Red_Greenery's Handyman's DIY Grow Tub

[sm0kateer4204]

red greenery, im impressed. only about 15 cfm? i can understand the acrylic shield helping a good bit to reduce the heat in the lower part of the grow tub but that's very good temp's for your amount of air flow.

ixnay, i wonder why someone hasnt thought up a hps heat sink. wou'dnt it theoretically work the same as a proccessor? they could even include a stick of thermal gel. sound's like an explosion waiting to happen
but now that you've made the comparison in computer's it does make sense. i can see why a small 80mm fan can cool warm thin pieces of metal alot easier than somthing than a square inch of flat metal that gets insanely hot.

 

[Papa_Moña]

that's strane! i came to this sub forum looking to bitch and moan about having lost your excellent thread between the lion situation and getting a new comp(ethernet port in the old computer is fucked up, it's got usb 1.0 and i'm too lazy to open up the case, take out the HD and put it in another one.

anyways, i'm thinking i'm going to do this just for moms to move to another location. but then again..... i may be very hot right now, in which case i'll just 12 12 it and get a nice personal stash.

 

[Guest]

I think a cold heat sink touching a hot HPS bulb would cause it to break. Air cooled hood is the way to go. It drops the heat by 2/3. Basically a HPS with a air cooled hood produces the same heat as a bare CFL.

By putting the CFL in an air cooled hood, there is very little heat going into the growchamber and I can get away with a trickle of airflow. That's the whole secret to my growbox.

 

[PersonalSmoke]

Red, I just wanted to let you know that your setup and this thread has inspired me to get off my ass, finally sign up so I can post, and grow my own herb. Everything about the grow tubs are perfect for me: cheap, grow a decent amount, and easy to construct. I plan ordering some Nirvana Northern Lights and Afghani this week, but if you have any other suggestions for strains that perform well under this setup, please let me know. Money isn't much of an issue, but I'd rather not have to sell a kidney for some beans. Thanks again

 

[stickyickyicky]

hey RED,

i was wondering if these lights would be any good for the compact grow?
seem pretty cheap just wondering what u thought.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=191225

sticky (the bargin hunter)

 

[Guest]

Hey PersonalSmoke, welcome to the Lodge. I'd sure like to see your box once you get it built. Don't be afraid to ask me any questions. I don't mind helping out.

Hey Stickyickyicky, any CFL will work for growing but I'd stay away from those bulbs because the wattage is too low. Those are 13W cfls that will replace a 60W incandescent bulb. The 26W bulbs are sold in multi-paks and you can get enough light intensity to veg and flower. I use 26W for veg and 42W for flower.

 

[ixnay007]

I guess someone could make a HPS heat sink, and it wouldn't cause the bulb to break, being that it would be directly connected to the bulb, and warm up with it, but the main problem would be that where it touches the bulb would also need to be where it's most reflective, which seems to me to be mutually exclusive.

If someone made the bulb with fins though, on the top half, as part of the glass, that could work.. but I'd imagine that might be a wee bit costly, and it would complicate manufacturing it a whole bunch.

 

[ixnay007]

BTW, sorry for filling up your thread with pointless rambling, forgive me if you can

 

[Guest]

It's ok to edit your last post if you think of something else to say or want to fix something. I do it all the time. LOL

The heat sink idea is basically what an air cooled hood does for HPS lighting. The bulb is separated from the growchamber by a sealed hood with a sheet of glass. The heat that is normally transferred to the air is taken away in the hood. About 2/3 of the heat can be removed by the hood. The remaining heat is infared light that warms up the inside of the growbox.

If you stuck a metal plate to the bulb you would only take some of the conductive/convective heat away and none of the radiant. If someone could make it work you'd probably see it here. We're a handy bunch!!!

 

[krustytheclown]

Well, I gotta tell ya:

I have been growing in a C13 cabinet with a 400W HPS in an air-cooled hood. I've grown in both soil and using a Waterfarm, which is a pre-made DWC bucket. The most I've ever harvested was 5 ounces; no LST, no SCROG, just a regular unfettered grow.

If I can get 4 ounces per grow using 250W of CFL's in a more compact space, then I'm off to Wal-Mart tomorrow to duplicate your grow box!

I'm going to look into incorporating a DWC system into your grow, since I find growing in soil to be a pain in the butt. I'll post my results.

But for the first couple of grows, I'll bite the bullet and grow in soil since you've proven it works.

Thanks a ton for the info!

 

[Guest]

Woohoo!!! Boys, we have a taker!!!

Are you up to the challenge of growing 3oz and building the box for under $100?

See page 2 for the orginal challenge.

 

[krustytheclown]

Woohoo!!! Boys, we have a taker!!!

Are you up to the challenge of growing 3oz and building the box for under $100?

But of course...

I'm trying a SCROG with Nirvana's ICE in my C13 currently.

A pack of Serious Seeds' Chronic is on its way here, so I'll use that in my first grow using your setup.

Three ounces?!? I'm shooting for 4 ounces, boy!

As far as the DWC goes, I'll look for a smaller Rubbermaid conatiner that would fit into the bottom container of the growbox. Then, I'll run the water line and air hose for the airstone through the wall of the Rubbermaid, using grommets to prevent light leaks.

Wal-Mart, here I come!

 

[DurbanPoison]

This should be cool. I'm excited. Post some pics of construction man! Also krusty - I bet you could squeeze another oz or oz and a half out of your c13 if you just did some ScrOG'n or LST'ng. It's really unbelievable to see the results you can get by using these methods. When you're in small quarters, you really need to utilize all the light you got.

Red - Just thought I would give you some more props on this. For the price, it's unbeatable in my opinion. Very cool man. That's a hell of a harvest for the price of a quarter oz in my town lol. However, it's easy to get sucked into equipment land and want to buy all the nicest pro gear there is. I've blown SOO much money on my gear. I'm sure my micro cab has probably run me $400 - $500. I don't keep track intentionally so I don't throw up.

 

[StayHigh149]

Red, I'm takin u up on it also....I have started gathering the pieces to the puzzle & have spent a good amount of time studying (here & OG) but man I'm still in the dark 'bout lots of things....even tho most of my friends think that I'm the "Herb Scientist" LoL.
It may be difficult for me to get real good yeilds on the first couple of grows cuz it will b my 1st rip at growin myself (except when I was a teenager & dropped some seeds in the woods by my house) LoL. I may start a "lodge" like u have so people can track my grow(s) & to tell my story/struggles. That way other folks c that they can do it also.

I do have a couple of ?'s 4 ya. I looked at those lites posted in the previous pic. Is that what I need to buy? Soft White lites? I was looking at the Depot & they had diff types of lites...they had "soft white" (like the ones in the pic above), "bright white" & "daylight" types of spiral fluros. I believe they each put out diff spectrums of lite. They also had indoor plant lites called Ott lites, but the were $19 a pop. I can get the wattage & lumens for each individual type if that would help u guide me in the rite direction on what to purchase BUT I am trying to follow ur setup EXACTLY unless u (& others) can help me tweak it even more.
Also, how big r ur intake/outake holes?

Thx in advance for the help!! Hopefully, in the future, I can help & inspire others the way that u have done....

 

[krustytheclown]

I looked at those lites posted in the previous pic. Is that what I need to buy? Soft White lites? I was looking at the Depot & they had diff types of lites...they had "soft white" (like the ones in the pic above), "bright white" & "daylight" types of spiral fluros. I believe they each put out diff spectrums of lite.

I was wondering the same thing: what type of CFL lights did you use? warm? cool?

Would anyone care to sound off/link regarding CFL's and what to look for when buying them?

 

[Guest]

I bought 2 three paks of 26W bulbs that came with 2 soft whites and 1 cool white in each pak. I couldn't see any difference in three grows. The soft whites are supposed to better but I think the difference in spectrum is very small. I'm using all soft white 42W now for flowering. There's lot's of long threads on these boards about spectrums and lumens if you want to get into piddly details. The big thing is to get the light intensity at 50W/SQFT or better and keep the temps down.

Hey Krusty, you'll have good results with that Ice strain, it SCROG's really well. I thought that I'd get 4oz on my revegged Shiskaberry but I over flowered the screen and the buds didn't fill out. I harvested 30+ buds and only got 2.6 oz where I should have flowered only 18 buds. I learned alot from Dubfiend who did the same thing on one of his grows. The optimum bud density is about 8 buds/sqft. I think you'll pull off the 4oz with the DWC especially if you have the hydro methods down pat. Who knows, maybe you'll get me to convert.

The intake on the light box is twice the area of the 4" exhaust duct cut to 5" x 5".
The area of a circle is pi x r x r
The area of the intake is 2 x 3.14 * 2 x 2 = 25 sqin = 5"x 5"

My two 4" x 4" intakes on the bottom of the growbox are too big because of my experiments. A single 5" x 5" intake is all that's needed.

Get at her boys!

 

[krustytheclown]

Oh, hey!

Do you raise and lower your plants/lights to keep the plants close to the lights, or are your lights always just bolted to the top and the plants and always sitting on the floor of the bottom bucket?

 

[If.]

Hey Red, great thread, I'd like to try this whole thing for my first grow. A question about the ventilation system. From what I remember, you have both the duct from the carbon scrubber and the duct from the lightbox blowing the air out the top opening of your closet? How does this happen when there isn't that huge of a gap between the doors and the top? And I'm guessing the passive intake just sucks in fresh air from the side gaps and bottom gap around the closet doors? And one question about SCROGing, while you are vegging and have the screen up you just keep tucking everything under the screen until its roughly 80% full then switch to 12/12, then do just the budsites grow above the screen or what? Thanks

EDIT: Oh, and for your bathroom light fixture, how is it a 3 socket one, yet has 6 lights? Is there some sort of splitter or what? And that 250 watts or so all gets plugged into one of those power strip things along with your fans? Thanks for the information.

 

[Guest]

Hi Krusty - I raise up the plants with some cardboard boxes. The lights are at the top of the box and sealed with a sheet of acrylic duct taped in place.

Here's a good look at the lights. They are wired to an extension cord from an old computer and plugged into a lightbar.




*********************************************************
Hey Guys - check out Ambre's thead for another excellent tub design.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=16836

*********************************************************

I also came across some of Nimby's posts that VanillaGorilla salvaged. He was very innovative with stealth dressers and DWC hydroponics. Nimby inspired me to use the Rubbermaid tubs.

 

[amx]

nice thread Red!
i started a similar setup like this last week but with small DWC tubs (really should be called SWC), after following OG threads like Nimby's plans and NGB's stealth box. great to see an active one!
> If. > he has 6 lights by using a Y-shaped adapter. its shaped like a Y, and allows 2 light bulbs to be screwed into it. then this adapter is screwed into a socket.

but red, my question is on the fixture itself. kudos for the idea! but the fixture i picked up from home depot is too big. if i take off the chrome face plate, the fixture will fit..... but there's a grounding wire that is attached to the face plate, which is supposed to screw into the fixture bracket. what should i do?