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

[ellz]

07/08/2017: (continued...)

08:00PM: Wanted to share some pictures of the sprouts as they sit now. Everything is looking good. I was a little nervous earlier when I drained my swamp cooler because while doing it saw that my cabinet had gotten up to 100ºF inside without the swamp cooler running! I got it all drained out and refilled an have it running so the temp is back down in the 90s again. Whew! Also wanted to share some pictures of the swamp cooler so in case anyone wanted to try to make there own they could use this as an example.

[ellz]

Good call! I was only thinking through part of the grow and almost forgot about that!

[Aloner]

Your post was so thorough, I hated for that to be unclear to anyone. : )

[ellz]

Very good point Aloner! During the flowering stage you want humidity to be low so that you prevent mold on the buds. Thanks for clarifying that!

[Aloner]

Humidity-wise: swamp cooler = better for veg, A/C = better for flowering.

[ellz]

07/08/2017:

11:00AM: Went out to plug in the water pumps and ran them for 15 minutes before unplugging. All of the plants are looking good now. The temps are doing much better with the extra inline fan and with running the swamp cooler for long periods of time, I have increased the humidity to nearly 50% in the cabinet! I am very pleased with that considering the average humidity outside is around 10-20% at best! I imagine when there is more foliage, the humidity will go up a lot more in the cabinet without the need of the swamp cooler, but we shall see.

Side Note: I know I mention the swamp cooler a lot, and there are some out there who may not know what that means (I was one of those people for a long time until I moved to Colorado). A swamp cooler, or an evaporative cooler as it's professionally called, is nothing more than a fan that draws air in across moist pads (often paper or straw) and uses the evaporative properties of the cool water to cool the air. So basically there is a water tank (some have a continuous feed hookup like mine that you can connect a garden hose to and they will refill as the level gets low in the tank), a water pump with drip system, a media for the water to soak into (paper, straw, hay) and a fan. You could literally build one yourself if you are handy like that! The benefits of a swamp cooler are that they use a lot less energy than an A/C unit, they create humidity instead of removing it, and they are relatively inexpensive to buy and maintain than an A/C. However, they only work in places that have low humidity, less than 60% relative humidity is recommended for proper operation. An A/C, on the other hand, removes moisture from the air and introduces coolant to cool the air going back into the room. This process requires a lot more energy (4x what a swamp cooler needs on average) and removes humidity from an area. Also, they are much more pricey than swamp coolers and more costly to repair if they break! So basically, my point is that if you need to cool your grow space, and you live in a place with low humidity, a swamp cooler is definitely the way to go over A/C! If you live in a humid climate, A/C is your only option besides good old fans! A swamp cooler will not help you at all. Hope this helps those who may have been confused.

[ellz]

Thanks for your input oldjarhead100! I have one of the mechanical timers for my lights and one that is arriving Monday that I plan on using for the water pumps. It's the kind like you described, where you push down the pegs to turn on the plug. I thought about getting a digital timer, but they are way more complicated to program than the mechanical ones. The digital ones work good if you need to customize programs each day but if you just need on/off at set times then mechanical is so much easier for that. I also bought some more fans for the grow area that will be here Monday. They are the small Honeywell Vortex desktop fans. I figure they will do good for fanning the air around on the sprouts to help strengthen the trunk of the plant. I have had really good results in the past having a fan blow gently directly on the sprouts. It really fattens up the trunk, almost like a workout program! However, once the plants get a bit bigger, I will likely remove those two fans and just go with the small clip fans already installed. Just have to see how the air flows with them once their is a leaf canopy. If need be, I could always put one of the small vortex fans down on the floor next to the carbon filter and have it blow upwards. As for the charcoal filter, I think I might leave it where it is for now. If I install it up high, I would have to do some more drilling and I am worried about the debris getting down in my plants. The temps are not getting too high now that I have that extra inline fan installed so I think it will be okay like that. Time will tell. Either way, thanks again for your input and your kind words!

[oldjarhead100]

elliz a couple of thoughts I use mechanical timers the ones you have to push the buttons down for it to turn on, I buy them at Lowes for a lot less than a hydro store,$10 for a double plug. then your filter you have the right idea , I have mine up high because there is no room on the floor ,my inline fan is also high but when it inters the bloom room i put in a 90%so that it blows straight down . now I know this cuts down on air flow but keeping the fresh air supply away from exhaust is a good idea . my fans are the little 6 inch clip ons I have tried everything except tower fans and I found that in a small room 5x5 the bigger fans were blowing to hard for the plants and produced wind burn. so I went back to 6 inch. just my thoughts for you you are doing a great job and I get the feeling that anything you do has been researched so keep up the good work

[ellz]

07/08/2017: (continued...)

05:00PM: Got the inline fan in and installed just before the light came back on. I turned the main exhaust fan down just a bit via the inline fan controller. I put it on medium versus high. That way it's not over powering the little inline guy. I turned my water pumps on for about 10 minutes and let them water the net pots fairly decently then unplugged them. I will most likely plug them in for 10 minutes around 9:00PM and then leave them off for the night after letting them run about 15 minutes. I can't wait until my timer gets here so I can set it and forget it! Other than that, all the sprouts are up. The one I broke the tap root on is a little shorter than the others, and not all the way opened on its leaves but the other 3 are doing great!

09:00PM: I took a piece of duct left over from when I cut down the ducting and wedged it in my exhaust vent and ran the other end down to where it exits the window in my garage. It's not air tight by any means but it works well at pulling the hot hair from in the cabinet outside of the garage altogether, and it allows me to use the blackout curtains without worrying about restricting exhaust airflow. I put my hand near where the duct meets the window screen and wow! That worked great! I have included 2 pictures of that setup at the bottom of this post as well.


Now a question for you guys and gals reading this....I was thinking about installing my carbon filter up above the light. The only issue with that is the fact that my intake fans would blow almost right on it unless I build some kind of deflector that pushes the air down. I was just wondering what others thought about having the carbon filter at the bottom like I do versus up top where the heat builds up? Currently, the idea is that the air all gets pulled down from up top and sucks out the bottom, creating a cross breeze in the process across the growing area. The only big problem is that heat rises and the heat is being pulled down across the plants. In the winter time I will likely need to do this as it can get really cold here and my only heat source would be the light itself. During the summer, however, well....that has been documented already with my journal....it gets hot! I know that the tutorials suggest the opposite of what I have set up. Originally I was going to put the fans down low but I was worried about splashes and moisture from foliar feedings, plus they would have been blowing straight into the plastic totes hindering the air flow. So I decided to install them up high so that no water could hit them. Also, any light bleed from the fan hole itself will be up in the ducting area, and less likely to make it down to the plants (not so much of a factor now but it will be during the 12/12 light cycles). Either way, any input would be welcome on this. I have also included some pictures of the inline fan and the net pots as they sit now.

[ellz]

Thanks!

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey Ellz I can tell you are doing a great job just by reading all the details you wrote. I'm sure the one that broke will do fine at least i hope so. I grow in soil and really try to let my soil dry as much as possible before starting to wilt before watering again, but signs of wilting is not that bad either if you water them soon. I also believe in letting them hunt for the water also I believe it promotes faster growth, and stronger roots but that's just me others might think differently. Keep up the good work.

[ellz]

07/08/2017:

11:00AM: Went out to check on the light and ensure it had switched off and it did. I left the water pumps off overnight so that the net pots would dry out and they really dried out quick! By the time I checked them about 8 hours later, they weren't even damp any longer. That is what I wanted to happen so that the roots would start searching for some more water. I also left the swamp cooler on medium last night and let it run all night while the light was on. The temperature in the cabinet this morning was down to 77.6ºF and the humidity had increased to a whopping 45%! Inside the garage, the humidity was level at 50% and the temperature was about the same as the cabinet so I feel confident that the air flow is good inside the grow space. I have the water pumps turned back on now but plan on turning them off and on throughout the day and tomorrow. The timer will be here Monday so that will solve that for good. As for the inline fan, that is arriving today. I also ordered two little Honeywell Vortex fans to put down by the plants. They are mostly plastic where as the one in there now is all metal. As you know, metal and humidity don't like each other and tend to result in rust. As for my seedlings, which is what this is all about, they are doing great! 3 of them have sprouted their initial leave sets. The other one had a bit of an issue yesterday. When trying to pull off the remaining seed shell, the whole seedling came out of the Rapid Rooter. Well, the tap root was incredibly long and would not go back in without curling back up on itself. Basically it was in but the top of the plant was so heavy that it fell over. I accidentally broke the tap root off half way down while trying to gently insert it back in with a small piece of 1/4" tubing. I basically stuck the broken tap root back into the Rapid Rooter and hoped for the best. It looks like it has taken hold since that because I nudged the shell and it came off but the root felt as if it was grabbing so that is good news. I imagine it will grow a bit slower to start with but should do just fine. All-in-all, things are looking great. I planted these seeds on Monday and already they are this far along! Plus, I have learned a lot of what not to do as the week has gone on. Hopefully I have documented everything in a manner that will help both me and the readers of this journal avoid those issues next time. Below, I have included a couple of pics of how they are doing today.

[ellz]

Thanks berrypilot. It was pretty stressful but you are right...the satisfaction of owning versus renting is so worth it! We are paying less for this 4br house than we did for our 3br apartment!

[ellz]

Thank you and welcome.

[ellz]

Thanks and welcome to the show!