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PC Case Growers Club

AcroPhobic

Member
Went through this thread and was inspired to do my own. You guys are rocking in here. :headbange

Here's a PC I gutted out and painted entire inside white. Hooked up two PC fans up to an adapter and installed two 32 watt 4100K cfls @ 2100 lumens each. Intake is the four spots where fans in front would go and front of PC has a grill on it. I plan on adding two Y-adapters to have four 32 watt bulbs in there for 128 watts total.

Just veggin some clones at moment until HPS room is free to flower them and after that I'm starting a 12/12 from seed grow in PC. :)

Enough jibber jabber, here's some pics for you guys.
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AcroPhobic

Member
This thread gave me all I needed to do my own. :)

I have 4 PC's just collecting dust in a corner and always wondered about PC grows and finally got off my ass and did it.

Gonna make another one to use for germinating/growing vegetable seeds/seedlings.
 

Blirre

New member
Hello people

I have 2 120mm fans hooked up to a 12v adapter in my pc case and when I have the case in my room the temperature is fine, but the fans are really loud so I tried putting the case in my closet and when I did that the temperature was raised by 10 degrees Celsius.
I would really like to have the case in my closet as it reduces the noise alot. Is there any way for me to change the fan setup or similiar to adapt it to a much tighter space?

I am using 120w of CFL with one fan as intake and I have it positioned in the center of the case heightwise and one fan as exhaust at the very top corner of the case.
 

lostboy420

New member
Got a couple questions..

I'm going to do this in a 16"Hx9"Wx15D" case (tried to get pic but camera won't sync with tower today)...

From what I've read I think i will do lights 12hr on 12 off from the start.. I have a power strip and I have the socket to bulb adapters... What wattage/type of cfl lights should I run?? I'm off to wally world soon as I get this answered to get bulbs and stuff to seal and refletorize the case.. I've just seen so many different ideas on bulbs researching this... I will worry about how to cool it once I get the bulbs in the case to see just what it runs at for temp..


Question 2

I've seen many photos of the pc being used as a drying station for harvest.. Have not seen anyone say how they run their pc (fans,lights, etc) during the drying stage.. I live in a place with no basement/attic/garage to dry in and since it will have some sort of carbon filter system I think the pc would be great for drying before going into jars for cure..
 
S

Sinxar

the first question - I found some 45 watt CFLs at wally world that I'm using now. I think they were like $10 or something. Not really sure on price. But they are pretty good just make sure to use good ventilation around them as the ballast will blow if they get too hot.

On my first grow i used 2 of them and one burned out from the heat. Now I'm using 1 45watt + a 23watt for 1 plant. But i had 4 plants before that vegging from the single 45w and they seemed fine.
 

lostboy420

New member
the first question - I found some 45 watt CFLs at wally world that I'm using now. I think they were like $10 or something. Not really sure on price. But they are pretty good just make sure to use good ventilation around them as the ballast will blow if they get too hot.

On my first grow i used 2 of them and one burned out from the heat. Now I'm using 1 45watt + a 23watt for 1 plant. But i had 4 plants before that vegging from the single 45w and they seemed fine.


The Cfls I grabbed are 60 watt(like these http://milo.com/bright-effects-daylight-60-watt-replacement-cfl-twist-bulb ). Picked up cool blue and daylight ones... Is this going to be much?

I know I have some smaller wattage ones in lamps around the house I could swap for..
 

AcroPhobic

Member
Hello people

I have 2 120mm fans hooked up to a 12v adapter in my pc case and when I have the case in my room the temperature is fine, but the fans are really loud so I tried putting the case in my closet and when I did that the temperature was raised by 10 degrees Celsius.
I would really like to have the case in my closet as it reduces the noise alot. Is there any way for me to change the fan setup or similiar to adapt it to a much tighter space?

I am using 120w of CFL with one fan as intake and I have it positioned in the center of the case heightwise and one fan as exhaust at the very top corner of the case.
If you plan on keeping it in your closet you have to take into consideration the temp in there as I assume you plan on keeping closet door closed alot.
What are temps in closet? Temps in PC? In general you want your intake twice as big as your exhaust. Three times is even better.

I'm not sure but I believe you can buy a speed controller for your fans to make less noise, so in that case you can keep PC in room where ambient temps are much better than the closet.
 
S

Sinxar

I like the bigger CFLs, like 45 actual watts not 'equivalent' watts like they try to sell you. I think mine must be some strange wattage or something. Most people use 42 watt ones (or maybe 43 can't remember).

a 15watt is not much at all. I was taught you need around 50 watt of CFLs to get decent growth.
 

Blirre

New member
If you plan on keeping it in your closet you have to take into consideration the temp in there as I assume you plan on keeping closet door closed alot.
What are temps in closet? Temps in PC? In general you want your intake twice as big as your exhaust. Three times is even better.

I'm not sure but I believe you can buy a speed controller for your fans to make less noise, so in that case you can keep PC in room where ambient temps are much better than the closet.


Yeah I decided not go to with the closet idea since it gets way to hot if I close the closet door.

As for now I got rid of the intake fan and only using one 120mm fan as exhaust with passive intakes that are almost double the size of the exhaust. It is still making noise but not as much as before and I can live with it if I get the case more lightproof. It's an old case and it is leaking light, especially at the removable front since the pieces won't touch each other and therefore there are small light springs. Same thing with the removable side, can't close it fully so small light springs appear. Im gonna have to work on that.
Otherwise the temperature in the case is 3-4 degrees C more than the temperature in my room. So if my room temperature is 25C the temperature in the case is 29C so I'm happy with that.

Gonna have to work more on keeping it lightproof, also where the 120mm fan is placed there is a huge gap which just bursts out light. So any tip on fixing that is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, best of luck to all you micro growers!
 

lob19

Member
Veteran
my current set up

my current set up

Hi everyone!

Here are some various pics of my PC grow I have going:



I'm using medium size pc case with 2 x 24W CFL. Newest pics are from flowering day 49.

It's an unknown strain (HOT CARGO's indoor mix) it looks like some kind of haze to me, but I'm not sure. any ideas about what might it be are welcome ;)

bless you all

P.S excuse my english plz :)
 

AcroPhobic

Member
I like the bigger CFLs, like 45 actual watts not 'equivalent' watts like they try to sell you. I think mine must be some strange wattage or something. Most people use 42 watt ones (or maybe 43 can't remember).

a 15watt is not much at all. I was taught you need around 50 watt of CFLs to get decent growth.
In general 35 watts per sq.ft is the least amount ... 50 is the ideal ... over 50 is better
 

AcroPhobic

Member
Yeah I decided not go to with the closet idea since it gets way to hot if I close the closet door.

As for now I got rid of the intake fan and only using one 120mm fan as exhaust with passive intakes that are almost double the size of the exhaust. It is still making noise but not as much as before and I can live with it if I get the case more lightproof. It's an old case and it is leaking light, especially at the removable front since the pieces won't touch each other and therefore there are small light springs. Same thing with the removable side, can't close it fully so small light springs appear. Im gonna have to work on that.
Otherwise the temperature in the case is 3-4 degrees C more than the temperature in my room. So if my room temperature is 25C the temperature in the case is 29C so I'm happy with that.

Gonna have to work more on keeping it lightproof, also where the 120mm fan is placed there is a huge gap which just bursts out light. So any tip on fixing that is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, best of luck to all you micro growers!
Duct tape is your best friend. That and electrical tape. :)
 

AcroPhobic

Member
Hi everyone!

Here are some various pics of my PC grow I have going:



I'm using medium size pc case with 2 x 24W CFL. Newest pics are from flowering day 49.

It's an unknown strain (HOT CARGO's indoor mix) it looks like some kind of haze to me, but I'm not sure. any ideas about what might it be are welcome ;)

bless you all

P.S excuse my english plz :)
I have no clue but your plant looks good. Nice LST. :) And btw, your English is better than most who use it daily.
 

funkervogt

donut engineer
Veteran
As a fellow microgrower I've got to throw in my :2cents: here... this is for growers trying to go from start-to-finish on PC grows...

About 4 months ago I was planning on using my old G5 case for a mom/clone room with 4x 26W CFL's. I figured I could keep one or two moms and a few clones with two PC fans venting. Ultimately, I scrapped the project because I realized that it wouldn't be enough space to keep my moms, and then upgraded my main flower cab. Sucks because it took me like 3 hours to gut the old G5 (it has 9 small-to-large sized fans!!!).

Long story short, I don't think these PC grows are big enough to support plant from start to finish. I'm a microgrower, and a PC wasn't big enough for my moms and clones. I see a ALOT of starts on this thread, but few if any folks who made it all the way to the end (and by that I mean mostly cloudy/a few amber trichs). And of those that chopped, the harvest looks meager, even with bigger PC's.

I guess my point is, why waste your time on a PC when you can work on a slightly larger space with much grander results? It seems like a better option to put in another $100 and create a small stealth cab for a single veg-to-flower run. It's perhaps more stealth than a PC, you can achieve a decent harvest (ounces instead of grams), and you can stack a small stealth cab with another if you wanted/easier to make adjustments in ventilation and air purification.

The biggest limiting factor in PC's as grow boxes is that they do not have enough depth. When I look for a cab, I look for depth. Depth means more space for plants to stretch out. Depth also means more space for light to spread, especially when working with CFL's. To contrast with HID's, CFL's are low-intensity (low-penetration) lights. Even if you stack that thing with a lot of lights, like 75W per sq ft, you still won't penetrate deep into the canopy, and that's what you need. Experienced florescent growers try to maximize their horizontal space for this reason; they can't reach deep into the canopy like HID's do. PC's limit this horizontal space, aren't conducive to a vertical setup, and are too small for HID's.
 
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funkervogt

donut engineer
Veteran
:hijacked:

As an example: $50, fits neatly into a dorm or apartment, can support a variety of grow techniques, has outside hinges (great for light proofing). Cabinets just like these are available at any major hardware supply store.

# Width: 23 3/4"
# Height: 59 1/2"
# Depth: 14 1/2"

sw403918_l.jpg


:whee::whee::whee: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES :whee::whee::whee:
 

AcroPhobic

Member
You need to look and do better searches... Some guy had a 175watt MH with cooltube in a PC and finished and had nice nugs. People grow in PC's and have been doing it for along time and have had good results. I remember seeing PC grows on OverGrow and those guys were cranking out nice harvests. This club doesnt represent every PC grower, as alot dont post in here and post in other sections.

I'm veggin clones in mine and it works, I have a HPS room and I'm building a new main veg room. For me the PC grow is just curiosity that lead to actually doing it.

Also, alot of people can't have cab like you posted. More lights, more fans, good exhaust with carbon scrubber, etc etc. Stealth like a PC is only way for some to grow.

Your posts are useless in a PC club thread when you never even finished a grow in a PC only to tell everyone here that its useless to do so.
 

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