Citizen Bubba's law abiding grow box

[Bubbagineer]

Hi all,


Im havin a blast bringing this box together and thought I would share and hopefully pick up some pointers. Picked up the equip last week. Built the box this weekend mostly.


System:
2'x4'x6'h insulated cabinet
(2) 240W 7-band HTG LEDs (haven't bought 2nd light yet as I want to see how plants will veg under just one)
(1) 4" HTG Grow Bright 170cfm fan
(1) Variable speed controller (yet to purchase)
(1) 4" HTG duct muffler (yet to purchase)
(1) CAN 9000 C filter
(2) 4" light trap passive intakes


I admit that it is a shameless copy of the Grow Daddy guy's boxes (kind of). I love their boxes, but I just couldn't bring myself to drop $1,500 on one of their cabinets (that's the price for just the cab w/ shipping with no equip). Their cabinets appear to be high quality from what I could research.... But I've got a saw or two and I needed to get out of the house as the old lady was driving me nuts.


The box in construction (sideways lol, sorry)



Gives an idea of space inside box and the layout of passive intakes.



Finished box except I decided to add molding to the corners and around the door... in for a penny... lol look at the floor, I should have layed down a better tarp, over spray was more than I expected... well you didn't think I was going to brush all that stain on did you?



Here's the guts, most of the important stuff anyway. The board in the pic is actually the ceiling of the box. I built the box in modular panels so I can get it in my basement. In this pic I was just trying to see if I could fit the C filter, fan, and duct muffler in line without any elbows or putting the fan outside the box, looks like it will just make it.



It's a work in progress. Decided not to rush it, though I'm chomping at the bit to get to growin.

Bubba

 

[420circuit]

Mylar emergency blankets make a nice final wall coating, perhaps over a couple coats of white anti-mildew on the bare interior wood first. I am finding that the plants grow faster and wilder than expected. Box looks nice, bet you get the bug and decide to outgrow it in a few months.

 

[eyecandi]

great looking build! cabs are great, especially when you do it right from the start, with the right design and equipment. will you be adding a controller or any other goodies?

 

[Bubbagineer]

Mylar emergency blankets make a nice final wall coating, perhaps over a couple coats of white anti-mildew on the bare interior wood first. I am finding that the plants grow faster and wilder than expected. Box looks nice, bet you get the bug and decide to outgrow it in a few months.

Thanks. I didn't list it, but I picked up a roll of diamond foil to line the inside. The pointer on anti-mildew paint is well received... unfortunately, I've already glued in my insulation over the raw wood. I may paint the exposed wood and then use metallic tape to seal, but moisture is pervasive and I should have thought of this.

I may outgrow the box, but I wanted my first cab to look as close to a real piece of furniture as possible (which it does as long as you dont look at the carpentry too close). In fact I searched high and low (even a used office furniture store) for a cabinet deeper than 18" and couldn't find anything. I debated building it 30" deep but decided this would make it look to conspicuous.... hence the size I built at. Anyway, I love building stuff and I'm always looking for a reason to look busy so my wife doesn't put me to doing real chores.

 

[Bubbagineer]

great looking build! cabs are great, especially when you do it right from the start, with the right design and equipment. will you be adding a controller or any other goodies?

Thanks for the encouragement and feedback, that is an excellent question. I travel a fair amount during the week, but am always home on the weekend. I hope my system can be auto controlled to allow for this. Lights etc are easy and will be on a timer. I plan to grow with soil, so I don't anticipate having to keep tabs on ph, etc. as closely as with hydro. This brings up a question I've been meaning to ask. I've done the horror story research on root rot, but I need to find a way to stretch the typical watering cycle, which I've read is every 2 to 3 days, to 5 days. I would like to do this with a self watering pot but I'm afraid of the consequences. Any advice?


Here's the cab broken down into panels for moving to the basement. Makes a pretty compact stack.

 

[disposition84]

Looking good man

I have a friend that's running something called Blumats

He's got his going and it looks killer. He uses a gravity fed model, they also have capilary models as well. I don't think they're
supposed to do too well with organics, but if you're out of town a lot, synthetics might be a bit easier to pull off.

 

[eyecandi]

another method would be to add extra vermiculite and 'water holding crystals', both retain/hold extra water/nutes to stretch out the watering times. unfortunately, I don't know what the proper ratio would be to make up for the time differential, you may need to experiment. if you had more room for a water holding tank, the blumats or a bottom capillary style waterer (medshed would need to chime in on his method) would work.

 

[Bubbagineer]

I researched the blumats and think I will give them a try - thanks for the tip. I have room to place a reservoir (20g Rubbermaid tub or something) on top of the box. Filling it will be a pain but should have good head pressure. It won't even look out of the ordinary as this is in my basement and there are tons of similar containers shelved all over the place

Another question if you are still in the help-a-noob mood . Trying to decide what kind of pot to use. I plan to grow from soil. I had originally planned to use 5 gal buckets, but I'm wondering if 3 gal fabric pots would be better?

 

[eyecandi]

be careful of the thin walled rubermaid style containers, they'll fold @3/4full after a while. home depot/lowes carry a heavy duty black/yellow reinforced style (or a coleman cooler, has a built in drain), or put 2-3 rubbermaids together for adding sidewall strength.

I'm always down to help others out, everyone has to start somewhere

100% fabric pots. i use plastic for clones and up-potting once or twice in veg, but the final transplant always goes into a fabric pot. the benefits are numerous, including increased rootmass, increased access to oxygen (roots like O, leaves like CO2), increased yields. a 3gal fabric pot will yield the same (or more) as a 5gal plastic

 

[Bubbagineer]

a 3gal fabric pot will yield the same (or more) as a 5gal plastic

Cool. I stopped by a place in Denver that carries them and picked up 6 of the Blumat Maxis today. I'm only going to flower 3 plants, but after looking at the size of the fabric pots, I think (3) 5 gal would be better for my cab to maximize yield, or do you think the 5g pots gallon would be too much for my area? My thinking was that if I go with the 5g pots, I would need 2 of the maxi blumats per pot?

I really liked your input about using a beer cooler as a reservoir as it already has an outlet. But, I also bought the Tropfs bulkhead attachment for a reservoir and it is not going to be long enough to accommodate an ice chests wall thickness. Maybe I can Macgyver it.


Lugged the box down into the basement yesterday and assembled, glad that's done lol.

Thanks again.

 

[eyecandi]

perpetual grow or single crops? perpetual I'd use more 3gal and harvest/transition 1 every 2-3 weeks. single, I'd probably still do more 3gal, lol. but I like variety. part of the issue though, is that most commercial 3gal use @ the same footprint as a 5gal, but are less tall. I took my 5gals and sewed them into a tighter circle, so I have deep 3gals and can fit more in my 2.5x6 space. I don't use blumats myself, so can't give accurate advice .... but everything I've heard says to use the tall ones so the ceramic cone is below the primary root knot, then add circular tubing to the H2O output and encircle the plant so there are multiple drip points to even out the distribution and avoid dry pockets.

 

[Bubbagineer]

Thanks again for such excellent advice and I see exactly what you mean about the height. I never would have thought of sewing the the 5g bags down to 3g - thats some true macgyvering and I plan to do the same.. got to do the math, but I think a 5g sewed down to a 4g size should be perfect fit. I picked up the extra little drippers that go behind the blumat, so I'm good there.


I'm still building the box out. But I did attach the fan to the C filter and turned it on wide open and closed the box. You can't hear anything from 4' away and I haven't even put the duct muffler on and finished insulating top and bottom. Also plan to use a variable speed controller to dial the fan down 50% or so - my research shows that i should aim to change out the air once every 2 to 5 minutes. This cab is going to be darn near silent.

not that it really matters if its silent, I just love a challenge.

 

[Bubbagineer]

Here's my hillbilly water tower for the blumats. Went to Murdochs and bought a 40qt muck bucket. Popped a 1/2" hole and attached the bulkhead fitting, filled with 8 gallons or so for a leak test. Going by HTG today to pick up the last items. I hope to be germinating by the end of the week.

For 3 plants in CO climate, will 10 gallons get me through a week in full flower? I know there are many variables, but the main one is probably that I will have less heat due to using the LEDs.

 

[Trousers]

10 gallons might be cutting it close(?)
I grow only two at a time in my tent under a 600 and they will take near a gallon a day when fully flowering. My temps are in the mid 70s when the lights are on.

 

[Bubbagineer]

Great, thanks for the reply. When you say a gallon a day for your 2 plants, is that 1/2 gallon per plant per day? If so, I should be ok. 3 plants => 1.5 g/day, that gives me 5 days or so, which is enough for a typical business trip.

Hit my first snag though, I thought I had enough width in the box to accommodate the filter, fan & muffler in line.... But it don't fit lol looks cool though. I'm going to have to put a long sweep 90 off the fan and then have the muffler, not sure if this will negate the muffling....

 

[Trousers]

Almost a gallon a day per plant, but that varies for me.
it might be different with blumats

set it up and run it and see how much it takes
I wouldn't want to leave it alone the first time running it

 

[Meast007]

go to http://www.cultivatecolorado.com/ DENVER 666 Buchtel Blvd. I-25 at exit 206
303-954-9919 they will have everything you can imagine and they have great deals to

 

[Bubbagineer]

Almost a gallon a day per plant, but that varies for me.
it might be different with blumats

set it up and run it and see how much it takes
I wouldn't want to leave it alone the first time running it

Amen about not leaving it alone until dialed in, thanks. At 1 g/day/plant, the 10 gallon res might work for a 5 day stretch with the blumats. Regardless, I slept on it last night and have decided to get an RO unit and float valve and automate it being as I'm lazy and dreamed last night about having to lug 80+ gallons of water into my basement per month of flowering. Thanks again for the help. If I had any rep power I would send it your way, but being a noob, I'm tapped out.

 

[Bubbagineer]

go to http://www.cultivatecolorado.com/ DENVER 666 Buchtel Blvd. I-25 at exit 206
303-954-9919 they will have everything you can imagine and they have great deals to

That may be a legitimate business.... But their site has been hacked. I wouldn't go there if I were ya'll.

 

[Trousers]

Again, my two plants were under a 600 watt and I get near a pound of off two plants, so they will suck water/nutes.
So it will depend on how big your plants are and a bunch of other stuff.

My plants do get pretty consistent towards the end.

Maybe someone should start a weed house sitting service.
water and check your plants daily for a fee...


I have been toying with putting a web cam in my tent so I can look at my plants on my phone when dippy clients get me pissed and I need to calm down.