Lowds' foray into the grow world, First Indoor/RDWC grow

So I’ve been lurking around on GC for quite awhile just reading and taking in all the different projects and personalities that make up the posts on these forums. The very first post that I happen to read here was Rumples definitive post: How to Build A Bubble Bucket. That thread captivated me for a lot of reasons, it was well documented both in the written word and pictorially, it was a do it you’re self which is always attractive to me, and it did not seem overly complicated.

So upon completion of reading Rumps thread and by no means was that an easy feet in itself from the repeat questions well to the repeat questions. HaHaHa. It wasn’t a waste of time though in the least bit even with the repetitiveness. It is full of a plethora of information from a multitude of people, which gives you a nice array of ideas and methods to draw your own inspiration from. I must state though that I did not just stop at Rumps thread there are so many threads and so many forums and web sites and videos as well. I found that You Tube was an invaluable resource for “seeing” how other people set there grow areas up.

With that preface kind of out of the way I guess its time to get down to the nuts and bolts. I decided to go with the bubble bucket method as if that could not be garnered by now by anyone reading this thread. Its going to be a 3 bucket set up with 2 plants and 1 reservoir, its all I really have room for at the moment and it seems like a small enough scale for my first venture into indoor growing.

I’ve been putting ideas notes and parts together for just about 2 years now. I had the thought of being able to culminate it all into a living breathing project. I have a small closet that I am sacrificing for the greater good of this project. I came up with a few ideas on paper for it and decided to take those paper sketches to some more scaled drawings which Ill show here because well people like pictures more than words. So here is my mock up of how I saw the closet coming together.






So that is initially how I saw it coming together and that was pretty much before I bought and or made what I needed.

I’d like to note that I have my mother area in 2 drawer filing cabinet with some White Widow the staple of bubble bucket growers thanks to Rumple and also some TNT Kush. These two strains are going pretty good at the moment and I have a mini cloner in a 1 gallon bucket that I have been currently cloning in. All seems to be holding steady but I really want to get the room done and start the major portion of the grow.

Ill be updating this again with my equipment and supplies list very soon. Ive already modified my original plans here but honestly who hasn't changed shit once a project gets going.

So with my current design I went looking for all the things I thought I would need and probably some I didn’t. Here is a list of the things Ive acquired up to this point.



Sunleaves Poly Film
General Hydroponics PH Adjusting Powder
Hydrofarm Active Air 6 inch In-Line Fan 400 CFM
HM Digital TDS-4 Water Test Meter
Deluxe Bubble Disk® Aerating Aquarium Ornaments
Weather Direct TX60U-SET Online Temperature and Humidity Wireless Alert System
Tetra 77854 Whisper Air Pump, 60-Gallon
Lux WIN100 Heating & Cooling Programmable Outlet Thermostat
General Hydroponics Ph 7.0 Calibration Solution
Intermatic HB114C 240 Volt Heavy Duty Appliance Timer
Milwaukee Instruments PH600AQ Ph Tester With 1 Point Manual Calibration
All System Cord Set
Cal-Mag Plus
LEDwholesalers GYO2402 6-Inch 240 CFM Air Duct Inline Hydroponic Booster Fan
10 Pk - EZ Clone 360 Degree Sprayer Mister Nozzle
TDS Calibration Solution 1500 ppm, 8 oz General Hydroponics
SUN SYSTEM SMART VOLT 240 VOLT POWER CORD 20'
Hydroton Expanded Clay Grow Rocks - 5 Liter Bag
Lumatek Digital Ballast 400W

Theres also a bunch of other misc stuff that could go on this list as well.
Rigid Foam Insulation
Air Line
Duct pieces for air circulation etc in the room.

There are still a few items I have yet to get just because I haven’t really figured out the best place to get it namely the carbon for my home made carbon scrubber. I wish I could find a local source be much better than having to one buy small containers from stores like wal mart and pet shops and two paying to have it shipped.

Thought I'd put a few pics up of the initial construction. Ive never felt nervous building something before but I can honestly say that I kind of had anxiety and excitement putting this whole project together.

Here's a shot trying to button up the construction of my cool tube. Definitely would have done things differently if I ever have to again. I am not a fan of cutting glass but its hard for me to resist a challenge. So i ventured off to the craft store in search of a suitable glass vessel. I bought the largest diameter one i could find and proceeded to cut it on a wet saw with a horrible blade. So after a long cutting process the glass you see is the result. I used a cracker tin on the other side lol, it fit what can i say and I think I had to keep an element of ghetto in the build some where. There is a fan on the oposite side pushing air over the bulb and socket.

Edited by lowd, 04 June 2012 - 04:44 AM.

Here are some pictures of construction which is getting close to completion at this point and I think I'm about a week away from getting my clones in there to really start putting the room through its paces.

Here is a piece of Rmax covering the entrance to the closet. Im building a frame for it currently and plan on incorporating a pegboard front to cover up the Rmax.


Here are some initial photos putting in the ventilation holes.




Fitting the Hardware to the room.


This is a picture of my weather direct module it connects to my router in another room and with the addition of remote sensors that the company makes I can monitor temperature, humidity, and a probe that measures water temperature as well. I can view it online and keep a running record by spreadsheet. I thought for the small investment it seemed like a cool thing to have.


Here's the weather direct sensor I was talking about with the temperature probe as you can see.


Picture of my home made cool tube. I pretty much like how everything came out. What I dont like is the reflector I could use to redo it but at this point Im to excited and want to get going.


Here is a picture of the shelf I made to hold up my lumatek ballast. I'm thinking of installing a small pc fan on the shelf to move air over it as well. There are some big holes in the shelf to encourage air circulation and the ballast itself actually sits on some dowels to keep it raised off the shelf. Also that's my lux programmable thermostat liking that as well. I have it hooked up to my hydrofarm fan in the attic which in turn is hooked up to my home made carbon scrubber. That ducting you see is the expelling end of my light cooling system.

Here's a shot of the ventilation in the ceiling. I want to clean up that passive intake that goes up to the carbon scrubber.



So this is pretty much where Im at. The closet minus the door frame that needs to be built, I need one more ingredient for the General Hydroponics Set and I think ill pretty much be ready to go.

Today I got a chance to take my buckets outside and put them on my work area I have outside. I wanted to pressure test them make sure that they would not leak as Im getting ready for the closet to be up and running. I put the buckets together about 4 months ago and tested them then with no issues. This time around when I went to test them I noticed that the orings were badly cracked and falling apart. I could not believe how bad a shape all the O rings were. So looks like when I head to the store tommorow for some door building supplies Ill have to pick up some O rings. Oh I also purchased my 400 watt HPS from blowes the other day as well. Ive been running the room to check the timers and fans etc for about the past week and a half. Oh I also ordered the GH FloraBloom portion for the nutrient base. Hopefully get my door done tomorrow and get the room sealed up. Then I guess it will be on to the carbon scrubber. Ill try and take some pictures of my door construction tomorrow. I know people like looking at pictures but I feel alot of all the DIY stuff has been done and dont like boring people with the same kind of mundane thing. I will do my best though maybe it will generate some interest.

Well like i said in the rep that I gave ya...not many times do i fall upon a diy 2yr in the making project...so far...everything is very clean and organized...i feel your first shot at this will look like you have had several grows under the belt

if i can recall...you running with ww? you must be a fan of the strain...sorry to say i have yet been impressed...but im sure you are getting a top notch pheno and you for sure will do them right!

subd!!!!

if i can recall...you running with ww? you must be a fan of the strain...sorry to say i have yet been impressed...but im sure you are getting a top notch pheno and you for sure will do them right!

subd!!!!

Id like to say Im a fan of the strain but Im not. I have no experience with it at all. I saw that Rump has been growing with it for years so I thought it would be a good one to test for my first grow like this. I did purchase them from the same place though that being Nirvana seeds White Widow. I also got a TNT Kush and a Veneno as well. Unfortunately the Veneno did not make it from last year. I did get to smoke some of it but it didnt do well outside for me. However at the moment the Kush looks great and so does my widow. I have an updated pic of my two mother plants along with a few little clones starting to develop underneath.

Today it rained here so I didnt get to do much in the way of getting outside and building my door. How ever not to dissapoint I did get to the store though to pick up some supplies for my new door and also some shelving for my bedroom now that Ive displaced my whole closet for the greater good.

Ive recently over the past few years really started to enjoy gardening in general and not just the plant we all love but all plants. Ive been looking for a place to buy worm castings for awhile and just this past weekend I happen to come across a worm farm located locally. The dude sold me 25 lbs of worm castings for 25 $$$ I thought it was an awesome deal. I included a pic so you could get some scale on this bag I was in awe lol. Never thought when i was a kid that a big bag of worm shit would excite me.

I also re calibrated my timers today to get them as close to synchronized as I can. I had to replace all the O rings on my bubble buckets today as well. Every single one of them had developed rips and tears in them and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why there life span was so short seeing as how they were not even being used???? Well I remembered way back to when I initially built them and I fucked up one of the drill holes so I had to go up a size to 3/4" valves etc and I had stuck with the small #10 o rings originally suggested. Well der after remembering that I figured that these girls had been stretched way past there prime so it was time to see what I could do to remedy the situation. Well the O ring size # 18 fits like a gem. I am currently testing them so hopefully no leaks by tomorrow or the next day or the next day.

Here's a few shots of my mothers and a few little ones just starting. I know the wiring could be nicer but it functions for now. Its a little annoying on the set up and I do plan on going a different route in the future for my mother plant situation.




Here is a few shots of this awesome bag of worm castings i purchased for 25 dollars for 25 pounds.

Edited by lowd, 08 June 2012 - 03:19 AM.

I finished refitting all my buckets today with new o rings and teflon tape. They all seem to be doing well so far. I started to soak my air stones as well. I buttoned up all the wiring etc to try and make things look a little more organized which by the way i am inherently not. Ive got my timers all set just a couple of manual intermatic ones not really winning me over but there doing the job. All the ducting is hooked up still need to buy some carbon for my carbon filter soon I guess no reason to hurry on that though not like anything is flowering in the room. Put up my final piece of rmax wrapped in poly film. I ended up going with the poly film because Ive heard so many people complain about the mylar and I like the benefit of being able to clean up the poly so hope it works out well. I took a few pictures of the cleaned up room and wiring.

Sorry theres not much to report on but the weather has been kind of shitty and I have not been motivated to get outside to do any kind of work. So the door to the closet remains mia at least for now. I am dying to get some plants in and start rocking this thing its been so long since Ive had some good stuff.

I also took some more clones out of my cloner at this point I really dont know what to do with them other than either kill them or just try randomly planting them outside and hope for the best. I am now producing way more plants than i actually need. On to the pictures.

Heres my Rmax wrapped in poly. Pretty much just wrapped them like presents well my wife did most of the wrapping I handed her the duct tape. I liked this I put the panels in my closet with nothing holding them to the walls but a tight fit. I can pull all of them down with minimal effort minus the ceiling one and the wall with the shelf and wiring.



Heres are my buckets being tested to hold water in the room.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dqkue.jpg?1[/IMG[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vtbCL.jpg?1[/IMG]

Trying to better situate my programmable thermostat and wiring from the lamp socket to the ballast. Ignore those zip ties they serve no purpose but to annoy.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/x9Ww8.jpg?1[/IMG]

All my electrical basically comes down from my attic and behind my ventilation duct for my light. My ballast is running 220 and my light fan and everything else is 110 all wired into circuits that barely have any load to begin with.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1HJqu.jpg?1[/IMG]

Well and heres what else i messed around with today. Some clones out of my mini cloner.
This is it disassembled and removing the cloning bucket to check for da roots.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jBveu.jpg?1[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9jNM5.jpg?1[/IMG]

For the cuttings there is no schedule or anything. I cut them because the mother plants are to over grown and then i just stick them in the cloner. Its tap water out of my faucet. I dont ph it or add anything to it and I clean it out every couple of weeks.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/LGtT8.jpg?2

All I got for now.

nice little room you got going on. WW has many pheno's , if you get a nice short plant scrog the hell out of it and keep a grow log so you can keep track what the plant wants.
subbed and waiting
middy

As far as the white widow goes no idea really on how she will do. Honestly Ill be happy with just about anything at this point that is from my own doing. I bought 10 white widow seeds and planted 2. One turned out to be a male the other a female so Ive kept that one and just hoped that I could keep it long enough until my room was complete. The TnTKush was a feminized seed and that one has been alive for months as well.

I should have my door close to if not complete tomorrow so I can start this room up. Ill post some pics up of the door well actually today some time. Every damn day Ive been getting rain making things extremely difficult. I do have a nice looking TntKush going outside as well nice and healthy and I have been staking it down like crazy.

I dont think id be able to do it with out a log my memory is not good enough to remember everything lol.

Alright so with all the rain its been hard getting stuff done but I've just about finished up the door to my grow closet.

I built the frame out of cheapo framing lumber cut a rabbet on the back edge and a dado down the middle to accept some peg board. I thought being able to hang stuff would be useful. I still need to finish the latch on it but that's gonna require a trip to the store.


Rabbet and dado not pretty but it will work.


Fitting the Pegboard.


Capping the Pegboard into the frame


Heres the backside where the Rmax will sit into the Rabbet


I put a huge bead of black silicone to hold the Rmax good and prevent any leaks around it.


Rmax fitted to the back.


Hanging up does not look to bad and Ill actually be able to use the pegboard.


Last but not least my TNTKush thats outside. Im thinking it could use some food.


Looking to start the room up in the next few days or so. I just have to gasket off my fan where it meets my glass tube and I think thats pretty much it.

I have noticed that I get a huge amount of suction in that little room when the exhaust fan is rocking. I hope that once i install the carbon in the filter that it will reduce that some. If not I may have to make a bigger intake for the room.

thats crazy! so...you actually built a false floor so you could run that passive intake at the floor level? is there an advantage to having the passive intake so low? it normally in my experience stays a lot cooler on the ground....are you hoping to draw the hot air from uptop from the bottom intake? either way i like the concept

good job on the door, i'm a carpenter , i would give that kush a little drink.

also in the overhead shot of your buckets it shows two buckets without airstones and the other one with 6, what is your plan with them ? they look small to me, you don't need air stones in your res and the air makes meter readings jump up & down, so you will end up turning of the air pump while getting your daily checks done and poss forget to turn it back on after.
middy

thats crazy! so...you actually built a false floor so you could run that passive intake at the floor level? is there an advantage to having the passive intake so low? it normally in my experience stays a lot cooler on the ground....are you hoping to draw the hot air from up top from the bottom intake? either way i like the concept

Hey Naughty

I didn't have to build a false floor. My house sits on about a 3-4 foot course of block so I have an ample crawlspace under my house. I figured pulling air from the crawl space would be sufficient. Ive been monitoring the temps and there staying right at about 80 degrees. I am worried about res temps though. I do live in a very hot climate. When I get under the house to put in my drain Ill take a couple pics it may better illustrate whats going on down there.

In my attic I have located my exhaust fan which has a carbon scrubber that I built but have not installed any carbon into yet well because i don't have anything flowering lol. Ill take a picture of that as well.

Hey Naughty

I didn't have to build a false floor. My house sits on about a 3-4 foot course of block so I have an ample crawlspace under my house. I figured pulling air from the crawl space would be sufficient. Ive been monitoring the temps and there staying right at about 80 degrees. I am worried about res temps though. I do live in a very hot climate. When I get under the house to put in my drain Ill take a couple pics it may better illustrate whats going on down there.

In my attic I have located my exhaust fan which has a carbon scrubber that I built but have not installed any carbon into yet well because i don't have anything flowering lol. Ill take a picture of that as well.

yea the res temps can be a bother....you could always go extreme and get a chiller if you are that worried about it....i try not to flower during the hottest parts of the year myself....ill veg in the summer...but try to avoid flowering if possible

As far as the white widow goes no idea really on how she will do. Honestly Ill be happy with just about anything at this point that is from my own doing. I bought 10 white widow seeds and planted 2. One turned out to be a male the other a female so Ive kept that one and just hoped that I could keep it long enough until my room was complete. The TnTKush was a feminized seed and that one has been alive for months as well.

I should have my door close to if not complete tomorrow so I can start this room up. Ill post some pics up of the door well actually today some time. Every damn day Ive been getting rain making things extremely difficult. I do have a nice looking TntKush going outside as well nice and healthy and I have been staking it down like crazy.

I dont think id be able to do it with out a log my memory is not good enough to remember everything lol.

White Widow marijuana strain |Medical cannabis strain White Widow
middy

good job on the door, i'm a carpenter , i would give that kush a little drink.

also in the overhead shot of your buckets it shows two buckets without airstones and the other one with 6, what is your plan with them ? they look small to me, you don't need air stones in your res and the air makes meter readings jump up & down, so you will end up turning of the air pump while getting your daily checks done and poss forget to turn it back on after.
middy

I try to water the Kush but its in a spot where I can only at night.

I was only soaking the air stones. It says to soak em for an hour. I plan on putting 2 stones per bucket. I bought the 3 inch circle ones for the two plant buckets and I was gonna through some in the res chamber as well. I do have a small pump to recirculate the water as well. I am extremely worried about res temps because of where I live. Well maybe I do not need the air pump in the res. I never heard of air messing up readings. I am glad you mentioned that its good to know. Thank you. The two big pumps each have a stone going to the plant buckets and the small pump only serves the res.

Here is the place I ordered seeds from. I both the white widow and TNTKush from them.

Marijuana Seeds Super specials Seeds at the low prices

I try to water the Kush but its in a spot where I can only at night.

I was only soaking the air stones. It says to soak em for an hour. I plan on putting 2 stones per bucket. I bought the 3 inch circle ones for the two plant buckets and I was gonna through some in the res chamber as well. I do have a small pump to recirculate the water as well. I am extremely worried about res temps because of where I live. Well maybe I do not need the air pump in the res. I never heard of air messing up readings. I am glad you mentioned that its good to know. Thank you. The two big pumps each have a stone going to the plant buckets and the small pump only serves the res.

i thought that you was only soaking them as they was not piped in.
if you can draw air in around your air pumps from outside or near you intake pipes your air going into the buckets will be cooler, my res holds around 65Lts (160L total system) and i don't have air stones in the res .
you could put a computer fan blowing onto the surface of the res to drop the temps a bit.
middy

if you can draw air in around your air pumps from outside or near you intake pipes your air going into the buckets will be cooler, my res holds around 65Lts (160L total system) and i don't have air stones in the res [Wink] .
you could put a computer fan blowing onto the surface of the res to drop the temps a bit.
middy

Maybe I will try to rearrange some things to do that with the air pumps. I'm thinking now before I start anything that I am going to put some overflow drains into the buckets and a top off rez in an adjacent closet. So if I can find some place close that sells a float switch ill have something new to mess with.

I also finished a gasket that I needed to make to seal up between the light fan and the glass tube came out ok. I just cut a bike inner tube up and then epoxied it in a circle like a big rubber band. Seems to be working good.

So just about all done, I want to get everything done tomorrow and hopefully start the plants up. I am going to have to veg them with the hps I do not have a mh at this point to veg them with. I also put in the frame for the screen as well. I drilled holes along the pvc and Ill string it up later on.

Here's the inner tube I cut and glued to make the gasket for my lamp.





Here is the screen frame with out the lacing yet.