I am in the middle of building a pc grow box and thought I would share it with you. All comments and criticisms are welcome. When its up and running I will do a diary. How this will work is the 70w hps will be running 12/12. Every 25 days I plan to harvest a plant and add a new one. The new seedling will go in the small pot untill day 25 then be transferred into its finishing pot where it will stay till harvest. It has 2 pc fans for circulation and one for extraction via a 4" carbon filter. It's basically built but I have a snagging list of problems to sort. The first being temp. Previously I had the same bulb and filter running in a small cupboard and it kept the temp at 24'c. I assumed this pc would get hotter quicker so I thought I would jump straight to a 120mm fan (without testing the temps of my 80mm first) which was a big mistake!!! As the 120mm fan is larger than the 4" ducting, I had to blank off some of the hole. This is causing all sorts of airflow issues resulting in high temps. So I'm going to try the tried and tested 80mm fan which fits the ducting perfectly. I may just block the extraction hole for the 120mm and make a new one at the top. It was just easyer as there was allready a hole there. The second problem is light leaks. What is the best method to stop light leaks found the doors?? Any help would be good. ** Delivering your shit via planet express **
awesome setup! you should try doing a perpetual, instead of every month! just add another bulb that doesn't make that much heat and i would put in a seed literally every week or even every couple of days! just an idea, but that setup does look awesome. honestly, i think you've inspired me! lol.
oh as for the light leaks, you could get a light meter or just turn on the light, close the case and go over the areas where light is leaking. building my tent took a whiiiiile because of the light leak issues.
Only have room for 3 plants and each one will have to be in there for 75 days that's why I will pop a new seed and harvest every 25 days. Changed the 120mm extract fan for an 80mm one and temps have gone down to approx 26-7'c just under the hps and approx 22-24 in the middle of the box. Only had it running about 3 hrs though. Will run it longer tomorrow to see if the temps hold. Then I just have to sort out the light leaks problems. ** Delivering your shit via planet express **
Thats strange that the 80mm fan is better than the 120mm. I understand the duct issue but still. Whats the rating on the two fans and are the both getting the proper amount of amps as for the light leaks. Its really hard to find info on what people have done. My plan is to use weather stripping and put it on the door, so when i put the door on it just lines up with all the PC lines, so hopefully no light passes though. Im more concerned about getting light in during the dark periods. Stealth is a priority for me, but so is healthy plants haha
I think I'm going to try a combination of silicon sealer for the gaps where I'm not opening it and using magnetic strips (painted the same colour as the box) to stick over the places where the light leaks. Failing that I could allways drape a towel or cloth ect... Over the top of it to cover leaks. ** Delivering your shit via planet express **
How big is that carbon scrubber? I thought about doing this to my pc box once before with the carbon scrubber.
Just a standard 4" carbon scrubber. Probably a bit overkill but I know from past experience that its better to have too much than not enough when is comes to filtration. With a filter like this it means that I can grow the most smelly strains I want and not have any problems with smell. ** Delivering your shit via planet express **