Red_Greenery's Handyman's DIY Grow Tub

[Guest]

Out of all my searching you are deffinately the man Kevvie. I seen your OG thread and never noticed the heatshield until a couple days ago. I was almost stunned, but even more-so persuaded towards your ideas. What you say about venting the light seperate from the grow cab opened up several ideas I have thrown away due to heat, and non stealth. I say that because a cooltube for each cfl isnt worth it. I would say you are in a class of your own. I have seen alot of nice LOOKING setups that just couldnt yeild due to grower. In your case you define growing efficiency.

I crown you CFL king.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the kind words, MdCheef. I'd be reluctanct to accept the CFL crown, I owe a lot to the rest of the now scattered OG gang, especially Nimby and Hydroxide who were my inspirations. My contribution to the intial design is the heatshield lighting and ventilation system with scrubber. I picked up the super simple method SCROG from BigFatJ.

 

[SuperZero]

Here's a nug I got from my maid tonight

 

[Guest]

That's one cool ass maid. Can she come clean my house?

 

[SuperZero]

Sorry, she's taken, but I'm sure you can find one around

 

[Guest]

Just thought I'd ask.

 

[Sizzlrod1]

Update and Thanks!!

Update and Thanks!!

Red,

Thanks for the suggestion on cutting the intake hole larger, It seems to have lowered the temps about 5 deg. My new temps in the grow chamber range from the high 70's to the lower 80's. Also, the side of the tub is definately cooler to the touch!!

On an even more positive note my plants appear to be making a incredible comeback. Take a look at the pics last Sunday......


The three in the back are the Blue Mystic I had to considerbly trim down, The front one the skunk who needed minimal trimming. Check out the plants one week later!!!






What a difference a week and a little food can do!!

I believe you mentioned switching to the flexible metal duct because the white ducting glows at night. The flexible metal ducting glows too!! It is rather pourous and you can see little holes glowing through especially at night when the room is dark. I was actually going to ask you about this. I am starting to notice a rather pleasant smell in the grow room. Do you think odors can escape through these holes, or maybe I need more carbon? I also haven't placed the ducting on the top of the carbon filter yet I should probably go ahead and do this. I was also having some concerns about when I switch to 12/12 if these holes might let in some ambient light and mess up the light cycle. I did wrap some of that flexible metal tape over the connection of the heat exhaust where it enters the tub, I might do this at my other connections as well. What do you think?

One last question, As you can see the plants are really filling the space. My plan all along was to thin down to two female plants and flower these out. When might I expect the beauties to show there sex. They were originally placed in the dixie cups 9-7-06, from what I have read it takes about a month to six weeks for them to show sex. I am a little concered they are going to overgrow their space before I know what sex they are. Can you tell me a little about your methods when you start from seed? I will definately be taking cuttings and plan to start from clones next time, or re-veg my best female.

Thanks again for all motivation and advice!! I am trying to be patient waiting for these girls to mature and produce their wonderful, sweet fruits. For now it's mexican brick weed for me, I'm off to smoke one now

Peace, Sizzlrod1

 

[pieceofmyheart]

I'm no longer in my box but I wanna hang out with Red too, throw that log on bud.

 

[krustytheclown]

The one girl that I unceremoniously ripped out of my Waterfarm has been languishing the last couple of days and is now definitely dying (sp?).

Let that be a lesson to you: you cannot rip out a plant from one grow medium and drop it into a DWC' solution without a netpot...the plant will eventually croak.

No, I won't take pictures; it pains me too much to know what I've done already without showing you the abuse I did.

Next time, I'll either grow from seed or get some clones and puit them in a netpot at a young age with some hydroton.

Lessons learned...

 

[registeredtoker]

Hey Red, love your setup, but where did you get those dryer flange/adapters? I can't find anything that looks like that.

 

[Guest]

hey red green whats up...im gonna be doing the rubbermaid thing very soon...just was curious how you powered your lights..did you have to rewire anything or does the 3 outlet vanity work just to plug into the wall...the reason im asking is with the Y plugs does that affect the vanity power supply. i dont wanna over do it or anything...also do you use just one timer for the lights or seperate ones for each plug?

 

[SuperZero]

Yes you have to wire it up, I cut a cord from an outdoor light holder, but a two pronged cord from a lamp or extension cord will work. And the vanity light is ran by a single cord so that one goes into the timer.

 

[SuperZero]

Here's what's next.

 

[Guest]

Hey guys. The Lodge is getting a bit of life now! I see Pieceofmyheart has found a comfy spot in the big couch next to the fireplace.

Superzero - that's a sweet looking cola. Your plants look really healthy too!

Hey Sizzlerod - glad to hear that your temps are down. You're babies are looking pretty good too. MJ is a tough little weed. I'm sure they'll bounce right back with some TLC. I wouldn't be too worried about a little bit of stray light causing problems from a few pinholes in the ducting. As far as a little fragrance goes, I get some if I seal up my growroom. You might want to change the air a bit and maybe add some carbon or look for thin spots in the scrubber. Sometimes the carbon will shift and leave a bare spot.

About showing sex. Unless you are growing an autoflowering strain like Lowrider, the plants won't show any sex until you put them into 12/12 lighting. You can veg forever under 18/6 or 24/7. Most plants take at least 30 days to mature and will start to grow nodes with alternating leaves. I usually switch the lights to 12/12 around 30 - 35 days when the plant is big enough. It will take 1 to 1-1/2 weeks under 12/12 for the preflowers to show.

Hey - Darren, welcome to the Lodge. I wired my lightbar into an extension cord just like Superzero. I wired my AC fan and the light to the same extension so they run together off the timer. My scrubber is run continuously and is on a separate extension cord. Check out my wiring pics on the last page for some tips.

Krusty - I've seen soil to DWC transferrs done sucessfully by washing the roots gently with distilled water. There is a mediumless DWC method using a piece of pool noodle. Just take a chunk of pool noodle and use it to suspend your rootball above the water level in the dwc tub.

Hi registeredtoker - I got the dryer flanges at Canadian Tire with all the dryer duct and stuff. I've seen them at Walmart and Home Depot too. Everything I use is easily available. No fancy-smancy hydrostores for this feller!

 

[I2KanGrow]

I have another question... Red, do you use any type of fan in your growtubs (aside from the 2 used for scrubbing and cooling) - I personally don't see how you could, but, hey... I needed your imagination to get my growtubs created! - Thanks!!

 

[Guest]

ok so i have some Q's for you....

how big are your intake holes? how many are there...ive searched your threads and seen the pics but it never says how big they are....also, i was thinking of using an intake fan but you said you dont need one...does the outake fan pull enough air out to keep it cool enough, yours had acrilyc (spelling) but i dont even knwo what that is...lol...

im going to lowes/home depot/ walmart this weekend (finally) and will be building this all monday hopefully...

when you first have veggin plants do you raise them up to the lights or does the lights move...i thought flouros had to be like a few inches from the plant...i know you said you take them out to water and such whcih is whatg ill be doing (much easier than trying to reach around the plant....


and ive got somehting to add too...for a good scrogging screen ive used tomato cages and put the hanger wires across....http://www.angelfire.com/clone2/fault_line/

might be more sturdy

ill have pics when its done....and if i think of any more Q's ill ask ya

thanks in advance

 

[Guest]

sorry for the double post but i am unsure how to use the edit...i didnt wanna erase my first post...

thought of a few things (friggen greenbud joint makes me forget stuff lol)

do you use the same color lights for both veg and flower...i was gonna go with a cool white for veg and warm white for flower...

and i think i figured out what the acrylic sheild is...but couldnt find one at either of the three places listed above (searched the websites)..does havinbg it in their block any light from gettin to the plants. (i figured it might block it cuz its inbetween them...cant see the sheild in the pics) and if i dont use it will i still be ok..or would i have to make more intake holes/ use more fans?

i know i can ask alot but i wanna do it right...itd be a waste to build everything just to mess up the heating and venting

 

[I2KanGrow]

Hey Darren:

About the acrylic - you can buy a sheet of plexiglass @ Lowes, same area as their glass.

I'm using Red's formula for intake/exhaust holes in both the plant area (bottom of the unit) and the light ventilation - go 2X the exhaust hole size as the size of the intake hole. So if you have a 4" round exhaust hole, that has an area of around 12.5 sq/in. - I figure a 6-inch hole has around 28.25sq/in. of area - or do a 5"X5" square hole (25 sq/in). I personally went with a 3-1/2"X8" intake rectangle (4" round exhaust) in my growtub. Seems to work fine. Remember, there's 2 fans going here - one drawing from the plant area (the scrubber) and a cooling fan that draws cool air over the lights (in the acrylic-isolated area above the plant area).

I have my growtub in a rather cold part of my basement (around 60F), so I'm putting my light cooling fan on a thermostat - the cooling for the lighting won't come on till the temps in the plant area reach - I think I'm gonna go for around 80F.... anybody - does that sound like a good temp?

I hope I gleaned this right from Red's postings - So Red... correct me if I'm wrong!

BTW - GREAT idea for the SCRog screen - I think I'll do that! Thanks!!

 

[Guest]

Oooh lot's a questions.

About the fan types, I'm only using two computer fans in my design, one in the light section and the other in the scrubber. Computer fans are excellent for this setup and run nice and quiet. Other fan designs like squirrel cages or centrifugal blowers produce higher flow rates and higher pressures. Use 'em if you got 'em but they aren't necessary.

Computer fans don't produce much pressure at 0.5 inches of water column. Every restriction drops the airflow down. Undersized intakes will cut your airflow dramatically, that's why 2 x the exhaust area is used. I use 4" ducting with an area of 12.5 sqin so the intakes are 25 sqin or 5" x 5". One intake is cut for the lighting section and the other is cut for the grow section because there are two separate ventilation circuits.

You can use an intake and exhaust fan together but the flow won't be any higher than a single fan. It's easier to cut a larger intake than to install a second fan.

I2Kangrow - I'd keep the lighting fans on continously when the lights are on. The lighting section does get pretty hot. I've done a full day burn in to see if it was fire safe but I wouldn't recommend switching off the fans when the lights are on. The growbox does make some heat and maybe a little space heater would help too.

 

[I2KanGrow]

Hey Red: I promised some additional pictures of my growtub... waiting for my beans to be delivered - getting anxious for something to do, so: PICTURES!!




This is what my 10-lamp homemade fixture looks like finished, with the acrylic in place. I'm only using 26W lamps, which are less expensive then the 42w CFLs. To make the fixture, I cut a length of 1X4 pine so that it fits the length of the bottom, then placed 5 of these...




Fixtures - they cost $1.25 @ lowes. I came to realize that the total width of the fixtures exceeded the width of my tub, so I used my radial-arm saw, with a plywood blade turned backward, to trim 1/2" off of each side of the (Plastic) fixture... this allowed me to fit all fixtures into the confines of the tub. I'm going to make a second growtub - I'm gonna spend a bit more per fixture (around $3.25), and purchase a porcelain fixture that has a much smaller footprint. I'm sure you could use a hacksaw to accomplish the same thing - if you want to go this particular route.

I wish I took pictures of the bar before I wrapped it in mylar - I'll share when I do the 2nd. one.




Here's my scrubber - I put a dimmer on it, so that I can regulate the amount of airflow - take a peek inside...




Pretty easy to do!




I used 2-sided carpet tape to hold my mylar in... I'm not going to tell you that it was a breeze to do - it wasn't! But, look - 100% mylar coverage, no exposed duct tape!!




Side and front shots of the unit (side shot sans scrubber). I ended-up duct-taping the seam for the lid flange (inside, under the mylar, & out) - silicone doesn't hold to rubbermaid very well... live and learn!




Finally - wanted to show you my power - orange cord is power for everything - there's an outlet facing up (for the scrubber and lights), and an outlet facing down (for the lighting fan) I wanted 2 1-gang outlet boxes instead of a duplex box so that I could fit a timer into the system without losing any outlets. All electrical was from stuff I had laying around the house... so I had fun with it!

OK - I'm done... whatChaThink?? (aside from - "this dude better get his beans in SOON!)