Sergeant's got a brand new cab

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Well. I finally did it. I got off my ass and finished my mini ClosetMaid cabinet today. 23,400 lumens in 2.13 s.f.

I've had this cab and the 150w HPS for over 2 years without producing a gram of jam.
The cab inside measures 22" wide, 14" deep and 32" high.

I drilled two 4" holes in the floor of the cab for fresh air intake. The false bottom beneath the cabinet allows air to enter from the rear.
I covered the intake holes with carbon filter cloth and a fiber filter to keep out nasties and dust. A wire shelf from an old fridge acts as the floor and sits about an inch over the cabinet floor allowing air to enter from below the bubbler tub.

I installed a 4" toilet flange in the upper rear corner for air exhaust. A 120mm PC fan is mounted on the rear of the cab using screws through the fan flange flange and cabinet wall.

The fan is controlled using a 12v 1A transformer and is speed regulated using a Zalman Fanmate. A second unregulated 12v line runs inside the cab to run another PC fan for light cooling.
On the back there's a power strip, 150w HPS ballast, PC fan controller, air pump, timer, transformer and a fuck-load of wires.

My DIY carbon scrubber attached directly to the flange inside the cab. The scrubber is made from 4" and 5" duct, hardware cloth, worm clamps and pantyhose. I used pet store activated carbon making sure to vibrate it in tight using a rubber mallet lightly beating the outer wall of the scrubber.

I've found a 1/2" bed of activated carbon works best with PC fans, since they have trouble with higher static pressures. 2" carbon beds makes for shitty flow and higher heat.

Inside, I installed a 150w HPS bulb (15,000 lumens) in a DIY bake-a-round cool tube and mounted it to the ceiling. On the left wall I installed an adjustable CFL light fixture which moves up and down in a pegboard slider.

In the fixture went two 85w CFLs (4,200 lumens each). On the fixture, the second PC fan is mounted to cool the lights and blow across the plants. I put a 20w CFL in one holder just for size comparison purposes.

Initial testing over the last 2 days looks like the cab runs about 2-4 degrees over ambient with just the HPS and 4-6 degrees over ambient with both the HPS and CFLs bursting brightness.

The cab is almost silent and only has 2 pinhole light leaks which you really have to search for. Installing the EPDM gasketing on the door and mitering the corners makes all the difference in preventing light leaks.

I installed the cab between my furnace and water heater so there's usually sound in the room which deadens the fan and air pump sound.

I'm still need to build my SWC tote with screen as I'm not happy with my current tote size of 16L.
Just for giggles, I popped my twin 6 week old Citral girls in for a photo op.

Yummy.
Once I get my SWC tote and scrog screen set up, I plan on popping in a couple of the Citral clones I took.
Let me know what you think.

Edit...Cab upgrade info on page 7

 

[gdbud]

Nice cabinet you have built for your self.
I Need to build myself one that size to veg. my plants in.

 

[hazydreams]

SICK! i like the 150 w HID in the small space. people ask why when you could of just used CFLs? because he can! that thing is gonna produce!

 

[Chomp]

I like it...it's nice and clean looking.

Did you exhaust the cool tube? Can't tell from the pics.

Plants look tasty also

Chomp

 

[StupidBoy]

Yes, nice clean looking cab Sgt. Very good ideas using the toilet flange and your peg/slide board. Good luck with your SWC

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

gdbud, hazydreams, Chomp and StupidBoy.
Thanks for stopping by and the kind words.
The cooltube is passive and only is used to isolate the hot bulb from the buds. Having the carbon filter at one end promotes air flow through the tube. I can put my hand on the cool tube without any discomfort. Most of that cooling is probably from the inside fan and not the scrubber, though.
Do you guys think a 16L tote that is 17"w x 12"d x 9"h is big enough for a 2 plant SWC setup? Using 3" net pots flush with the tote lid, I can get about 2.5 gallons in the tote and still not submerge the pots.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Hazy,
I love your haze scrog in the plastic cab. The screen is looking nice and full.
Scrogging a sativa can be a bitch. I tried it with Master Kush a couple of years ago. The stretch and long flower are painful.

 

[BC Chronic]

Sweet setuo Sgt!!! Many reps for pulling it off too.. Those HPS can get hot and with cfl's, you did a fantastic job!!
I can't wait to watch it fill up!!
take care

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Thanks BC.
Temps are amazingly not an issue in the cab.
Once my clones get some roots, away we go.
Tomorrow is tub and screen construction day.
Later

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

The pc fan below the cool tube does the trick.

 

[Arthur Dent.]

Very Very Very Impressed, Firm Believer of there being one way to do things and this is always the right way.

Keep trucking.

Namaste

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Thank you AD.
My father always told me, "If you are going to do something half-assed, dont bother doing it at all".
Cheers

 

[Arthur Dent.]

And your father is a wise man, Wow wish I could see your face when you see the results.

Namaste

 

[someotherguy]

high man, nice little cab, and some clever solutions , kudos.

i see you asked about SWC and container size and the best answer i can give you is to point you at a couple guy's whose work will help answer all your questions in that regard.

anyway, the guy's you should check out are ScrubNinja and superpedro as both grow micro and both do the SWC i believe, in fact, superpedro does it organically using a bio filter to keep the micro-herd alive.

i'd post up the links but my bandwidth sucks today so you'll just have to to a search for them.

peace, SOG

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

S.O.G., Thanks for the props and links to fellow SWC growers I'll be sure to check out their setup.
Authur, I dont think my dad had this in mind when he gave me that advice. Regardless, it has served me well through life.
God rest his soul.

 

[hazydreams]

Hazy,
I love your haze scrog in the plastic cab. The screen is lloking nice and full.
Scrogging a sativa can be a bitch. I tried it with Master Kush a couple of years ago. The stretch and long flower are painful.

Thanks man! my set up is nice but still leaves something to be desired. im trying to get on vedantgreens level of 3 ounces per square foot. its not easy! as far as scrogging sativas goes, i just dont think the genetic traits are suitable for a micro scrog. it can be done but the screen would better be served with a heavier indica leaning strain. painful is a good term to use lol! im going to give Double gum a go after this to see if my lower yeilds are because of the strain i chose. i can already tell that the haze will yeild alot more then the durban poison per square foot.

on another note i think that the SWC will fly well in the micro cab if you can keep the water temp down to a reasonable level. My experience with SWC has shown that with the use of an air gap you can avoid root rot problems associated with DWC but there is still going to a point that if the h2o temps get too high youll see RR rear its head. i would suggest going over kill on your airstones and air pumps, be sure to change the airstones when you see them losing effectiveness, usually 4-6 months after being put into service. Placing the air pump outside the cab will reduce the intake temps and possibly drop your water temp slightly, a small pump circulating the water inside your res will help with Dissolved oxygen as well but be careful doing this as adding a pump adds heat to the surrounding water and you might be kicking yourself in the a55 by adding a big pump. in my opinion with SWC, if when you take the lid off and you have frothing water with bubbles everywhere, getting everything wet around it making a mess, you've got just about enough aeration, add another air stone and your good.



Good luck my friend keep it green!

 

[Classy@Home]

Very nice and organized...

Good luck...

 

[AsbestosToast]

I was/am entertaining the idea of a SWC, and you have a very similar setup to mine, so I will be checking this thread out! Good luck with the new cab!
P.s. Nice name.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Hazy,
Thanks for the good info on some pitfalls of SWC.
So here's my go at a SWC tub.

I used a 16L plastic tote and two 3" net pots.

The scrog frame is 1/2" PVC. I mounted the frame to the tub lid using 1/2" male thread by 1/2" female socket PVC adapters held in place by electrical locknuts.

There are two additional 1/2" adapters in the middle for my thermometer and to allow me to insert my probes from the conductivity and pH meters.

To keep out light and keep temps down in the res, I covered the tub in Refletix insulation and foil tape. Since my air intake is directly beneath the res, cool air from the concrete slab the cab sits on should be coming in at around 65 F.

My dual outlet air pump sits on the slab outside the cab. The airstone is 16" long. and make a real nice stream of bubbles.

I still have the unpleasant task of threading poly line through the frame to make the screen or finding some pre-made netting I can attach to the frame.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Right on Asbestos Toast.
I'll be watching yours as well.

Classy,
Thanks for stopping by and the kind words.