Hello and good day Grasscity community! My name is Josh. First time posting, first time planting, long time GC reader. I've read a bunch of forums to make what my box is today, but some issues still occur and I'm at a minor halt. I thought asking the community myself would be the next best thing to do. I apologize in advance if this is gonna be rather long. I just want to promote understanding and remove any confusion as much as possible. I also believe this can be very helpful for other people who share the same situation as me and can pick up from this forum. Please keep in mind that I live in a Tropical area where things get hot hot hot! I also live alone in a condominium unit. SETUP: Box is made out of plywood, hand-sawed and stuck it together with construction grade glue. Growbox Dimensions: Height: 24" Width: 16" Depth: 14" *The interior of the box is covered in reflective foam. Under it is flat white paint. Removing the foam is not an option anymore.* LIGHTS: The box can hold up to 8 bulb sockets, but currently only has 2x 55w CFL lights for testing purposes. VENTILATION: 2x Generic 120mm CPU case fan (1 intake, 1 exhaust) 1x USB Fan inside box (To cool lights) CPU Fans are powered by a PC Fan Controller (Deepcool Rockman) *Most of my work is DIY stuff. I try to avoid having to spend much money on a product that I could potentially create myself for cheaper (if it ain't too hard) Problem # 1 HEAT As you may have already suspected, HEAT is my numero uno problemo. I understand optimum temps are 20-30C. But here are my temperature readings: Lights on: 33-35C Lights off: 23-25C Ideas/Solutions: a. Purchase a branded CPU fan to blow out stronger air b. Construct a mini A/C with PC fans and some frozen bottles/ice *cutting a new hole, passive intake, removing reflective foam are not options really. I want to keep the box as it is as much as possible* PROBLEM # 2 LIGHT LEAKS Weed is weed no matter what. It'll grow in most conditions as long as it receives the basic needs. But in order to have good weed, I just want to know what to do with my light leaks coming out of the fan holes. I have tried DIY Darkroom louvers, light traps, but no matter what I do airflow seems to decrease. Ideas/Solutions: a. Leave it as is b. Cover holes with black cloth (lessens light, doesn't block airflow but does not completely block light either c. Elbow-pipe (my least option because it makes the box less stealthy) PROBLEM # 3: SMELL I know it's a long time from the flowering stage but I hear weed stinks like a bitch, so I want to plan ahead and create a way to hide/drive the smell away somewhere. Ideas/options: a. Move the box into the bathroom where there's a vent (moisture probs?) b. Construct a small carbon filter (elbow pipes?) This will be my first grow and I don't just want to grow weed, I want to grow it well. I need help from this awesome community to give their best advice not just for my benifit, but for everyone who is under the same roof as I am today. Hoping for this thread to flourish and I just want to express my gratitude for all the help. Spreading love and peace to all of you. Jah bless! Will talk about the planting in another thread Below are attached images of the box: #GCCommunity #420BlazeIt Box Itself: (exhaust fan at the back) Temperature: (I just switched the lights on a few mins ago)
as a novice as well heres what i can share with you as my first grow is reaching its final weeks, 1: Dont bother with PC fans, go to walmart and get a 5 inch mini fan for 5 bucks and throw that sob in there at an upwards angle, Thats what solved my heat issues 2. during my boxes dark period i would throw a bed sheet folded over a few times over it, havent had a problem yet 3. smell wise my girls didnt start smelling until maybe 3rd week of flower and even know as flower day 50 approaches you can only smell them if you're within like 7ft of the box, riggin an exhaust out of carbon filters is highly recommended especially if you get an actual duct fan and exhaust set up. If theres other people in the house i also recommend slowly introducing gel/solid odor blockers as well as wall scent plugins ect to mask odors, but you got to remember a healthy nose will always be able to detect the slightest hints of some mary jane
Hey 45Grand! Thank you for responding I really appreciate it. It's nice to know a novice who's gone through these problems as well. 1. Really? Not even well branded, strong ones? I worry it may not properly fit the hole I cut out. Also, how sure are you a stronger fan will solve this problem? In my area Wallmart is inexistent so I'll have to look elsewhere. No prob. Remember temps with lights on range from 33-35 degrees Celsius. Also, do I need a stronger exhaust or a stronger intake? 2. I think that idea would be best. What should I do though when I'm let's say, out of town or spend the weekend with my family? Keep it in the bathroom for time being until I get back? 3. Where do I place these odor blockers and wall scents? In the box, outside the box, or all around the condo? Thank you again bro I'll take your advice into account. Much appreciated! Below is my exhaust hole and intake hole respectively.
if you can afford the high grade fans then by all means go ahead and use them! it just seems some brands of 120mm case fans barley put out a strong enough gust to barley lift the corner of a piece of paper. I just re-read your lighting and you have TWO 55w going in such a small space. temps are going to be much much higher. after i added a single 42w cfl the increase in temperatures at the top of the box was so severe it fried my single cola seedling beyond recovery ;( one of my fan holes is directly underneath where i have the lights mounted too I ended up having to un-mount that fan which was acting as intake and flipped it around so it started acting as an exhaust by the end of the day that day the heat stress that was starting to make the leaves cup seemed to have dissipated but it still seemed to warm in there. after two days i noticed the heat stress developing again so thats when i panicked and went out and bought the smallest fan i could find which just so happened to be at my local walmart, got that sob and fit it right under neath one of my girls pointed it upwards and they've been fine ever since tldr: 1. stronger exhaust and stronger intakes are going to be needed to circulate all that hot air, well branded, high air flow 120mm case fans should do just fine, im using chubby 80mm fans. I would not recommend "slim" sized fans though, but thats personal preference 2. these are factors that are going to have to be considered when the time comes that you may be away from your box. lets say everything's chill and your 100% confident that your plants are fine and can sustain themselves in your momentary absence, perfect temps, enough airflow, enough water, automated timers ect ect and if like leakage is a concern, then yes, isolating your box to a darker area fr the time being should help window in your bathroom? just be sure to cover it to keep the room as dark as possible. 3. Do not place odor blockers in your box you're gonna have to do some shopping to find odor blocks in your area, but in a pinch, glade twist open gel sticks should hide the smell for a moment. you're gonna want to place one high strength odor blocker in the immediate area surrounding the box within an arms reach of it. As well as highlighting high traffic areas such as the hallway of a condo with other odor blockers, such as glade wall scent plug ins or the jelly things you twist open. theres an industrial strength brand of Solid odor blocks that are used in sewage treatment facilities called "ONA" Which can be purchased from amazon although ive never used them and was able to mask the smell of my girls temporarily with a smelly candle while my landlord was here. heres my box
Thanks for showing me your setup! What you got over there? What pot size is suggested if I want to fit 2 plants from seed to harvest? (planning to LST, top, and ScroG it) 1. Decision is final: I am gonna purchase 2 high grade 120mm fans to replace the stock fans I currently have. Luckily, I have a fan of the exact size lying around in my other place. Sweet. 2. This box is semi-automated (except for watering) and no, my bathroom does not have any windows so when the door is closed, the room is pitch black. 3. Noted. This is the least of my problems as of now. Odor control wont be so hard (i hope) I appreciate you understand my problem and I also appreciate how clean this convo is... Haha Below is my empty box setu. What you think?
The inside of that box looks so neat and professional! i jealous of those socket mounts you got with a width and base of 16"x14" you should be able to cram (4) 6 inch pots into that space you can also browse local garden/hydro centers for wide circumference, deep and cheap black plastic pots that will fit inside your box, for example i believe a standard 1gallon pot is 13" fitting a plant to each side of one pot will eventually allow the roots of each plant to become bound, thus keeping them from growing bigger. have you ever heard of Bonsai trees? or at least know how they can be grown? put a tree seed in a pot and you get a stick that resembles a full grown tree put a tree seed in the ground and you get a true sized tree. the same principles can be applied with literally any type of plant that grows a wooded stalk My girls that you see in the picture are in one inch cubes along with 1" net pots to hold them above their reservoir which is a very very small steralite container painted black on the outside that barley fits in the box my box dimensions H: 32" W. 16" D.10.5" im very limited depth wise and looking back at it i could have let my clones veg longer but i literally wanted to keep them as small as possible, so as soon as the roots were a few inches long in the reservoir i sent them right into 12/12 here they are now that their' lights are warmed up and with the lighter for comparison to show how little my girls are id say if they were standing straight up theyd be barley 13" tall i didnt stay on top of their training and the main stalks started stretching back upwards and it was to late to bend them back over again as the stems got hard
Thank you sir! I don't know why I just have an urge to make it as good looking as possible. Might as well, right?/But hey, I only got socket mounts, you're already growing clones! Props to you man. Wait, so is your growing medium soil or hydro? A little confused why you have a long Tupperware if you habe netted pots. What's under there? Pure water or is there soil? Unless its a type of water catcher/resovoir?/I might just try to emulate your idea. Looks really sweet man. What are those tubes running? Automated watering? Your plants are looking good bro. Can already see buds coming out the top. How long was your grow time?
sorry i thought the set up made it obvious, But I'm growing hydro DWC hydro more specifically, the tube is just the air hose for the bubble stone inside of the reservoir and the steralite container isnt necessarily tupperware but just a really small sized storage bin, id say its big enough for an average pair of tennis shoes Today marks day #47 of 12/12 before that though i only vegged the clones out for maybe 3 weeks, like i said just until their roots were a few inches long down in the water just found a picture of my girl on the left in my other pics took a few days before going 12/12
