Double Decker tent setup idea...what do you reckon?

[transcend]

DUPLICATE POST - SORRY!! My interenet tripped out when posting and I don't know how to delete posts :/

Hi everyone,

Came up with this idea while my mind was wandering the other day. I was trying to think up different ways to maximise yield in my tent and thought I'd float this to you guys and gals who have way more experience than me. My tent is 6'6" tall, and now that I've been scrogging this double decker idea came to mind as a potential way to maximise the spare headroom.

Basically I'd be creating a shelf halfway up the height of the tent made of plastic or metal sturdy mesh to allow full airflow 'through' the shelf (perhaps also extra small fans to help push air through).
Would be using LED boards and scrogging in 5gal pots (coco/perlite) low to the pot line to keep each tier in a workable height, watering would be done by removing the plants or with some type of hydro halo type setup.

This would in theory double my current harvest but still utilising the same space. There's a couple of potential hiccups that spring to mind that could hinder the idea:

- Would the heat produced from the lower light warm the upper pot too much?
- Would the lower plant (being closest to the intakes) hog the available CO2 from the upper plant?
- Would the mesh be too much of a barrier for good airflow and create temp/humidity problems?

Please feel free to give me your thoughts/opinions, any info/ideas welcome!

 

[Bluey]

A watering system just above a mains powered light with numerous circuits and a driver/controls that are not even sneeze resistant....what on earth could go wrong...who would have ever thought....and a highly flammable tent to join in the fun...

 

[transcend]

Sorry the diagram is rather simplistic, I shouldve been a bit more specific.
It's not a watering system I had in mind, just a permanent fixture on top of the Coco like a 'hydro halo' with a small (say 8") hose coming off. Because I'd be scrogging low to the pot this would be more convenient than trying to manoeuvre a watering can etc. Then I'd just attach a container at feeding time and gravity feed them, removing the container and removing any runoff afterwards. There'd also be a drip tray under the plants sitting inside a bigger tray that is slightly bigger than the light (so if by some chance there was any spillage it will be clear of the light). Any cabling would be shielded and waterproofed in appropriate places. I don't know what gave you the impression I'm a moron or whether you thought jumping straight to sarcasm would be funny, but I take safely quite seriously. I have my current setup on a separate breaker, wifi smoke alarm, fire extinguisher etc

 

[Smallgrow]

Obviously water and power aren’t a great mix, but plenty of professional operations use multiple levels, so with proper consideration I don’t see too much risk beyond what we all have with one layer. Sounds like you’ve considered that. Safety first .
I think a bigger problem will be heat , double the lights etc. double the heat potential. Seems like most of us push the upper temp limits regularly with one layer. Maybe split your intake and vent ducts in two and supply each chamber their own ducts.

 

[AGH]

Love seeing what creative ideas growers are able to come up with! I come up with hundreds of ideas and most of them are duds, but every now and then I come up with what I think is a gem! Don't think this is a bad idea, but there may be some logistics to consider and iron out before putting it into reality.

As others have mentioned and you seem to have thought about already is safety. The general rule is water below the waist, electrical stuff above. By doing a double decker, even with precautions, there is a risk so it would be up to you to decide how much of an increased risk you're willing to take. And risk includes not only setting something on fire or disastrous like that, but even the potential for ruining equipment.

Heat would definitely be an issue and just as difficult to manage would be humidity....in a 4x4 tent, having double the amount of foliage would really push humidity up. If you can manage heat and humidity, there's another issue to make sure you have worked out: distance from canopy to lights.

If you have a 6'6" tent, assume the top foot is taken up with exhaust and lights raised to their highest distance on each level. So what used to be 3'3" of space on each level becomes 2'3". And even having only 3'3" of space in each chamber likely wouldn't be enough to keep your lights the correct distance from the canopy even with SCROG. For example, my 7 gal pots are about 12" tall and I put the SCROG net about 8" above the soil. Assume that I leave 2" of free space at the top of my pots, that's still 1'6" taken up by the plant/net. Again, assuming that your lights are at the 'roof' of each chamber, that only leaves about 20" between the SCROG and the lights. And we all know that the buds, after the stretch, reach above the SCROG net reducing the space even further. Again, that's all assuming that your lights are right at the roof which isn't possible. Being generous, let's say that you only need 6" of clearance from the light to the roof to keep space for pulleys, etc and you're down to a max of 14" of distance between light and SCROG net. If you keep your pots a few inches off the floor, you're down to less than a foot of space. In my experience when SCROG-ing, the colas grow a good foot above the net and now you've got your buds touching the lights.

So, I think it's not a bad idea, just a few areas to address before it's a great idea! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Bluey]

And the heat from the LED on the roots above.

I've seen a lot of what appears to be computer generated images of vertical rack farms...but never ever with cannabis in the racks....it grows too tall and that blows out logistic and safety costs..and to add a tent into the equation contains heat and humidity..that's a tough one with double the heat double the humidity....

 

[transcend]

Thanks for the input people esp. AGH, might be back to the drawing board for this one!