My first donut run

[owkia]

For almost a year now, I've been working on getting my first 'real' grow going. I've had a few small grows before, with my best being ~220 grams from 600w, but this is definitely going to be much more legit than the small setup I had to run before.

I've never really built anything of this size before and have never framed a room, but I had the basic idea of what to do and I'm ok with my hands so I said fuck it and jumped in. Nothing's really perfectly square (or I assume so, I don't actually own a square lol) or cut evenly, but it all came together in the end. Stoner craftsmanship at its best.

I'm going for a 6 plant setup with two 600w lights in the middle. I'll probably start the lights side by side and will raise one up gradually pulling the plants up with it. The setup itself is a RDWC/undercurrent-ish type of thing. I've got all of the buckets connected with 1" tubing and I'm going to have a 3/4" return line. This will be running like a UC setup in that the pump will be pulling water from the end of the loop and dumping into the res. And by the pump, I mean dual 396GPH Ecoplus pumps that I'm planning on running side by side. I was going only be running one pump, but I somehow completely forgot that I already owned one 396GPH pump when I bought the second. When I realized what I did, I again said fuck it and decided to run them together.

The strain that I'll be running for a while is Trainwreck. I got a few clones of her a couple years ago and almost lost it completely once. I'm glad still have her though. I surprised a couple friends with the insanely frosty, rock hard nugs that I was able to pull from my last grow. I can't wait to see what she's going to do with a vert setup.

And a few pics of how it's turned out so far.

The front of the room with my mother/clone tent off the the right.


Inside the room, buckets in the general layout that I'm going for. There's ~ 5'x5' of floor space in there.


To the right again, 4x2 mother tent that used to be my apartment flower room. Mechanibus inspired Stanley blower on top.

In the lower left of the picture, you can see the 1" tubing sticking out of the wall. The res will be sitting somewhere down there, possibly on the concrete floor depending on water temps. Above it I'll also have a second tub with fresh water topping off the res 24/7 via float valve.

This is all taking up about half of the garage. I might get to take over a bedroom some day, but for now the GF (and landlord) told me to keep it in the garage.

One nice thing about being in the garage is being directly next to the shiney new 200a electrical panel, seen above. I'm going to drop in 3 new 20a breakers, with 2 of them to power 2 sets of recetacles mounted in a box on the wall for the ballasts, the third will be ran to a receptacle in the grow room itself for fans and a possible AC down the road. The garage also already has a 20a GFCI on the wall that's powering the mother tent.

So yeah, it's pretty close to being done. I just need to run to the grow shop tomorrow to get a couple more fittings. The last online orders were made today for the second 600w light and another Stanley blower. Hopefully I'll get the tubing all connected tomorrow so I can do leak testing. The exhaust ducting also needs to be hung and then connected to the blower when it arrives.

I think that's about it for now. I'm pretty high right now so I really hope I made sense...
​

 

[420ish]

good luck!

 

[Stress_test]

You didn't mention how tall the room is?
And how long will you veg em before flipping?
Are you intending to cover the inside of the room?

I know from experience that 6 plants in 25 sq ft isn't going to leave much room, especially if you veg em 30 days.
I've been watching a stadium grow that has 3 shelves on each side of 3 1K lights, the shelves are 12" high and the plants really start crowding, and Trainwreck likes to spread out when grown vertical.
Do you plan on screening the inside of the doughnut like a vertical sog?

This will be interesting because you have so many options open... I'll hafta watch this one.

 

[sublimesmoker]

Hey Owkia, nice setup man. Definately listen to the advice u get on here, and if ur ?'s need answered then u found a good place to ask em. Lots of friendly helpful advice on here too

 

[bobblehead]

Nice! And a perfect example of gradual growth instead of jumping from shit-shoveler to ranch-manager. Keep us posted!

 

[smilley]

5 X 5ft is plenty of room for 6 plants. I'd line the walls, ceiling & floor with panda plastic. Stack the lights one above the other and don't fire up the second lamp till the plants grow into the light space (just above the lower bulb). I don't know much about the hydro set-up, but make sure you can remove at least one of the plants to allow maintenance and training of the back plants. If you run a screen between the light and the plants this will make maintenance even harder as you won't be able to use the center area to stand in for maintenace. It will be a little crowded in there when the plants are in full bloom, but should work excellent for you. Good luck.

 

[Airnut]

so I said fuck it and jumped in.

Tagged!

It is going to be most interesting in this nice setup!

Any thoughts on maybe only use 1 pcs of 600W? Them 600´s can warm pretty much space above ideal temp, or do you think your vent can handle it?
My concern is the watertemp in your buckets may go too high.

 

[owkia]

You didn't mention how tall the room is?
And how long will you veg em before flipping?
Are you intending to cover the inside of the room?

I know from experience that 6 plants in 25 sq ft isn't going to leave much room, especially if you veg em 30 days.
I've been watching a stadium grow that has 3 shelves on each side of 3 1K lights, the shelves are 12" high and the plants really start crowding, and Trainwreck likes to spread out when grown vertical.
Do you plan on screening the inside of the doughnut like a vertical sog?

This will be interesting because you have so many options open... I'll hafta watch this one.

Ah yes, I'd say it's a little over 6' to the rafters. I'm about 5'10" and I have no problem standing up in there. I'm not 100% sure on veg time yet, but I don't think I'll quite go for a full 30 days. I'll see though.

I definitely plan on getting some chicken wire or something to create a 36" circle. The TW buds will need the support and she should fill the screen up nicely.

5 X 5ft is plenty of room for 6 plants. I'd line the walls, ceiling & floor with panda plastic. Stack the lights one above the other and don't fire up the second lamp till the plants grow into the light space (just above the lower bulb). I don't know much about the hydro set-up, but make sure you can remove at least one of the plants to allow maintenance and training of the back plants. If you run a screen between the light and the plants this will make maintenance even harder as you won't be able to use the center area to stand in for maintenace. It will be a little crowded in there when the plants are in full bloom, but should work excellent for you. Good luck.

I don't think I'm going to bother lining the walls at first, simply because once the plants fill in, the backsides won't be getting any light at all. In the longer term, I am planning on eventually insulating the walls and probably putting Reflectix up as the interior 'walls'. By then, I'll probably also be moving towards sealing the room completely and possibly adding CO2. That won't be for a little while though.

Yeah, it is going to be a little tight in there, but I'm pretty skinny so I can squeeze around the plants to the back corners...hopefully. Luckily I'll be stripping the backsides completely so it'll free a little room up as things move along.

Tagged!

It is going to be most interesting in this nice setup!

Any thoughts on maybe only use 1 pcs of 600W? Them 600´s can warm pretty much space above ideal temp, or do you think your vent can handle it?
My concern is the watertemp in your buckets may go too high.

With this much space, I'm thinking (and hoping) it'll do really well with both lights. With the grow being in the garage and with it being Fall now, I'm going to see what the temps are like for a little bit as it's not so hot out. I'm also going to be running my lights on at night and off during the day. If all else fails, I do have a small window AC that I'll just build into the wall.

Oh, I will also be venting my exhaust out of the garage with insulated ducting. There's an 8" round vent high up on the exterior wall that's there just to vent the garage a little. I'm going to run my exhaust to it so I'm not heating everything up in the garage.

 

[d4nk]

Mmm donuts

 

[megayields]

shit shoveler to ranch manager lol....well I like the direction your heading I also had some concerns about them tree bitches just getting a bit too much to handle but sounds like you will do ok, listen to the guys like DHF, Bobble and a few others and you'll do fine.

Keep your airflow high and exchange that air regularly, manage your temps, Trainwreck like to stretch like a MO-Fo (or at least the pheno I grew did holy cow had to top it twice when I still did horizontal), BUT for old school killer smoke, it is a GREAT strain.

Good luck brah, keep it green!

 

[owkia]

shit shoveler to ranch manager lol....well I like the direction your heading I also had some concerns about them tree bitches just getting a bit too much to handle but sounds like you will do ok, listen to the guys like DHF, Bobble and a few others and you'll do fine.

Keep your airflow high and exchange that air regularly, manage your temps, Trainwreck like to stretch like a MO-Fo (or at least the pheno I grew did holy cow had to top it twice when I still did horizontal), BUT for old school killer smoke, it is a GREAT strain.

Good luck brah, keep it green!

Aye, I've already read through a shit ton of the Vert forum, including both of their threads and I'll continue to do so. Any advice they would have for me would definitely be taken seriously.

The TW does indeed like to stretch quite a bit, but I'm just going to use that to my advantage to fill the entire screen up. If she starts getting too tall, snip snip. I'm also going to be defoliating a ton.

It's funny how easy it is to spend money getting the grow going. I ran out to Lowe's and the grow shop today to pick up a couple small things. I ended up spending around $90 between the two stores somehow.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

$90 WOW you got off cheap.

 

[megayields]

Uh yeah bro...$90 is cheap, when the owner of a CHAIN of hydro stores knows your,first name, that's God's way of telling you your spending too much at the hydrowhore store....at least that has been my experience...heheheh but once you get things dialed in...the you just replenish nutes, change bulbs every 2-3 runs (depending on how cheap you are....I'm running bulbs that have 9 runs on them BUT gro-bro said " gotta change them" ) I only buy a few Smart pots , actually I am gearing up for next years OUTDOOR run, trying to decide on 50 or 100 gallon smarties....well good luck man .......it' s a freakin journey but well worth it IF YOU go the extra mile for 1) quality 2)and are willing to learn how to do it right....just my .02 cents.

 

[owkia]

Lol, yeah $90 isn't horrible. The GF spent at least $400 the day before though and I was only planning on getting maybe $10 worth of stuff so I surprised myself a little. Of course, I was only planning on getting a couple fittings and a pice of ducting...

And yes, she spent that $400 on the grow itself. Not only is she super supportive of the idea, but I have to admit that she is funding most of it up to this point.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Wow, does she have a hot sister? lol

 

[GrownOut]

Nice grow dude. Cant wait to see how it turns out. Looks like a well thought out setup that should kick some ass. I have really been wanting to build my own UC system for awhile now so any and all details and pics especially will be greatly appreciated for sure.

 

[owkia]

Wow, does she have a hot sister? lol

Lol, only a brother.

Nice grow dude. Cant wait to see how it turns out. Looks like a well thought out setup that should kick some ass. I have really been wanting to build my own UC system for awhile now so any and all details and pics especially will be greatly appreciated for sure.

I'll be getting a lot more pics soon, especially as I finish the final pieces of the build.

Most UC systems tend to have larger lines running between the buckets, in the 2"+ range it seems so I'm hoping the 1" tubing works out OK. Whether it works as well as a traditional UC system or not, I'm betting it will still do pretty damn well overall. I'll know for sure soon enough.

 

[~Shhh~]

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Bummer Any updates bro?

 

[Anti]

Check out Maj. Cottonmouth's setup. He's the donut king.

I'm thinking you might want some kind of mesh cylinder to anchor the buds to if you want a true "donut."

You might consider painting that room to seal the wood. Bathroom/Kitchen paint or anything that says "Mildew proof" should do the trick.

And there's always the inexpensive beauty of reflectix.

Nice work thus far. Let's see some bitches!