Indoor Brain Storming on upcoming Portal Gear run

[Noob420]

Hope everyone had a great holiday. I had a late start at getting going but it is starting to come together. Just have a few questions as I put everything into place.
I will be putting together my third grow, 1st time with Portal Gear. Quick rundown of current setup, i converted a dresser with the dimensions of 2ft x 1.5ft x 4ft
250 watt hps/mh
open wing hood
6 in exhaust fan
1 gal bucket
coco coir and perlite.
Nutrients used were Botanicare cns 17 grow, bloom, and ripe.
I think that covers that.
my issue is that I had to move my grow to the attic and am having really hard time keeping steady temps do to weather constantly changing.
The new setup that i am working on will be roughly 33 inches x 34 inches x 48 inches.
i will be insulating everything with the hopes of being able to finish my grows with out worrying about the temps.
I will be using the same 250 watt open wing hood, but will be adding 2 small clip fans to cover the heat at canopy level. My plan as the weather heats up to run my intake to pull the colder air from my garage that has the a/c going.
I have a going currently in a 1 gal container that got really stunted. On day 2 above ground we lost power and the temps got down into the 30's, she has now just started to show new growth almost a week later.
I will also be adding another once i get this built and she will go into a DWC system.
Has anyone used the Lucas Formula using the powder MaxiBloom?
My main question will I be able to use this formula roughly the same with coco and the dwc.
Will I also need to use something like hydro guard or sm-90?
Thanks everyone.
@jingo, @Slater, @Yeatster,
:smoking:

 

[Yeatster]

I have no experience with that, sorry man. Your questions will be answered though. You know that.

Ill watch this. If I have anything worthy to say later, I will.

 

[jingo]

Hey dude

Good to see you growing again. I haven't used the Lucas formula at all, but I do use the GH line. You should be able to add Max bloom on as long as your total ppm isn't too high, so that stays the same. However, the GH schedule for hydro and coco are different by about a factor of two. So you need about double the nutes in hydro, or half as much for coco.

Slater has the attic growing down. I always use sm-90 it is among other things a stimulant and hormone, (Salicylic acid).

 

[Noob420]

I have no experience with that, sorry man. Your questions will be answered though. You know that.

Ill watch this. If I have anything worthy to say later, I will.

No worries Yeaster,
:smoking:

 

[Noob420]

Hey dude

Good to see you growing again. I haven't used the Lucas formula at all, but I do use the GH line. You should be able to add Max bloom on as long as your total ppm isn't too high, so that stays the same. However, the GH schedule for hydro and coco are different by about a factor of two. So you need about double the nutes in hydro, or half as much for coco.

Slater has the attic growing down. I always use sm-90 it is among other things a stimulant and hormone, (Salicylic acid).

Thanks Jingo, it feels good to get one started and put put a more stable system in play. I'm trying to come up with a more cost effective way and the less that i have to mix the better and easier. I will def check out @Slater grow today and get me a parts list together.
Thanks for stopping by and helping in putting this together.
:smoking:

 

[Slater]

Hey @Noob420 , how ya doing. Come on over to my loft grow, first page and you will see how I've insulated my tent. Its worked amazingly, its the best option for loft grow with out having to build a room up there. I really did not expected to work so well. I have had temps at 4c out side of the tent and the tent at a steady 25-27c. I'm still heating the air coming in but much more controlled now with a thermostat in the tent.

 

[Noob420]

Looking for some opinions. I am looking to accommodate at the most 2 flowering and to vegging autos in 5 gal buckets for dwc. i would still like to use my 250 watt hps/mh for either the flowering or vegging side. I have a 250 watt cfl, and wondering if that will work for the vegging side. the floor space will be at least 33-36 inches X 34-38 inches.
Would anyone have any recommendation on what possible height i should go with? I was thinking 40 inches but not sure if that will give me enough head space.
I am still learning and trying to find my best possible way to grow.
I have thought about starting the vegging autos in the same 10 gal tote on the veg side and then move them to the 5 gal buckets or does that way seem to add stress with the transfer.
I have also thought about doing hempy buckets. I plan on doing at least one and seeing how that will fit my needs compared to dwc.
Think that is about all about I have thought about for this morning.

 

[Noob420]

Hey @Noob420 , how ya doing. Come on over to my loft grow, first page and you will see how I've insulated my tent. Its worked amazingly, its the best option for loft grow with out having to build a room up there. I really did not expected to work so well. I have had temps at 4c out side of the tent and the tent at a steady 25-27c. I'm still heating the air coming in but much more controlled now with a thermostat in the tent.

Thanks for dropping by Slater. I wish i had originally bought a tent in the first place would have made things a lot easier, but i love building things. The t-stat did you plug you fan to control the how much air your bringing in, or for the heater in the tent?
My garage would be the best spot for this because it is already insulated and keeps pretty constant temps, but with kids and kids friends, so my plan is to have my exhaust fan to pull the air from the garage.
:smoking:

 

[Slater]

Thanks for dropping by Slater. I wish i had originally bought a tent in the first place would have made things a lot easier, but i love building things. The t-stat did you plug you fan to control the how much air your bringing in, or for the heater in the tent?
My garage would be the best spot for this because it is already insulated and keeps pretty constant temps, but with kids and kids friends, so my plan is to have my exhaust fan to pull the air from the garage.
:smoking:

How mine works...All powered by my 5" RVK-L with a fan controller (set to just under half power at the moment). The important bit that made a big diffence is that my intake is coming off the house in a cupboard in my bathroom (never drops below I would say 15c with the heating off), it then go's through my hotbox with a mini oil rad heater in (which is hooked up to a thermostat in the tent) this warms the air up then into the tent. I have insulated ducting from the hot box to the tent and have insulated the intake ducting coming off the house to the box, this also made a huge difference. I also have 80w tube heat on the floor of the tent on all the time. The loft temps have been good recently in the day that the hot box has not been switching its self on, the tube heater and instillation has been doing the job perfect even with lights off.
In the summer it should reverse, the insulated tent should acted like a cool box keeping the hot loft temps (40c last summer) out and the with intake drawing cool air from the cupboard I'm feeling confident that I can grow through it.
I so to love building things , I would loved to have boxed the tent in with a wooden frame but I felt that it need to be able to pack down in a pinch.

 

[Noob420]

How mine works...All powered by my 5" RVK-L with a fan controller (set to just under half power at the moment). The important bit that made a big diffence is that my intake is coming off the house in a cupboard in my bathroom (never drops below I would say 15c with the heating off), it then go's through my hotbox with a mini oil rad heater in (which is hooked up to a thermostat in the tent) this warms the air up then into the tent. I have insulated ducting from the hot box to the tent and have insulated the intake ducting coming off the house to the box, this also made a huge difference. I also have 80w tube heat on the floor of the tent on all the time. The loft temps have been good recently in the day that the hot box has not been switching its self on, the tube heater and instillation has been doing the job perfect even with lights off.
In the summer it should reverse, the insulated tent should acted like a cool box keeping the hot loft temps (40c last summer) out and the with intake drawing cool air from the cupboard I'm feeling confident that I can grow through it.
I so to love building things , I would loved to have boxed the tent in with a wooden frame but I felt that it need to be able to pack down in a pinch.

Awesome explanation Slater, We are working with the same concept of we need to have to work with the fluctuating temps. You are using led's correct? how much heat do they generate on their own? With my hps in my dresser the temp is staying 30 + degrees over the outdoor temp. My thoughts mainly with summer is keeping 90+ degrees at bay hopefully. I will also be insulating the ducting also. I should also be able to get a head start on the outdoor veggies.
Thanks Slater