600w 4 Plant DWC ScrOG White Castle, The Church, Lemon Skunk Continuous Grow

Ok here we go ...... again. I just had almost everything typed up and even coppied into a word pad incase the site messed up but I didn't save the doc. Then my computer froze and I lost everything so I grabbed the bong and am starting over. Anyways I have 2 grows under my belt and a 3rd in proccess so this one will make #4. If I leave out anything or you have questions just ask. I am open to any comments/questions/feedback that you guys are willing to give so feel free to post. I will be updating with pictures and videos.

I would like to start off by thanking Rumpleforeskin. Thank you greatly man. You and your grows are the inspiration for this set-up. None of this would be happening if I hadn't read your threads. I have learned a lot from you and hope that I can continue to do so.

Here is the set-up. I will be posting what I paid for everything and giving an approximate total cost for the grow. There are other minor things that could probably be added up with it too but this is the main part of it. All prices include the shipping on parts that were ordered online. The mother/cloning chamber is made out of scrap material from the main box. I made sure to have enough to build it when I bought everything.

Main Box:

Size: 48"x45"x72+" $110

Light: 600w HPS/MH electronic ballast with 6" cool tube $250 Ebay

Fan: Valueline 6" 435 CFM In-Line Fan with Hydrofarm Fan Dimmer Switch. Also purchased mylar with this transaction 2 - 48"x50' rolls. $185 Plantlightinghydroponics.com

Bubble Buckets: 2 - 3 bucket Deep Water Culter systems. Bubble Buckets. $90 All parts bought from Lowe's

Air Pumps: 2 - ActiveAQUA PU15L 4 outlet Pumps. 15Litres/min. Adjustable output. $65 from local hydropinics store.

Water Pumps: 2 - 185 GPH Submersable Pumps connected to a dimmer switch to reduce flow. $35

Nutrients: General Hydroponics using the Lucal Formula for feeding. $55 from local hydro store.

Screen: I'm not sure exactly what I will make it out of yet. I have a general idea but looking at a few more stores first. I'm also not sure on the height from the buckets. I'm thinking around 8-12 inches. Any suggestions?

Total Approx Cost: $785


Mother/Cloning Chamber:

Size: 42"x24"x42"

Lights: 4-6 26w 6500k CFL lights. Not sure exactly how many I want to use in it yet. I will only use 1/2 of the lights when not cloning.

Mother Plants: Will be grown in either 1 or 3 gallon pots.

Cloner: Home made bubble cloner to hold 6-8 clones. Not yet built.

Seeds:

Seeds were ordered from Attitude Seeds and were received 8 or so days after ordering. Very good experience.
10 x White Castle from Nirvana
1 x The Church Fem from Greenhouse Seeds
1 x Lemon Skunk Fem from DNA Seeds


Ok I believe that covers everything. If I remember anything I will update this post. Now onto the details of everything. I'm quite stoned at this point so please forgive me if I forget something.

The grow room is not finished. I purchased all the materials and cut the walls today. Tomorrow I will dry fit it at my buddies house and then take it down to and bring it to my place to put it in. The light and fan orders are still shipping and should be here this week. The seeds arrived yesterday. I will post pictures of everything as it is completed.

I put 4 of the White Castle seeds in to germinate last night. The picture below was taken tonight. I will grow them in 16oz cups in Happy Frog Organic soil untill I determine the sex. I will then take the best male and female. The female will go into the mother chamber as my mother and I will take clones from this to start the grow. The male will go elsewhere to be grow and to have the pollen harvested. I will pollinate 1 or 2 small brnaches on the White castle plants to get more seeds to ensure I do not run out. I may save the pollen to pollinate the fem plants that I have so I can retain some form of them incase something happens to the mothers.

I will veg the plants for 10 or so days and then switch to 12/12 for flowering.

And now onto the pictures.

Buckets just after taping.


One of the air pumps on a 5 gallon lid.


Buckets sitting approx how they would be in the box.


Closer shot of the buckets. The water level indicator is only on the center bucket.


The water bubbling


4 of the White Castle Seeds


The entire seed order







Here is a video that I made. It has some shots of the grow that I have going in the Mini-Fridge in there as well.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y5pMpdYYNg]YouTube - 6 bucket DWC hydroponics system[/ame]

Edited by whatuthinkin, 29 November 2009 - 03:21 AM.

Ok, I am getting one of them pumps right now. That is some cool stuff.

Things I don't understand: If you flower that seedling, then what? You plan on going from dirt to your DWC?

Most the time I tell folks to start seeds in rockwool then place them in the buckets after rooting. While in veg, take some cuttings and root them in a clone machine. If your plant comes out male, you kill the cuttings/clones. If it comes out female, you have clones ready for the next grow and one to save for a mom.

I'm not going from seed to DWC. I'm going to sex the 4 seeds in 16oz cups and take the best male and female. The female is going into either a 1 or 3 gallon pot with organic soil to become my mother plant. I will then grow her big enough to take 4 clones to start the DWC system with and then keep her on 2 or so cfl lights to sustain growth. I will eventually do this with the other 2 feminized seeds so that I can keep growing them if I like the way they grow in the system.

All the while I will be growing out the male plant to harvest the pollen.

Also I forgot to add that I will be purchasing a heat sensor to shut off the system if it gets too hot in there. I'm looking to have it shut down at 95* currently. What would you recomend for doing this fairly cheaply?

Also I am thinking of building a table in the room similar to yours. In the center of the room so that I can put the pumps on it and keep them above the water level. I tested the air pump and when I take off the one way valves from the buckets it increases the air flow by close to 50%. I want to be able to safely take those off to help increase the bubbles.

Are you are going to flower then put it back to veg? Or are you going to try and take clones from a flowering plant? It is best to take clones from a young plant in veg. Getting your mother plant to show sex then having it fall back to veg is going to take a bit of time if you plan on doing it right. Just does not seem right.

Best way to salvage this is to take cuttings from your plant that is in dirt as soon as possible. Clone the cuttings and place them in the buckets and go straight to flowering after a few days of veg. Never putting the mother plant in flowering.

Better yet get some rock wool, start a few seeds and get them in the buckets asap. Take cuttings while in veg and hold on to them until you know if they are female and good quality bud. Keep them plants you got going now in the dirt and clone them for next cycle.

I am not a big fan of re-veg. I can't see any advantage to the technique.

Edited by Rumpleforeskin, 29 November 2009 - 07:08 AM.

I am not a big fan of re-veg. I can't see any advantage to the technique.

Unless you like bananas...

Nice setup, those look like great air pumps for the price.

Good points there Rumple. I think what I will do will be to grow all 4 plants in 1 gal containers that I already have. Put those in the mother chamber and take 1 clone from each 4 and veg them for 3-4 days in the DWC system then start flowering. This will let me find the males and cut them fast and will allow me to see what the bud is like. The female that I might choose could not smoke as well as the other. So very good ideas there. I didn't get the Fem seeds because I didn't want the chance of hermie to increase so I shouldnt stress the plant more than I need to, if at all.

Well I spent all of yesterday working on the grow box. The main chamber is just about completed. I still need to seal it off along the top 2 sides, line the top of the box with wood, and then caulk the entire box.

My attic entrance is very small and in order to get everything in the attic I had to cut it into strips. Each wall of the main chamber is made of 3 16"x72" pieces. You can see the entrance in the pictures below. I took pictures of the entire build. I had to change the design of my doors because of clearance issus with the rafters. They were going to open sideways but having them swing open like they are gave me more room and saved on wood used.

The fan and Mylar should be here tomorrow. Just in time for me to finish the box and line it with mylar. I will get the mother/cloning chamber built in a few days, maybe even tonight.

Here are the pictures of the progress thus far.

Attic Entrance


Attic before construction


The floor



Bottom of the floor


Floor with side pieces attached


Frame is in place



Back wall built


Back wall with door open and side wall






The seam of the back door. I have the 1"x3" board overlapping to prevent light leaks and to help seal it. I will be getting weather stripping to line the doors with.


Front wall on.


My brother standing in the box with the front and back doors to the box open.


Almost completed box.

I didn't get as much done today as I wanted to but I did get the mother/clone chamber framed. I may not get to work on it tomorrow but I will post updated as things are built. The frame isn't as neat as I wanted it to be but I did change the design today so it changed the way it had to be built. Also the location I needed it in was very difficult to work with. I'm going to have a pc fan blowing from the mother chamber to the main box through a light-proof pvc setup and then I will have an intake vent done the same way. It wont need much to keep it cool so I will just use the main cabs exhaust. This also ensures that the mother chamber is scrubbed as the smell would be very bad in my case.

Also all 4 seeds have sprouted roots. There was 1 seed that didn't pop yesterday so I helped split the shell just a little and today it was showing a root. The root that it did show looked different than the other roots. I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture or not but it was just different. We will see how it goes.

I have numbered the cups 1-4 and placed the biggest sprout in #1 and the smallest in #4. I'm hoping to see a sprout or 2 tomorrow sometime.

Edited by whatuthinkin, 02 December 2009 - 04:12 AM.

thats lookin' like one hell of a room man, it'll be a great place to grow.

Hi, looks great. I did read where the glue from the wood you’re using heats up and gives off a contaminant in the air. I would seal it for sure just incase with a flat paint called titanium white or at least cover with Mylar and seal the joints. The titanium white is probably the best reflective paint. It can be hard to find though. It won’t burn the plants as glass or other finishes might

Take care and good luck with your grow

Buditch

Also I forgot to add that I will be purchasing a heat sensor to shut off the system if it gets too hot in there. I'm looking to have it shut down at 95* currently. What would you recomend for doing this fairly cheaply?

Use a thermostat, if you know how to wire them. If you want something simpler, get a thermostat from a pet store for reptiles. I have one somewhere from keeping snakes. The only issue you may have is finding one that supports the wattage you'd be putting through it, but if you're creative, you can figure out a way around that.

I did read where the glue from the wood you’re using heats up and gives off a contaminant in the air. I would seal it for sure just incase with a flat paint called titanium white or at least cover with Mylar and seal the joints.

I'm not sure about the contaminant, but it can't hurt to seal it like Buditch said. At the very least, if you seal it with a bright white, it'll add to the reflectivity of your mylar.


That being said, I'd like to say great job so far, that is an amazing space up there. Looking foward to seeing what you can make out of it.

i am in for this too friend very awesome set up looks like you do not really have huge worries on height lol that is a big yay there!

smoke a fatty buddy

With your wiring and all I suggest, if you haven’t already thought about this is to run your lights and fan on the same circuit. If you can do it that way, and the circuit trips at least the lights wont burn your plants if the fan were to short or trip the circuit. With the desired temperature your running, you have no room for error incase your fan stops turning.

Take care and good luck on your grow

Ps. I had one of these heat issues a few years ago destroying all of my super silver haze crop soi thought to mention it.

Buditch

Thank you for all the replies. I too am hoping this will be a great place to grow. I have thought about getting some killz and coating the entire inside of the box but I'm trying to save some money right now. I have spent a lot more than I originally had planned to spend so some of these things may have to wait untill the second grow. At this time I am trying to get it up and running with buying as little as possible and it looks like all I may need is a tube or 2 more of caulking.

I had thought about a thermostat but I wasnt sure if it would actually work. I will look into it a bit more and see what I can find. I'm mainly wanting it for fire safety issues as we rent. It will help me sleep at night. Also I'm buying a cheap Made in China fan so if something goes wrong with it and it goes out I don't want my babies to die.

Also a note on the wiring side. I have a licenced electrician that is going to wire everything. I believe we will end up running a new line from the outside power box to the grow chamber and I want to put a fuse in-line. It will be wired to a 4 plug outlet in the main chamber and all power will be gotten from that outlet.......... After reading what I just typed I relized that my light and fan plugs are both going to be on the outside of the box so I think I may wire 2 plugs outside and 4 plugs inside the box. I already have the 4 plug cover so I would just need another 2 plug set-up which shouldn't run too much.

Edited by whatuthinkin, 02 December 2009 - 09:26 AM.

Ok I had just turned everything off, pulled my bowl through, and was saying goodnight to my babies when I saw this comming from the top of #1. This wasn't like this I would say 3 hours ago. =) That makes for a good good night.

Also a note on the wiring side. I have a licenced electrician that is going to wire everything. I believe we will end up running a new line from the outside power box to the grow chamber and I want to put a fuse in-line.

If you have a guy that can do all this for you, my bet is that he knows how to hook up a thermostat. You can get one from any hardware store. It will definately work, mount it inside your box, but out of direct light. Just make sure that it will read ambient temp, and not temp while being baked under a makeshift sun, lol. Have the thermostat run maybe two of your four plugs (one for lights, and the other for... whatever? more lights?).

looks awesome man. i love the journals with the fresh built box. makes me wish that was me starting to build one. some day...

rep

Nice buckets and box. Everything looks great. I'm looking forward to your grow.

Congrats on a baby breaking the soil! I like your attic setup, you can always add another room the same size to get a perpetual grow going on up there too. Then youd be rollin in the nugs! once you find your females that is +rep

Today was a good day for the grow. The fan, fan speed switch and the mylar came in. The fan is a lot quieter than I thought it would be. Most of the noise is from the air moving so fast. You can hear it in the video. I mounted the fan in the attic and took some pictures of that. I found out when I hooked up my fan that I had mounted it backwards so I had to remount it in the correct position. I don't believe that I will need to build a box with insulation in it for the fan. I was going to because of noise issues but since it's not as loud as I thought it may not be needed. I will see once I get everything up and running with 6" ducting on.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sAA-M77irs]YouTube - MOV02058.MPG[/ame]

Edited by whatuthinkin, 03 December 2009 - 04:28 AM.