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Mr.Sparkle’s Arduino Controlled 5 Gal Bucket Micro Grow 2017

M

Mr. Sparkle

Killer!! That is a nice yield off of next to nothing for lights. You had to have hit 1gpw with that.

Nah just cause of the issues i ran into but it turned out to be around 25+grams

Great pics. Thanks for taking it through the end. Next run

Already started and have 4 plants in there but things will probably get moved around as i have a cream manadrine in my pc case that's making seeds that's gonna take some time, and i want to start up some new plants "Mephisto Genetics" for the case but that CreamM has a springtail issue that i don't want to cross contaminate with.

So the bucket may get relegated to seed duty due to the smaller size and the pc case will hold the other plants till that plant is done.

Either that or i'll hold off planting anything for awhile and leave things as is because if i plant now i'll be harvesting right when im away for a decent chunk of time so it may be wise for me to hold off starting anything for another week or two.
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

This will be the start of round 3

Had some other plants in here but moved them over to my pc case due to a springtail issue that i would like to get rid of, and also so i didn't have to run two boxes/buckets, But my Mephisto Seeds finally showed up from the July Sale which was fully due to my local postal service, but gives me an excuse to fire this thing back up.

I did a couple of changes such as swapping out the DHT sensor with one of my old ones as the humidity sensor was buggered since i got it wet a ways back in the last run. Also am trying a Specular reflection for stray light this round instead of a diffuse reflection that i get with flat white paint. Other than that everything is the same, well the pots are a tad smaller "shorter" as i seemed to have made two different sizes but went through my pots and threw out the ones i didn't need, and have a smaller set for this bucket and a slightly taller set for the pc case now.

And a correction for some previous info i'm running at 34w total not 37w that i thought i was for whatever reason. Oh forgot to add, we have some Auto Blues Purple Pheno, Gold Blues, Sour Crinkle, and some Blue Tooth about to be popping soil by mid week.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 4 The lower Right plant may not make it or be pulled if it doesnt catch up, was an issue with the seed which was the Auto Blues Purple Pheno freebie so i can't complain being what it was, but it just sorta acted the same as an underdeveloped seed as it was the slowest to crack its shell then it through a very weak tap root which was growing very slowly in comparison to normal, then didn't burrow much and tried popping leaves instead which allowed it to dry out a bit being only in the top layer of coco and not into the good wet zone, so replanted and made sure it has remained wet but its lagging pretty hard by the looks of it.

If it does go its not that bad as i only really wanted to run 3 plants this round anyways, to give them all a little bit more space.

Water Setpoint is at 600
need to change it too 640ish

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 9 as expected the one plant has really lagged behind so it will get removed shortly, other than that things are moving along.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 13 Moved the mutant Auto Blues over to my pc case as it was gonna get overgrown, but so far this bucket has been running very smoothly, literally haven't touched anything in the first two weeks so far, so if it keeps it up we will have a smooth run.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 17 i guess, have or had what looks to be a magnesium deficiency, but i have a hunch i've been running my pH too high which is causing a lock out, so made a new reservoir batch as it was almost out anyways and have started transitioning over too bloom nutrients and am running at a lower pH on this, so we will see if it corrects it self which it looks like its doing already.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 20 Starting to fill out will possibly have to tie things down by mid to later this next week, but looking good and yeah pretty sure the ph was too high previously.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 23 and looking happy and like i expected i'm gonna have to tie down the tops shortly, the bucket is filling out nicely and so far i haven't plucked or touched anything which is nice.

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thenewstyle

Active member
the girls are coming along nicely sparkles! they really exploded over the last week, any thoughts of adding sidelighting to the bucket?
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

the girls are coming along nicely sparkles! they really exploded over the last week, any thoughts of adding sidelighting to the bucket?

For future builds yes, i have some strip lighting at the post office i'll probably be able to pick up tomorrow.

But i'm just gonna run this bucket as is for this round, then worry about building a version 2 later, as ive been contemplating reducing components to make things simpler and easier to replicated if people wanted to build one as well, also im wanting to move all the components to the lid for ease of breakdown and build access purposes and also change the watering to a ebb&flow style system where anything over a certain point of any run off will go back to the reservoir as a dummy guard against over watering, and or to water heaver more frequently "just to play".

Also depending on how bright and hot these strip lighting are i wouldn't mind trying to use only it for side and top lighting but supplement top mounted led bulbs if needed.

Been also considering making up a mini time lapse camera that would be controlled by its own arduino circuit just cause it would be neat to make a time lapse of a round or two, but im currently half hunting for a suitable and cheap camera that i can dismantle and modify to work, or try a ready made option such as what adafruit has to offer, but i figure im gonna need a pretty wide angle lens for once things get close.
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 27 they were are doing great, crushed the stems and bent over the tops on the top and right most plants, but that's it so far for training or touching them, reservoir was empty this morning so their a bit on the dry side but just need to fill it and were good for a few more weeks, definitely consuming more water now.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 31, had to tie down one top and plucked some inner lower foliage, im pretty much at the limit height wise, the next version of this bucket will definitely include some mid canopy level lighting "light strips" as it would help with keeping things a bit more compact and helping out the lower growth, also gonna add some grow nutrients back to the mix come the weekend as the bloom only nutrients at the level im feeding are starting to make the plants yellow more so, which is too early in my opinion, so i/ll be going back to a mix for now and increase the strength slightly.

But things are going alright

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Now side note for giggles i made a new "bucket" persay lets call it the "Mini Bucket" lol

it an old 1gal/4 Liter Container that was used for Protein Powder, was thinking about improvements for a version 2 of the 5gal bucket while i was grabbing the recycling to take out and this popped into my head and i laughed and decided why not, i made it with what i had on hand, so size wise it comes in at a whole 11"/28cm by 6"/15cm wide, its lit up with two types of 2835 led strip lighting coming in at just under 10w total "0.805A at 12.15vdc, so 9.78w before ballast conversion loss from the wall" , i was making it arduino controlled with an attiny85, RTC, and N channel mosfet, but my new RTC modules "1307's" were causing issues and required too much tinkering/modding to get to work properly so i just ordered some 3231's and will make the arduino side of it once they come in. Its ventilated by a 24v high static pressure 40mm fan that i had access too but its running at 12v, and i do have some air filter foam for vents to block light but they restrict the airflow just enough to make the fan decently louder as this fan wasn't built for being quiet so i'll do some modifications to the air inlets or slow down the fan in the future, i also i made the container a bit more accessible by making it be able to be split in two, instead of trying to access stuff through the lid, when not in two pieces its held together surprisingly well with some velcro i had on hand.

Would of done a few things different now that its built, so if/when another container comes my way i consider remaking it.

Goal is to grow only one small plant and see how much we can pull from right around 10w of total power usage, but i wont be starting anything in it for a few more weeks as one this will be handwatered once were up and going till i come up with a simple watering solution such as a wick system as i'm going away for a bit shortly so whatever i would plant now will definitely not survive my absence without an extended watering system, and also it will give me some time to wait for my RTC's to arrive so i can hook up a timer circuit to it.

Absolutely definitely ridiculous i fully accept that lol, but this should be entertaining and good for some laughs.


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Told you Mr.Sparkle that your work ranks up there with the best micro craftsmen. If you build it they will grow. Field of Dreams quote.
 

ReikoX

Knight of the BlackSvn
That shit needs it's own category, I shall call that a nano grow ;) There was an old user, can't remember his handle, but he was doing something similar to this size. I went searching but couldn't find it.
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

Haha yeah definitely a nano grow when you consider things

anywasy update for Day 34 , feeding at around 600ppm and switched back to a mix of bloom/grow nutrients for the added Nitrogen a day or so ago, already looks to be coming back to where i'd like.

Were maxed on height and space though, as im noticing some slight light burn on some leaves, so we will see how this runs out.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 37 The plants seem to be enjoying the new feed, but we do have some light burn, also had to bend over one of the tops as its pretty packed in the top right now, definitely gonna add some side lighting on the next bucket.

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Also i couldn't help myself and wait with the 4L "mini bucket", so we will see how it does, im just gonna try a simple wick system for when ill be absent, i fully expect it to not survive my absence.

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