Rookie grow- the adventure begins!

@Rugar89
@Countryboyjvd1971
@bob31

So I just picked up a portable A/C unit that has an exhaust for warm air. Do you think it’s possible to hook that up into the same exhaust for my tent.

I’m thinking of basically have a T where he exhaust from the A/C will meet up with the exhaust from the tent and venting it up into my crawl space above my garage.

Also what light schedule should I put my new babies on?

You what a y connection brother so it doesn’t back feed into tent
If you go to Home Depot you should be able to get one
You may also need to boost the discharge side of exhaust those portable unit do not like long run
Most are designed to work with 6 foot or less exhaust duct run that are unrestricted
I my experience we have need to put a second fan at end of the units exhaust tube when connecting to a existing exhaust duct just a FYI
How long is the exhaust run your wanting to hooking it up to and where does it terminate now ?
Maybe a few pictures to help me see what you have In place

yep that should be easy enough to do and the booster fans are short $$

@Ray4x @Countryboyjvd1971 @Rugar89

I’m running mine on 14/10 at the suggestion of one of the grow mentors.

Also I do t5’s for the first two weeks, but @Countryboyjvd1971 uses LED from the get go. Mine are going to LED today and I have been transitioning them for a few days.

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I use Leds from get but I have a few cheap 45 watt and a 100 watt rated not actual draw panels that are just perfect for germination lol
I started my auto under two 300 watt full spectrum panels actual 147 ea ? Seems to like the light so I’m going with that lol
@bob31

@bob31
@Countryboyjvd1971

My tent should be coming today so hopefully I can get it mostly laid out and I can snap you a pic. My ducting won’t be here until tomorrow so we might need to use some imagination haha.

Basically the room is built into my garage and has an 8 foot high ceiling. I want to run the exhaust out the top of the tent (5’6") and cut a hole into the ceiling to exhaust the heat to. I figured if I can use a Y connection, I could exhaust the A/C unit to the same place to minimize heat getting back into the room.

Until I get my tent sent up I’ve been putting them in the window for a little natural light and then under a small fluorescent for the rest of the time. Probably around 14/10 right now.

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So you didn’t get your light yesterday?

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sounds solid! @Ray4x Looking forward to following along!

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@Rugar89

I did get the light but didn’t have time to set it up. So I got them under a small fluorescent for now. Figure that’s better than nothing.

With the tent coming today I’m hoping to get it all set up later.

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@Ray4x
It wont take long to set up. I had everything up and running in a couple hours. Putting the cover on my 6" tall frame by myself was the biggest hassle. The frame is kind of flimsy and moves around on you until you get the cover zipped on it. A extra set of hands to hold the frame in place while you put the cover on would be a big help.

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Ok I got it all set up!! It’s hot today! 90 in the room and 93 in the tent. I’ll need to set up an intake with an inline closer to the A/C to get colder air inside the tent.

@Countryboyjvd1971 - attached are pictures of the exhaust set up. I want to put a hole and exhaust it out into the crawl space and connect it to the A/C exhaust vent with a Y connection. Do you think it will work? It seems like both exhausts are blowing out a good amount of air.

@Rugar89
@Ragnar
@bob31
@Dmft420

Any thoughts on the set up? Also what do you think about the plants themselves. Seems like they are all stretching but I just got them under the light so I hope that helps. Should I transplant them into bigger pots and bury that stem a bit?

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You need to stop the stretching first. How many watts ya running and how high is the light above the plants @Ray4x

I’m gonna defer on the venting to someone else.

@bob31

1000 watt led. I think it’s like 230 true watts.

I have it about 30 inches right now.

Thoughts?

@Ray4x

The light manufacture should have all those specs listed with either the paper work that came with the light, or sales page where you bought it from (probably amazon or EBay?) But 30" sounds about right.

@Rugar89

Move it up a little @Ray4x unless the manufacturer recommends that height? Generally 1000 watt LED’s are set at about 36 inches above and when we are talking sprouts I’d go up about another 6 inches until they acclimate for like a week, then down to 36. If the manufacturer gives you something different go with that but add 6 inches until they can tolerate that amount of light.

Other than that, I think you are on your way brother! Welcome to the wonderful world of growing!

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@bob31
My light is 420 True watts and the suggested height on mine for seedlings is 30". I have mine at 39" above the tops of the cups for heat reasons, and no stretching as of yet.

His is 230 True watts, so wouldn’t he be able to go a little lower then mine? Im still learning.

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@Rugar89 That’s a great question!

When it comes to the distance you should go by the manufacturer first and then if not @Niala did a chart for us

I will paste it here:

Here’s a chart for LED lights, it’s for equivalent watt, so if your LED light is 300W follow the chart for it, it’s not made for actual or real draw and it’s an approximation, that clarify, here it is :

120 W to 180W ~1.5 feet
180W to 300W ~2.0 feet
300W to 600W ~2.5 feet
600W to 1200W ~3.0 feet
1200W to 2000W ~3.5 feet

Hoping that’s helping as many as fellow growers possible

From Al! @Niala

If Al stops by he can answer why we go by the equivalent and not the actual.

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@bob31
I do hope that @Niala does stop by to clarify, because that chart makes no since to me. These manufactures are calling there light wattage whatever they want to make up as the name of the light. And then claim it to be such and such equivalent to something else. And then have a True Watt value. So if that chart isn’t to be used for True Watts, it wouldn’t be equal for two different manufactures using two sets of made up numbers.

The way I’m thinking, a chart would only be correct if it was for TRUE WATTS.

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Hmm ive did mine all wrong then… When i only had the 1000w true 185 i was told to do hand test for heat and let it ride… Id have it as low as 6-7 inches. Maybe thats what happened to my sick plant??

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it isn’t the heat from LED that’s the issue its the UVA And UVB intensity. But lights aren’t my things so I don’t want to mis-speak.

@TokersHaven that light 1000 watts needs to be like 3.5 feet above the canopy. You’ll cook them at 6-7 inches

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