My first grow, Semi-stealth closet DWC: Nirvana White Widow

Been lurking around for months learning as much as I can, ordered some Nirvana white widow seeds and am ready to start building. I have been totally inspired by Rumpleforeskin's awesome tutorials as well as other people here. Here I've designed my grow room based on what I gleaned from his setup and my available space.

http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=637527&stc=1&d=1309757355

http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=637528&stc=1&d=1309757355

The top left room is for the mother and cloning, the area below it for drying. The orange bucket is a DIY ONA bucket.

On the right is a 2 BB with 1 res, I will take photos later as I built them. Used grommets all the way around and doesn't leak at all. The big tube going straight down is my idea for a passive intake, just starts the airflow on the bottom left and goes up to the attic to the outside world. The cool tube for the light is open on one and the other end is connected to a modified LASKO blower as seen on this site and just exhausts into the attic. The front part has a sliding closet door not seen

I'm really concerned about my "novel" airflow solutions. Any suggestions will be taken and appreciated. I'm planning to buy a 400w hps/mh system and ballast, but haven't yet so if anyone has model suggestions you guys are the pros!

So intake and exhaust both come from the attic? The temps of your box are going to be directly related to your intake temperatures. A well built box is usually 5-7 degrees warmer then room temperature/intake temperature. Also sucking the heat accross the light first, then the plants isn't very efficient. Sorry not trying to be rude..just trying to figure it out.

It looks like a very nice design..just not sure if I understand the airflow.

for a 400w ballast I run sunsystems magnetic ballasts, I think...lol. The big white ones. I'd also pay the extra 15$ or so to get the 120/240v switchable one..even if you don't planning on running 240, it's nice to have the option for just a few bucks more. You never know if you'll end up remodeling or selling the ballast someday.

Here is a diagram of the intended airflow:
http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=638332&stc=1&d=1309885685
The intake tube continues in the attic to a window in the attic, so the intake is from the outside world. The outtake vent is connected to a blower that is in the attic itself.

Hope this clears everything up. I may remove the tube that channels the airflow to the bottom left corner initially and just let it blow straight down the left chamber. I think I'll have to add fans in the divider wall between the ONA bucket and the bubble buckets.

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it.

oh ok..I thought it was going the other way around...I haven't personally used ona gel, but I would think it would be better to put the gel after your plants so they don't absorb any of it...I think it would be more effective too.

I suppose I could put the ONA bucket at the top where the clone room is. I'll have to think on it. I was thinking there'd be more room for the ONA to trap the particles if i sucked it into the grow area.

Thanks for your suggestions!

If I understand correctly you only have one fan right? If that is the case it is probably better to put that fan at the end of your exhaust and have a passive intake on the bottom of the grow cabinet. If you can ($) go with independent reflector cooling.
Speaking of "ONA" I have never used one but those chemicals from ona bucket will pass trough the entire grow space before exiting out, there is a chance that it might create some problems (bud might smell like ona and/or plants will not develop well with highly concentrating chemicals in the air.
If you decided to go with carbon filter I would recommend you to get PHRESH filter. I have been running my 4" PHRESH non stop 24/7 for the past two month and as long as there is some negative pressure in the tent there is no smell at all even 1" away from the tent...
P.S. Use flexible duct for the reflector,when plants are small it would be easier to move reflector down and up when plants grow tall,unless of cos you planing to shift those buckets up and down then you can use fixed ducting...
Good luck.

Edited by RO76, 07 July 2011 - 09:49 PM.

Yeah, I would avoid using the ONA in direct airflow to your plants.

Your plants may absorb is extremely strong scent. Go with a carbon filter; they don't come cheap but they will last you for some time. I purchased some ONA jel spray only for when I'm opening my cabinet during the flowering stage. Helps eliminate the wandering odors after opening and closing my cab.

Or just build your own bro? I built my own for less than $30. I haven't used it yet as I'm still in the early days of flowering but I'm sure it'll work fine. If it doesn't then off I go to purchase one haha.

Can't wait to see this grow up and running!

Good luck!

hi guys, thanks for all the comments. The current design has a modified lasko blower at the top attached to the duct attached to the light in the attic. So it's setup to make egative pressure. All the tubes pictured are flexible ducting, I dunno how to model that better. The ONA bucket is going to be one of the homemade ones described on this site (making for two fans total). Based on your recommendations, i'll probably just put the ona bucket outside the closet. I want to use a carbon filter,the diy 400 cfm one looks good, but I would probably hook it to the open end of the light which there might not be enough room for. I'll look into the preash ones.

thanks again everyone, I learn so much from you guys!

My seeds arrived today! Going to use the paper towel method of germinating and was wondering, should I presoak my rock wool mini cubes (for use after germinating) in just plain water or should I use 1/4th nutes? My plan is to use Lucas for the hydro setup.

Thanks everyone!

Go half and half. Presoak some and use PH adjusted (5.8) water for the rest.

I usually start seeds in ph'd water for the first week or so then on to 1/4 str nutes.

Thanks, they just arrived today so I'm totally stoked. Will update with pictures soon!

Sadness. The Attitude sent Wonder Woman instead of White widow, I rechecked the order and I def ordered White widow. Emailed them to complain, hope they make it right.

http://forum.grassci...=1&d=1310750626
A picture of attitude's mistake.

My whole design has been for the taller white widow. Should I just try to grow the shorter bushier Wonder woman? I think i would do 3 plants instead of 2 if I did...

Built my bubble buckets today. Didn't put valves on the back since I figure'd I'd treat them like one big bucket. Tested for leaks, no leaks! Then decided to move them.... oh shit I should have put valves on the back. And that's why we don't skip Rumpleforeskin steps! Hahaha.

Going to put a sight indicator as well as a top fill on each bucket. If I end up growing the Wonder Woman they sent me instead of the White widow they were supposed to, I'll likely do 3 since Wonder Woman seems to do better in a sea of green type setup.

I'm concerned my smell neutralizing plans won't be enough for a skunk like Wonder Woman either...

I think one of the upsides of Wonder woman is height.. I could probably just stick a 4'x2'x6.5' tent in the closet and call it a day and be able to grow Wonder woman the way it deserves, the extra height was for the Widow...

What do you guys think? Anyone with experience growing Wonder Woman? I'll probably also germinate the Critical Jack to see if it's female..

Forget the tent. Seal the room and put up mylar. No need spend extra money on something that isn't all too necessary.

As long as you're getting good air flow in and out of the room, smell shouldn't be a problem.

In my opinion as well, do two plants and Scrog them nicely. You'll probably get more yield rather than jamming in three plants which will most likely fight for space.

Edited by KingKush, 18 July 2011 - 01:15 AM.

I have seen some grow journals on wonder woman before and it looked pretty good to me, but I haven't ever grown or smoked it myself. If you already got the seeds you might as well go ahead and grow some...or at least one. It might end up being better than you expect.

great room design, but like others i do think your vent system needs some re-tooling. first off, you don't really want to be inducting hot stagnant air from the attic. with that said, hot air likes to rise, and I don't really see the passive intake idea working as far as drawing air out of the attic down thru the pipe. And I don't think the ONA or even a carbon filter would be useful in that place, because there will not be any smell in that room, based on your design it will be filtering air from the attic. I would think you would want the carbon filter set up in the grow room, and exhausting into the attic. that way it draws in air from the stinky room, filters it, and sends it up to the attic via a blower fan (not sure how they work, but i assume u can figure that out).

You definitely want some kind of active air intake or at least circulation in the grow room if its going to be sealed up. even mounting 2 fans in the bottom holes in the wall of the bottom left room, blowing into the grow room, would create better air flow because they would then actually be creating negative pressure in the bottom left room, which would actually draw air down the pipe from the attic, cooling it along the way, and send it into the grow room. And I would add at least one more circulating fan inside the grow room to help w/ circulation and temperature control as well, as that 400w light will put out some heat!

Okay so supposedly Attitude has sent me my replacement seeds, we'll see when they get here. They seemed to be pretty nice about it! In the meanwhile I decided to go ahead and try to grow Wonder Woman! I've sprouted 3 seeds in a paper towel / ziplock bag, and now I've put them into rockwool cubes. One of them seems pretty bent up and weird shaped, I don't know if it's going to make it, if all 3 make it I'll grow 3 in my cabinet, otherwise I'd be happy with 2.

You can see my tupperware "humidity dome" in the background of one of these photos.