Advice needed! Micro DWC (Design Stage)

[Golden Portias]

Hello all! First post here at IC and im looking for some advice.

As you can see from my blueprints I intend to grow in a PC, well its a server cabinet so its much bigger than a PC Case, using LED's and DWC.

Im okay about LED's and my case (any suggestions on improvements welcome) but the DWC, now thats the only bit I struggle at. Will the plant be stunted because of the small amount of water, is 2Ltr enough to grow a plant in? Everyone I can find online using DWC uses one of the buckets but im for micro growing so I dont need one of thoes massive things. How much water does each plant need? I plan on having 4 plants in there and use some Sea of green on it. I just need to find out how much water is needed so i can get the size of tubs!

 

[Scrogerman]

Hey man cant see your pics. you need to edit the album(pic upload) to include it to public view, click & correct & we will be able to see it.

Not at all, its SWC you mean(shallow water culture), you cant really employ DWC in little micro cabs. but it will rock with the right maintenance.
Forget water to plant size, think Bonsai instead, although i dont grow Micro(will soon) thats what id be thinking, you aint growing trees.

Show us your shit bro! exact dimensions etc./

 

[Secretweapon]

I use a 5qt rez, sunleaves OXYgen stones. I have one plant in flowering under a 70w hps. My plant can drink the entire rez in under three days, I top it off every two days.


As far as fitting a reasonable size rez, have a look at this thread. He puts his pc case onto of a box that gives him more room for growing/larger rez.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=217315

I spent hella moniez on beneficial bacteria and seriously I think its paying off.

 

[Golden Portias]

Scrogerman, Cheers for the heads up about the pic, Uploaded it to a diff website and heres hopping it works. And your right SWC is what im doing I just never seen that term kicking around before, cheers!

Secretweapon I think my growbox is big enough for growing Loryder strains but more importantly, You were talking about topping up yours, which is something Im wondering about. Do you top up with just water and no nutrients? Or water with nutrients?

I know my plants should have X ammount of nutes a week but if I add water to the rez to top it up wont I have just diluted the solution meaning my plants might not get everything they need, or put nutes in and potentially over feed them? Also, dem der bacteria, Does that mean you dont have to clean your rez tubs out?

 

[Secretweapon]

I mix my nutes in a one gallon jug. When I top off the res I'm just adding strait nutes.(I'm a couple weeks into 12/12)

Benny bacteria help feed the plant along with keeping my rez free of disease/slime.

I don't and can't clean the rez. After the grow though ill be cleaning everything with diluted bleach.

A week before harvest I will either let herer slurp up her food or scoop out the nutes and flush her with clean pH'd distilled water.

I'm way to high to function, don't know if that makes any sense

*also don't think your limited to growing lowryders, you can almost grow anything 12/12 from seed, just not sativa landraces (although I think there is a member growing a 20 wk haze in a pc case).

 

[swayzak]

Advice needed! Micro DWC (Design Stage)

Just remember that with small rez size comes wider fluctuations in PH. I would just put one plant in there. Also if you are about stealth.... Then the air pump will not work. You can use an oxygenator that slowly releases pure oxygen, silent and no power supply needed.

 

[thinkin]

swc- how low can you go!

swc- how low can you go!

3-4L hydro per 2 plants while using 150hps worked awesome.
at times frequent top offs were necessary

Million ways to solve low rez volume.

consider top off bottles (insulated upside down bottle)
remote rez that is gravity feed or controlled by float valve.

or get bigger rez.


also recommend:
remote mount airpump to cool area. Whisper 60 is quiet.
Big round disk airstones fit very nicely underneath net pots.

 

[Eol]

Reasons why you shouldn't go dwc/swc:

1) It's going to be a nightmare to control ph in a rez that size.
2) You'll be constantly filling the rez once they start properly drinking.
3) The cab may well end up getting pretty warm due to it's size, despite using cfls and led. If this does happen your rez will start to heat up and that can lead to problems like root root.
4) Noise, air pumps of all size generate a humming sound. I suppose you could pass it off as the noise of the computer, but the sound of an air pump is more like a low humming noise, as oppose to the whooshing sound of a computer fan. This could make the grow more conspicuous.

Reasons why you should go passive hydro, using a medium such as coco or fytocell and a technique such as hempy buckets:

1) You don't have to fanny around with the ph all day, you water and that's it.
2) You can get away with watering once a day, maybe once every two days - even less when their young.
3) No real rez so don't have to worry about it heating up.
4) No working parts required, so it's quieter.
5) Don't have to worry about air pumps breaking, or air lines and air stones clogging.
6) Passive hydro is much more forgiving if you make a mistake than dwc.

Seriously research hempy buckets, they'll make life so much easier for you. I almost went swc in my current grow (bought the air pump and everything), but after some advice on here decided on fytocell hempies instead. I'm so glad I did, they're so damn easy to look after and the growth rate is still superb.

 

[Golden Portias]

Secretweapon cheers for the insight, even blazed i got what you were saying!

swayzak, Im not really aiming for stealth just the smallest place possible, also got the pump last week so its to late! I will have annoying sound all the time. (going to plug it in and see if its bearable the now because of what you said)

thinking, I will find a way that suits and let ya know! Its good to know that other have used 2ltr a plant and its okay. Im considering 2x 5/6ltr tubs with 2 plants filled with 4ltr + some reservoir.

PLAYER 2 has entered! Hempy Buckets. I curse and thank you for drawing my attention to these things Eol. I have a week before I buy the case and seeds (decided on Russian Rocket Fuel from ShortStuff) so I will use this time to research more into them. Read through your post in your sig and liked it so was on youtube having a glance. From your first pic my cabinet is like a 1/3 of yours but I intend to grow small plants. So i will need smaller tubs.
I like the idea of no rez so no PH to deal with. Cause im so green at this it might be better for me as a first time seriously growing.

Like I said earlier Im ordering the cabinet at the end of the month and once I have that I will have a much better idea of what space is available to me and what can fit in there. I know its small but ppl are growing in pc cases and this pc server cabinet has like twice the amount of room in it and it will just sit under my desk incognito.

This list is to let ppl see how my build is progressing and for personal encouragement when I check this thread out.

----------------------------------------------------
PC CASE
FANS (NEEDS POWER)
LIGHTS (NEEDS POWER)
REFLECTIVE SHIT
TUBS (5-6ltr)
PLANT NETS
STUFF THAT GOES IN PLANT NETS
AIR PUMP ,GOT!!!
BUBBLE STONE ,GOT!!!
TUBES FOR CONNECTION ,GOT!!!
TIMERS
THEMOMOTERS ,GOT!!!
PH KIT
NUTRIENTS
POWER CABLE
SEEDS
----------------------------------------------------

Thanks for all the input so far!

 

[Eol]

Seems like you're giving it plenty of thought man, which is good!

A word of warning though, I was in a similar position to you when I setup my cab, totally planning the entire grow before the cab itself had even arrived. As a result I ended up buying stuff (water pump, supply line + fittings, cooltube) that I never ended up using. My point is that you can never really judge what will work in the cab until it's in front of you. In my case once the cab arrived I saw i'd never get a rez in of a decent enough size as I was so limited by height - which you seem to be as well.

So yeah, imo wait till the cab arrives before you make any concrete plans!

 

[Scrogerman]

Theres some good advice flying about here. SWC might pose problems that you'll need to work around, but its more than doable. Coco im looking at myself, little bit mote to it than hempy's which is another good idea. You wont know unless you try different things bro.

Dont forget an EC meter bro, i didnt see one on ya list. G'Luck

 

[moonquasar]

You may want to check out this thread for ideas --
PC grow 100w pll, bubbler

 

[FreezerBoy]

Maybe I missed it but, where's the scrubber?

If you stick with the airpump, consider a small aquarium in the room to take the fall for the noise.

 

[Golden Portias]

Hello again.

Well basically I lost my job 3 weeks after posting this. Thank you Mr recession. So all my plans got shot to shit. Im starting over taking the advice from you all and inputing it into my new growbox.

Eol, I was racing ahead of myself as you said so this is my growbox. I found lying around the garage, It was an old computer desk but I cut that bad boy appart and took out what I needed.

As a computer desk in the garage.

Cut appart as the box I need it to be.

So I also managed to find some "Brilliant white" paint which Im applying to the inside. Due to my lack of income I was wondering if you peeps could help. Whats better for the light in the box, white paint or tinfoil??? (I just cant afford mylar)

I hope you all say white paint.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=33066&pictureid=769564

So this is me starting from scratch. At least I have my box this time to begin with.

Eol, Once again you have pointed us in the right direction. I have decided to use some hempy buckets instead of my original planned SWC. Cheers for the heads up!

One question I must ask is, I plan on using scog but im using an autoflower strain. Is it worth it to use SCOG or should I just use SOG instead???

 

[thinkin]

work to be done

work to be done

Be wary of people saying "You cant do that"
They usually have never tried.

Ventilation?
you WILL need to scrub!
its easy to do. million links and ideas.
For small grows, i like the cheap $10 coolmaster 120mm pc fans 69 cfms @19 dba. Think, I posted a pc scrubber in the DIY section. (if not pm me)

Inside cabinet reflective material:

I tried Tin Foil, Mylar, and White Paint.
Hands down White paint wins!
Mylar ug. its transparent!!! wont solve light leak issues! flaps around. Rather use tin foil.

HEMPY VS SWC:

Hempy buckets work well. Transplanted all my moms into Hempies.
esp in small spaces, lack of noise, and easily scalable for huge grows.

Just transplanted my flowering Hempy into SWC
The Hempy growth was way, way behind the SWC.
Likely many reasons why, influenced by grower or method.
Why risk a lower yield, go with the best.

ATM, running SWC with 1 gallon bucket with ~2.75 Liters of Hydro with biggest net pot you can fit in 1 gallon bucket. (use biggest disk airstone you can fit in the bucket)
As long as the light doesnt hit the rez, PH is perfect.
Top offs are a daily event. Almost becoming twice a day event.

But if top offs are too much.. throw a a blumat at it with a big rez. Should be set for long vaca.

Airpump noise.. seriously??! this is the EASIEST problem to solve.
Wrap it up in a towel.

Conclusion:
Through effort, patience and a little help from your friends, problems can be solved. Buy as you go. From original plans to final setup, I made so many design tweaks. Glad, I didnt impulse buy. Yeah and you can do all of this without letting your neighbors/friends know.

No sell, No tell, No smell - its hard for a beginner. just STFU and post on icmag

 

[Golden Portias]

thinkin, Found your post on the scrubber and will take what you said seriously. (post here for anyone, https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=209154) Still haven't figured out the fan situation but im going for 1 on the side for intake and 2 outakes on the back. Both with your cheap scrubber on them. Was looking into the ono block thing for reducing smell. As for noise I dont really care about that.

Good to know I made the right choice with the white paint. But on the other hand your saying SWC was better for your plants than hempy buckets. :S I made the impulse buy and have got a pump and airstone but I just dont know if I want to nurse them day in and day out. Im a beginner so I think i will stick to hempyB's and mabey after a couple of grows advance up!

Like I say fans are going to be the next step. Need to get my hands on thoes bad boys and install them into my cab.

 

[Golden Portias]

Hello again!

So after building my box and painting it I have bought my seeds, got my pots and today the light arrived.

Just started working again so the finishing touches will be some sort of air system that brings in fresh air, need some nutrients and a scrubber to clean the air on exit.

I'm going to put my seeds between plates over night with damp tissue paper to start the germ and then just poke em into the hempy buckets about an inch, should be enough cover right?

Well tonight I have to work on the box and hang the light so will soon be a grower.

 

[thinkin]

Good Luck !

congrats on growing

I'm going to put my seeds between plates over night with damp tissue paper to start the germ and then just poke em into the hempy buckets about an inch, should be enough cover right? - should be good to go


cabinet's never finished.. lol
just make sure cabinet doesnt get too hot. >86F
very low level of smell at the beginning. you got time.

 

[Golden Portias]

Cabinet temp is okay, Checked it a few times now, Noticed the light raised the temp a little.

One thing thats on my mind, I took the seeds from the plates after 24 Hours and planted them, Then i read up on germination and none of the 3 had any roots so I have jumped the gun and planted them as seeds. Noob mistake I know but first time grower here!! I get to make all the mistakes once!

I take it this will just delay it a while longer from peeking its leaves out but no major fuck ups like i have killed my seeds. I planted em last night so its only been 2 days whenever they sprout I will be a grower with a new thread to post in!

 

[FreezerBoy]

I have jumped the gun and planted them as seeds.

Nah. Weed has thrived for tens of thousands of years using this method, long before the invention of paper towels. Paper towels have no magic powers of germination.