Joe's first grow: pc, 4 ak47-s, and 100w hps

Hi to you all! Ive just started my first grow and its in a pc case. Im using soil, HESI bloom complex for nutrients and im doing scrog. The plants are in 3l(0,8 gallon) pots and they're under 100w hps. These pictures were taken in the third week of veg, grown from clones.

Right now the plants have been under 12/12 for a week and the screen is allmost full

So here are the pics:

Will it not get really hot with 100w hps in a pc case? Seems abit overkill to me

Best of luck tho!

Hey joe, the pics aren't showing up for us. I'd like to see them!

sounds cool no pics tho wanna see this one peace joe

oh sorry, the albums were set on private.

and it doesn't get that hot at all, like 23C is inside the case atm. ofcourse before the cooltube temps were like 32 C but i managed

peace

You should be able to move your plants MUCH closer to the light. At least twice as close by the looks of it. With the ambient temperature you shouldn't need that cool tube. Just keep the fan blowing on the bulb and your temps will be same. You should also rotate the bulb 90 degrees to maximize the direct light rays that come from the bulb's lightning element.

Right now your bulb is like this

(_¯_¯)
||||||

Switch it to this

../O\
//|||\\


Looks like a good start. Are you checking your pH every time?

Nice case man, may I ask the dimensions on that one? And yes, you could move them closer to the light, but I do think the cooltube will be needed :]

since im doing scrog i cant really move much closer. im going to make the colas grow closer to the light . maby next round (with super lemon haze ) ill have more money and 'ill make the lamp adjustable.
the dimensions are 60x40x20cm(height x width x depth), 23,6 x 15,7 x 7,9 inches

im not checking pH every time because HESI nutrients will always neutralize the pH to something arount 6,5. when the pictures were taken i had problems with pH i think(had used nutes for 3 times only), but right now everything is as green as it can be

and ill try to get a camera for today, because right now it looks like a tight forest under jail bars

peace

Doing scrog has nothing to do with light distance. You want to keep the light close so that the bud sites stay closer together. If you keep the bulb further away the plant stretches more and you waste space where you could have buds. Put some books or something under your containers to raise them up closer to the light. That is way easier than making the light adjustable. You still should turn it 90s for a higher yield.

Before you added the cool tube was your ventilation system any different? I bet you made more than one change at once and you think the cool tube is doing something it isn't. With a 150w HPS and 100 CFM computer fan leafs grow happy until within an inch of the bulb.

I'm not familiar with those nutes, but It'd still pick up a pH kit if I was you. $10 fish tank kit from walmart does the trick.

too bad i live in eastern europe . electronic pH tester is $70... HESI nutes come from netherlands and everyone who used it have noticed a difference . these nutes have even won several cups,

http://hesi.growinfo.com/ said:

HESI has gained the first prize for soil cultivation at the Highlife Grass Cup in 2002, the second prize on hydro in 2003 and this year (2004) Hydroland Nijmwegen has taken first place with HESI Hydro Fertilizer.

Click to expand...

check their website: www.hesi.nl

well the ventilation was with 100 something watts of cfl and the airflow pretty much sucked, but once the tube got in the air started moving normally, and i was able to change the 2 vents to blowing out from one side instead of two vents from both sides. this also fixed some light leak problems,

peace

Uh, I have the same problem with getting a digital pH tester, they're just too damn expensive here..

New pics!
i moved them as close as possible, lets see if it makes a difference.









peace

Looking good so far,keep it up

this is looking great! i love your light setup, in such a small space, thats epic man!

your plants seem to be lovin the HPS, how did u hook it up? electrical wise? is this thing stealthy? where does your ballast go??

anyways, lotsa questions i really wanna do something similar because ive just procurred a server tower, around the same specs i think!

drop by my thread some time, link is in my sig!

peace out,

christoph.

Great setup homie, a lot stealthier than mine for sure. Next time I come around I'll bring a few drops of that SuperVit stuff I used.

Can't wait to taste that Kalashnikov!



e. btw, the containers seem to be a good idea but I don't see any holes in the bottom. I had none either but making some and putting a tray under them might be a worthwhile move.

cristoph'sbud
Timer, starter and ballast are inside the pc, bolted on the wall. check out the very first picture, then you notice it on the left wall. its not very safe i can say(usually electricity is in a separated section of the pc), but i dont think its that humid inside the case that it will mess up or anything. One problem is though - when the leaves get near the ballast they die because it is kinda hot and also it makes a little noise(fans are noisier though). this cab was built the cheapest way possible - cooltube made out of a vase, vents from pc and aluminium foil taping(which turned out to be a real pain in the ass)
well, i didn't do the wiring but i could have done it myself because it is really easy actually(nowadays there are only reactors(ballasts?), starters and sockets to wire, condenser is integrated):


i still have a few lightleaks (from inside to outside, not the other way) but i set the lighting cycle in a way that the light is on when the sun comes up, because when the room isn't dark you won't notice those leaks. noone has busted me yet (and noone who i live with knows im growing).

for the final results i have pretty big ambitions - hoping to get atleast 50g-s (like 2 oz) since i am using these great nutes, 100w hps and scroging.

and for those who think that 100w hps is overkill - well we'll see about that since it is my first grow and no significant problems yet, the plants just keep streching and i keep pushing them under the screen.

the nutes:
right now i have used for veg and bloom only HESI bloom complex, and right after i started using it all yellowing and kinda problematic leaves were healed



im also planning to start using hesi phosporous plus during the second part of flowering (from the 30th day)


I do have to say that building inside a pc case is a REAL pain in the ass because you cant just screw everything in like you can in a wooden cab, on the other hand it is worth it

25th of april was the first day of 12/12 so they are right now 8 days into flowering. CANT WAIT THE BUDS

picture from the outside, left one is growpc and right one is the pc im using right now. dont mind the shit lying around, im not the richest person

peace

omg when is the streching going to end? i have to push the branches under the screen almost every day... allmost all the squares(like 50 of them) have a top already... i think i vegged a bit too long, but lets see how this thing turns out

peace

wow man, that sounds like some crazy stretching! i know what u mean about the aluminum tape! its very annoying =.= anyways, thanks for answering all my questions!

im thinking of going hps for my 3rd micro grow box. but im not sure quite yet, either hps or pl-l, depends what i can get.

unfortunatly the people i live with have a sneaking suspicion that ive got something going on in the speaker that just constantly hums like there is a fan inside, thats why i wanna get a pc case going, it will be easier to disguise.

on your last post with pics i couldent see some of them, what were they of?

check out my thread if u have the time man! would love to have you there, link is in my sig

christoph

last post with pics, from up to down (not sure why you can't see them, other people complained too)

HPS wiring scheme
HESI bloom complex nutes
HESI phosporous plus nutes
my growpc from outside

all the other pics should be located inside my album called "first grow"
http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=17222

peace,

thats strange, those are the pictures there. but there seems to be a bunch of broken pictures right before the last one.