Grow Room Setup For Weed

What is the best grow room temperature for growing weed? Temperature control is important for growing marijuana but so is knowing where to take it.

My grows have always done OK but my temperatures always seemed to be on the high end of things. I use air cooled hoods and fans but because my grow area is small I would sometimes get readings in the 90s. That is just fine if you are running  CO2, but not good for a standard grow.

Since yields were decent I really wasn’t too concerned, but things change. I am now growing some Hells Angel OG and will likely be growing some other OGs and these girls like cool temperatures. Also since OG strains are not known for their high yields to start with, it becomes even more important to dial in the grow room.

Grow Room Temperature Affects Yield And Quality

High temperatures during flowering can affect bud density, potency and smell and reduce yield. Low temperatures will result in slower plant growth, reduced nutrient absorption and you guessed it, lower yields. To get top yields it is important to dial everything in. A grow room that gets out of wack whether it is from temperature or humidity will never produce top yields.

Also if you grow hydroponically your water temperatures are very important and the temperature of your grow room will affect this. Too high a water temperature will result in less oxygenation, poor nutrient absorption and can lead to root rot.

Wide swings between day and night temperatures will promote internodal stretching. So keeping temperature a few degrees cooler at night than during lights on can be used to help control plant size.

What Is The Best Temperature For Growing Weed?

I have always heard the best grow room temperature is 80 to 82 degrees and you should take temperature at canopy level, but this can be misleading because you really want to measure room temperature and not radiant temperature. Surfaces will absorb radiant heat from the lights and be warmer than actual room temperature.

If the room feels comfortable to you it is probably OK for your plants too. Leaves under your lights will be warmer than air temperature because of radiant heat from the lights. That is OK because they are designed to absorb energy from the sun they can handle more heat.

The problem is that when we try to take temps under the lights our thermometers, digital or otherwise will give false readings because they are absorbing heat. So if you do take temperatures here you need to shade the thermometer.

I started hanging mine between my two reflectors just below the top of the glass and my readings are now totally different. I figured that heat rises so placing the thermometer higher up would give a better reading of my grow room temps. My thermometer is now above the canopy, between it and the glass and for the most part shaded. I now get readings in  the 78 to 82 degree range which is just about perfect.

Grow Room Temperature Control For Top Yields

Want to get 2 pounds per light? Top grower tells you how in this video. It’s all about  grow room temperature and humidity control.

It is interesting that this grower says it really doesn’t matter what nutes you use if you control your growing environment. I haven’t really touched on humidity control in this article, but it is equally important to getting top yields. If plants can’t breathe right they wont be happy and won’t give you the yields you want.

So the greatest yield increase will come from proper grow room design and grow room setup and not from some overpriced, over hyped bottle of nutrients.

 

There seems to be a lack of information when it come to aeroponics DIY. If you have searched Google for aeroponic system plans you know what I am talking about.

There is some info on homemade aeroponic systems but these are really just hybrid ebb and flow systems. Most use square vinyl fence posts or PVC pipe. This type of system works well but it is not aeroponics because there isn’t enough room for roots to hang suspended and be sprayed. I wont even go down the true/ high pressure vs false/low pressure aeroponics rabbit hole.

I built one of these hybrid systems, actually it was a low pressure aeroponics system using Rubbermaid totes.  It worked pretty well too. But I was setting plants from my RainForest in these totes and watching my beautiful fish bone roots slowly deteriorate. My yields were decent but I believe they can be higher by maintaining healthier roots.[sociallocker]

I was using EZ Clone spray heads in my system. They work great, rarely clog but use a ton of water. The problem with this was my roots were getting hosed instead of misted.

To my knowledge no one is offering a ready made true aeroponic system at this time. So if you want one you have to build it yourself. There are scattered posts around the internet that talk about these systems but most seemed way over complicated.

Many of the growers that took up true aeroponics are engineering or techie types that seem to have lost site of the fact they are growing plants and focus on their systems. They think they have to grow like NASA even though they are not going to Mars.

Do I really care if my sprayer drips a drop of water when it shuts down? More importantly do my plants care? And will my grow really be a failure if some of my droplets are larger than 50 microns?

They also seem to have bottomless pockets. I just want to grow with a diy aeroponic system that doesn’t cost a fortune to build and doesn’t require an engineering degree to run it. So I decided to build my own high pressure aeroponic system.

Updated High Pressure Aeroponics System

The plans that follow are great and will do a good job for you. I have been getting some really good and trouble free grows with this system. But I am always looking to improve. I have built a totally new  DIY Aeroponics New High Pressure Aeroponics DIY Plans that you may want to check out.

My DIY aeroponics system cost me about 300 dollars to build. It has only 2 totes right now but I can add as many more as I want. Maybe it’s not as cheap as a homemade DWC bucket system but it is a lot cheaper than General Hydro’s Aeroflow and that is really just an ebb and flow system on steroids.

The main expense is the Aquatec 8800 booster pump, followed by the misting heads. The 18 gallon Rubbermaid totes are less than $10 each at Home Depot.  Basically all you need is a drill, a hole saw and a couple of spade bits to build this.

I looked at a lot of different nozzles and misters, foggers etc and many don’t even give a droplet size. In the end I chose to use reptile misting nozzles because they are easy to install and provide the 50 micron size I was looking for. They also don’t use a lot of water which in turn means I can mix smaller amounts of nutrients.

There are two places you can get this stuff and the tubing and fittings you need. They are MistKing.com and ReptileBasics.com. I chose to go with MistKing because I liked the design of their misting heads better. They looked to be wider and would fit on either side of my center row, which is what I wanted. They also sell tubing by the foot while Reptile Basics only sold 100 foot rolls and I didn’t need a spare left over 80 foot roll of tubing laying around. Be warned though shipping is expensive! My order was $185 but cost $27 to ship.

I have found better misting heads and no longer recommend reptile misters. They are too expensive and all the articulation is actually detrimental as they can move and roots get caught on them because they stick out. Here is what I am using now:

These nozzles require 3/8 tubing but you can turn them off or on, they don’t drip and are easy to install. They come with a mounting bracket too. Cost less than reptile misters and do a better job.

Unfortunately the links for these seem to keep changing on Amazon even though the sellers have them in stock.

They are sold by Pro Water Parts  an Amazon storefront and they have most of the fittings you need too. They work great just wish the sellers made them easier to find. Type nozzles into the search and they should come up. They come in black and white and both are identical.

After looking around I found this pump on Amazon and shipping is only $8.99. It is actually a little better than the pump I bought because it’s the same 80 psi output but with the adapters you can run either 1/4 or 3/8 tubing if you are running a lot of misters.

I really like this pump and it has an adjustable bypass so you can crank the pressure up. My “reptile” pump did not have this.

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00ENPZE5Y’]

Parts For Aeroponics DIY Build

To build a two tote aeroponic system you will need:

• Aquatec 8800 Booster Pump
• 4 tee double misting heads
• 20 feet 1/4 inch tubing
• One 1/4 X 1/4 X1/4 tee
• Three 1/2inch ebb and flow drains
• 3 – 18 gallon Rubbermaid totes
• 8 feet 1/2 inch tubing
• 1/2 inch tee

Putting Your Diy Aeroponic System Together

I use Rubbermaid 18 gallon totes. Others leak, these don’t and they are cheap and readily available. They also are tall so your roots will have lots of room to hang down.

You may want to build a platform for your totes. Mine are raised about 6 inches higher than the reservoir. This allows them to drain better but also allows you to adjust how much water remains in the tote bottoms too.

First you will need to cut holes in your lids to hold the net pots. You can use either 2 or 3 inch net pots for this. I would recommend using the 3″ pots. The 2″ pots are popular in many diy builds but they are too constricting if your plants have vigorous roots and they are not stable. You will have to stake your plants because they will tip. With three inch pots the plants will stand on their own unless very large and top heavy. Larger net pots are available but are a waste of space and not needed.

You will need a hole saw. Do not use a 3″ hole saw because the hole will be too large for most net pots, only GeneralHydro’s net pots will fit a 3 inch hole and all others will fall through. You will need a 2 7/8″ hole saw for 3 inch pots and a 1 7/8 inch saw if you decide to go with the  2 inch net pots.

These are not common sizes and you probably won’t find them in stock at Lowes or Home Depot. I got mine here.

Decide how many plant sites you want in each lid. I used 12 but you can lay it out any way you want. You can possibly squeeze 5 spots in a row but I didn’t because I was concerned the lids would be too weak to support that many plants

I chose three rows with a spray head on either side of the center row. I think 12 slots is a good number of plants. You don’t need to use them all. I just stick a party cup in the ones I am not using.

I used masking tape in 3 rows and then measured about 5 inch centers. It helps if you already have your net pots because you can lay them on the lid and visualize things.

Installing The Spray Heads

The spray heads come assembled with a bulkhead and for mine I drilled a 5/8″ hole with a spade bit. You can get these anywhere if you don’t already have one. The hole was very snug. You simply unscrew the nut on the end and push the bulk head through the inside of the tub and then tighten it.

I used the mold line as a guide for the height of my misting heads and centered them. The nozzles are adjustable up/down and left/right.

They are running in the above pic but you really cant see the mist in the photo.  It fills the entire tote. The mist is very fine. When you put your hand in you cant even feel any water, just a cool sensation. But when you take it out after a few seconds it is completely wet. Plant roots are going to love this.

Installing The Drains

You are going to drill your drain holes next. You will need to get your drain fittings and measure them because there is no standard hole size. Mine were 1 1/8″ but yours could be larger or smaller. I used 1/2 inch fittings and 1/2 inch tubing. You can see my totes are raised above the reservoir. You can add as many totes as you want, just by adding more tees.

The fittings I used were designed for ebb and flow drains but you could substitute rubber grommets for the bulkheads without any problems if you want to.

There is a slight curve at the bottom of the tote and I was concerned about the bulkheads possibly leaking so I drilled my holes a bit above the tote bottom. This leaves about 3/4 inch of water in the bottom. I could e;eliminate this by slightly raising the rear of the totes. But I think its a good idea for two reasons. In the event of a power failure the roots have a source of moisture and it also allows any crud to settle.

Plumbing The Misting Heads

The misting heads are set up on a closed loop system, that way the pressure is equal at all the heads. If you set them up in a line the one at the end will have less pressure. The loop starts at a tee and wraps around the outside of the totes.

Here is a John Guest stem tee pushed into the bulkhead. There are other manufacturers but they all work the same. This system uses 1/4″ tubing rated at 250 psi. The tubing needs to be cut square . You can do this with a knife, razor blade or even sharp scissors. Make sure you push the tubing all the way in or you may have leaks. THE FITTING WILL GRAB THE TUBING BEFORE IT IS EVEN ALL THE WAY IN SO KEEP PUSHING UNTIL YOU FEEL IT HIT THE STOP INSIDE.

Here is the pump. You can see the tee connected to the output side of the pump. One side of the tee connects to the rear misting heads and the other to the front ones. Finally at the end the last heads, front and rear are connected together making a closed loop. This is why you want tees on all your misting heads.

I have tried this using ells for the end misters and it doesn’t work near as well. This is how golf courses can run multiple sprinklers all having the same flow.

Another shot at the pump and tee take off. You can just see the intake going into the tote.

Water Filtration To Prevent Clogging

Here is my filter inside the tote. These misting heads have very small orifices and you will need to instal a filter to keep them from clogging.

I used a 10 micron filter bag. Unless something drops right in the filter sock there is absolutely no way anything can get into the spray heads.

These filter bags are machine washable and should last indefinitely. They are 7″ wide x 16″ tall which makes them a perfect height for these totes.

This may be a hard item to find locally. Get one here

You Need A Timer For Your Aeroponic System

If you run the pump all the time you will be defeating the whole purpose of an aeroponic system. The roots need time to dry out so you must cycle your spraying. Most timers can not give you a proper cycle because they are designed to work on 15 minute intervals. Tat is too long to water and too long to leave the roots dry.

You need a seconds timer that will allow short 30 to 60 second on cycles and will allow several minutes between cycles.

No need to buy an expensive timer for your diy aeroponics system. This timer is a CT-1 Short Cycle Timer that cost less than $50.

Easy to use and you can run it days and or nights with adjustments from 1 second on to 1 second every 24 hours. I have mine set to run for 1 minute on and 5 minutes off.

I have been using this timer for over 6 months now with no problems at all. Why spend more for a CAP DNE that has less settings?

Aeroponics DIY In A Nutshell

So there you have it.  DIY aeroponics –  a 24 site true aeroponic system for under $300  It really is a pretty easy build. I am probably going to add a third tote for 36 sites.

Some people may want to add an accumulator and solenoids but I don’t think they are necessary. The pump runs on 24 volts so power consumption is negligible. It is self priming and can even be run dry without damage. Pressure builds up fast in a closed loop system so I don’t worry about needing an accumulator. I can always tailor my cycle in one second intervals if I find too much of the cycle is being spent pressurizing.

Stay tuned because I will be taking it on a trial run with my favorite strain C 99.

DIY Aeroponics Update

I added a third tote to my system and used misting heads I ordered from Reptile Basics. They were shipped promptly and shipped priority mail so I had them in a few days.

They work fine too, but with that said the Mist King heads are a better product. They are put together better and adjust easier. Also the spray heads from Reptile Basics do not have a bulkhead included. You can use them as is, but you will only want to drill a 1/4 inch hole for them.

The Mist King sprayers are put together with stem tees and the others have standard John Guest fittings held together with short pieces of tubing. They feel kind of funky. Also the tubing RB uses is not as rigid and is harder to insert and the fittings do not grab it as well for some reason.[/sociallocker]

Meanwhile my new system is working quite well and my plants are doing quite well in it.

 

This is my General Hydroponics RainForest review which is a low pressure aeroponic system. First a bit of background about the RainForest and how it works.

The RainForest is almost an exact copy of the Ein Gedi System which was developed in Israel some time in the late 80’s or early 1990’s. No, NASA did not invent hydroponics, despite what many would have you believe. But they did pioneer high pressure aeroponics for growing plants in space.

The Ein Gedi System is a hybrid system. It uses a rotating wheel called a Vortex Sprayer to provide a fine spray to the roots. But there is also a reservoir for the roots to grow in once they get longer. So in a sense it is a combination  aeroponic DWC system. The system is patented and only General Hydro manufactures it. I personally believe this aeroponic system is the best combo of aeroponics and hydroponics around.

Advantages Of The GH RainForest Aeroponic System

1. No Sprayers To Clog – High and low pressure aeroponic systems rely on sprayers or sprinklers to deliver water to the roots. These require filters to keep them from clogging and even then they sometimes still do. The Vortex Sprayer has nothing to clog. Water is pulled up a spinning tube by centrifugal force and disperses through large slots to the rotating spray head.
2. No Expensive Cycle Timers Needed – The RainForest can be left running 24/7. No one minute on and 5 off cycles to raise your power bill or wear your pump out.
3. No Air Pumps Or Air Stones Needed – The Vortex Sprayer pulls up water from the bottom and the water returns to the surface like fine rain drops. The reservoir is always being aerated and recirculated without the use of air pumps or  air stones.
4. No Complicated Plumbing – There is no complicated plumbing to leak, no accumulator tanks, no solenoids and no high pressure needed. There is only one drain tube in the RainForest and it won’t leak because there’s no pressure build up in the system.
5. The RainForest Is Compact – The RainForest measures only 22 inches across the top and 15 1/2 at the base. It is 17 inches high. The RainForest can easily fit in just about any closet if that’s all the space you have.
6. Your Crops Will Yield More, Faster – High and low pressure aeroponics growers may argue about which system is better, but all will agree that your plants will yield 2 to 3 weeks faster than in soil and give at least 20% more than similar sized plants in other systems.
7. Easy To Use – This is a very easy to use aeroponics system. Great for newbies or experienced growers. There is nothing complicated here. All you need to do is monitor your nutes and keep the water level between 10 and 13 gallons. That’s it, KISS at its best. Aeroponics doesn’t have to be scarey or complicated to produce amazing results.

I think you will agree that the General Hydroponics RainForest has some real advantages over other aeroponic/hydroponic systems. I can’t think of a single system that allows you to clone, raise transplants or flower that is as efficient or compact. If you are a larger grower these units can be linked together and maintained through a central reservoir.

 The General Hydroponics RainForest

The Rainforest comes in 3 different configurations:

1. The RainForest 66, with 6 – 6 inch net pots
2. The RainForest 318 with 18 – 3 inch net pots
3. The RainForest 236 with 36 – 2 inch net pots

I purchased the Rainforest 318 and I will tell you why I think this is the best all around configuration. First, if you are not familiar with aeroponics, the roots hang down and are misted or sprayed. So the size of the pot has little to no bearing on plant size.

The RainForest 66 has only 6 plant sites and uses 6 inch net pots, which is a waste of space unless you plan on growing your plants to full size. If you want to root clones you will be limited. The unit comes with coco inserts that have 5 knock outs so you could root 30 clones theoretically but you will have to remove them as soon as they start to root or the roots will get tangled together.

The RainForest 236 with 36 2 inch net pots would be ideal for making lots of clones and you could still grow larger plants in it but no more than 6 so again a lot of the space is wasted IMO and if you want to veg and get larger transplants they will be very crowded.

 

The RainForest 318 will give you 18 single sites to raise larger clones or 90 total using the coco inserts but again you will have to remove your plants early.  The 18 slots will allow ample room to veg your plants to a good size before flowering.You can still grow 6 plants to maturity by using inserts in the empty net pots. So this unit will allow you to make a fair amount of clones and grow larger plants so I think it will hit the sweet spot for most growers.

For those who can’t make up their minds, the tops are interchangeable and you can buy them separately. Each top consists of 6 modules and they can be interchanged and mixed if you wish.

Unboxing The RainForest

So I got my RainForest 318 and took some pictures along the way. First let me say this is a high quality product. There are no cheap flimsy parts here. The bucket and lid are made from thick heavy duty plastic and nothing like a cheap Rubbermaid tote.

So here is what’s in the box: On left are the 6 modules that fit in the lid. The box holds the Vortex Sprayer and on top is the  gasket it sits on. The white pipe with black fitting on the end is a root guard to keep roots from getting caught in the Vortex’s spinning shaft. Underneath that are 20 3 inch net pots, coco liners and coco inserts. Not sure why they give 20 for an 18 site planter but I appreciate the extras. Then there’s General Hydro’s Grow,Bloom and Micro nutes and two bags of hydroton.

In short there’s everything you need to start growing except the water!

Here is a close up of the lid assembly. You can see how the modules fit easily in the lid.

Something I haven’t seen, at least in any DIY aeroponics projects I’ve seen are the support straps i8n the bottom of the net pot recess.

I am not sure if I like them or not. They keep the net pots raised and are probably there to support the plant and its roots. They would be easy enough to remove but I am not ready to start cutting them just yet.

Here is the top of the RainForest with all the lids in and the Vortex in place. There is a rubber? boot that goes between the sprayer and the lid to seal it in place but it’s not real visible in this picture.

 

This is a picture of the RainForest living in my closet. It has some newly rooted clones from my Cinderella 99 grow. They were started in Rapid Rooters a week or two before I got the RainForest.

They look a little haggard but they are doing OK  considering they sat in plastic cups for 2 weeks before I got the RainForest. They came from my 12/12 grow so they were flowering but are being vegged now and starting to show new leaf growth.

I will post some updated pictures once they really start to grow.

RainForest 318 Review

So far I really like the RainForest 318. It is a solidly built and compact unit.

Considering all it can do I think it is reasonably priced. You can get it on Amazon for $235 with shipping included here.

It is versatile and can be used for cloning, vegging or flowering. It can be fit in small spaces or units can be grouped together for larger grows with an external reservoir.

It is fairly quiet too. The motor does give off a slight hum but it is barely audible. The motor, by the way runs on 12 volts dc, and comes with a plugin power supply. It can be run off solar panels if that’s your thing and also can be run off a UPS if you are worried about losing power.

I had some problems with the lid vibrating but found by not pushing the Vortex Sprayer all the way down in its mounting boot it stopped and there are no leaks.

The drain pipe does not really lock firmly in place and I did get wet socks before I found a wire from my lights had moved and lowered it. This issue was easily fixed by cutting a neoprene plug for the end of the tube. I do think there should be a ring to hold it in place.

The only other issue is accessing the reservoir for water changes. You wont want to remove the whole lid to do this. I unplug the power supply and remove one of the modules. There is plenty of room to add water or get a hand in there. I have a siphon unit I use for my fish tanks that attaches to a faucet so draining and filling is easy.

There is a small inspection port on the lid you can fit a hose in too and you can use a small transfer pump to fill and refill if you want. You could probably drain most of the res with the provided tube and use a turkey baster or something for the rest.

Another option would be to buy a tote and hook it up with a grommet and fitting to the existing drain tube. Then all filling and draining could be done from there. If you want to flower in this I would suggest this method and then put scrog netting above the RainForest.

In fact if you want to flower in this scrogging would be the best way to grow. Six plants will get really crowded in one of these if they are a large strain. Most Indicas would probably be OK but larger plants would need to be lollypopped and trained to a single cola.

General Hydroponics RainForest Review – Final Verdict

In spite of a few minor problems I am very happy with my RainForest 318 and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. For me it allows me to have a small, highly productive space for cloning, raising transplants or keeping mother plants. I really can’t think of another unit that does so much and is so easy to use and I think if you buy a RainForest you wont regret it.