My first grow box

Athos · Dec 18, 2017

Unless I open the grow box there's absolutely no smell.

At 12 volt there's a slight fan noise, but at 9 volt or less there's no noise.

I used crown drill bits to to make round holes in the Tupperware, them I inserted the filter and used the "screw cap?" to screw to secure ir to the tupperware.

jonhova · Dec 18, 2017

With the filter is it possible to change the carbon filter out after a grow or 2?

If i wanted to build it would it be like this:

1 cut hole for the fan in cab ceiling/side wall.

2 mount fan

3 seal fan with caulking/ weatherstripping? How did you light proof the fan?

4 drill tupperware, 4 holes on the lid, add nuts & bolts to secure the tupperware lid

5 cut out 3"? 4"? Diameter hole from the bottom of the tupperware.

is the 705 can cap removable? and can you screw it on from the inside of the Tupperware?

Really slick man

I'm gonna go with a noctua fan as well probably the 120 mm 2000 rpm server fan.

Athos · Dec 18, 2017

jonhova said:
With the filter is it possible to change the carbon filter out after a grow or 2?

Are you asking if you can replace the used carbon? I don't know, I don't believe so. I've seen some people in this very forum saying that they've been using this very filter for 2 plus years, so no reason to change it after a grow or 2.

jonhova said:
1 cut hole for the fan in cab ceiling/side wall.

I used a 60 mm crown drill bit to make a hole in the back of the grow box and on the top of the tupperware.

jonhova said:
2 mount fan

The fan is mounted inside of the tupperware’s top and the top is screwed to the grow box.

jonhova said:
3 seal fan with caulking/ weatherstripping? How did you light proof the fan?

I covered all of the tupperware in black electrical tape. Then I made a flap with piece of black garbage bag that I taped on the outside of the exhaust hole.

jonhova said:
4 drill tupperware, 4 holes on the lid, add nuts & bolts to secure the tupperware lid

See #2

jonhova said:
5 cut out 3"? 4"? Diameter hole from the bottom of the tupperware.

I carefully measured the hole I needed after I got the filter, in the case of the can 705 it’s a 70mm (2¾ inches). See the picture below

jonhova said:
6 is the 705 can cap removable? and can you screw it on from the inside of the Tupperware?

Yes it’s removable and yes you can screw it back on the inside of the tupperware, that’s what I did. See next picture to see the cap off.

jonhova said:
Really slick man

I'm gonna go with a noctua fan as well probably the 120 mm 2000 rpm server fan.

The can 705 is rated for a max flow of 22 m3/h (13 CFM); the NF-A6x25 FLX, that I used, is rated at 29.2 m3/h (17 CFM). I assumed a drop of air flow of 30% due the resistance of the filter which puts the fan at an assumed flow of 12 CFM, making the combo perfect. Exceeding the rated air flow will result in the air not having enough contact time with the carbon, making some smell leak.
This fan is also rated at 2.18 mm H2O which was enough. Also at a rated noise level of 19.3 dB the fan is whisper quite, but when attached to the filter, the noise increases a bit.
The 12mm Noctua fan you mention is rated for 121.8 m3/h (71.7 CFM), which is way more than the can 705 can handle, for this I would go for the can 1500, rated for 150 m3/h (89 CFM). The one thing I would like to mention is that the 12mm noctua you mention is quite loud, rated at a noise level of 29.7 dB.
What ambient temperatures are in the room that you plan to put your grow box? And how many watts of light are you planning to use? Maybe you don’t need that much CFM power?

jonhova · Dec 18, 2017

Wow amazing information!

I have a 2x2x5 That i will stick 10 x 12 watt led bulbs without the cover. I dont know if thats over kill or not just yet. Being silent is very inportant to my stealth.

I think the fan you recommend should be able to cool down my cabinet or at least i will try it out. If not i can return it for the stronger one.

This can and pc fan combo is a game changer and should be added to thr link o rama thread.

Athos · Dec 18, 2017

There's a formula somewhere in the forum, probably the design forum. Where you can calculate the needed CFM you would need, depending on your wattage and ambien temperature and target temperature; that's how I decided on my fan, it wasn't a guess.

CFM = 3.16 * Light wattage / (Target temperature in °F - Ambient temperature in °F)

jonhova · Dec 18, 2017

Do tou think that this fan will create negative pressure in a 5 foot box though?

Athos · Dec 19, 2017

Any fan will create negative pressure if the intake is passive.

Athos · Dec 19, 2017

jonhova said:
... Being silent is very important to my stealth.

The Noctua 120 mm 2000 rpm that you mentioned is rated at a noise level of 29 dB which is definitely not silent.

For the 120 watts that you want to use, I would use:
1. NF-F12 PWM, 55 CFM and 22.4dB, just slightly noisier than what I use but with enough power to keep the temperatures with 120 watt of light.
2. As for filter the can-lite 1500 for a max airflow of 89 CFM

jonhova · Dec 19, 2017

Awesome. Thanks for your suggestions.

Athos · Dec 23, 2017

Done?

Done?

Not my usual update time, it's day 66 of flower stage.

Here'a a couple of pictures of how the plants look. What do you all think? I'm tempted to harvest since they look done to me, thricomes are like 80% cloudy, a 10% amber and a 10% clear, pistils are mostly yellow and retracted.

Athos · Dec 25, 2017

Well, it's day 98 since breaking soil and day 69 of flower stage.

Almost done, just one more week and it's harvest time.

The calyxes swelled a lot this week. I stopped all feeding and just gave the plants plain pH'ed water.

I didn't mentioned it last update but I did a heavy defoliation to open the canopy to allow some light in the mid-lower bud sites.

Sorry, no pictures today, just took the time to write this, since is xmas.

Late night update: I took the time after the family xmas eve dinner to really take a closer look at the buds and the thrichomes which are almost completely cloudy, with a very minority amber, so I'm harvesting tomorrow at 99 days since breaking soil and exactly 10 weeks of flowering.

What a nice Christmas gift, don't you think?

Athos · Dec 26, 2017

Well I harvested last night and the buds are drying. Meanwhile I'm germinating two new seeds: High Level from Eva Seeds.

There are many things I have to correct in this new run that I hope will greatly help things.

starke · Dec 26, 2017

Congrats on your excellent grow.

Athos · Dec 27, 2017

For those of you that, like me, are new to indoor growing (specially micro growing) I'll share with you a few useful tips that I learned in this run, like:

1. My soil & nutes brand said not to adjust pH since the soil buffers it to the correct range. This was a BIG mistake, I had a problem with pH been too high which gave me a lot of problems. Always, always measure and adjust pH.

2. If your tap water EC is too low, say below 0.4 (mine is around 0.04), be sure to add some calcium and magnesium additive. I had a major calcium deficiency that I didn't catch until a few weeks before harvest and I'm sure this affected overall yield, when I harvested I noticed that some stems were even hollow.

3. 2 to 4 inches was a very good distance to keep the lights from the canopy, it kept the the inter node distance close to zero. I made the mistake during flower to increase the distance to promote some stretching, I ended up regretting it.

4. Keep the veg bulbs for the first two weeks of flower to keep the stretch to a minimum, specially if you want to grow a sativa like I did.

5. Over watering is the #1 mistake new growers like we make. You can start in a big pot, but you'll probably end up over watering by a lot. It's better if you start in small containers and pot up when needed. I went from:
60 cc (2 oz) 9 days
500 cc (16 oz) 9 days
2 lt (0.5 gl) 10 days
6 lt (1.5 gl) 9 days
11 cc (3 gl) 62 days

This time I'll only make 2 transplants: from 16 oz, to 0.5 gl, to 3 gl.

6. I topped too early (around day 15) at the 4th node and could not fill the whole canopy as I would have liked. This time I'll top during the 4th week.

ReikoX · Dec 27, 2017

Good job reflecting on what worked and what didn't. Keep it up and you'll have it dialed in in no time! :good:

Athos · Jan 5, 2018

Second Run

Second Run

Welcome to my second run. This time I’m growing High Level from Eva Seeds and today it’s day 7 of veg.

The seeds were put in water pH’ed to 6.8 at 28°C (82F) for 24 hours with a touch of Cal-Max. They were then planted in 16 oz party cups filled with Biobizz All Mix and watered with pH’ed water plus Cal-Max to a total EC of 0,4; three days later they broke soil.

This time the plants look more developed than the previous seedlings at the same age.

On another note, I'm making a few changes to the grow box:

First, the flowering lights will go from 6 x (no brand, 10 watt, 800 lumens, 2700K) to 6 x (Philips, 13 watt, 1400 lumens, 3000K), so 30% more watts but 75% more light.

Second, I’ll be changing the fan + filter combo I‘m using. I’ll be going from a Noctua A6 FLX + Can 705 to a Noctua A8 FLX + Can 1500; this mainly due to “noise” the A6 at 12V is whisper quiet (19 dB) but I can still hear it, on the other hand the A8 at 12V is 16 dB and powerful enough so it can cool the added watts even when under-volted and be completely silent which is my objective. Also on the few really hot days of summer here, the added CFM will prevent the temps from going over 30°C (86F) and lower them. The filter is a little overkill but I chose it so if I add more bulbs in the future it’ll be able to support a more powerful fan.

The old fan + filter might be used on the really cold season when low CFM is required or it might be used along the blue spectrum bulbs to set a veg/mother cab up.

PS: I’m still drying the harvest of the previous run, so no weight yet.

Athos · Jan 12, 2018

Day 14 of Veg

Day 14 of Veg

And we have completed our 2nd week of veg.

The seedlings have developed beautifully, much faster than the last run. Made a little mistake overfeeding Cal-Max that gave me a little nute burn... noob mistake, but nothing a little flushing won't fix.

At 11 days old the seedling A already had 6 pair of true leaves and quite a few sideshots, while seedling B is like 2 or 3 days behind.

Since I'm in no rush, because now I have enough buds to last me a few months, I want to try a few things just to see if I can improve the way I grow. I'll be trying defoliating the plants to see how they respond.

Seedling A was defoliated yesterday, the other one will follow in 2 days.

And pictures.

Seedling A, 24 hours after the defoliation

and seedling B

jonhova · Jan 13, 2018

Athos · Jan 13, 2018

You know what? I'm still not decided if I want to defoliate the other seedling or not, I guess I'll let it be for the time been.

bucketbrah · Jan 14, 2018

Love your box. I just purchased a 1'x1'x2' tent, and it kinda sucks. light leaks out of zippers, ect. The size is perfect for a single plant perp grow, kinda like what your doing. Im running 3 - 15w with a noctura 80mm fan just like you and it works out great.

Do you think 6 lights are overkill at 13w-15w for the given space? Do you have any recommendations for a tutorial how to make a box like yours? Love how simple, effective, lockable, it is.

My first grow box

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