Full Tower PC Case Grow Box

[Killkingkong]

Mutant:



2nd Oldest:


Youngest:

 

[Killkingkong]

Everything seems to be going fine. 3 days ago I changed the ventilation system around so that my exhaust fan wasn't hooked up to the same wire as the rest of the fans because I didn't want that turning off with the lights (I'm on a 18/6 schedule). Well I hooked up the big .9 amp exhaust fan to a 12v power adapter. This fan was so loud at 12v that I has to find a 5v adapter to replace the 12v one.

Another downside of me messing with the ventilation system was that I put a carbon filter strip in the back of my exhaust fan. This greatly reduced airflow in the case, causing temperatures to skyrocket over night. When I checked on the plants in the morning some of the older leaves on the 2 youngest plants had warped. I changed the ventilation system later that day and the new growth seems to be coming along very well.

I've decided that I'm going to chop my mutant plant. It's far behind compared to the other 2 plants that I have. So tonight I started germinating another seed. Once that seed pops I'm going to kill the mutant and replace it with the seedling. I've been in vegation for about 3 weeks now. I plan on switching to 12/12 next sunday. So hopefully I have the mutant switched out by them, depending on germination.

Whole Case:


Mutant:


2nd Oldest:


Youngest:

 

[quinoa64]

Looking good! Glad to see you're getting the ventilation issues ironed out.

How are you watering/feeding them? Do they just drain through the bottom of the case?

 

[Killkingkong]

How are you watering/feeding them? Do they just drain through the bottom of the case?

I'm watering them with distilled water right now. On Sunday I'm going to start using MaxiBloom that I bought. Since it's been close to a month that I've been vegging I'm going to start out with a full strength when I start flowering on Sunday. When my first round of plants all died from over watering/heat I stopped watering to a flush, so water doesn't seep through the case

I pretty much have to water these plants daily. I think it's a combination of the small pots, and how arid all those fan make the case. I don't know if having so many fans in the case are good for the plants, but I figure it has to be much harsher outside. I think I'm up to 6 fans at this point after adding another this past weekend. I also used my weakest fan (.19a) as the intake to give the ventilation a little boost.

 

[trem0lo]

Nice pc case! The little guys are coming right along... well hopefully girls

Sorry to hear about the temps... Those carbon pads really kill airflow.

For a carbon scrubber, what I did for my first design is attach some 80mm ducting to the exit fan. To the other end I attached one of those small mesh pencil cups that are sold everywhere--they are nearly the same diameter as the ducting. Set this inside a larger diameter pencil cup and fill carbon around it. Both pencil cups should be wrapped in thin nylon socks and ziptied off. Of course you'll need space for it to sit. I ended up hanging it from the top of my case, but it worked well sitting next to the plants too. Because the pencil cup has way more surface area it should not restrict airflow as much. And it'll work much better than a carbon pad.

 

[Killkingkong]

Nice pc case! The little guys are coming right along... well hopefully girls

Sorry to hear about the temps... Those carbon pads really kill airflow.

For a carbon scrubber, what I did for my first design is attach some 80mm ducting to the exit fan. To the other end I attached one of those small mesh pencil cups that are sold everywhere--they are nearly the same diameter as the ducting. Set this inside a larger diameter pencil cup and fill carbon around it. Both pencil cups should be wrapped in thin nylon socks and ziptied off. Of course you'll need space for it to sit. I ended up hanging it from the top of my case, but it worked well sitting next to the plants too. Because the pencil cup has way more surface area it should not restrict airflow as much. And it'll work much better than a carbon pad.

Yeah, last week after my ventilation mishap I started looking into different scrubbing solutions. I came across a 80mm air duct that i was thinking I could just cover 1 end with a fan guard, then fill the other end with carbon. After the duct is full I would attach another fan filter to the open side, and then screw it directly onto my exhaust. Think that will work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thermaltake...Fan_Heatsin_Brackets_Accs&hash=item3cce2005c8

http://www.microcenter.com/product/391640/FilterRight_120mm_Black_Aluminum_Fan_Filter

 

[trem0lo]

That would work but I'm worried that gravity would pull the carbon downward, creating air pockets for smell to escape. You'd have to pack it really, really tight. Also that gives the fan only 7.7 square inches to pull through varying degrees of carbon thickness.

Here's more like what I meant. It takes up more space but is very effective. This design gives 46.7 square inches in surface area, which equals much better airflow. Also the carbon depth is even at about an inch all around. I use a 120mm to 80mm reducer and mount the fan outside. Your fan is much stronger than than mine so it'd probably pull through it like a champ.



Both mesh pencil cups are from staples--regular and jumbo size.

 

[ericforeman]

nice m8 keep us posted !

 

[Killkingkong]

Hey guys, it's time for a update. So as I was waiting for my new seed to pop, but by the time it did mutant plant started to look a little better. Out of fear that I wouldn't get a female I decided to put the new seedling in a beer cup and i squeezed it in the case, with the other 3.

I also started training my biggest plant this week. It seems to be taking the training well a bunch of new growth is popping up under the screen cause they have more access to light. Unfortunately This plant took a weird turn this week and became extremely yellow. There are nutes in the soil that I'm using, but a very small amount. Since the other plants still look good I assume it's because this one is the biggest and it's hungry, so I started all the older plants on maxibloom today.

I'm going to be starting 12/12 tomorrow, so hopefully all goes as planned.

 

[Killkingkong]

So I snapped the main stem on the plant on the right last night while training it. It didn't completely snap off, so I wrapped it up with a bandaid. I checked on it this morning and everything seems to be going ok. Should I just let it be until fully healed or should I try and train with the break? How long does it normally take a plant to recover from something like this? I don't want to keep unwrapping the bandaid and agitating it.

 

[MrCopyZ]

I would let it heal with a splint.

You could probably get away with training around it...

 

[Killkingkong]

I would let it heal with a splint.

You could probably get away with training around it...

I'm just afraid I'll make things worse since I'm new at all of this lol. I kind of feel like because I'm working inside of a computer case I'm treating my plants as roughly as I treat a computer, but it took me years to figure out what's a good touch and what's a bad touch for computers. I'll check on it tonight when the lights come on and try to add a splint.

 

[Killkingkong]

Day 7 of Flower:


Damaged Stem:

 

[Killkingkong]

So things are progressing well enough after factoring in my mistakes. Shortly after damaging the Stem to plant #3 I then went onto drunkenly trying to train plant #1. This ended in me completely ripping the top of this plant off with about 4 or so nodes lol. That plant eventually recovered and now has 2 main stems, but now I suspect that plant is a male. I'm thinking I should chop it asap so I can get some light on my youngest plant that's 16 days old. I also know plant #2 is a female and I suspect plant #3 (which is the one with the damaged stem) is a female but it hasn't fully showed sex. I'm going to assume that damaging the stem is delaying the sexing process.

Full Case - Day 16 of Flower:


Plant 1 - Day 16 of Flower:


Plant 2 - Day 16 of Flower:


Plant 3 - Day 16 of Flower:


Plant 4 - Day 16 of Flower:


If you have any opinions on the sex of my plants please let me know because I'm guessing about everything except plant #2

 

[majortom9]

Plant 1 is a dude, #2 is a girl, cant say about the rest.

 

[Killkingkong]

Update: I've been using an aquarium ph kit to test up until tuesday, when my new electronic ph pen came. I was shocked to find out the water that came out of my facet was 7.7ph and dropped all the way down to 4.5 after I filtered that water with carbon and added maxibloom. So I think I've been feeding my plants with a low ph on maxibloom days. On the days that i was only giving them water everything PHed to about 5.5, so I don't think too much damage was done. That's all behind me now and I think I have the hang of this. I'm going to give this grow until the end of march, and then I'm going to start my 2nd grow, which is going to be a hybrid vertical/hortizontal and dwc, so that should be fun.

Day 28:

 

[MrCopyZ]

I think you got more than 4 weeks to go...

 

[Killkingkong]

I think you got more than 4 weeks to go...

Yeah, these definitely seem to be sativa's that are going to take much longer than 56 days. They were bag seeds that were given to me. I'm going to chop them early because I feel like I've made so many mistakes this first run that I want a fresh start, with my new found knowledge.

Close Ups:

 

[Kaskadian]

Yeah, these definitely seem to be sativa's that are going to take much longer than 56 days. They were bag seeds that were given to me. I'm going to chop them early because I feel like I've made so many mistakes this first run that I want a fresh start, with my new found knowledge.

Looking good so far! If you don't mind a suggestion, just wait it out. You've gone this far, you might as well finish the grow and cut them when they're ready. You have plenty of time to get another grow going, don't rush.

Just my two cents. I wish you all the luck.


Kas

 

[Killkingkong]

Alright, you guys convinced me not to chop early. Instead I think I'm going to build a veg box out of a 5 gallon bucket to get my next grow started while this current one is going. I already have the layout in my head, I just have to make it once i buy a couple of tools that I've been eyeing on amazon.