill have to have something to cool the reservoirs and the room. I have a 10K BTU window ac that I could build into the inside the barn 10ft. End of the room. Will have to use 600W HIDS because of the 6.5 ft. ceiling. Would appreciate ideas on what system might be better for fairly new hydro grower and the best way to supply co2. Scooby I read some of your previous threads; are you one of us, or could you give a little insight in regard to AREA 51, LOL a lot! Anyway, if you could help I would appreciate it , but again, no real rush, as I know you are very busy. Thanks Scoob.

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I have heard a lot of good things about the Titan Flo and Grow system but even it has it's drawbacks. Sentinel makes a system called the MEF-1 if I am not mistaken. I hear it alleviates all the issues with bucket ebb & flow systems. I would definitely check into it. It's a tab bit pricier but may be well worth it. Ebb and flow bucket systems have inherent drawbacks that the Sentinel system seems to have cured. Going with 600w lights is a good call. Buy switchable 600/1000w ballasts just in case in the future you decide to upgrade. That way you won't have to buy new ballasts. Only if you have the extra money though. If you are gonna do that many plants I don't think a 10,000btu window unit is gonna cut it. You may need another window unit or a larger minisplit. With a flower room that size I think you should with a simple propane generator. Look into the Hydro Innovations MiniGen. It can be water cooled but doesn't need to be. It's more than enough and works on the same type propane tank you use for your outdoor grill. I think the bucket system is your best bet to start hydro. Then once you've got a few runs under your belt and some extra cash you can move to a RDWC (Under Current) system. They are expensive and not for new growers. I'd recommend flood tables if your ceiling weren't so low but since they are the buckets are the best route. Stay away from mainlining for the first few crops. Just top the plants twice and tie down the tallest branches until a week before flower. That is more than enough to give you nice bushy plants.

I checked out the Sentinel system and they seem to have eliminated the problem of water remaining in the bottom of the growing modules with a concaved bottom. The only negative is the 2.5 gallon pots compared to 4 gallon with the Titan Controls. I agree that I will need a larger ac, so that is an easy fix. The most important question now is the most efficient way to cool 2 - 55 gallon reservoirs. I would appreciate you're recommendation and also brand of ballast, bulbs, and reflectors. As always Scooby, you are the best!

cobragro said:

I checked out the Sentinel system and they seem to have eliminated the problem of water remaining in the bottom of the growing modules with a concaved bottom. The only negative is the 2.5 gallon pots compared to 4 gallon with the Titan Controls. I agree that I will need a larger ac, so that is an easy fix. The most important question now is the most efficient way to cool 2 - 55 gallon reservoirs. I would appreciate you're recommendation and also brand of ballast, bulbs, and reflectors. As always Scooby, you are the best!

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best way. water chillers hooked up to your bucket system. it will chill the water and return it to the res. but you cant use it for more than one at a time.

i am a new to growing. my first grow was in my room with cfls. mostly stuff i had at home. out of the 10 i started with i ended up with 4 female all from seed. 2 bag seeds and 2 female seeds. that was last year. now i have a 4x4 tent with 9 pot ebb gro system. Is that too many in there? Now i am building a 5x8 grow room. I want it to eventually to grow and flower after the first grow. how many pots could i fit in the 5x8 for the max yield? things i have ebb 12 xxl 8 hood 600 watt light 4" inline fan 6" exhaust fan. i have spent alot of money on this setup. i did buy stuff that would end up needing like another controll bucket ,2 6" hoods, another 4x4 dr120 tent.holland secret nukes planning on cyco flower soon. any tips on 5x8 grow is needed thanks.

i have looked in to the sentinel system too. the guy at the garden center show me one problem that it has. on the bottom of the control bucket is water senser that will shut of the system if they get wet. due to condensation.

cobragro said:

I checked out the Sentinel system and they seem to have eliminated the problem of water remaining in the bottom of the growing modules with a concaved bottom. The only negative is the 2.5 gallon pots compared to 4 gallon with the Titan Controls. I agree that I will need a larger ac, so that is an easy fix. The most important question now is the most efficient way to cool 2 - 55 gallon reservoirs. I would appreciate you're recommendation and also brand of ballast, bulbs, and reflectors. As always Scooby, you are the best!

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you aren't growing that many plants. I bet you could get away with just a single reservoir if you did the sentinel system considering that you are keeping them small anyway. the CAP system uses 2 or 2.5 gallon buckets and those were plenty when I experimented with the system. I think if you go with the sentinel system you can do 1 reservoir. as for a chiller, the cheapest way is to get yourself 4 1 liter plastic bottles and fill them with water. stick them in the fridge and use 1 in the reservoir every day or 2. just monitor the temp and you'll see when it need to be changed or if you need to use 2 smaller bottles. if not, then a chiller. 1/4hp ecoplus unit will do the job. just have it feed and exhaust into a 20 gallon sealed bucket with a small pump. then have another pump with a t-ball valve to control pressure/temps feeding a cooling coil in your reservoir. the coil you want is called a wort chiller. you can buy them cheap at any homebrewing website. stainless steel and not copper. use the t-ball valve to control the pressure in the line which will determine the water temp in your reservoir. easier than trying to dial in you chiller temp.

mrwhatdahell said:

i have looked in to the sentinel system too. the guy at the garden center show me one problem that it has. on the bottom of the control bucket is water senser that will shut of the system if they get wet. due to condensation.

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that sensor is not for condensation. it's to shut the system off in case of float valve failure and the room starts to flood. your bucket should never have condensation on it if your room temps and humidity are right. the dew point is much lower for water at those temps in rooms that are 70-80 degrees with 45-60% humidity.

mrwhatdahell said:

i am a new to growing. my first grow was in my room with cfls. mostly stuff i had at home. out of the 10 i started with i ended up with 4 female all from seed. 2 bag seeds and 2 female seeds. that was last year. now i have a 4x4 tent with 9 pot ebb gro system. Is that too many in there? Now i am building a 5x8 grow room. I want it to eventually to grow and flower after the first grow. how many pots could i fit in the 5x8 for the max yield? things i have ebb 12 xxl 8 hood 600 watt light 4" inline fan 6" exhaust fan. i have spent alot of money on this setup. i did buy stuff that would end up needing like another controll bucket ,2 6" hoods, another 4x4 dr120 tent.holland secret nukes planning on cyco flower soon. any tips on 5x8 grow is needed thanks.

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you can fit 200 plants in a 4x4 tent if you keep them tiny. go straight to flower. it's all about the size of the plant. for max yields it's always better to grow smaller plants and more of them in my opinion. 600w lights in XXXL hoods is a complete waste. you lose to much light. those hoods are only designed for 1000w lights.

Yea that would be a problem, also the 2.5 gal. grow modules seem too small for the size plants I would like. Titan Controls has 4 gal. buckets with net pots inside that snap in preventing them from floating. I didn't see the reservoir size for the Sentinel system, guess it would be 55 gallons. Hey Wheels, what size and brand chillers would you suggest for the 55 gallon reservoirs?

Yea, I agree with the frozen water bottles. I did that yesterday in the reservoirs in my cabinets only I put ice in zip lock bags. So you think the 2.5 gallon grow modules are big enough?

cobragro said:

Yea that would be a problem, also the 2.5 gal. grow modules seem too small for the size plants I would like. Titan Controls has 4 gal. buckets with net pots inside that snap in preventing them from floating. I didn't see the reservoir size for the Sentinel system, guess it would be 55 gallons. Hey Wheels, what size and brand chillers would you suggest for the 55 gallon reservoirs?

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you buy the reservoir separate with the sentinel system. it does come with a much more reliable digital control. you have 6.5' ceiling. your hoods are 1' deep and you have to strap them to the ceiling. your pots are 1' tall. you need to keep your plants 8" from the glass. exactly how big a plant do you think you are growing? I figure 3-3.5' plants max. grow more smaller plants in the 2-3 gallon buckets that the sentinel system has. you don't have the height to grow anything big anyway. like I said before. 1/4hp chiller for a 55 gallon reservoir. I have owned 2hp, 3hp, 5hp, and 12hp chillers. i run a 12hp chiller with 2 4 ton water cooled air handlers and water cooled Co2 generators, ice box heat exchangers, and water cooled dehumidifiers. trust me. 1/4 is plenty. also, you are factoring the size of the pot when sizing your reservoir. your pots are gonna be filled with hydroton. a 3 gallon pot will only hold about 1 gallon of water when it is filled with hydroton.

menuink said:

Cool man, thanks! I figured I would be ok, but with so much information out there, the more you read the worse it all becomes!!!

Here's something I'd like to get your opinion on...

I want to build a veg "station", however I want it to be two tier. It's going to be "over/under" and be an 18'x6' PVC NFT system, used for a max of 3 weeks of veg before going into my flower rooms. What I'm having trouble with (and granted, this is all height related) is deciding upon what kind of lighting system woud be best. Obviously, for 3 - 6'x6' section per level, a 1000K MH would be best to veg, but because they're stacked Im concerned about the heat transfer from the lower section to the upper immediatly above it.

I'm considering using t-5's for this, but I'm concerned about getting the best veg possible before flowering.

Anyones thoughts are much appreciated!!!

~ b.

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Bumping this forward.... don't want it to get lost without getting a cool opninon or two! (Pun Intended!)

That sounds good Scooby. With 6.5' ceiling I don't need the bigger pots and I can grow bushes rather than trees. In other words, what you said, lol. I saw a thread on reflector and ballast comparisons it showed Luxor ref. and Micro-mole ballasts to be the best. Any words of wisdom on these products?