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

M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 42 Defoliated a bunch, some of the lowers weren't gonna do anything but we will see, should help the lower buds that i left.

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Day 5 on the Mini, made up a wick system on friday night that was actually working better than i expected, but i had the wicks running in through the air holes which was causing excess evaporation like a swamp cooler and it was going through water relatively quickly for how small this container is, so i went out and got a slightly larger dedicated reservoir for this and then cut holes in the container and the reservoirs so the wick can come up directly from the bottom to avoid the evaporation issue, we will see how it turns out, as im gonna be gone for over a week, so just wanted to get things somewhat functional before that, so if it makes it awesome but if it doesn't no big deal just start a new plant when i get back.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

Day 44 Bent over some tops but things are moving along, kinda looks bare after the defoliation though, possibly went too far for ideal yield wise at the end but too late now. Oh and the one plant "gold blues" i believe which is the bottom left is more or less just gonna be a budsicle at the end, pretty much no extended branching with that one, so im interested in seeing how its end product turns out as structure wise its a pretty ideal SOG plant, but blue genetics typically have to much brain numbing zombie effect for my liking so we will see.

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Day 7 on the mini, It was still going through water at a high pace after the wick placement change but less so, issue is the little 40mm fan is actually pulling way too much air especially coupled to the air intake design, so as a quick fix/test i just covered up 2/3rds of the exhaust on the fan and things are a lot better as far as water consumption goes, the permanent fix ill just add a dc-dc buck converter and drop the voltage for the fan down to modulate the airflow.

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M

Mr. Sparkle

So back from being away and things have survived, one of the plants got a tiny bit of rot on it but it was due to a branch i broke a ways back, that i was hopping would survive need less to say it didn't. No idea on weights but it got the chop today here are some pics from various days, i also killed the mini bucket plant before i left reason being is the DarkDevil F1 that was growing in it was starting to throw out crinkled leaves that i noticed happen from some of the seeds from that batch i made which cause the plant to be less than ideal, so ill start up some new seeds shortly and get that thing going again.

Day 47
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Day 57
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Day 59
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In order Grape Crinkle, Gold Blue, Blue Tooth
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M

Mr. Sparkle

forgot to add the bucket consumed 36.5kWh this run, will get a weight once things dry a bit and go into jars for awhile
 

seedsick

New member
MR. S
I have to thank you so much for sharing this with the community. That really shows character...not to mention creative thinking.
I started growing this plant when i was 15 years old in my mothers basement. I have bought and built SOOOOO many set-ups it's unreal. I became a manager at a hydroponics store in my mid 20's, and was able to use pretty much anything i wanted to grow whatever i wanted for display...not cannabis though. You walk in that store and it would look like a damn jungle.
Well cut to the chase....arriving at the store(free of charge) was a UFO led. I didn't like it. That thing flat out SUCKED. I mean afew small cfl's could out perform this pricey piece of shit. In the end i never sold a single one.
I have grown in a computer case just because i saw someone else do it on OG. So i thought...shit, if he can do it so can i. Well i did...just for veg.,....and it turned out GREAT.
It truly made me rethink my entire grow operation. Here i have a 6 yr old white russian sunning under a 400w hps that has a trunk the size of a softball, when i dont need all of that. So i flowerd her and didnt look back.
I have been out the game for about 12yrs, and coming back to it at age 42 i have to say led has come along way. Your idea their on that bucket is a fantastic way to hold a mother plant/clones. Not to mention you can flower in....WOW. you have done a great job, and the LED's too.
now i really want to get into building cob led's. These things are kickin ass now. But to get me back on the swing i think i will try what you have done with this bucket...minus computer program ...im old school what can i say.
If this bucket hasn't caught on to the people i would be surprised.
I would like to make afew changes on intake and exit, but thats it. I guess i gotta think outside the bucket.
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

@seedsick Search up Spacebuckets on goggle and head over to Reddit or the Spacebucket pages for some some more ideas.

And leds have come along way considering im just using off the shelf screw in stuff thats been dismantled and mounted to GPU heatsinks instead.

The arduino stuff isn't that hard when you get down to basic operations of it, i just use it instead of plug-able separate timers for space reasons, plus i can do more with it if i decide to but im always looking at way to make things easier or less involved for myself, so far only having to top up reservoirs ever two weeks is pretty nice.

But a bucket would be an excellent place for holding some mothers and cloning.

As for my current bucket its getting retired/recycled this next week as ill be building a new one with different intake "which ive already tried out and works a heck of a lot better" and will be reducing and moving the electronics to the outside of the bucket while making it more simple, also will be adding side lights and removing the inner bucket and will only be running the single 5gal with a 3gal as a reservoir, should be interesting just haven't dedicated any time to it yet as i want o do some minor upgrades and a cleaning for my pc case first, but i'll probably get started in the next week on it.
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

Yield out at 33.5 grams, so not bad by traditional metrics that would be about 0.975grams/watt have only tried the Sour Crinkle so far which has been good.
 

seedsick

New member
hey thats pretty nice. Your yield that is.
I did check out the SPACEBUCKET... pretty cool. People have caught on to this i see. I knew you could grow in small space's but i really never thought you could get a harvest. I'm very impressed.
I also like the idea of using a trash can. I cant imagine what you could pull out of something like that using led's.

SIDE NOTE: I plan going the same way you have with your bucket. However being an old school kinda guy, LED's kinda throw me off abit.
I mean hps was all i really knew....and cfl's. But i'd like to ask you if you are aware of using dimmable led's. My local big box store has 17w/ dimmable. The reason i ask is 1....it be nice to have such a feature, and 2.... i plane tearing it down as you have, and mounting the same way.
thx ss:smoke::smoke:
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

My local big box store has 17w/ dimmable. The reason i ask is 1....it be nice to have such a feature, and 2.... i plane tearing it down as you have, and mounting the same way.
thx ss:smoke::smoke:

The dimmable ones typically aren't worth it imo as one they are more expensive and aren't really needed as in a bucket, bin, or cabinet situation the plant will be further away initially if your not raising the height of it or if using just regular sockets you can screw in and out bulbs as desired, also depending on the dimmable circuit you use with it some are just burning off that excess energy as heat, while other use PWM control to vary the light output.

Also as far as the led construction goes in some of the name brand dimmable bulbs i have seen a few constructed with the leds pointing in various directions such as 90,180 or straight, and 270 degrees from the base which isn't ideal for us where we only need typically need the light pointing in one direction instead of a 360degree sphere, pretty much all your standard non dimmable ones will have the chips that are just on one flat plane.

As for cfl's i use to run them solely in micro grow of the past, but the leds are worth it and are better in all regards unless you need some heat generation due to a cold space. They are directly replaceable with cfl's and if you have the availability to get them there is zero reasons not to go that route over cfl's and i would say you can even yield more with them due to the directional nature of leds vs cfl's

Head on over to the off the shelf led screw in thread here in the micro section and see what some people are doing such as terpene, blynx, and the others.
 

seedsick

New member
I'll tell ya what MR.S....
I did just that. Went over to the other threads and gained an ass load of knowledge. I mean....MY GOD, how things have changed over the years. Looking at so many micro grows these days, and one thing they have in common (for the most part), is the use of led's. My mind is blown away just thinking about the possibility. I happen to work for a big box store just for seasonal, and happen to stock the lights, tools, oil, ect. Well i came across a 10.5w led out of it's case. I was told just chuck it in the dump. Hell no i wont. When i came home, i started to tear into that thing like it was a xmas gift. Once i was able to pull the cap off, i plugged it into my kitchen over head light. WOW...this damn thing is like a spot light on the side of a police car. I sure as hell don't remember led's being like that when i was selling them.
Now looking at a spacebucket as a cloner/mother chamber, and then combining that with something like EL TIGRA's grow (sorry if i got the name wrong)...or...maybe i should just say set-up, feels,, and looks like a perfect match. All of it would be low key, i mean you'd have to have very bad luck, or just be a complete fool to get busted on something so small.
I have dedicated an entire 15' x 15' bedroom for SOOOO many years....light rails, pumps, walking up the stairs in the middle of the night hoping nobody see's me dragging a huge ass canister of co2, lights you name it. Been there...done it. Not to mention i used to hold bible study one room away....lol. GOOD OL DAYS.
I remember when NGB came out on OVERGROW to show his 150w tiny little cabinet, and thought... oh how cute. However thats not the case. The time is now.
So with that being said thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
ss
 
M

Mr. Sparkle

I remember when NGB came out on OVERGROW to show his 150w tiny little cabinet, and thought... oh how cute. However thats not the case. The time is now.
So with that being said thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
ss

No problem:tiphat:, i came into the forums a year or two after OG disappeared "different user name", but the forced exodus from OG caused a lot of people to head over here at the time which brought quite a bit of knowledge and old user saved threads back to life such as NGB, i remember going through all those threads and building some of my first spaces from ideas and grows that were originally on OG, needless to say those were also some of my largest grows from the size of decent full closets or boxes made with full sheets of 4x8 plywood, But since then i've gone the opposite route than 99% of people with going for an ever reduction in size to what really only i figure is needed for myself whether for fun or consumption, Leds have definitely helped with for sure compared to running 150-400w hps, or 4ft floros of the past to eventually cfl's which seem so long ago in the progression.

Good luck with your future endeavors.
 
what type of paint exactly, and how many coats? looks really decent :good:

I've found behr ultra premium plus flat white to be just about the best affordable paint out there. Keep in mind when painting smooth surfaces like buckets/metal/plastic, it's a good idea to scuff the surface up with some sandpaper (anything in the 120-400 grit range) so the paint sticks better to whatever you are painting.
 
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