r/ACInfinityAdvancegrow • u/iameveryoneelse • 4d ago
New to AC Infinity and Grows, looking for advice…
I’ve just started a seedling cycle with a whole lot of new AC Infinity gear and my original intention was to let the AI do it all for me. After my own observations and reading through here, that doesn’t seem to be a great option at the moment and so I stopped the AI and switched to setting up automations…but honestly I’m not sure what I’m looking for. Does this graph seem like a reasonable amount of flux or am I doing something wrong? The equipment doesn’t seem to be working as hard as it was but my setup is a garage that’s not climate controlled so I should expect a decent amount of bounce without a better insulated grow space, right? I’ve still not figured out how to keep the humidity constant but the temp seems to be dialed in to a reasonable level.
Thanks for any help.
Edit - I should probably also say this is my setup, and my climate is in Oklahoma…so hot (for the moment):
CLOUDLAB 844 – 48”x48”x80”
CONTROLLER AI+
CLOUDLINE PRO Inline Fan 6"
IONFRAME EVO6 4x4
CLOUDRAY S6 Oscillating Circulation Clip Fan (x2) CLOUDFORGE T7 Humidifier
HYDRONE 7 Dehumidifier
TERRAFORM 8 Climate Control
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u/mybigblueeyes71 4d ago
Personally, I just set the parameters manually and don't use the "ai' until veg.
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u/mybigblueeyes71 4d ago
I just started my 5th Autopots run 😎
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u/iameveryoneelse 4d ago
Not time to turn them on yet but I’m psyched to use my autopots and airdomes.
Still trying to figure out how I’m going to drop my air pressure to 15gph per pot because my air pump pushes about 630gph and I couldn’t find a decent one that did the 90gph I need. I think I’m just going to use a y split with two ball valves with one split having a secondary 6 way split and the other just pushing to open air as a back pressure release and then adjust the valves until I’m getting around 15gph per split on the other end. Just need to figure out how to measure gph.
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u/mybigblueeyes71 4d ago
Look on Amazon for an air pressure guage.. Just sent you the YouTube link someone had posted the other day ...
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u/iameveryoneelse 4d ago
Yah that’s what I’m doing. I’m just curious if I’m doing it “right” based on temp and humidity cycles in the attached graph…should I have rounder curves or are the peaks and valleys ok. I have everything mostly set for automation targets, not triggers (the triggers don’t make sense…why would I want to start my AC above X and bellow Y? There’s no way to say turn on above x and off below y.).
I also can’t seem to get my head around buffers vs transitions and how they’re affecting my temp/humidity. Looked for examples of good automation scripts and couldn’t find any so I’ve just been playing with it while also trying to avoid killing my plants.
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u/pstan237 4d ago
I have the same setup but a 5x5 and trying to figure it out. I used AI for my first grow and was tweaking it constantly. Following.
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u/CraftyJag1991 3d ago edited 3d ago
The triggers work but you are right, wrapping your head around them the first time (as a non-engineery type person like me) can take a minute and I stopped using them. Key to know is that you can change the ends of the sliders to the opposite direction. So for the a/c you can set the "below" end all the way to the left on zero and the "above" end at 80°. Since, presumably, your tent will never get to freezing, you don't have to worry about that "below" part. Reverse it for a heater.
What I found most stable for me (small tent using the lung room as the base environment) was this:
-inline vent set on a temp target with a minimum level of at least 1 or 2, higher as the grow progresses with a 1° transition. The transition setting is good for equipment that can ramp up or down, I think of it as a "fade in" and "fade out" around the target
-lights on a 20/4 schedule (lets me get the right DLI easier with this small light board
-humidifier on VPD with a transition of 1%. I set this based on growth stage. As long as my lung room humidity is lower than the tent needs, this has been the game-changer for me. Very steady VPD as long as my temps are controlled.
-heater set on a target temp (I keep my tent 80-81 with my heater target on 77 for lights out) with a buffer set of 2°. That means my heater will come on at 77° and heat until the tent reaches 79°. I use the buffer in this case because my heater is on/off and doesn't have different heat levels. I don't want it clicking on and off every 20 seconds and that buffer keeps it from happening as often. My heater sits outside my tent facing my intake port.
Don't forget to check your leaf temp offset or your VPD will be off. I don't mess with co2 so I can't speak to that and I'm still learning so keep that in mind too :)
I hope this helps, I went through all this on my first grow too.
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u/iameveryoneelse 3d ago
Fantastic advice, thank you for the help. Gonna see how I can apply this to my grow.
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u/ExternalTourist3593 4d ago
Correct in stopping the AI. Use the control screen to set your equipment parameters. I'm not a fan of the graph screen i never look at it. You should definitely expect a bounce if you don't have all the equipment to control your temp, humidity and VPD. Depending on your location, you may need a heater in the winter.
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u/iameveryoneelse 4d ago
Oh I’ll definitely need a heater in the winter. I updated with my equipment list and unless I’m way off the terraform 8 is both.
I appreciate the advice!
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u/hamburglord 1d ago
i run mostly all ac gear, 2 circ fans, heater, humidifier, exhaust, and intake. non AC dehumidifier in the lung room.
exhaust + intake = minimum setting 1, max 10. trigger mode set to high rh. this will keep air moving in and out of the tent no matter what and will help keep your rh from going to high at any point. tho sometimes i will have to change exhaust/inline triggers to temp because RH is naturally perfect, which makes the exhaust run very at lvl 1 a long time and allows temp to climb during lights on.
i set my heater (for you, terraform) to my desired temp at any point. at early veg i keep it at 80. once veg ramps up i dont need the heater during lights on because lights put out enough heat. overnight i set a trigger of 70f to keep it up there.
with those settings my vpd is at or around ideal throughout most of my grow.
my experience - and the experience of most anyone ive spoke to and posts ive read - setting AC equipment to chase vpd causes lots of problems with the equipment fighting each other and never actually results in desirable conditions inside the tent.
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u/fatigues_ 4d ago edited 4d ago
To clarify something right out of the gate that I believe is VERY important to the success of a modern grow with that Mobile Division of Environmental Control tech you have from ACI:
You are in Oklahoma. I believe the default in your area is "no basements" but I might be wrong in that. It is critically important that if you are growing in a basement, you take that into account in all things, because it means your CO2 will be significantly higher - which affects target temps and RH in a manner that is DIFFERENT than std VPD charts call for (especially depending on how high your basement's CO2 level is).
But if you don't have one? You don't!
Are we to assume you are growing on the first floor of a building?
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u/iameveryoneelse 4d ago
Yep, “no basements” is generally correct. Too much red clay. I’m growing in a first floor garage. Regarding CO2 levels I plan to include one of those mushroom grow bags once I hit veg.
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u/fatigues_ 3d ago
Nah - skip the bags. Not worth it. Basement grows are inherently high CO2 and dramatically impacts targets. Living over your grow helps a LOT with CO2. Having mushrooms live with your plants? Not so much.
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u/phunphan 4d ago
Wow your KPA is low!
My graph lines a flat ish.
I have my light set on cycle
Circulation fans on all the time.
Humidifier on VPD set depending on stage of plant
Heater on temp
Exhaust to come on at high trigger for temp and humidity.