Closed loop questions

[cypo74]

Hi lads, ‘thinking’ about maybe setting up a 6 pot RDWC in a closed loop system

 

never tried RDWC or adding co2 past an exhale bag hung in there

 

first question is do you need an opti climate to run a closed loop? 
really wanna see with my own eyes the difference (or lack of) that co2 makes to a grow

 

i can’t think of any other way of cooking the room without sucking all my lovely co2 out 

 

and those opti climates sure do like a drink  

sure I read somewhere that some people set their fans to turn off for a certain amount of time while the co2 is being consumed, but all I can think of is problems doing that.

 

would be great if someone can explain the options I have to start running some co2 and really ramping my lights up 

Edited August 3, 2023 by cypo74

[sweettooth]

Hey @cypo74

 

Ive dabbled with co2 using the RAM controller and bottles of co2. Had some great results.

 

The one thing youll need to battle with is the insane amount of humidity, for every litre of water a plant is fed, it will release it into the environment and you have to remove it. When I had just 8 plants, a 12L unit was OK, when I upped to 18 plants, I went for a large 50L Igneix but household units arent that great as thier not designed for the indoor growing market.

 

Dehumidifers also create heat and will add on 2 to 3 degrees than the air going in which in a sealed room, as you can guess, will keep raising the heat as it processes the air.

 

Im not running co2 atm but over winter I do as I can seal up the tent and its cold enough to offset some of the excess heat inside the tent but I did have massive problems with condensation as it was 33 degrees in the tent and 3 degress on the other side, I was producing near on 6 litres of condensation a day.

 

Im soon to build a room out of kinspan to get rid of this problem although i do know that it will keep a lot more heat in. I had my exhaust set at 33 degrees as a failsafe so if it got too hot, the fan would kick in but then youve lost all the co2 so it can be expensive replacing al the bottles, especially if you dont have any cooling. I would use roughly 5 bottles of co2 during a flowering period. Bottles are around £30 a refill

 

Ive upgraded my dehumidifer unti to a quest 70 which is doing wonders atm and is waay better than any household unit but Im still thinking im going to need cooling but then again I have been looking at other lights and thinking about growijng smarter...i.e not having lights 3 feet away turned up to 100%, and instead drop them to like 6 inchs off the canopy and run whatever power I need to generate the ppfd I need as a led light at 50% is going to pridcue less heat than a led light running at 100%. That said, when you using co2, you also want the co2 to match the ppfd so come mid flower, i would be looking at running co2 ppm at 1500 and have my ppfd also around 1500 umols, there are co2 and ppfd charts you can find online.

 

You can get coolers for those opticlimates that run a closed loop of Glycol so it doesnt waste any water but the cooling units are just as expensive as the opticlimate units and youll be using at least 6w/hr running it so hope your plant numbers are high

 

If you can find them, have a butchers at some of my previous diaries, youll see my setup and the co2 schedule and some of the results, they were defo big boy plants.

 

Everything else needs to be spot on though as issues can occur quickly when the plants are under that much light and co2

 

I would love a mini split to keep temps in check but with the right lighting and large enough room, I reckon one could keep temps around 32 without any issue and keep RH in check. you also need to make sure your feeding schedule is bang on as those girls will eat a lot, also need to have your EC a bit higher I found.

 

Hope that helps a bit

 

 

[cypo74]

@sweettooth Thanks a lot for that mate, I’m going to read it a few times and let it all sink in

 

when you say cooling do you mean just venting the hot air on a thermostat? 
 

obviously aircon units vent continuously too to get rid of the heat too

 

thanks again mate, was very helpful, will have a nose through your diary’s too

Edited August 3, 2023 by cypo74

[sweettooth]

@cypo74

 

cooling....yes  venting out through the carbon filter and extractor fan

 

all ac units that aren't a mini split I.e portable jobs expel a lot of heat and air, that air also comes from your room so you would be A-expelling untreated smelly air and B- having to replace that air somehow,  most likely via a passive intake, but again at a detriment to the co2 levels in your room.

 

there are other forms of cooling fans but ones that use water which just adds more humidity which in turn makes your dehumidifier work more and produces more heat, its a constant rob Peter to pay Paul scenario

 

I'm looking at a way of using little car radiators to create a closed loop air cooling system to cool the air in the room, will add some stuff to my diary when I've figured it out

[cypo74]

@sweettooth

 

thank a lot mate, all very helpful, I’ll be spending the weekend scouring your diaries 

[sweettooth]

I'll save u time

 

here's one

 

 

[cypo74]

@sweettooth

 

legend, cheers mate