My grow box - Any feedback greatly appreciated

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by prideufc83, Dec 31, 2008.

  1. Well, this is my first grow and i must say im a little intimidated. I've been contemplating this move for a while and i have been following a lot of post on this site but no matter how much you read you still feel lost at times! But that's why i got you guys. Anyway, i went out and bought this wall locker, i figured it would be a good size to accommodate all stages of growing.

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    Although i thought of adding some plywood to the back to make it solid, i figured the hard cardboard will hold up and not let the smells of flowering out. If it does i guess i can always add it later. I used gorilla glue duck tape to seal all the places were nails were used to attach the board. It also gave it a little more structural support.:)
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    This is what it looks like without the shelves, i think it should be enough space to have a flowering side and a veg side and maybe a clone area at the top with a 2-3 foot florescent light fixture. Im not sure what layout im going to use or how much air i need. i used a CFM calculator but i haven't decided which to get or how much intake or exhaust im going to need. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions i'd like to hear em'. I already own two computer fans that have about 73 CFM, im not sure how im going to incorporate them so keep that in mind.
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    Im not sure if im over thinking things but i just want to do things right the first time. I went ahead and chalked all the edges of the entire grow box, even if the other side of the wood didn't go to the outside. I don't want any smells to get out or light to leak into the flowering area. 2 bucks for the chalk, hopefully it pays off.
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    Im currently using CFL's for lighting but i plan on getting something better, i just don't know what. Im very picky so i've been debating what type and how many watts. To be honest im not sure how much this small space should have. Its really between a 150 watt HPS sun system lamp or a 400 watt HPS/MH switchable lamp i saw on ebay. The two big things that have me worried are Lighting AND air((exhaust,intake,&filter)).:confused:
    For my growing medium i built an exact replica of the hydroponic system attached to the link.
    http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/p...c=34&jssCart=f5ef3ee2d10cfd9ef9c6649441ac7d2e
    I built it for a 1/4 of what they charge for it and it wasn't to hard. I bought a 10 gallon tupperware storage container and drilled a hole for the PVC valve so that i can change the nutes easier. I went to the Hardware store and bought the cheapest pond pump i could find, about 14 bucks. While i was their i went to the gardening section and bought an adapter for a hose that feeds plant pots with direct lines and attached it to the pump with a 1/2 in piece of plastic tubing(pics will be available soon). A trip to the pet shop got me the last component, two air pumps with stones for O2. Im using 4" mesh pots with hydroton clay rocks. When adding water to the reservoir i plan on poring it in through the mesh pots so that it can give them a little flush.:D
    I've decided to use Fox Farms nutes so i bought a three pack from amazon. While im waiting for the nutes to get to me i went to the store and got some miracle grow. I know that miracle grow is a big no, no, according to other growers on almost every site but im just using it as a sub until the good stuff gets to me. i only used under a 1/4 of the recommended serving per gallon and it still slightly burned one plant. i took some water out and added the same amount back in plain H2O. That seemed to have taken care of that prob, it's amazing how bad that miracle grow crap is but it's still popular! I also noticed that the girls were slopping down a bit so instead of having the water system on 24/7 i got a timer and i do 45 minute feeding every 3 hours & 15 minutes. It adds up to 6 feeding in a 24 hour period. I know i could do 2 hour intervals but i feel that the 3 hours give the roots plenty of time to get adequate oxygen before the next watering. As for the lights i keep them on 24/7 too, until i get the good one in. When i do, im going to do the 18/6 routine.


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    These are the girls!!:D Im growing two strains: 2x CH9 jack Feminized & 2x Thai Haze......(the thai haze ain't feminized so i hope they turn out to be female:rolleyes:)
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    This is what the box looks like for now. I really need to decide what lights and air system im going to use so that i can get things moving. The girls are small now but they grow so fast. Hit me up with ideas and suggestions, maybe some of you have been in this situation and know what works best.
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    I went ahead and scanned the building instructions and wrote in the dimensions so that all the green thumbs can get an idea of what im working with and what im going to need to make this work top notch. i plan on Sroging it out too so maybe that will help with the height limitations. i think even without the scrog i'd still have enough room though. I also plan on hiding all the wires and cables in small PVC pipes, i know it looks messy but i'm working on it.:eek: I wasn't planning on posting this until i was done with the construction but i'm stump with the air and light situation.
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    Thanks in advanced guys, any advice and counseling will be taken into consideration. Im so excited!!! i can't wait to see the fruits of my labor(our labor). Take care!!! :smoking::smoking::smoking::smoking::)HELP ME OUT!!!!! (im a new guy;))
     
  2. looks like u could have a good grow in there
     



  3. My box is the exact same as yours, Im using a 1x1 tray ebb n flow, 105w cfl for my veg chamber, which is on the left, I cut the top board in half to extend the flowering chamber which has a 400w cool tube w/ a 6 inch can fan for the cooltube(to cool the tube w/o having odor go thru sing ducting running straight thru and using a blower for exhaust w/ a carbon filter for smell, cut a hole at the bottom for negative pressure pull for air, w/ that setup you can eventually run co2 in the flowering chamber. in the flowering chamber Im using a rainforest drip system from gh. if you have any questions ask
     
  4. looks good u will defo need air in/out with hps...
     
  5. thanks for the input guys! im probably going to get the 400 watt system but im waiting on the company to give me the dimensions of the lamp.
     
  6. thanks for taking the time to reply polish! To be honest im not too worried about my yield right now, i just want it to work. This grow and all my future ones are purely for personal use! i just want to know what it feels to nurture it and see it everyday and just when we get to know each other, SMOKE THE SHIT OUT OF IT!! It's got to be great knowing that you harvested it yourself. Its a fun hobby too. Anyway, i decided to buy my lamp today. i bought sun systems 150watt HPS set up. i really wanted to get a 400 watt system but i wasn't to sure if it would be too strong for the unit im growing in. i guess if it works out alright i might buy a 400 watt'er in later on and use the 150 for the veg side. i still am debating the fan intake/exhaust issue. i've been looking around and i found some cool ones on ebay. ?has anyone ever heard of or used those marine(boat) fans?

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mari...BoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear#ht_2321wt_9


    they are pritty cheap and easy to wire (just like a computer fan i guess)
    $25 and 175 cfm. if you guys know anything about how much cfm you need for exhaust when you have two computer fans that run @ 73 cfm let me know.
     
  7. #8 achillesstand, Jan 1, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2009
    Are your cfl's in the 5500K-6500K range? The grow area looks kinda yellowish from 2700K lights. That one sprout looks a bit stretched, putting the higher range bulbs might keep em a bit more leafy. Im on my 4th leaf set just about an inch and a half tall with the higher range cfls.

    Awesome setup too. :)
     
  8. #9 prideufc83, Jan 2, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 2, 2009
    yeah, i know they look a little stretched. like i said, its my first grow and i started very unprepared. i started them off with a 200 watt incandescent! I know, major no,no. i should have read up on it first, but you learn as you go. your right about the lights achill,' im not living in the states right now so it's a little hard to find things at the local hardware. you gotta make due, you fell me? they are soft white 2700 ones,.. i think. the CFL's said marathon or something like that.... they didn't have the daylight ones. im not too worried cause i Got the HPS on the way, hopefully it gets here soon. What happens if they do stretch out too much?

    anyway, i went out to get some white paint to cover the walls but i didnt think it through and now the paint wont stick the the laminate. i read up and it said i need to sand and prime and all that other crap so instead i went out and bought 8 car window UVB reflectors and im gonna line it with that. I KNOW MYLAR IS BETTER. however, like i said before i can find that stuff were i live and im trying to keep the internet buys that relate to growing as minimal as possible. I'll post pics soon, hopefully it work out alright. thanks again for the input guys.
     
  9. I was looking at that same marine fan...its a 12 volt setup though..is there a converter for those?
     
  10. im not sure if theirs a converter or not. im guessing you can run it off a 12 vdc plug like i ran my computer fans. i took an old linksys power cable and spliced it into the computer fans wires and it worked fine. if you look at those fans they just have a positive and a negative wire coming from the motor.
     
  11. Yeah I totally know what its like to scrap for gear and such :) Glad you got a HID coming your way, you'll know where your money went when you see your buds. Can't beat the HPS for flowering. However, the HPS is also in the lower 2700K-ish range and might continue the stretching of your babies, especially early on. No big deal, you can go start to finish with the hps and probably be quite satisfied, but you will lose potential bud sites that would have developed from more leafy growth under higher range light (5500-6500K). Worse case scenario: HPS start to finish, a bit less yield, and you may have to tie and string up your branches if they're kinda stretchy in late flowering.

    GOOD NEWS for you is that you could buy a Metal Halide bulb and use it in your High Pressure Sodium fixture. IT MUST ALSO BE THE SAME WATTAGE. <<<DON'T REVERSE IT>>> HPS in a metal halide fixture = fire and other bad times. Ive never done this for myself, (I will probably next grow) but Ive searched the good old GC forums and that seems to be the word from many people, and I've asked a few electricians. You may want to search just to verify.

    Like I said, if you go HPS start to finish, you'll still get the good stuff.

    If you went MH for vegg and HPS for flower, thats about as good as it can get my friend :)
     
  12. Forgot to add that it's probably good you went with the 150 watt over the 400 for now. Get your groove down for growing with the 150 then jam that 400 watt baby in there. Just make sure your intake, exhaust are figured out well enough to cool the cab with the 400 watter. More airflow through your closet, the better.

    Heres a 140 watt HPS only grow i did a few years back. I had to harvest about 2-3 weeks early due to security reasons. You can see on the middle branches how sparse the budsites are and how long the stems are. The last couple weeks is when they put on weight the most, so, not even done I had a little under 2oz with 140 watts. I had other issues with the grow, (light interruptions during flower, bad soil, hot temps) I bet you could do better!!!

    Search this=140W HPS Early Harvest (pics)...bummer
     
  13. looks good but with the size of the box i would strongly suggest larger fans in and out and definetly carbon filter the exaust. Has great potential just be safe.
     
  14. hey achill, thanks again for the info. i know ths HPS is preferred for flowering but i just cant do both right now. im not too worried about it though cause like i said before, it's my first grow and things will only get better. i plan on moving back to the states next year and i dont want to have too much "grow gear" to move, it just might raise ?'s im sure i'll get a decent yield, im not concerned with the amount right now. when i get better hopefully i can help other guys out too. im sure after a year or two most people are damn near pro's, unless your an idiot! i was a little concerned about the stretching but i've decided to build a scrog screen. i think that should take care of some of the weight issues and size. im going to top them just once and try to get some small lights on the side, it should work out. im definitely going to get some air in their soon too, i'll keep ya guys posted. thanks and take care.
     
  15. these are the fans that i've been looking into. 4" and 250 CFM each. i might just get these but im not too sure how the noise is.
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    After the disappointing experience with paint and laminate i used car window uvb protectors. if you've read the thread before this post you'd know why. im waiting for some aluminum tape to arrive in the mail. i plan on tapping the edges and seems as well as covering the black tape. i just needed a strong surface so that the staples wouldn't rip the the material.
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    heres a look @ the progress they've made in just a couple of days. Its fast and i can imagine how much faster it will be when the HPS gets here.
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  16. How much that Wall Locker cost you? did you get it pre made?
     
  17. it was $110 bucks U.S. It's one that you build with instructions and a couple of screws. the only thing i didnt like about it is the backboard, other than that is great. oh, and you cant paint it unless you sand it and prime and all that other crap.
     
  18. Looking forward to seeing this to fruition. :) peace
     
  19. #20 prideufc83, Jan 4, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 5, 2009
    well, someone told me that the marine fans weren't too good. does anyone know of some good and cheap fans that would work out for my setup. i've been looking into the inline ones but i dont know anything about them. hit me up with links or pics if you know of one that has been tried. thanks guys. tomorrow im going to post some pics of the little ones, they've tripled in size in just 24 hours!! i need to get moving on this air situation too cause it's gotten up in the 85 degrees area and i've read that it's not good to have it that warm. take care guys,,,and gals.
     

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