My First Grow Journal...EVER! 600W MH/HPS Bubbleponics Cabinet Grow

[oldjarhead100]

wow ellz looks amazing I need to get started on my room thanks for the motivation

[ellz]

Thanks JohnC! I wanted it up top all along but I have my intake fans blowing in from the top and I just added the duct pieces to force the air down, into the clip fans and then down to the plants. As for my cabinet setup, it is a custom built unit I made. Full details about it can be found on this post: http://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/...-set-up-advice

It's basically a 4 foot wide x 2 foot deep x 6-1/2 foot tall locking steel cabinet that I modified to be a grow cabinet. Originally, I was looking into buying a pre-made grow cabinet from SuperCloset (this one specifically: https://supercloset.com/product/grow...alth-grow-box/ ) but it was very expensive, smaller than what I have now and comes with just a 150W light. The one I built cost less, has a 600W light and is almost 2x bigger!

[JohnC]

Much better having the filter can up on top. That's the way I designed my cabinet. I have intake air coming in at the bottom. This cool, dry air blows across my plant and is then drawn to the top of the cabinet and out through my filter and fan. Any heat generated by my lights is drawn upwards and out of the cabinet and not blowing down on the plants.

I like your cabinet, Eliz. Can you tell more about it?

[ellz]

07/16/2017:

01:30PM: I finally moved my charcoal can up to the top of the cabinet now that I have my fans blowing down with the duct. just used a pair of 36 inch zip ties rated at 175lbs each run through two eye bolts I just installed and voila! I have attached a picture of my cabinet now, with the change in place. I think this will allow the reservoirs to cool off a bit better since there is air space around all sides of both. I have two clip fans blowing the intake air down and one vortex fan blowing the warmer air up, over the surface of the light to help cool the grow area temps and eventually out through the canister fan. We will see how this changes my interior temps since I have kept track of it with this journal. As for the babies...they are looking great! It may be time to top them for the first time soon...so excited! My reservoir temps had dropped to the mid 70s with just my cooling fans. The ice bottles don't last long enough to do much of anything but they did help some so I may keep trying with that but I have the other fans coming Tuesday so I may not need to do anything besides change them! We shall see.

06:30PM: I checked on my reservoir temps after the lights were running about 30 minutes and they were still in the mid 70s so I may be able to cool them enough using the stronger fans. Moving my carbon can up top helped the air flow down below a lot, so my interior temps are down to about 89ºF to 92ºF. Previously, it was up in the upper 90s with the light going. The new temps are even after I moved the light a couple of clicks down closer to the plants! All-in-all, things are running pretty smooth. I have attached a picture of both pairs of plants on day 13 below. Thanks for reading!

[ellz]

Water Cooling Note: Was able to drop the reservoir temps down to 75.5ºF using the cooling fan I built and a single frozen 20oz bottle of water. I have a higher speed fan coming on Tuesday but I imagine I would need a half gallon or a full gallon of frozen water to reduce my reservoir temps down to the upper 60s. The single 20oz bottle was thawed out within 1 hour of putting it in the reservoir. I placed a fresh bottle in after removing the thawed one and will check on the temps in the morning. I doubt the temps will stay in the 60s long (if I get them there at all), but if I need to freeze some gallon jugs, then I will freeze some gallon jugs! One note for when this crop is done...install the cooling fans on the outside of the case so that they only draw in cool air from outside the cabinet! More than likely, I will build an external water cooler similar to one found in a PC. Either that or I will install an Ice Probe and insulate the reservoir. Either option will likely require the installation of either a second 20A line in my garage or I may buy a small solar system (100W or so) and run the coolers off of a deep cycle marine battery that charges via the sun with a bonus extra plug or two! All I know is it's going to be a bit costly, but it will be worth it to save myself over $400 per month growing my own versus buying it!

[ellz]

Thank you.

[Sheesh]

They look nice and healthy. Nice work and great setup!

[ellz]

07/15/2017:

04:00PM: Installed my reservoir fans. However, they don't appear to be doing much more than blowing air in the reservoir and cooling the water temps down a very small amount (only about 1ºF). So now I am going to combine that with the frozen bottle technique. I have 4 20oz bottles that I filled with water to freeze and once they are ready, I will drop one in each reservoir and see how that works. When those are spent, I will swap them with the other frozen pair and re-freeze the others. I imagine this will work fine for dropping the temps down but I will have to see how long it lasts before needing to be replaced with a fresh bottle. Once this grow is complete I will have a number of changes to make before I start my next grow. More than likely I will build my own water cooler for each reservoir and run the lines and everything out of the back of the cabinet so only cool, external cabinet air is blown on the radiator. Either way, I will be more prepared next time than this time thanks to this journal and this website! Until then, here is a picture of the fans I installed today.

06:00PM: I took some of the left over ducting and attached a small piece to each intake fan to help force the cooler air down towards the plants. There are also two clip fans right under the duct to help push it further. I have attached photos of that as well, along with the day 12 progress of the babies. Thanks for reading!

10:00PM: Went to check on the water temps and they have dropped down to 78.9ºF with just the cooling fans. I think I am going to get the high speed versions and replace these with them to double the airflow amount since it does seem to be helping. I also think I am going to move my carbon filter up top to free up space down below which should also improve airflow around the reservoirs. Lastly, I may end up mounting my two velocity fans up top and moving the two clip fans down below to help cool the reservoirs. The velocity fans move enough air on low to blow in the plants around gently and cool the air around them and the clip fans would fit better down below. Either way, a lot of drilling is about to happen so I have to be extra careful since there are babies down below.

Side note: I am waiting for my ice bottles to freeze. They are taking forever so I may have to wait until tomorrow before I can test them out. Will update my post or post a new reply when I get that done.

[ellz]

I haven't tried that yet. That is in my list of options should the fan idea fall through. My only issue with that is how much I would have to change out the bottles, but if it comes to that, I will give it a shot. I am hoping the fans cool it down to the 70s. I will know soon...the items I need are out for delivery.

[yosh1419]

have you tried putting frozen bottles of ice in your res to help chill that a little?

[ellz]

07/14/2017:

06:30PM: Installed my water thermometers in each reservoir. The water temps are sitting between 81ºF and 82ºF but I do have a possible solution coming tomorrow. I will post more on that when I get it done, but I mentioned it earlier. Basically it's a fan that will blow into the unused net pot's hole and cool the inside of the reservoir, along with fan the air around a bit to hopefully prevent root rot. Until then, I have posted a picture of each pair of plants as they sit on day 11 from seed.

[ellz]

Thanks!

[oldjarhead100]

nice ellz those are looking great,

[ellz]

07/13/2017: (continued...)

06:30PM: Everything is still running along well. I received some nutrients today, along with my new digital pH meter. Checked on the plants and the roots and they look great! I have posted some pictures below of day 10's status. Thanks for reading and happy growing.

[ellz]

07/13/2017:

01:00AM: Switched the water pumps back to 24/7 operation. Disconnected the timer and plugged pumps in directly. All sprouts have roots coming out of the net pots so time to turn on the water!

Side note: You don't have to cut zip ties...you can simply take the end opposite of the zipper head (the flat part) and insert it into the back of a zip tie. When it's in far enough, the zipper part will release and you can pull the zip tie back out to re-use. I knew this about using a small flat head screw driver or pick, but never thought to use the other end of the zip tie!