Stealth Rubbermaid Growbox (Micro)

I'm sorrry but I am reposting this write up I did but here is where we are at as of now:


This will be my first grow and thus my first attempt at building a grow box. I read around on the net to get ideas and decided to go with Rubbermaid totes stacked on top of one another. I am going to jump straight to the end of my construction....mainly because I didn't take step by step pictures.

My thoughts behind a grow box was this:
1) Had to be stealth (hidden but can be in plain sight)
2) Had t be efficient but not too cheap or expensive...I decided paying about 200-250 was a good starting point. (haven't added up the prices yet but will do that soon to see final price)
3) Had to be quite (AKA PC COMP FANS)
4) wanted to use CFL's to not draw to much attention to heat and power draw.
5) have a large enough area for a sizable micro grow (aka at least 2- more like 3 plants)
6) GOTTA HAVE SOME FUN WITH IT( I'M VERY EXCITED OVER THIS GROWING ADVENTURE LOL....MUST SOUND LIKE A LITTLE KID LOL)

Here's the basic idea:

two 37 gallon totes stacked on top on one anther (I'm going for stealth so i cut out the bottom of the top tote and the top of the bottom on to make it hallow inside). There is a third tote on top of the stack which is my utilities room. This is where my carbon filters are, fans, and power supply.

My goal after doing my research was to separate the grow area from the light area. I found that most people was having problems keeping these designs temperature down. I then decided to build a box to house the lights and place it inside the top of the box. Pictures will tell more.

I'd say the hardest part of this build was the construction of the light box. I spent a lot of time just tinkering with it. lol

As of now I am waiting for my computer fans to arrive in the mail (here thursday) and then I will be basically ready to grow.

I also got this idea from another design and only a few of my own ideas in the end. I don't know the rules completely so I am not sure I am allowed to post about another site...but its where I got my original idea.


ADVISE AND COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!!

I will hopefully be starting my grow as early as next week. Here's some pics of my box....sorry i don't have any of the earlier construction.
You'll notice i have no fans (waiting for them in the mail) and no intake cut yet. All the last little things I have to do will be done by the end of the week. Expect a finished grow box by monday!!!


(OK i tried to figure out how to post my pictures but in my noobness i couldn't lol) someone got ideas about how to post em. Thanks....I'll update once i get fans....or i figure out how to post these damn pics lol




OK I think I figured out the posting pictures issue....here it goes


This First pic is of the box itself and what it will look like from the outside. Notice the top tote will not be completely light proof as of now but if it still isn't with the installation of the fans then I will have to make some changes...no biggie though...





P.S. Sorry about the sideways pics....i'll see about rotating tomorrow. edit (i flipped it)


Next is two pics of the inside of the grow area. This will be below my light box (which is completely closed off from the grow area) It's painted a glossy black (all they had at home depot) that bonds to plastic easily and I put an emergency blanket (got from a sporting goods store) on the interior walls to reflect the light. I choose this way before the paint wasn't cutting it when it came to making the totes light proof. OK enough rambling...





This next pic is of the box that houses all my lighting. I liked the idea of keeping my grow area and light area separate from each other to better deal with the heat issue.
P.S. this is my fav accomplishment thus far and it was the hardest part to build too. Wiring took awhile to say the least....not that i didn't know what i was doing but that it was tedious.



My utilities room. the holes on the ends are going to be an intake and exhaust for the light box and the other two are exhausts for the grow room. I have already installed carbon filters in the two center holes. One pic is of the box with the lights on and one is with the lights off. I am getting the fans this thursday and should have the rest of the box completed by monday.





That's it for now...comments and more ideas are always welcome...thanks guys and i got a lot of my ideas from this sites and others dedicated to the cultivation of this great plant we call marijuana.




OK now tonight I am going to be putting in the fans and getting ready to start the grow. I am going to be getting some seeds soon. Now sure of the strain and I am going to assume it'll be some bagseed. let me know what you think thanks....



P.S. I want to give credit for my design to Blue_adept, I made a few mods to it but the whole idea behind removing the lights from the grow room was his idea. Thanks man u r the reason I am into this grow but I do admit building it was tough lol. but thanks for the idea and hopefully we'll come out with some amazing girls lol
http://www.icmag.com/ic/images/smilies/woohoo.gifhttp://www.icmag.com/ic/images/smilies/petard2.gif

anybody there?? So last night I attempted to wire up my new pc fans that arrived yesterday....while i was flying high...and blew up two of the six fans. I fixed my mistakes this morning and have the other 4 fans up and running. I also cut the intake holes in the back of the bottom tote. that's it for now....seeds coming tomorrow or sunday. Input please...thanks guys.

looks like you really thought it through, looks good! And don't feel too bad about the fans, I've killed a few myself, tricky stripping those little wires.
what strains did you order?

zappa66 said:

looks like you really thought it through, looks good! And don't feel too bad about the fans, I've killed a few myself, tricky stripping those little wires.
what strains did you order?

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Thanks zapp its good to know thats someones interested lol. Ya i'm not to worried about the fans i think i jumped into buying them before i read up on them lol....my stoned badness. I will just have to go pick up some more and i think my 80mm fans are not going to be powerful enough for what I am looking for so I will prob replace those too. Another problem I ran into was that the smaller 80mm fans didn't run well if at all when I tried to wire them all together. Am i right in my thinking that if I were to split the fans up and run two different plugs for them would they all work? That sentence didn't really make a lot of sense but I hope you get what I mean. As for strains I didn't order any yet I think I want to get one grow started and at least half done before I order up a good strain. I am getting some local strain that I have no idea what it is and prob a few clones. A friend of mine is going to give me some of his clones. There's no new pictures besides what my utility room will kinda look like after all the fans are installed. grow should start no later then monday...hope to get some more people interested lol. Peace for now

~stealth (going to kick and relax with some yummy nugs lol)
http://www.icmag.com/ic/images/smilies/petard2.gif

yes, its better to run all the fans with their own power adapters. If you link the fans together the power is much reduced.

just make sure your cab is 100% done before you get any plants. Nothing worse than having to rework your odor or heat issues during a grow. Burn a cig in your cab or something to make sure no smell gets through. I did not and it came and bit me in the ass during flowering.

zappa66 said:

yes, its better to run all the fans with their own power adapters. If you link the fans together the power is much reduced.

just make sure your cab is 100% done before you get any plants. Nothing worse than having to rework your odor or heat issues during a grow. Burn a cig in your cab or something to make sure no smell gets through. I did not and it came and bit me in the ass during flowering.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input again zapp. I know I SHOULD finish it entirely before I get a plant but I am so excited lol. I just want to start so badly. I do think my more logical side will win out though. I will have to go out to a used electronics store and pic some up....that means another power adapter (SHITTY)... and finding more plugs. So what do i need....6...or i think 5 because I will run both the 120mm fans off one plug. Prob going to have to wait until the next pay check lol.

or i could get a PC power supply and do it the way i read about. but that involves me finding a power supply....ah money money money. i'll take a look around tomorrow.

So I fix my power problem when it came to the PC fans. Just went and got a DC to AC power adapter...worked perfectly. Now the only thing I have left is to replace the two fans I blew up and then we're in business. Getting my seeds tonight and starting tomorrow.

~stealth

It seems that most people are not too interested in my grow but no matter I am doing it anyway lol. So I got my seeds this morning (6:30 pacific) amd have started tp germ 4 pf them. I got about 90 seeds so I am not worried about running out. I am hopping for a quick germ so i can plant later this afternoon. I will also be posting pictures this afternoon of my finished box and the seeds. thanks

~stealth

i read just about every thread so even if you dont see me im here

Update time:

So it's taking a little longer then expected to get these seeds started but its ok at least i got em right lol. O and one has broke through I am just waiting to see if the other two catch up...wanna plant all around the same time lol. I'll prob plant the one tomorrow morning and wait for the other two to catch up. Other then that I just have some pictures to put up of my finished set up (i don't like to call it completely done because I am always changing something that i don't like lol)

These first two pictures are of a square hole I cut in the back of the tub to peak in and check on my plants. When I was cutting it I didn't think about making it big enought to get my watering can in there but its ok. I taped around the edges of both the cut out and the opening with tin foil tape and tried to make the cut out into a swinging door. Ghetto I know but it seems to work great and it keeps the light in. EDIT: (one picture that was resized)



These next two are of the finished electrical room It's amazing how warm it gets up there and keeps the actual grow room quite cool. Well the perfect amount of 72 degrees lol. EDIT: (one pic)





My two stands that I am using to raise my girls to the lights. I think I did at least one more coat after this picture was taken.



These next three are of my three girls future homes with their names already on em lol. O and the picture is shoot from outside looking through the cutout. Hope everyone likes the progress. Planting should be happening soon considering these seeds germ right lol. Peace for now...going to smoke a bowl...or two...or three









~stealth


(damn its a pain to upload photos lol) (not anymore 1-29-09)

sorry about the large picture sizes i don't know why it did that

hey, ive got a microbox set up also in the works. like u, i was inspired by some one on the boards. my thread is started in the coco organics section. im also using 2 rubbermaids, although they are not as elaborate as yours! i wanted to tell u, its all about the amperage from your ac dc adapter. you can power multiple fans if the amps are right. each fan should state the amps needed on the package. i have a dc adapter from an air mattress fan/pump that im using for two fans. the amp rating is like 2000mA. each fan only needs 300 amps, so im set. ill be vegin a clone to be a mommy for the next few weeks in my new box. come check out my thread. good luck to ya! -fresh

Fresh Start said:

hey, ive got a microbox set up also in the works. like u, i was inspired by some one on the boards. my thread is started in the coco organics section. im also using 2 rubbermaids, although they are not as elaborate as yours! i wanted to tell u, its all about the amperage from your ac dc adapter. you can power multiple fans if the amps are right. each fan should state the amps needed on the package. i have a dc adapter from an air mattress fan/pump that im using for two fans. the amp rating is like 2000mA. each fan only needs 300 amps, so im set. ill be vegin a clone to be a mommy for the next few weeks in my new box. come check out my thread. good luck to ya! -fresh

Click to expand...

Hey fresh thanks stoppin by. Hope u can stick around for the rest of the grow. Hopefully offically starting today but can never be to sure with these seeds lol. I figured out the DC to AC thing easily enough after blowing up two of my fans lol. It's all good though. I just went and got a converter from best buy that works great. I run all 7 (8 will be later) of my fans together with the converter. Thanks again man. Peace

~stealth

UpDate: All potting has started 1/26/09 (the first two were planted yesterday 1/25/09 and the third this morning)

So we're off to the races. I am so excited lol I am going to predict that mary will sprout first with victoria fallin second and then the one i planted today, mary, will sprout third. Lets see how I do I will up date again once they start sproutin...what maybe a couple days lol. Peace for now

~stealth

a question for all the peeps out there. I am going out of town for a few days next week and i want to make sure my girls will be safe. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on a timed watering process. I wouldn't mind building something but don't want to have to spend a lot of money. Thanks

search for a method called wick watering. it works great and is cheap too.

it's ok I figured out that I will only be away for a limited amount of time and wont need this but thanks. pics coming soon but to give you all a sneak only one girls has sprouted. others are close behind and the new three seeds germin haven't popped yet. well till next time

~stealth

hey, nice looking setup. watching with interest.

another question for all the knowing people out there....since i built a box to house the lights and sealed it with some plexi glass I am having no problems with heat issUES (being too hot anyway). my question is how to I simply increase my temps in my grow room. It is running about 68 degrees F with the lights on and a little lower with them off. the box is in the garage, so that could have some issues. I was thinking of having a very small space heater blowing warm air into my intake holes. what u guys think? thanks for the help

o and I made some DIY CO2 generators that sit next to my girls with some yeast, sugar and water. not sure if its going to do anything but i decided to add em just in case.

~stealth