Alright, I finally brought my cab into my room from the garage after getting quite a bit of work done on it. There is still more work to do but I thought I'd start posting the progress. I've also got some issues/problems with it, hopefully some of you guys can help me out. I built it from scratch, even the light fixtures are custom lol.. built em from left over wood. I wanted to keep it on a low budget and get a few successful grows under my belt. I also want to learn more before investing lots of money into a cab.. building this one helped a lot. I tried to keep it looking as clean and neat as possible with what I had to work with and my budget. There aren't too many pics yet as the batteries in my camera died, but I will take more tomorrow once I go buy some batteries. Heres the pics I got for now, starting from the oldest pics to the most recent. Old setup: Hey.. you gotta start somewhere First attempt at new cab: Running four 13W CFLs.. I know, I was baddass. First set of leaves Second attempt: A little progress.. My lil plant again, now with two 42W CFLs
Heres where I am now: 3 Intakes & 3 vent covers Attached together Glued/sealed in place Two intakes in flowering room Exhaust & PVC elbows connecting the veg/flower room Veg room, lights off Exterior of cab finished Inside of cab door Front shot of both veg/flower rooms with lights on. The lights in the veg room (right) are actually going to be the flowering lights but I have no plants ready to flower yet so I'm vegging my main plant under softwhites in the flowering room for now.
My baby now.. after the accident. I put her in my cab two nights ago.. forgetting that it didn't yet install the intakes. Well when I checked on it the next morning it was burnt and my cab was over 110 degrees. I know.. idiot move on my part. Luckily it survived and it will make a come back (idk how it will affect my yield)! Anyways, with the intakes installed, the temps are around mid 90s which is still too high. I'm thinking of installing another exhaust, any opinions on how to get temps down in my cab?
Excellent job man, very very clean. Where did you get those vent covers that fit in the PVC? Whats the room temperature the box is in? Is that exhaust fan AC or DC? I have a 5 or 6" AC fan like your exhaust and it moves quite a bit of air but it is a little on the noisy side. I'm guessing a carbon filter isn't necessary for you? Here's how I do the pics. After you upload them to your gallery go view your gallery and click on the image you want until the popup screen comes with the pic then right click on the image and click properties, on the box that comes up there's a section called "image properties", under that it shows "location", double click that line so it selects the link, then right click it and click copy. Then go to your post your making and click the "insert image" button (right under the undo button) and in the box that pops up right click in there and hit paste. Now you should see the pic in your post full size. For the 2nd and on pics just click the "insert image" button and right click paste and then change the file name to the next image. That saves you copying the whole link again from the image gallery. I hope all that makes sense.
Thanks rob, I got the vent covers from my local hardware/lumber store. I'm fairly sure its a 12V AC fan from a PC, ill have to double check though. Room temp is about 70-75 I believe. It will be come time to flower my plant, haven't had anytime to make one or look into purchasing a small one. Thanks again, ill have to check that out after I catch some ZzZzZz.. just finished a midnight shift and I'm exhausted. Time for bed! TiCkEr
nice looking setup,man i suggest you to start another grow, i know that probably you wouldnt do this,but its not worth to keep growing this plant. my friend had two plants,which also was burned,and he killed them,and i killed my plant too,because of light burn
Thanks bro, ill have more pics coming later. As for killing the plant.. I think I'm going to tough it out. The big leaves died but all the undergrowth is doing great. I gave it some organic ferts and some blood meal yesterday and it seems to be loving it. I'll take an updated pic of it in a day or two, it looks a lot better with the dead leaves snipped off. Lets just hope its a she. TiCkEr
You probably meant 12v DC, if you got an 120v AC fan the same size I bet you'll have more air flow. Since the room temp is low you should be able to get it down to 80 at least. But once you add a filter of some kind that fan might not be enough. You might want to figure that out before the cab gets filled with a plant. Maybe 2 fans with 2 flat filters? Not really sure what to suggest, it would be trial and error for me.
My bad, it must be a 12V DC fan then. I knew it was 12V, thats about it lol. I'm thinking of investing on a much larger exhaust fan which would cost $40 or so. Then again, I might be better off picking up one of those mini air conditioners for $100 and set it up to a thermostat inside the box. I'll figure it out, trial and error is what I do best lol. Edit: I checked out a 5' duct fan today and figured it really wasn't worth the trouble so scratch that. Where can I find 120V AC fans? Heres a layout of my box and how its vented, hopefully you guys can give me some pointers on getting the temps down. I'm hoping that a 120V AC fan will do the trick. TiCkEr
More pics/update: Well here is my plant now 5 days after it got burned and its making a great comeback. Temp and humidity level is perfect.. when I keep my cab door open . Would it be worth investing on a small AC unit? Does anyone have any experiences with these? What would be my best bang for my buck? My light fixture in flowering room (used as a veg room atm). Two 42W 6500k and one 2700k, should I go all 6500K for veg, or is mixing the spectrum up a bit alright? How I hold my fixture in place. Pulley system for my light fixtures. Makes it real easy to raise/lower the lights. Farther back, you can see both pulleys holding up the light and going through the loop. Wires go through the loop down to the bottom of my cab where they go through another loop and are secured. Tucked wires in behind my reflective insulation to keep it looking clean. This method is definitely worth the extra work rather than using chains IMO. To raise/lower them I just go to the bottom loop where they are secured and loosen it. From there I either give it slack and the fixture lowers or pull more wire through and it raises, zero hassle. Thats it for now, I could really use some help on cooling this cab guys! Rob gave me the idea of getting a stronger exhaust fan (120V AC) instead of my 12V DC.. anyone have any recommendations regarding where to purchase one of these? I'm also willing to invest $100 or so on a micro AC unit. (maybe I should start including hot Asian chicks as well to whoever helps me out.. lol)
how do you keep light from coming in and out from your intake and exhaust? thats what im working on now. I love the setup, good luck!
Thanks dude, appreciated. By using PVC elbows and putting vent covers over them. I've got pics of them up a few posts, check em out. And thanks for the kind words, GL to you as well! TiCkEr
High TiCK! great job man! I think is ok to mix it up with the spectrum. Never used the cfls before though. using 2-1 for veg and then 1-2 for flower should be fine. Peace and keep up the great work, bugout
Hey Bug, thanks for stopping in. I'm planning on getting some more CFLs so ill be going straight 2700k come flowering. I'll be sure to pop in to your grow journal, I was reading it yesterday, lookin' good. TiCkEr
High TiCk! I still think you should leave a few 6500 in, if only one. Just cause I have this one 400w hps thats not a hortilux and it definatly makes my leaves yellow worse(not just a little either). Its just somthin I noticed, and really feel that a spectrum balance is important. but it may just be that shitty bulb/balast...lol. peace and GL, bugout
Well I've been meaning to get myself a UVB so ill try and get a 6500k UVB/CFL.. maybe throw another 6500k in there since the UVB is only going to be on for 5hrs. during mid day. Thanks for the info Buggy. If you've got the time to check out my heat issue that would be great (I have a diag back a few posts). Any input on how to cool my box and where to find the equipment to do it would also be amazing! TiCkEr
Looking at your diagram I don't think 1 pc style fan (don't know the proper name) like that would be enough even the AC one. I think a decent 6" 120v PC style fan would be needed for each side, not sure where you would get them though, online I guess. But all thats out the window once you throw a filter on there, not sure what effect it would have then. If your willing to get an AC go for it, of course it would be outside the box. Do you know of any "real" micro AC's? A few months ago I look hard for a true micro AC but couldn't find anything. Have you tried closing off the veg box just to see if the fan you're using brings the temp down from where it is? Are you measuring temps in both sections?
Hey Rob, I tried looking for AC units and thats out of the window now, their too hard to find and too expensive as well. With the veg room off I'm still having temp issues with my flowering room, and yep, I've got a thermometer in both sections. I came across this while searching the forums and it really caught my eye. I think I'm going to try it out and ill most likely be going parts shopping tomorrow. http://forum.grasscity.com/general-...umidifer-chiller-small-grows.html#post2612669 TiCKEr