RadaRada's Grow Cab: Durban poison, Hollands Hope

[RadaRada]

Size :31" x 24" by 18"
Lighting: 2 100w 'Natural Light' CFL's and one 100w 'Soft White' CFL
Fans: a 34.5 CFM input fan, and a 34.5 CFM pc fan soon to come an 80CFM output fan that i will hook up to a carbon filter rig

i am using Scotts Premium Potting soil, its just dirt, sphagnum peat, and perlite. I plan on vegging for 5-6 weeks on a (19/5) lighting cycle (1 DurbanPoison and 1 Hollands Hope). I could only get one of each seed so i am hoping for the best in terms of their gender. If i am exceedingly unlucky and they both are male then i will try and grow some bag seeds

I lined the top and bottom part of the box where the doors shut with white weather stripping to keep as much air from leaking out as possible when the plants start flowering homes

since my temperatures are pretty high (82-95 F) i am going to install an 80 CFM fan where the current output fan is. i will post a new pic of the fan when i get a chance.



The first pic is of the Hollands Hope and the second pic is of the Durban Poison they are both at 6 days of growth

feel free to leave comments or suggestions im a first time grower so any tips are welcome

 

[RadaRada]

New Fan installed

New Fan installed

Here are pics of the new 80 CFM output fan and my new overall fan setup. because i just finished installing it later tonight i will edit this post and post the new temperature readings in the cab.

 

[RadaRada]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Work2much
Those watt numbers are for incadescent bulbs. The actual CFL watts are 27 each, for a total of 81 which is quite low but maybe ok for veg.

DAMN that just makes me feel like a total newb however i had a growbox to veg my outdoor plants and i was vegging like 9 plants under nearly the same setup and they came out very nicely

 

[RadaRada]

Heat still plagues me

Heat still plagues me

although i just installed a fan 2x more powerful than the last output fan the temp in my box is still 90 - 95 F idk why its so hot in there now!!!So to deal with the problem for now i shut one of the lights off. I think this is a circulation problem

tomorrow i am going to re install my output fan right under the shelf i think that alot of the heat is getting trapped under the shelf and since my shelf holds my lights up i cannot get rid of it.

i am also thinking about taking one of the other fans and install it into the back of the box as an input fan.... my only concern with this is that when the plants start flowering some smell will leak out but i doubt it because it will be blowing into the box and getting sucked out through the carbon filter.

expect an update tommorow im gonna get rid of this heat problem if its the last thing ill do

 

[RadaRada]

from a previous thread on the same cab

from a previous thread on the same cab

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Tony
is your air intake adequate?

thats the same thought that crossed my mind... i dont think it is, but tommorow i will be doing some surgery on the cab

im going to put my output fan at a lower height on the box and im most likely going to make another intake hole and i havent decided if i am going to install a fan into the intake hole or just leave it as a hole. i will post pics of the new ventilation system tommorow after it is built

any suggestions for what i should do please feel free to let me know

 

[RadaRada]

from a previous thread on the same cab

from a previous thread on the same cab

Originally Posted by MtnKuSh
ok i dont see how you say you have 300w cfl ? them bulbs you got look like 23w cfls.? the overall watts is the actual wattage of your bulb not the equivalent.

CFLs will use only 23 Watts of electricity to produce the same light as your 100 Watt incandescent lightbulbs. so if you only have 3- 23w bulbs you wont be growing much under them lights in that setup ..69watts is what you have not 300watts big big differance

you want to grow sum real decent nuggs in there get yourself a 150w hps and your set

Originally Posted by MtnKuSh
your outdoor grow you said you was growing under 60 and or 75 watts cfls.. those are not 60-75w cfls like i posted above.. you are confused when it comes to wattage of cfls bulbs and not for nothing but if you dont have the rite wattage in your room going to your plants they will never amount to anything. goodluck

Haha yeah u could definately say i was confused about the CFL's and wattage and what not, thanks for the advice. but i changed the bulbs for my outdoor veg box a few times so i started with the '60w' and '75w ones but ultimately ended up with just 3 '100w' ones up until i put them outdoors.

i will from here on out use the correct wattage when i refernence CFL's and not just the equivelant.... ill see if i cant find myself a 150w hps i honestly just didnt want to spend the money on an hps but now i guess ill just do the research

lol its toobad i cant change the name of the thread kus i dnt really have 300w CFL i guess ill just have to make a new one and copy all the stuff over

 

[RadaRada]

new light!!!

new light!!!

Originally Posted by MtnKuSh
you can get 150w hps for 40-75 bucks and will be worth it. ebay sumtimes has them

i just bought a 150w HPS system for my box im lookin foward to installing it ill let you know when it arrives in the MAIL

 

[RadaRada]

Heat Problem NO MORE

Heat Problem NO MORE

I installed my new ventilation system yesterday. i chose to not install my fan lower than it was before because i need my shelf to hang my lights from. when i get my new 150w HPS system i am going to nix the shelf and hang it from the top of the box with some hooks. i cant WAIIT

For now i just installed a vent into the back and cut larger holes into the shelf for more sufficient air flow. the temps are now from 75-80 F rather than a scorching 90-95 F which has left my Hollands Hope seedling in rough shape

here are the pics:

 

[RadaRada]

150w HPS light

150w HPS light

i dont know why but i orderd this system on tuesday, and they still havent shipped it yet although of coarse it already has appeared on my debit card statement... i am anxious i cant wait to install this and watch my babies thrive!!!!!!!!!

here is a list of my (approximate) total costs spent on the growbox so far, i will update it as needed:

Cabinet................$31.00
CFL's...................$15.00
PC fans................$24.00
Light Socket x3......$15.00
Duct fan.............. $24.00
150w HPS System..$83.94
Timer...................$5.00
Vent Piece............$5.24
Total Cost............$203.18
Cost w/o CFLS......$173.18


the reason i put total cost without CFL's is because once my 150w HPS System arrives in the mail, i willnot even need the CFL's

 

[RadaRada]

Updated Pics

Updated Pics

pics day 11



the left is the holland hope.. its still in rough shape from when my grow box doubled as an oven but it should pull through .
and on the right is the Durban poison which is growing like a champion

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hey Rada! Rad project you have going on here. I would actually suggest sticking with the CFLs for a while. HPS is not so good for seedlings compared to CFLs imo. I have wanted one or two of those 150w HPS kits for EVER but I just can't find them in my country. They apparently get pretty hot because it's got a built in ballast. Maybe you could DIY externalize it if it causes issues. Good luck buddy, I'll check in from time to time, see how you go!

Small moan: you should store the pics in your gallery, not photobucket - it's twice the clicking and photobucket's terms don't allow illegal stuff like the dreaded demon weed. Sorry, but someone was gonna say it. Keep up the good work tho.

 

[guest 77721]

Looks like you have a good start. ScrubNinja is right on with his advice.

That little scrubber is plugging up your airflow. Chuck that out the window, you don't need a scrubber for a few weeks. That will get your temps down with the CFL's. You'll need one that can pass more air with a larger surface area.

By my airflow chart, you'll need 50 CFM for cooling your 150 light. That doesn't include the built in ballast.


You're going to have to figure out a good ventilation system when you get that light in.

If you want a one pass scrubber/fan combo, I'd recommend getting a canfan filter combo.

If it were me, I'd remote ballast the light and make a sealed hood with a piece of glass and cool it with your axial fan with an in and out duct. Make a small scubber like mine to ventilate the grow chamber.

 

[RadaRada]

Thanks for the advice and tips guys, my light will be coming in on tuesday and when I install it I'm going to get rid of that shelf to allow complete airflow from the vent to my. exaust fan and just hang the light from the cieling of the box. using wire and screw hooks..

I am fairly confident heat will not be a problem as my temps are now from 75-80 F which is perfect and. My exaust fan is 80 CFM's so according to your chart I should be fine as well... But if the new light does present a heat problem I'm sure I will be able to tackle it someway or another

 

[ScrubNinja]

I am fairly confident heat will not be a problem as my temps are now from 75-80 F which is perfect

Still. yer gonna be at least doubling your wattage with the HPS. Did you get the glass shield with the light? (where I was looking, it was an optional extra) that would be convenient for the vented hood idea of reds.

 

[RadaRada]

Still. yer gonna be at least doubling your wattage with the HPS. Did you get the glass shield with the light? (where I was looking, it was an optional extra) that would be convenient for the vented hood idea of reds.

their was no optionforthe glass shield i think that i would be able to build some sort of vented hood if i need to....

 

[RadaRada]

Beginning of nutes and LST

Beginning of nutes and LST

I started the plants on Schultz All purpose plant food 24-8-16 because i couldnt find one any closer to 20-10-10 .. i gave them a little less than the recommended dose for seedlings and i probably wont give them the nutes again for another week or two.

i also started the Durban Poison on LST, and picked the two dead leaves off of the Hollands Hope

heres a pic of the dp and the hollands hope without the two completely dead dried up leaves:

 

[irie4i]

That's a pretty small plant to twist and turn; the results are interesting to me. Durban poison has been a closet fave. of mine(in the catagory of buds I've never seen). good luck

 

[RadaRada]

bumper

bumper

the light is coming tommorow

 

[jengi]

idk if those are read for nutes man, they look a bit small

 

[RadaRada]

HPS light installation

HPS light installation

I finally installed the light.... and just like i was warned it got real hot in that box... so i did what someone recommended i do and cut the ballast off the rest of the light and isolated so now it is ontop of the box rather than inside.

however it is still extremely hot in the box... potential problems:
-need better intake ventilation
-closet gets filled with hot air then recycles into the box
-too much heat from 150w HPS for such a small cab

rant section:
my problem is ventilation, not my boxes ventilation system though, i keep my box in a closet, and my exaust fan does such a nice job that it pumps all the hot air from the box right into the closet. so my closet heats up to about 90-100 F and then that makes it so that no matter what it will always be that hot in the box... i may go back to CFL's for a little bit until i can figure out a new location for the box of someway to vent the closet itself... what really sucks now is that there is no way i can return the HPS system because i have already cut it in half lol.

my timer screwed up this morning so the lights did not turn on at 3 am like they were supposed to, and i ended up catching the problem at around 11am. according to post by other icmag users the plants should be ok as long as the light cylce goes back to normal.

hopefully things start getting better as i work on my heat situation, also i am going to be germing some more seeds to add in the box because my hollands hope isnt looking so good and it seems like a waste of space and time to only have one plant.

here are pics of the new light: