It’s a bit subjective without fully seeing the end goal. But flexible vs rigid ducts aren’t going to have as much of an impact in some of the concerns you bring up.
As with either, the shorter and less bends the better. So a big benefit to a rigid inside the tent would be easier to clean, mold resistant, easier to manage and attach. Flexible is just meant to be cheaper and provide better maneuverability. As with any ducts and a well sealed system you create resistance in the airflow. Less resistance less energy consumed and your equipment will last longer. For short systems like these it’s less of a worry but having small in-line fans will still have to work with each angle and bend. But if any of the ducts are an intake, keeping them free and clear of any objects generating heat is important unless they are insulated.
The way my current system is setup is a straight line from the filter to the fan, with a 160 degree bend dropping to the outdoor exhaust duct.
@PiratedSoldier Thanks! Given your credentials I am going to take that as ok to keep the flexible ducting and feel better about crossing if off the list of mods and improvements. When I add the rest of the kit I may reach out again to pick your brain. Much appreciated, and the intake vent sits next to a freezer in the garage that it sounds like I should move given your feedback. If it were not for you helpful folks and this site…
While waiting for the rest of my attachments and diverter kit parts and for Amazon’s stock price to continue to climb as a result today we transplanted. The young ladies who were so roughly tossed about having survived were moved to their three gallon homes. A new step for the autoflower newbie who usually takes them right to the their final ones. Getting them in the three gallon pots was ok, but getting them out when they have outgrown these might be another question. Still, it went smoothly thanks to many of the useful tips here. Included a couple of pics here for anyone that stops by and is curious as well as a couple of the current auto’s in the flower tent just for fun. I appear to be having low PH issues in these autos about mid pot where the FFOF resides also. Could be grower error also but I am shifting away from it for a bit to see if it helps. The Photos for instance have a splash of FFOF instead of a third of the medium.
Happy to report the initial implementation of @dbrn32 's recommended diverter without falling off the ladder. Also put in the second 8" AC Infinity Fan and the new 67 Controller. Which @Hellraiser despite the additonal expense your recommendation prompted, I must admit to is a nice piece of tech and a really awesome addition. Assuming this stays stable I will add the equivalent on the six inch line for the Veg tent but may also add the second diverter option the learned dbrn mentioned to allow me to both vent inside and pull air from outside into the room at the same time if I want. We will see. Regardless many thanks for the help once again. Pics if you are interested below. On a final note, including @Pillsbury for his opinion, while I would love to blame Fox Farm for the low PH I am struggling with on the autos, it occurred to me that I threw a few handfuls of peat moss in these to lighten them in lieu of my usual clay pellets. Given my quick research I am guessing I may have created my own issue here? PH Troubled Jack Herer Auto pic also included. She has been flushed to about 6.2, but wants to stay at 6 or slightly below, 5.8…5.9. Considered adding Lime or Baking Soda? But she might be done before they have any impact? Advice here welcome if you have it. My inclination is to just struggle through and avoid the peat moss in the future. She should finish in a little over a month or so. Thanks again. Plutarch’s indoor garden is much improved with your advice and recommendations.
Your plant looks pretty good to me. A good portion of the fox farm mix is already Peat, so I doubt you adding some changes much. Fox farms known to have inconsistencies in their bags as far as I’m concerned. You can sprinkle a couple tablespoons of fine Dolomite lime on top of your pots if it makes you feel better though. Just don’t get crazy. No need to as far as I can see, and a lot will turn top of your pot into concrete.
Thanks @dbrn32 . I am going the steady as she goes route. Hard to tell now how much is my drowning her and how much PH. Depicted below is part two of my intrepretation of your design on the six inch exhaust. Not sure it was what you had in mind specifically and its not terribly elegant but if form follows function it seems to have the latter at least. Allowing me to run inside or out on either or both lines and to draw air in if I want on the six inch while I dump air inside. It gets cold here, and rainy, so the option of keeping it all inside was brilliant. Thank you.
@dbrn32 I enjoyed the exercise and the cost was minimal and effort the same. I can only hope my Bruce Banners and the Maui Wowie get to be mature and flowering at all and cannot imagine having to add this stuff during. Frankly all of this doesn’t help me the grower magically be a good one, but air is important and slowly but surely my meds are steadily improving. If I can get the Photo thing down I can give up the expensive dispensery all together if I want. Pic of the OGKush in the tent. Lots of purple on her. Nothing but water, molasses, little CalMag and a splash of Mammoth last couple of weeks. Have never had so much purple. Have not pressed her with nutes. Very light. Guessing its the bigger light and somewhat like the yellowing I expected but not certain. Will post the Photos when they get big enough to show some development or have problems. Thanks again
Increasing amount of light will usually increase nutrient demand as well. And cheers to you for not expecting to throw a little money at things and expect a few pounds of bud to fall in your lap. It doesn’t work that way.
Not only does money not make you a better grower it cannot cure stupid @dbrn32.
A few days after my last post I flipped the old stoner’s new sophisticated complex system over to vent inside and forgot to open one of the dampers. Fortunately not for long and with the new AC Infinity Controllers it only ramped to where I had it set. No harm no foul and the only casualty my pride, but that is not why I am bothering you today really.
I could use some help and guidance on when to transplant these photos to their next and final home. Thinking seven gallon grow bags. They will be living in the 4x4x8 and I need amout 30" plus hanging height for my light. Two Bruce Banners and a Maui Wowie. If I should go to five gallon bags to keep them smaller feel free to advise. I am guessing I am going to have to do some bending and scrogging or something if they make it to that stage regardless.
But on the transplant question, with the solo cups I go for the leaf over the rim thing as a guide but with these three gallong pots I don’t know if that is the same metric or if its the number of nodes or if there is some other useful guide for the newbie to guage when they should move? Hitting up @pillsbury and @PiratedSoldier who have been helpful also on the same. Anyone passing through with advice welcome also and usual rules apply. No worries if you are busy and thanks in advance for any assistance. Pic of the auto’s included also. Nice of @dbrn32 to gently point out how the purple leaves that looked so cool really meant she needed more food with the bigger light. She was hungry for one of the P’s I expect but it was cool to watch nontheless. PS I know they are not ready yet to move, just trying to stay ahead. Or at least not too far behind.
And one of the guard dog in Plutarch’s outdoor garden. Little Auto next to her is the twin sister of the purple one in the tent. Grown outside and moving much slower.
General rule of thumb, I usually wait until the plant canopy is at least hanging over pot edges to pot up. You can certainly go longer if need be, but I wouldn’t do it any sooner than that.
This is a purple haze in a 5x5 tent in a 7 gallon grow bag. If I were to do it I would use 5 gallon & try to keep them smaller so they will fit in the tent. Duh helps if I put the picture in too.
Thanks for the help @dbrn32 and @pillsbury I think I will stick with the five gallons which also saves me having to buy the new sevens and will look for them to hang over the edge and then think about the move. Those are really great looking examples @Pillsbury. I am hoping to have a tent that looks like that someday.
Just an update and another thank you to @dbrn32, @pillsbury@Hellraiser and @PiratedSoldier not to mention all the other help I have gleaned from this site and its members. There, “have been issues” as they say, but I generally knew both the culprit and the cure and they all lead as usual ultimately to PH but three out of the four sad seedlings are rounding the corner and depicted below. They certainly are not candidates for the Cannabis Cup but my fear of photo’s has subsided and the modifications made to my setup based on your feedback was extremely helpful. The cool heat maps that I could barely comprehend for example motivated me to put the tents up off the ground and spaced a little better even though @PiratedSoldier would no doubt be very much unimpressed with my application of his principals. Still all the little bits help. Thanks again.
Added evidence of grower induced low PH and remediation below also to illustrate. Lots of explanations here all resolving to the same answer and treatment. Fix the PH and then proceed as planned. Marked health and robustness difference between the one with the least issue, and the one who suffered most as you might expect. More lessons learned.
Adding chart showing evidence of lockout and shock induced PH Issues as illustrated in PPM runoff. The discerning reader will also note the lack of runoff from a grower who forgot to test and log it just prior to a flip to flower. This is unwise for the record and should be avoided.
Hey using the scientific process is good. Best part about making mistakes you can see where they are and correct them. I am still working on mine as well fine tuning and still figuring out what I like best.
Keep up your awesome work. Like the graphs you are using. I haven’t incorporated any into mine yet I’m still working on clean automation in my excel book but totally worth it.
I tend to err towards too much data collection @PiratedSoldier and its all manually logged. So you are way ahead of me if automated. Helpful tho. Light readings below correlate to when I put the plants into shock at the turn to Flower also. Way too much going on all at once. Which I will try not to do next time moving on to other areas I can screw up. If you are pulling automated data from AC Infinity or Inkjet gear I would be very interested by the way. My data is suspect as much from the data logger as the limitations in the gear. More really.
