Easy's CFL Grow Box journal

[Easy420forme]

Intro:
Grow Box area: 22.5" X 19.25" X 28"
Exhaust Fans: 111 CFM and 54 CFM
Intake fan: 111 CFM
Lighting: 4 sockets
Veg: 2,700K 23 Watt (see my question on lighting below)
Flwr: 6,500K 23 Watt


Hello RUI community. It's been a pleasure getting to know some of you guys recently as I educated myself (at least I begin to) about growing my own supply. I have been working on my grow area for the last week or so and referring to this website constantly, learning all I can. I finally have my grow area where I want it to at least start experimenting. Currently I have been trying to germinate some old bag seed and none of them cracked open except for one. I think they are all trash, but the one that cracked I placed in some of my fox farms so I could see it it would sprout. I ordered the following from Attitude today:

Lowryder Easy Ryder AKA Lowryder #2 x AK47
free seed: UFO#1 Dinafem Seeds Sweet Deep Grapefruit

Anyhow below is a video of my grow area. the current lighting setup in the video below:

(2) 13 Watt CFL 2,700K

[video=youtube;9CdC_7Vm6pU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdC_7Vm6pU[/video]


I plan om using 26Watt CFL 2,700K if the bag seeds ever sprouts or when I begin with my seeds I ordered above.

Questions for the RIU Community.

1. Suggestions on how many lights I should use for each plant I grow (no more than 2 plants at a time, but most likely just one plant)?

2. Comments on my temps? bigger lights will likely increase the temps a little. thoughts?

I will journal out the bag seed if it starts to grow, otherwise, I will update my grow journal for the seeds I just ordered.

Peace to all that visit.

 

[gumball]

looks pretty good. i think you should look at at least 100 actual watts of light per plant, no more than about 200-250 in that small box. if you increase light wattage, you may have to look at a passive intake so that the forced air intake doesnt swirl around a bunch of hot air before letting it exhaust. plus, when odor control comes into play the forced air intake will push the smell through all the tiny cracks that arent air tight, somewhat defeating the purpose of any carbon filters you may have. i assume with the 2 exhaust, your door probably gets pulled shut once you have it open about 1-2 inches. thats negative pressure, which is good. they actually say to have twice as much intake as you have exhaust. u have never tested or necessarily followed this, but its a general rule I read quite often.

 

[Easy420forme]

thats negative pressure, which is good. they actually say to have twice as much intake as you have exhaust. u have never tested or necessarily followed this, but its a general rule I read quite often.

This is confusing to me. can you explain?

I have two exhausts; 1 - 111 CFM fan and 1 - 65 CFM fan.

I only have one intake fan at 111 CFM.

Should I have the inverse?

 

[gumball]

oops, i menat to say "I never tested or necessarily followed this" sorry if that did the confusion.

basically you want one or the other (intake or exhaust). if you have exhaust, the force of the air it pulls through the intake causes the induction flow. i think you shouldnt have any intake fans, they are counter productive.

think of your home AC, it "recirculates" the air. it pulls from one side, cools the air (or heats in winter) inside the HVAC unit, then forces the air out your ducts into your living area for the HVAC to pull it back in ad do it all over again. your home AC does not pull air into the unit to cool with a fan and then blow it out with a seperate fan.

does that help make any sense? sorry for the U, i did mean ME!! LOL

 

[cruzer101]

Hey Easy,
Nice start, the vid and all. It makes it much eaiser for others to see whats going on. Yea, that looks cool. Good thing you ordered lowryders

As far as exhaust, IDK, I have a passive intake in my cab, 80 cfm exhaust for plants and 110 for the cool tube, seems to work fine. The only thing I would look at is humidity, 110 in and 110 out your not going to be able to control the environment in the box so you will need to do it in the room.

As far as wattage, I flowered six small plants with about 220 watts and they came out great in a cab not much bigger then you have. Sure not a lot of mass but loaded with trichs.

Anyway thats my 2 cents.

 

[Easy420forme]

Hey Easy,
Nice start, the vid and all. It makes it much eaiser for others to see whats going on. Yea, that looks cool. Good thing you ordered lowryders

As far as exhaust, IDK, I have a passive intake in my cab, 80 cfm exhaust for plants and 110 for the cool tube, seems to work fine. The only thing I would look at is humidity, 110 in and 110 out your not going to be able to control the environment in the box so you will need to do it in the room.

As far as wattage, I flowered six small plants with about 220 watts and they came out great in a cab not much bigger then you have. Sure not a lot of mass but loaded with trichs.

Anyway thats my 2 cents.

oops, i menat to say "I never tested or necessarily followed this" sorry if that did the confusion.

basically you want one or the other (intake or exhaust). if you have exhaust, the force of the air it pulls through the intake causes the induction flow. i think you shouldnt have any intake fans, they are counter productive.

think of your home AC, it "recirculates" the air. it pulls from one side, cools the air (or heats in winter) inside the HVAC unit, then forces the air out your ducts into your living area for the HVAC to pull it back in ad do it all over again. your home AC does not pull air into the unit to cool with a fan and then blow it out with a seperate fan.

does that help make any sense? sorry for the U, i did mean ME!! LOL

Thanks Cruzer and Gumball. It sounds like I should take out my intake fan and I'll use two 110 CFL exhaust fans and leave one opening as a passive inflow?

As far as lights, Can I get 4 60 Watt CFLs (approx 300 watt equiv) and with the adjustment to my air flow stated above, will that keep it at 80 ish degrees where it is now with two 13 watt (60 watt equiv) CFLs?

or am i phukd?

this is frustrating.

 

[SmeLLyTreeZ]

Whats up easy, I would do the two exhaust fans and one passive intake. That seems to be the most common for keeping temp under control, "as much as you can anyway.." As long as you can keep it under 90 you should be good.

 

[weedgrow]

i think u should get a fluorescent bulb with more watts

 

[Easy420forme]

Whats up easy, I would do the two exhaust fans and one passive intake. That seems to be the most common for keeping temp under control, "as much as you can anyway.." As long as you can keep it under 90 you should be good.

Yes, I will have the teo exhaust fans at 110 CFM and only one passive intake opening. You are right, it works substantially better. Thanks for stopping by SmellyTreez

i think u should get a fluorescent bulb with more watts

I am going to veg using 4 26W 5,200K CFLs plant using, then I will use two 40W 2,700K CFLS for flowering. To get more than that I will have to order the CFLs online.

Thanks for stopping by Weedgrow

 

[Easy420forme]

Ok, Scrap everything you have read thus far(as this seems to be common place for noobs such as I experimenting with the best possible grow area and I am sure there will be further audibles). See my video below for my new plan. I am increasing the exhaust substantially and only having one intake (passive). This way I should be able to get some very powerful CFLs inside without too much heat. Let me know what you guys think.

[video=youtube;Rz0WgTS8Pt8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0WgTS8Pt8[/video]


I apologize this grow journal is not starting with a pretty green plant to show off, but I will get there if it's the last thing I do.

 

[gumball]

sounds good easy, sucks you had to tear it apart, but better to do now than when its full of green leaking smell or something.

 

[Easy420forme]

Well, after another 8 hours of labor I have rebuilt my grow cab. while running four 26W 5,600K CFL lamps there is only a 2 degree differential between the cab and the outside ambient temperature. SWEET. Here are some pics of my rebuild and I have have one bag seedling that cracked and I planted it in my FFoF soil sitting under 4 X 26W 5,600K CFL lamps. The seedling grew out at least 3/8" while sitting in a moist paper towel before I planted it last night.



I'll update again once I see my seedling sprout.

BTW - the other seedling never sprouted. Crap bag seed.

 

[gumball]

Well at least the mod did improve temperatures. Looks good. I bet there are no light leaks that's for sure.

 

[Easy420forme]

light leakage is minimal... it's not perfect with the light traps but I am done in the garage for now. Thanks Gumball

 

[gumball]

One way to check if there is light leaks inside is to put your video camera in the case, making sure you cover any lights the camera has on with a black shirt or something, and put it in your box while recording. Then take a flashlight and shine it at the intakes or exhaust and see how much comes in.

 

[Easy420forme]

Thanks. I thought I would use my iPhone in the box then just turn on the closet lights to see if it leaks... That;s the extent of any light that would penetrate anyhow. Thanks for the idea.

 

[gumball]

Your right. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Easy420forme]

BTW... what amount of light should concern me? any?

 

[SmeLLyTreeZ]

Looks good, I changed my box around constantly my first time around with the plants in there and it was a pain so in my opinion your doing it the right way! I'm subbed to see how it turns out and if I can give you any more suggestions along the way. + Rep for a good job so far!!

Honestly, I havent been to concerned about light leaks.. Its probably something I should look into aswell. As long as its dark it should be good but the less leaks the better I would assume.

 

[Easy420forme]

Looks good, I changed my box around constantly my first time around with the plants in there and it was a pain so in my opinion your doing it the right way! I'm subbed to see how it turns out and if I can give you any more suggestions along the way. + Rep for a good job so far!!

Thank you... I've busted my ass working on this... I'll take all the sage (weed) advice you can provide.

Honestly, I havent been to concerned about light leaks.. Its probably something I should look into aswell. As long as its dark it should be good but the less leaks the better I would assume.

I've read if you you have a hard time seeing your hand in front of you , you are in good shape. I plan on placing my phone in the box and turning on the lights to see if the camera picks up any light inside... a tiny bit doesn't concern me.