My Micro Grow (GHS Green-o-Matic), 188W CFL, Need Advice

[DIYnewbie]

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS!~

1. The germination process has begun! How i love to work under pressure.
2. The situation with the stealthiness of the grow around the house has been resolved, so not i am no longer confined to the tiny piece of table i currently have, and will be out tomorrow looking for a suitable replacement.
I have had my eye on this Rubbermaid cabinet that has double door opening. Passive intakes on the bottom, high enough to solve the issues with unruly plants, if needed i can rewire and convert my lighting to fit just about any enclosure. Tomorrow the final cab construction will be resolved.

Also , I realised that for the first 4-5 days that the seedling has popped, i dont have to have it in the cab, as it does not need the full amount of light. I can just plot it into the pot, and place a light above it with like 23w or so of light.

As far as the fan situation is going. The 100+ CFM fan is a damn jet engine. Bought 4 35CFM 80mm fans that run WAY quieter and will put 3 of them in line to up the pressure (caulking them together to get a good seal between them). This should help up the pressure of the fans and get some exhaust out of the cab.

HOORAY!

 

[yesum]

I start the seedlings in ffoc with added ewc and perlite. At flower i up pot to ffoc, ewc, perlite and Rainbow flower mix. Just water it no nutes.

 

[DIYnewbie]

NEW CAB!

NEW CAB!

Alrighty! Went out and bought myself a sexy sexy cab at Lowes for like 60$. Well worth it in my opinion. Sooooo much easier than the cab i had and now i can fit 2 plants in there.



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After building it i put weatherstripping on the outside, so that when the doors close i get a nice tight seal that wont mess up the negative pressure i am trying to achieve.
As with any plastic assembled furniture, there were gaps between the pieces. Black caulk solved all that!



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After that was done, i proceeded to cut a 9x7" hole in the bottom, and glued on a vent grate to help with the lightproofing efforts.



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And, the icing on the cake, i took the extra shelf, drilled holes on the side, and plopped it right over the passive intake, giving the light just that much more space to travel across, hopefully making this build completely light proof!
We shall see soon.



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[DiscoBiscuit]

That ought to go a long way toward trapping light. You can test it by turning on the cab lights and turning off the room lights. If you can't see light bleeding from the intake, that part's good to go.

You may have to trap the door hinge cracks but that's easy with a strip of bezel material the length of the crack and wide enough to pleat and duct tape along each edge. The pleat allows the door hinge to swing.

You mentioned dust. An intake filter is easy to add. I use used dryer sheets. They're not hepa but they're better than commercial hvac filters. They don't have a frame so I had to make something to attach the sheets to. You're pretty crafty so that shouldn't pose a problem.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

That's about 4 to 5 weeks worth of dust.

The (smaller) false floor is spaced 3/4" off the cab floor. Air flows through the open space at the corners. Helps to keep pots from blocking airflow.

It looks like you have ample intake. Blocking a couple of those holes probably won't hurt temps one bit.

You'll hear growers say "less is more". Not when it comes to passive intake. Looks like you knew what you were doing from the start.

Best wishes and happy growing.

 

[DIYnewbie]

Welcome DiscoBiscuit! Glad you joined me on my grow! I think the dryer sheet idea is brilliant and i think just regular duct tape might be enough to hold it in place over the cutout.

Time waits for no man...

And so is the case with me! Upon inspecting my wet paper towel seed (at 0:00 on the 15th no less! great start!) I noticed that it had grown a tail! Well... here we go!



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So, a container was found. A large one too! FFOF Soil was cut with perlite, and the seed placed 1/2" below the surface and covered up. Moved up to the attic, and a light hung up above it (23w CFL, nothing special) to give it some direction. Will check tomorrow and possibly just use a spray bottle to wet the area around where i planted it, and hopefully within a day or two i will see it pop its beautiful head out of the soil and smile!



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PROJECT FOR THIS SUNDAY!

1.Get the lights in.
2.Possibly try to fabricate a wooden ring 5" outer diameter 3" inner for my carbon scrubber so that it is a bit more stable and doesnt shift soooo much. I have a dremel and enough skill to get it done.

Thats it really until i get those fans in next week. Then i can do a test on high/low temps int he cab.


Planning on doing a 20/4 light schedule once all is in place. Sound good to everyone? Was very much considering going straight 24, but i think the plant might want a BIT of rest, also, want to time it to be down during the hottest part of the day.

ANYWAY, off to bed i go, see you folks tomorrow with more updates and pictures!

 

[JHerbz]

I go 18/6 but to each his own

Lookin good man, grats on the new cab!

 

[MrCopyZ]

This should be good. Congrats on getting to move up to a bigger space.

Do you know the genetics of the seed your germinating?

 

[DIYnewbie]

This should be good. Congrats on getting to move up to a bigger space.

Do you know the genetics of the seed your germinating?

Yes I do! It is Green House Seeds "Green O Matic" feminized autoflower. I got a 10pack of them, and got a few freebies too, like Blue Hash and Northern Lights x Big Bud.

Those might be done in the future. Or i may build a mother/clone cab in the coming weeks and make one of them a mother plant, take cuttings and possible do a SOG in that cab, but that is for way later. Right now i have a seed in the soil that is on its way.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

... 2.Possibly try to fabricate a wooden ring 5" outer diameter 3" inner for my carbon scrubber so that it is a bit more stable and doesnt shift soooo much. I have a dremel and enough skill to get it done.

I had something like yours and bought a plastic duct reducer. The fan went inside the big end and the other side was taped to the carbon cup.

I made another filter and had the same problem. I cut the bottom off a 4" id peanut can and pressed it into the plywood hole. The can is cardboard but the metal ring makes it strong enough clamp the flange to the cylinder, i.e. gutter-guard rolled into a tube.

 

[DIYnewbie]

I had something like yours and bought a plastic duct reducer. The fan went inside the big end and the other side was taped to the carbon cup.

I made another filter and had the same problem. I cut the bottom off a 4" id peanut can and pressed it into the plywood hole. The can is cardboard but the metal ring makes it strong enough clamp the flange to the cylinder, i.e. gutter-guard rolled into a tube.

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/254/3f85707cc521bfe27633e5679adf3d64_254662.jpg?dl=1262045375]View Image[/URL] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/254/d0522e691f8234400f1423b7d9ed6f3b_254716.jpg?dl=1262045375]View Image [/URL][URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/254/5db704de4a6805b2c6fcb6bf3778e7d8_254723.jpg?dl=1302740558]View Image[/URL]

Yes! that is exactly the ring i need to make. For me it is to attach the fans to the net pots, and help the pots keep their shape. I think a picture would be in order here, and as soon as i fabricate the piece, i will take a quick pic

 

[DIYnewbie]

PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/15/12 !

1. Lights have been installed. I did have an issue trying to just pop the previous setup into this cab, so i had to remove the lights, rewire one of them, and attach them to the upper shelf with zip ties. Seems to be holding very well. 4 zip ties each piece and they were set in place.

Before doing this i taped on a power strip and , ran the cable out the back. Also, cut 2 vent holes in the top shelf so the air can pass.

Mylar was applied to the walls and doors of the cab to give me great light reflection.

This is about all i can do with the cab for now. Some light leaks coming through the walls, BUT i think i may have a VERY simple solution to this, and will show you once i have my fan in place.

Questions/Comments/Criticism/Praise are welcome and encouraged


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[DIYnewbie]

Here is my completed carbon scrubber! TADA

I used 2 net pots that i got from the hydro store, 2 pairs of pantyhose (leggings?) and a piece of plywood i made into a 1inch disk to hold the two in place. Oh, and zip ties.

Fans come in tomorrow, will attach and test them. Lets hope the can pull from it.


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[yesum]

Would like more info on how you made that filter. I do not know where the wood goes in it.

 

[DIYnewbie]

Would like more info on how you made that filter. I do not know where the wood goes in it.

I started with 2 net pots, one 3 inches (inner), one 5 inches (outer)
The wood piece goes into the 5" pot and the 3" pot goes into the middle part. The wood piece is 1" disk. It helps keep the pieces stable when fitted together and gives me a place to anchor the 80mm axial pc fans. The 80mm fan fits perfectly into the opening of the 3" pot. Once you caulk it onto the pot, the fan should only suck air from the filter. If you need a better explination, i will try my best and try to give you better picture of what is happening. Hope this helps!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

You might be a DIY but you're not a newbie. Nice work. How did you cut the plywood?

 

[DIYnewbie]

You might be a DIY but you're not a newbie. Nice work. How did you cut the plywood?

DiscoBiscuit - I have learned a lot over the years by reading the threads here, and have been dying for the chance to get another grow under my belt so i can put into play all the things i had picked up. I might be a DIYIntermediate by now =)
And now, the scrubber explination!

I took the hard way! Seeing as i had some time on my hands and wanting to make it nice.

Not having a good 5" circle to work with, and not finding a way to draw the inside of the net pot out, i made a 5 x 5" square on the plywood, found the center and proceeded to draw 5" lines through it until i got a circle like design. I then clamped it down and I cut out a 5" diameter circle with my dremel tool. After i made a 3" circle from a piece of cardboard and placed it in the center, drawing the outline. I took my drill and used the 1" hole drilling attachment to make the "entry" hole that i would use for the dremel tool.
I fired up the dremel and, if you have used one before know, they tend to want to go with the rotation of the bit, so i let it, but guided it along the outline i had made. Then noting that neither of the pieces fit, i popped on the sanding drum attachment onto the dremel and went to work, stopping often to see how well it fit. Took about 30min to do, but it was nice to see my idea come to life! Again, this was not the easy way, and i am sure there are easier ones out there, but this was the one that made me feel comfortable and it seems to have worked.

Tomorrow I will be placing 3x 80mm fans in series and praying that the pressure is upped enough to suck through a 1" thick carbon scrubber. THAT is going to be fun.

IF THIS DOES WORK AT KEEPING THE SMELL OUT, I WILL GLADLY POST A STEP BY STEP MANUFACTURING GUIDE ON THE SCRUBBER! ALONG WITH PRICES, LINKS, WHATEVER YOU MIGHT NEED!

EDIT: the wood i used was really thin, not like the standard 5ply plywood, or the monstrous 7ply, but a manageable 3ply

 

[DIYnewbie]

7/16 Update (morning)

7/16 Update (morning)

ROOKIE MISTAKE ON MY PART!

After not seeing my seedling anywhere, i realized that what i had done was a big mistake. Try not to laugh or shake your heads. I placed the seed into dry soil, and THEN watered it. Yep!

Upon realising this, i proceeded, like an archaeologist, to gently dig the layers of soil up with a knife, and 2 1/2" below the surface i found my baby, scared and alone. I took a scoop and gently scooped the chunk of soil it was in, filling in the gap with surrounding soil, hoping that my darling seedling would forgive me for my mistake. Lets hope!



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[DiscoBiscuit]

Good luck with the seedling.

Have you considered hosting your pics at IC? I've read photo bucket narcs out weed pics. Don't know about image shack. IC's servers are in Holland and not subject to DHS.

 

[izzybud]

saw someone said FFOF is too much for seedlings? my first time using it and the 3 nutes. planted 2 fem seeds and they are fine. in week 4 of veg today. and have 9 of 13 bag seeds that sprouted and are in their first week of veg today.

and thanks for the info on photobucket. i have all my pics up there for a few people to see. might have to look into moving those.