600W Tent ScroG Hydro- White Widow/Venus Flytrap

Hey Grasscity, I'm back and ready for another run. This time I am switching to hydroponics. I will be using 2 - 5 Gallon buckets (Bubblebuckets for DWC). I am also moving away from the CFL's and jumping into the high wattage HPS. I am using only a 600W HPS for both veg and flower.

The tent I have is from the internets and is approx. 3x2x5 (LxWxH). That comes out to 100W/sqft. I know that's a lot but I am doing ScroG and I am aiming for some dense buds I want to get a large harvest out of this (who doesn't?). Anyways I've got all that put up in the tent and in my pics below.

I decided to finish off what I have of my white widow seeds and my friend gave me a venus flytrap for free. No idea how it'll do but we shall see. My nutes are General Hydroponics FloraGro and FloraBloom. I skived off of the FloraMicro, bad idea? We'll see. And pH Up and pH Down from GH as well.

In the pictures, you can see all of my setup. I haven't installed fans yet besides the ones on my homemade reflector thing. If I had the dough I'd buy an inline fan (will jump up to that probably before flowering kicks in due to the need for a carbon filter) but I don't so I will be trying to force enough airflow with PC case fans. I have 2 but I will need more no doubt.

Anyways, I am going away for a week and then my grow will start on March 14th. I just wanted to get all this posted. Hope you all sit in and enjoy!.

Edited by benthamj49, 05 June 2010 - 02:06 AM.

Hey GC,

Just ordered an inline fan and was wondering if anyone's had any luck with these.

Marine In-Line Blower

It's a lot cheaper than other inline fans and it should do the same job (seemingly marine hardware would be made sturdier than standard retail shit). Anyways if anyone knows what up let me know! I'm excited to get started Monday but I probably won't have my fan until then...

I tried running that 600W HPS without a fan and leaving the doors open and the temps inside the tent jumped to high 80's . Hopefully the fan will mitigate that.

Dude you really have to get a real hood, an aluminum turkey roasting pan or whatever-the-fuck you got going is super retarded.
I may be a noob at growing on my own by I know for sure thats the retarded shit that burns down houses.

Not in any way being mean or making fun of you but damn man get 80 bucks for a new hood, at least get on craigslist or something, a used one on ebay, something.

BAD bad BAD fucking things happen with heat + electricity + closed closets.

Fix that shit pronto

I have been around boats since I can remember, and no sorry to say marine equipmet is no different than regular equipment, maybe the wiring is done a different way to prevent getting shocked to death being on a boat in water, and water is everywhere.
I see you are going for the super Obama stimulus cheap way of doing a grow space, but let me tell ya, you got to invest a little money, nobody is cranking out good ass bud with shit equipment, might as well go outside my man
You are in a confined space, get a inline centrifugal fan, a 4" should be fine for you, a good value one is a ValueLine 4" centrifugal inline blower, should be under $70

Edited by ridesdeepsnow, 11 March 2010 - 08:20 AM.

Hey GC,

Went ahead with that Marine fan I am planning to use it in conjunction with some insulated ducting to make a DIY cool tube. I found a good idea here: DIY Cool tube setup CHEAP. - The Garden's Cure and I'm in the throws of crafting that. I plan on getting another fan and carbon filter later on in the grow but for now my CPU fans will provide air exchange.

I just put the lil girls into their buckets in the closet and turned everything on (minus the lights). They germed today and we'll hope to get healthy sprouts by Monday and maybe turn on the HPS if I have the Cool Tube worked out.

Ridesdeepsnow, Electrical fires are usually from faulty wiring and insufficient insulation on the wires. You just have to make sure all of your connections are made correctly and that no shorts can occur. I ran that setup for 24+ hours on a test run and it worked perfectly fine. It may be ghetto, but it worked; and if that's all I had then that's all I'd use and I'd probably never run into a problem with it. I've had experience wiring many many things as many people have and I'm sure it wouldn't have cause any problems. I did decide to go ahead and upgrade to that fake cool tube because I'm pretty sure heat will be an issue I can't control and that will kill the lil girls.

Thanks!
Bentham

Nice I love it when peep's DIY! Cant wait to see Ur setup keep Us updated!! Also No worry man Do Ur thing The Best Way To learn Is First Hand!! Get Ur Grow On!!!

Good luck man. Subscribed.

Hey GC,

Went ahead with that Marine fan I am planning to use it in conjunction with some insulated ducting to make a DIY cool tube. I found a good idea here: DIY Cool tube setup CHEAP. - The Garden's Cure and I'm in the throws of crafting that. I plan on getting another fan and carbon filter later on in the grow but for now my CPU fans will provide air exchange.

Just saw your marine fan suggestion, heck, if it can actually move 200+ cfm that could create some serious airflow through a 30 cu. ft. tent. My 6" inline fan is rated around that. Let us know how it works out.

There are good instructions for a DIY carbon filter somewhere (possibly multiple locations) on this forum.

Just saw your marine fan suggestion, heck, if it can actually move 200+ cfm that could create some serious airflow through a 30 cu. ft. tent. My 6" inline fan is rated around that. Let us know how it works out.

There are good instructions for a DIY carbon filter somewhere (possibly multiple locations) on this forum.

Oh it DEFINITELY moves air. I was shocked by how much was moving out of it. Just guessing, I'd say its definitely 200+ CFM. On the cheap, my entire fan setup was like 50 bucks instead of 90-120. Works just as good. Anyways I attempted to take some photos and my camera came back from the dead so I finally have something to show everyone.

Pic 1 - My whole setup with buckets and at the top is my cool tube in progress
Pic 2 - Top View of my cool tube, I applied some aluminum tape to the top to act as a makeshift reflector
Pic 3 - Cool tube from the bottom with the ballast in tow
Pic 4 - My marine fan with 12v adapter (5 Amps for 20 bucks, radio shack wants a ton for one of those)
Pic 5 - Top down of my buckets with their cubes and my water pump/netting.

Should be getting ducting to finish the cool tube this weekend. Anyone know how to mute the fan? It's loud but doesn't generate heat I was thinking of wrapping the physical fan itself with a towel and putting a few bends into the insulated ducting to attempt to get the sound waves to be absorbed into the insulation through the changes in direction. If anyone has suggestions throw 'em my way...

Enjoy!

Edited by benthamj49, 17 March 2010 - 10:40 PM.

Hey GC,

Back from my trip and I was sad to find out my girls stretched nearly 4 inches as a sprout. I made the mistake of leaving them with only one CFL over the weekend thinking that they would be OK as sprouts.

Well anyways I got back hooked up everything (pictures later) and it works but I can't close the tent it is still too hot. I am going to try to get another fan and vent them both out of my window. Venting the fans from the tent into the room just makes the room hot with the tent even hotter. Right now, with doors open, I pull a nice 78-80F; I'd love to close the doors though because I'm losing light I could reflect although they don't need it right now.

Anyways another bad thing happened. I tried to dig up the rockwool cubes to bury them deeper into the pebbles and I broke (snapped but still attached) the lone root of the Venus Flytrap inadvertently. That was Sunday night and today on Monday night she's still green and possibly showing a little progress so I imagine it is repairing itself but she is a little behind the White Widow as expected.

Pics soon. Thanks guys.
Bentham

EDIT: Was considering a small AC unit to run part of the time when I absolutely need to close the tent. They're only 100 bucks (the same price as if I bought another fan to exhaust some air). I know they're about 500 Watts so that sucks (Really wishing I had that 400W bulb right now) but I may do it... Any suggestions? AC or Fan?

Edited by benthamj49, 23 March 2010 - 05:02 AM.

Hey GC,

Back from my trip and I was sad to find out my girls stretched nearly 4 inches as a sprout. I made the mistake of leaving them with only one CFL over the weekend thinking that they would be OK as sprouts.

Well anyways I got back hooked up everything (pictures later) and it works but I can't close the tent it is still too hot. I am going to try to get another fan and vent them both out of my window. Venting the fans from the tent into the room just makes the room hot with the tent even hotter. Right now, with doors open, I pull a nice 78-80F; I'd love to close the doors though because I'm losing light I could reflect although they don't need it right now.

Anyways another bad thing happened. I tried to dig up the rockwool cubes to bury them deeper into the pebbles and I broke (snapped but still attached) the lone root of the Venus Flytrap inadvertently. That was Sunday night and today on Monday night she's still green and possibly showing a little progress so I imagine it is repairing itself but she is a little behind the White Widow as expected.

Pics soon. Thanks guys.
Bentham

EDIT: Was considering a small AC unit to run part of the time when I absolutely need to close the tent. They're only 100 bucks (the same price as if I bought another fan to exhaust some air). I know they're about 500 Watts so that sucks (Really wishing I had that 400W bulb right now) but I may do it... Any suggestions? AC or Fan?

AC's actually create a considerable amount of heat -- go with a fan. I have a 4" inline fan that pushes air through a carbon filter that runs 24/7 when the girls are flowering, it keeps the ol' 600W HPS nice and cool.

I had a 6" fan I got off ebay, nice and cheap. It lasted for almost a year of near continual use -- not too shabby, but if you buy cheap equipment, be prepared with a backup. How's that marine fan holding up? You could potentially just exhaust with one of those, cut a passive intake, lightproof it with a DIY PVC elbow flange. I'm not sure how much a DIY carbon filter would run, but potentially you could have your heat and odor controlled for less than a $100. That's a dang good deal.

The marine fan works nicely but there's a 25'+ ducting route from the box to my window since it goes behind furniture and such and I think it loses a lot of pressure. The 600W bulb still puts out a considerable amount of heat so I'm not sure what to do other than to use passive intakes in conjunction with another fan that exhausts the tent itself. The cool tube works well except it'd be called a warm/hot tube and you can leave your hand on it for like 30 seconds max directly under the bulb and forever a little to the side of it.

I'd need a voltage regulator for that second one though because 1) It'd be way too loud having two of those fans and 2) My house is only so big...I can't have a 400 CFM refresh rate for that tiny box and then vent it outside my house would lose all of the AC.

I was thinking of one of those Thermoelectric AC units but never mind anymore I did a little research and its not for me. I'll buy another fan in a week or so when I get fed up with this situation.

The marine fan works nicely but there's a 25'+ ducting route from the box to my window since it goes behind furniture and such and I think it loses a lot of pressure. The 600W bulb still puts out a considerable amount of heat so I'm not sure what to do other than to use passive intakes in conjunction with another fan that exhausts the tent itself. The cool tube works well except it'd be called a warm/hot tube and you can leave your hand on it for like 30 seconds max directly under the bulb and forever a little to the side of it.

I'd need a voltage regulator for that second one though because 1) It'd be way too loud having two of those fans and 2) My house is only so big...I can't have a 400 CFM refresh rate for that tiny box and then vent it outside my house would lose all of the AC.

I was thinking of one of those Thermoelectric AC units but never mind anymore I did a little research and its not for me. I'll buy another fan in a week or so when I get fed up with this situation.

Ya know, you don't have to run your ventilation outside. As long as it gets out of the room/closet, you shouldn't have a problem. I have a 600W HPS in a closet that is less than 100 cu. ft. I keep a 200 cfm fan running 24/7 into an adjacent closet with a carbon scrubber. That closet has a slatted door, and it passively outlets air back into the house. You'll want to have a scrubber inline if you're pumping outside anyway, unless you neighbors and any visitors (meter readers, postmen) are cool with flower stank. If you get the filter, just keep the exhaust in house.

So after thinking it over for a while I think I am going to upgrade to a 6" 500 CFM fan. I'll run this fan at 50-75% so its quiet and it will go in place of where the marine fan is now. Then I will use the marine fan to vent the tent itself hopefully on 50% or so. This should give me 200-250 CFM on the larger fan and 100-125 CFM on the smaller one with better noise and temperature control.

Here's some pics:
1 - Venus Flytrap (Broken Root..showing a little yellowing so I am starting a new seed tonight)
2 - White Widow
3 - Towel wrapped thing is my fan, shows the connection
4 - Light Assembly
5 - Total setup right now...I need that addition fan to keep the temperatures small.

I'll let you all know how it goes. The new seed was a free seed from Nirvana so I have no clue the genetics except that people who received them claimed they're female.

Back with some new pics.

The previously broken-root Venus Flytrap is still champing along. I think she may have healed. My backup seed has sprouted and I guess I'll throw it into a grow cube until I know for sure VF isn't dying.

Also, the second ribbed leaf set is coming out now and the first ribbed leafs are getting larger! I'm getting excited I forgot how much fun this was. Anyways the temps are still an issue but that should be fixed very soon (Tuesday in fact). I ordered a fan control and a valueline 435 CFM 6" fan that will be ducted down to 4". Found the control and fan for 115 including shipping.

Anyways enjoy the pics. If anyone has any ideas about whether or not the broken root guy will come back let me know

Bentham

Ah, look at the cute little babies!

Day 8 Veg

They're looking good so far. The White Widow looks like a textbook beauty and the Venus Flytrap is making her way onwards but a little behind the WW. It looks as though she recovered the root break. Both of them are starting to show a root through the clay pebbles now so I am excited they are starting to recieve higher strength nutes. Right now I am running a 1:1 for General Hydroponics (GH) FloraGro and FloraBloom. Tuesday I will switch them over to the vegetation nutes at 3:1 (Gro:Bloom). I opted out of FloraMicro so I hope that works out ok. If not though, I can pick up a bottle at the local hydro store. Anyone had experience with leaving out FloraMicro?

Anyways enjoy the pics. Sorry for the hand blocking the view but I didn't want to take a picture and have the screen in the way. #1 is VF and #2 is WW.

Day 10 Veg

Changed the water today for the first time. I upped the dosage from the "seedling" dosage to the vegetation dosage. Like I said its now running at 3:1 Gro:Bloom with 53ml total of gro and 17ml of bloom per each 5 gallon bucket. It was pH corrected to something near whats required and the PPM read 1100 for one bucket and 1050 for the other. Next cycle on April 13th. No pics for today they look about the same with new growth. Getting close to fimming time for the White Widow though.

Later guys&gals

Just stopping by. Sounds like they're doing good.

Heat is becoming an issue. I am moving down to 250W for this summer grow. That's 125W each in scrog...should be ok. Plus my tent is only 5 square feet. It's insane for a 600W bulb in the middle of a summer here where it gets Hot hot hot. I don't want to jump down to just 400W because if THAT is still to hot, then I have to spend more money and then its a perpetual thing until I'm happy so I'll go safe with 250. I know that'll at least grab a decent portion of the weight I wanted and with a cool tube I can get that thing nice and close to buds.

Anyways, that's all I got to say basically. The rest below is an explanation:

I got my 435 CFM 6" Inline from Valueline today. That mother fucker is HUGE. It hauls air too, but it doesn't have quite as much kick at all as the marine fan. The 200 CFM marine fan actually works BETTER with 25' ducting than the 435 CFM fan does. So anyways, in the heat of the day with my unit supposedly at 74 degrees I was dangling near 85 in my tent with both fans in series. It was at this point I decided that I would not be able to survive days when it gets to be uber hot. I can't afford to run the AC that low in the summer and it honestly needs to be lower so I am just downgrading to 250W until winter turns on again when I can leave the house around the 60's. Also, I still haven't been able to close my tent...real bummer at night since this lil guy is in my bedroom closet. Anyways, the consensus was instead of spending more money on stuff that won't work, I'll just give up and back down to 250. Hopefully I can run that 600W in the winter though...

Bentham

Day 13

Don't have my new light yet but the plants are doing well. They're taking to the new solution well with no burning or deficiency marks. The new growth on the Venus Flytrap is a little yellow though but I've noticed this since Day 1 so I think this strains new growth is always that way. Both are a lush green. You can see how behind the VF is because of the root break. Anyways, enjoy.

Also, somehow I'm getting away with only minor leaf curling from the heat. Last night was an unbelievable 85 in the tent but today I bumped the AC down a bit more to hold me over until Tuesday when my light will get here.

For the pics, VF is on the left, she's more petit than the WW.