Bongsauce's micro cabs and stuff. (help thread)

HI GC!

I've been lurking around the micro section fer a bit and trying to help everyone that I can here.

there seems to be a lack of mentors lurking around. I'm just seeing alot more questions then answers. So I want to help provide more answers for you guys, and help you all grow some kickass weed.

I have my grows posted elsewhere but I decided to show you guys what I can do.

I hope for this to be a (micro) help thread where people can get answers, and not so much a personal growshow type thing. But if you guys/gals have questions about any of my builds feel free to ask, and I'll be happy to provide details on how they all work and equipment and stuff that I use as well as better/updated pics if anyone requests.

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This is all stuff I've built in the past year or so. Most recently the double speakerbox with the thumbsup.
I'm here to help you all.
Let's do this, I'm growing tired of the other site I post on and would like to migrate over here to GC fulltime if it pleases micro community.




does anyone know an easy way to insert pics in my posts? I had to open a second browser tab and copy image locations n stuff, then paste em into the insert image box thingie....must be an easier way no?

edit: HI! I wanted to edit into this post and warn everyone that cfls can be very bad for your eyes after prolonged use. I've always liked to sit and chill and stare at my plants, after a few months I noticed the cfls taking their toll on my eyes..harder to focus, terrible nightvision, headaches..etc..In some of my earlier designs I had an "open light" setup which let light into my eyes everytime I looked at my plants (stupid!) don't do that you guys. Everything I build now has some sort of shield that hangs down from the top or the lights are recessed a few inches into the top. These things are brighter then you think and can emit some uv also....and...the ratings for the bulbs, lumen output etc, are measured at 1 foot away from the bulb, as micro growers we generally grow and operate closer than that.

Also cfls when broken can be very hazardous, I''m not trying to fearmonger in any way, I want to help everyone grow as much as possible, but safely. Many people are not aware of the precautions you should take with a broken cfl. please please if a cfl ever breaks around you or your plants, take the proper precautions and toss your plants. no matter what stage of growth..no matter how nice the buds look, toss that shit. I've never had a bulb break on me cuz I'm super careful, but if one did break I wouldn't hesitate to toss everything and probably clean and repaint my whole cab, and toss out the old carbon filter even.

here's a link to the EPA's guidelines on proper cfl cleanup and disposal <--. pleasse don't throw out your old cfls either! take them to the proper disposal places, (I think homedepot and lowes have cfl recycle bins when you walk in). Everyone that grows with cfls should read that link quick, it's pretty surprising.

**edit from 2016** after the forums changed this year, it broke alot of my picture links in my thread. So if you see the pic in the post, it's the right one....but sometimes if you click a link to a pic it might take you to someone elses random pic in the gallery!! some work, some are broke...sorry.

 

hope that helps a little with figuring airflow, figures the first question is one I don't know off the top of my head. I don't really use specific formulas for calculating airflow. I kinda look at that chart and try to go a little over kill with cfm and just dial down my fans to the right temp/flow. Sorry I don't have a more accurate answer for you concerning air exchange per minute..I would guess that 5-10 per minute would be about right..? There's also quite a bit of other thing to factor in such as "smoothness" of the airflow as I call it. Twists, bends, and rough surfaces are going to slow down your airflow as well as put more strain on your fan...try to keep the airflowing as smooth as possible to stay close to what the chart suggests. With the airflow in most of my boxes I try to aim for a slight breeze on the plants at the least. also I recommend using both your fans for exhaust and just have passive intakes..this creates better airflow and more negative pressure. Without negative pressure in your cab smells can leak out because they're not all getting sucked through the filter.

I would try to veg until you have a nice full, flat canopy. Try to get a nice big even canopy of budsites...then flip 12/12 and you'll have a ton nice of colas. After the flip, keep training/lst a little here and there, until stretch is over(bout 15-20 days I'd guess) Don't pull big branches all the way down...just pull down the tallest shoots and try to keep them even with the rest of the canopy...even canopy = even sized budsites. If even just a few budsites are taller then the rest they will dominate the canopy and lower your yield. yeh so since I don't know the size of your canopy I can't really guess how long it would take just try to leave a good 12-16 inches/30-40cm for the buds to grow above the canopy. It's very strain dependent on how tall the budsites will end up, but if you keep them under control it doesn't matter. If they end up too tall you pull them down to where you want them...if they end up a little too short, then raise the plant up till it's done and you'll know better for next time exactally how tall those budsites need to be when you flip. check out scrog method too, sometimes it's a little easier to use a screen when you're first learning how to train a plant.

I think that mix of light will be fine for veg, but I would switch to all/mostly ~2700k during flower. Plants will produce nice buds with the added blue light, it will also reduce stretch a little if you want to wait to switch to 2700k until stretch is over...that works too. IME more blue light produces slightly more fragrant buds, but also more leafy, which reduces overall quality imo.

holy crap. ok I'm done. I need to figure out how to shorten my answers


edit: not done. I say with air flow if you're running 50-100 w per sq foot and keeping temp under control...and your plants aren't flapping around like their in a hurricane... you should be fine.

 

How big is your canopy/light footprint? I'd say anywhere from 30-50w per square foot for veg and 50-100 for flowering.

 

here let's see how this works.

like that?
also here's a link to my album..pics get big in there too easier then me reposting everything.

hmm how can I post a big pic you don't have to click on? I know there's some way to paste in a thumbnail pic, then delete the "thumb" text and it makes it big. I just can't figure out where to copy paste that "thumb" link from...apparently I posted them like that in my first pic where I can just delete the thumb part out, but I don't know how I did it before.

 

hey welcome aboard lazywalruss. quickest easiest meathod would probly be like a cereal box ductaped up...making the light do 2 90 degree turns..and color the inside black with a sharpie or something you also can just get 2 90 pvc elbos and make an "S" curve and paint the inside flat black.


the cleanest meathod I've found is the angled lightrap invented by scrubninja from icmag. it consists of a bunch of angle pieces stacked on each other with a small gap between. If you look through the pics above you'll see that design in most of my boxes...they're very low profile and very "open" so they don't restrict the airflow much. hmm actually they're kinda hard to see in those pics. if you look in the bottom right corners of the 2 PC boxes you'll see small versions. I made a bigger one for the double speakerbox door..I'll upload a pic in a few after I get medicated

Hi merciless I've built quite a variety of carbon filters. Round, square, flat...tubes, domes, double filters etc... My favorite for small scale is the pencil holder style. google "wolfman zen's diy carbon filter" for that one...I can't find the smaller insert holder at walmart lately though..good thing I stocked up. These can also be made with similar sized netcups. Also carbon trays work great..just seal up a screened tray that slides out and lets you access the carbon, these also have the lowest profile...I guess you could build a vertical wall of carbon too..I've always thought that would work good if you could seal it well. I also use the occasional fabric softener sheet and those square black carbon filter sheets..but those are only good for in veg.

 

hmmmmm

yeh I guess I'm dumb. now I can't figure out how to link a thumbnail...wtf is going on? it just links a broken pic..but now the big pics work..I need some more weed to figure this one out.

****edit from the future: fixing broken louver pic links:

 

that's a great tutorial josh, I wasn't sure about posting to other growsites....I'm still pretty new here the only things I do different is I use the plastic pieces instead of metal..mostly cuz of the cost and it's easier to cut. I also used 1/4" weather stripping as spaces between the pieces..weather stripping worked alot better for me then gluing tons of tiny pieces together..still had to glue it all together but at least the WS stayed put.

thanks for the support Lazywalruss, I started this thread for just that reason...to try to cut down on alot of the "help me" threads. There seems to be as many help me threads as there are "here's my grow" threads.

happy Halloween all, stay safe.

edit: I wanted to add to that everyone is welcome here, and everyone is welcome to give their advice or ask for advice .. or come in a tell me I'm completely wrong!

I would also like to try to keep any "help me pics" that ppl post in thumbnail size plz.

 

I've never used them before..just the old 25$ ph meter I have...serves me well.