100W LED - Stealthly Stacked Tubs

[3dDream]

Here are some pics of my new 'lil 100w led + coco + smart valves setup. I am looking for a good mom or two with this run. The grow is all in the bottom tub. I did not want any electrics in the bottom tub. This way if I ever need to move it I can just pop on the lid and be on my way. I can also sleep safer knowing that the water and electrics aren't close. It took 5 (2 black + 3 white) coats of spray paint to prevent the tubs from leaking light. The bottom is lined with mylar as well. The top is lined with a soundproofing foam that does not hold heat and is flame resistant. I have more sound proofing foam in the exhaust. The foam is made from the same stuff that is in a mr clean magic eraser. It does not make it completely silent, but it is quieter than the a fridge or my vape. 2-3 inches of the stuff does the trick. It was a nightmare cramming everything into the top. I ended up using 4" to 3" reducers to prevent any folds in the duct. The air is pulled through the filter and blown out the back. My goal was to have the tubs look normal from every side but the back. The top tub is bolted on to the bottom tub's lid. So far I am happy with the setup, but I am worried about my height restriction. I've been bending and cutting the plants to keep them short.

I am about a week into flower and have 16 more to sex. All of the plants are in 6oz containers. I am hand watering until the plants are a little bigger.

More to come...

 

[Bueno Time]

Interesting setup. Ill be watching since my next run will be under 100w LED too.

 

[dontstepongrass]

another tub grow...

i be watching

 

[StoopheadFred]

Love me some tokin totes! What kind of fan are you using and what speed controller with it?

I've got a regular 4" inline hooked up to a variac (variable ac controller) and I swear it's perfect for stealth. Doesn't make the motor hum like those speedster controllers so you can dial it down to 50-65% power and it's nearly silent while still plenty powerful to pull through a carbon filter and as many rubbermaids as you want to hook up to it

Cheers brotha, hope you kill it in these things! I would like to hear more about your smartvalve setup too, I'm still hunting for the perfect way to automate feedings in a setup like this.

 

[3dDream]

Bueno Time and dontstepongrass - Nice to have you here. You both have threads that inspired me.

StoopheadFred - Thanks for popping by!

I have a s&p td-100 fan and a can 2600. No speed controller though, I read that it does not work well with this fan and I want the airflow. The two were made for each other and if I ever grow in a tent they can be moved without issue.

The smartvalves are normally used by autopots. I use them in flat trays. They are nice because they require no power, feed plants at their own pace, do not add any height to the grow, and do not waste any water since the plants are bottom fed. The downside is salt buildup, but that is avoided by flushing once before flower. It also requires the reservoir to be above the grow since it is gravity fed. Here is a pic from my old cab and you can see the smartvalve in the shot.

 

[3dDream]

Two weeks into flower and things are looking good. I had f'd ph and weak feeding probs along the way. My green thumb is rusty.

I found another male, but 5 ladies are showing. I am trying to keep this grow super short. The light has a sweet spot and I want to grow in it. I have done many forms of abuse to keep them short. For two very sativa looking panamas I removed the top 75% of the plant to flower something short. A few look really nice and will have many tops.

I'll have more once all the ladies show up for the party.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

this is a cool garden u have here. how r u getting such big buds in those little cups?

 

[3dDream]

#1cheesebuds - Hi! The beer cups? Since the trays flood an inch the plants get more water than the pots can hold. Plus I most grow long flowering plants that never seem to stop growing. The plant on the right in the pic is a little deceptive though, the flowers are all fluff.

 

[3dDream]

Week 3+ in flower

Started with 40 seeds. Selected 22 to sex. Ended up with 13 females all packed into 1 tiny tub.



I really need to flush these ladies. Other than that, a few are taking my abuse just fine. Some leaf curl on a bb related plant, but that is expected (and nice of it to tell me). One panama is looking lime green, but I remember that some do that no matter how much you feed them. Speaking of feed, I am hand watering the trays until the plants can handle drinking an inch of water in a day. One tray is just about there.

Here is a top down pic of the plants. Most of them I was able to bush out or bend them into a bush. One plant I was able to top and top and top to get it to make 8 tops. The ladies are all in two 15" X 6" trays. This is the smallest I have ever grown. I hope I can find a nice mom or two that can tolerate the setup. Some of them are giving me hopes of a nice mini sog in the future. It was too much work bending these into shape. I would want to grow single stemmed clones in the future.




When I flush this weekend I'll profile each lady.

More to come!

 

[Bueno Time]

Coming along nice 3d

 

[blynx]

Cool setup!

Did you take clones? Are you going to reveg? or run from seed again?

 

[lonetoker]

awesome setup. i never thought of using totes as a grow space. i will be contemplating a smaller grow for my next run since i constantly see great results on here...



_____________________________
click to check out my first grow 2014 in progress
:



"A common mistake that people make
when trying to design something completely
foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."-D. Adams

 

[Dank Demon]

Cool safe set up mate.

 

[3dDream]

Bueno Time - cxa club!

blynx -

Did you take clones? Are you going to reveg? or run from seed again?

No clones. Yes, i will try and reveg the ones that asked to be re-run. I like mixing things up so I imagine there will be from seed plants all the time.

lonetoker - Best of luck w/ your totes.

Dank Demon - Thanks.

Ok, we are 5 weeks and 5 days into flower. I don't see these being done in the next two weeks. A few look like they are just getting started. I am happy that I grew them in small pots vs a scrog. I have no height space and it is nice to move things around to have a nice canopy.


a peek from the top until I find my camera charger. This one has the better color.



A look from the corner of the tub. The color went crazy being under the led.




More to come!

 

[cocogrower]

Nice! Plants looks very sativaish? are they grown under the CXA3070?

How did you attach the auto valve to the plastic? Used to run those autopots severeal years ago before changing to drip emitters. Now (after a several year long break) i'm trying blumats. Think that there is a place for auto valves in my setup though, since i'm doing perpetual 12/12 from seed and can't fit blumats in the starter cups.

 

[3dDream]

cocogrower - Yeah, everything is either a sat or crossed with one and under a single cxa3070.

The plastic trays (normally used for kitchen utensils) are just wide enough for the smartvalve. I use clips on either side to hold it down (see pic in post 5). I never got to use the valves because this grow is very packed. In the future I will prob run 8 plants so I can fit the valves.

 

[cocogrower]

Haha. Real Mcguyver-style, a fancier version of paper clips! Growing keeps your creativity and imagination working! If you covered the trays it would be easier to keep the valves clean, but guess that you're already thinking about that one..

I love that you're getting so much out of your small pots. Pretty amazing actually, but coco is amazing in the right hands! I also grow in coco, but for the first time try using 1-liter pots..

One unrelated question: was it anything written on your package or chip that informed you about the binning? Or do you have to trust the vendor on that one?

 

[SweetDee]

Well on its way . awesome setup!

 

[3dDream]

cocogrower & SweetDee - Nice to have you here.

11 weeks 4 days flushing for the last 10 days

I am pretty happy with the results. Here are the top 3/13 as far as yield goes. The two on the left are sister mod bx x ( mod bx X f13). I love how different plants can be. The middle one is actually purple, but it is not showing up with the shitty camera I am using. The plant on the far right is my top pick. If you have ever had Mr.Nice haze, imagine that taste mixed with Dj's blueberry-ish flavor.



Really bad color and missing a half dozen "taster" tops: In the future I think 8 plants will be plenty. It is really hard to see in the photo, but the plants at the top are 5" taller than the ones at the bottom of the pic. I trained plants a few different ways. The panamas that I chopped 1/2 the plant at the start of flower have the best height. I think I will do that again.



more to come and hopefully with a better camera...

 

[cocogrower]

It's looking very Good 3D! It's really hard to get a feeling for the size of your plants. They look pretty big but you can fit them in a tub, so unless you're a magician or the tub is gigantic.. Awesome setup anyways! And the strains seems interesting! Gonna reread your thread again in order to get a better grip of size of tub and plants. But right now my bed is sceaming for me to come.. Keep posting and i'll be following show!