3 seeds about to sprout, grow box too hot!!

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by Plex1, Mar 3, 2012.

  1. sup guys, ive grown one decent plant outdoors before, but it didnt make it to harvest. Had about two others that had to be quickly disposed of.

    I am working in a 2x2x2 plastic box, and I need to know if my temps are ok.

    I have one ~4 inch intake hole on the floor of the box, with a rather restrictive light trap on it.

    I have a ~3inch intake hole on the bottom side of the box.

    I have one ~3 inch and one ~4 inch CPU exhaust fans and they seem to be moving ok amounts of air, they are near the top of the box.

    My temps are normally around the upper 80s. Right now its 86.9 stabilized with around 23%RH.

    I have 8 13w CFL, and 4 23w. Why the hell is my box so hot?

    I also just recently set a small-ish desk fan on the floor blowing into the passive intake on the side that seems to be helping.

    Will this be ok to grow in? Will it hurt my young sprouts? Also, if i put like an ice pack in a bag in there would that be beneficial?
     
  2. cause you have alot of light :O

    what are the 13 watters doing there? (thats a bit over 100W already, not to mention the other 96W that you have in there from the 4, 23W bulbs)

    why not make exhaust holes in the top of your grow box so the hot air can do what its ment to do, rise : o
     
  3. CPU fans or axial fans drop in air volume very quick when restricted. A 55cfm fan on a 4 inch hole can drop to 25 cfm when driven through a 3" hole. That being said your light trap is probably the problem.
     
  4. One of the fans is in the top center of the box. One is pretty near the top on the back. Also, the holes generally match the fan sizes. Its not perfect but its not way out of wack either. The light traps are pretty restrictive, but I feel as though it should be sufficient.

    The 13w'ers are there just for the added light. I want to grow two plants out in the box, and I know the more light the better. When the seeds are sprouts, for the first week or so Im only going to run the 23 watters, so that will solve a lot of my problem, im just running tests for when all the lights come in to play.

    I have a mercury thermometer also in the box, its actually reading 80. Possibly my digital weather station thing is sending high readings?

    Would pictures help you guys?
     
  5. its possible, you know a fan blowing on your bulbs will help keep the temps down too..
     
  6. some digital stuff is crap go by your mercury. At 80 your good. If it does start to go up though you most likely need to increase the light trap size.

    Good luck! Post some pictures when they start rolling.
     
  7. No doubt, I will. Im really excited to be able to do a controlled grow. The digital thing I would think is good, as its part of a weather station with barameter etc etc, but yeah, im trusting the mercury lol. I think the thing doesnt update in real time either, so it probably may have even went down by now.

    Plus it really doesnt feel THAT hot in the box, just warm. Still, the way I think of it is if I felt the feeling i feel on my hand and arm over my whole body outside, id probably be like damn its pretty nice out!

    Both intakes will hold up a full piece of notebook paper, so im just hoping that even though temps are high im still getting good circulation.
     
  8. #8 Plex1, Mar 3, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 3, 2012
    In case anyone else wants to chime in, here is the exhaust fan, center of the roof.

    [​IMG]

    Here is the intake hole on the side bottom, got an ice pack in front idk if its doing anything.

    [​IMG]

    This is the inside of the box, the second intake is in the center of the floor under the crate, but had to have a small trap so it wouldnt drag on the floor. You can also see the second exhaust.

    [​IMG]

    This is the fan blowing into the intake....beneficial?

    [​IMG]

    Im gonna rig up another fan to blow over the bulbs. The one you see blowing over the water dish is a POS, hardly any output imma take that one out. The mercury therm is reading around 80 so hopefully ill be cool!
     
  9. FYI the transformers on the power bar are creating heat also so that's something else you could move to help.
     
  10. I just rigged a fan to blow across the lights, as well as replacing the back door fans power supply which was actually AC output instead of DC. Its got a 1 amp 12v supply to it now, and it was blowing a good deal of air out the light trap with the door open, but with the door closed its hardly blowing any out or so it seems. I think the top exhaust is just overpowering it and I need more intake, but all these taped on light traps that stick all off the box are getting old.

    And also, I think its more practical to have the power bar in the box than out, imagine trying to run out all those wires and shit. The heat from that should be pretty minimal.

    I wanted to see if I could do without the fan blowing into the trap after replacing that one exhausts power supply, but am still reading upper 80's from the digitherm....and a solid 80 from the mercury. Think im just gonna go with the temp from the merc and just use the digital thing to monitor humidity.

    80's should be ok for a growing and flowering plant I think, so im not really stressing. Plus like I said, the first week the sprouts will only get the 4 23 watters

    As long as im not 95+ like i was yesterday im happy. Just gonna see how the plants respond if they hate it ill add another stinkin intake.
     
  11. Ditch that house fan it is almost doing nothing or make a paper shroud (cone) from the outlet to the fan.
     
  12. Also, you should get that power board off of the floor, you'll obviously be watering the plants and the golden rule is electricity and water do not mix.
     

  13. Yeah its not even turned on and the mercury is telling me 80F flat. In flower which is when the most bulbs will be in use, I think that should be ok. Shit really even in veg, its only 5-8 more than optimal. The ice is out of there too, that wasnt doing shit i dont think.


    When misting for humidity, and when watering the plants the supply is covered with a towell. I plan to have trays for my pots to collect the run off, and will be taking them out of the box to water/lst and top or whatever else. Think that will be ok? Its also eventually going to be moved to that back portion, if you can see, its not really under the lights at all. The door is deeper on the back side.
     

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