CFL Homemade Closet Grow

because they were in those jiffy pucks and when I up the amount of water they are in the 4 inch pots

sooo finally its day 1. just put everything together today. heres pics....

Sorry For the turned photos, iphones dumb sometimes. any way, i had block rockwool, w/ pre put holes. I flipped it over and sliced it open, and put it between there, so all sides would surely be getting touched. I soaked the rockwool, and squeezed some water out, the flipped/sliced/planted.


This is the light setup. idk if you can really c in this pic, but theres 2 chains holding it there.


Had to take a pic of this. This tap root was HUGE. Thought i had a better shot, but in the middle of the root, where its bigger then the rest, are a bunch of hairs, and that root was stiff as hell, lol.


Top View. Not to bad for my first time, just looking at it though.


I was actually going to buy hose online, just to have the right hose, but i got 8ft for 1.80 at the supercenter. so anytime ill need to change hose, i got plenty. its aquarium hose btw, in the fish sections.



Full setup. Im going to maneuver the lights power cord so itll pull the lights move over the plants instead of hanging how it is. Was so excited and in a rush, i forgot to label them, so i kinda have an idea of which is which, cause 3 r from one bag, and 1 is from another. So we'll see what happens.


digital 7 day, 6 program light timer, only 16 17 bucks. Its on the end of an 8ft power strip thats above everything, on that board thats at top right of pic. its stable, nothings going to fall as far as i can tell. I can move it if i ever have to easily.



The only problem i have is the water dripping back into the tank from the hoses. sounds like running water all the time, so i turned a fan on and walked across my basement, its covered up the sound a little, but if you listening for the running water noise, youll hear it.

I hooked everything up and let it run for an hour before actually planting, so the water was oxygenated and ran thru and all. and im using 2 gals of water in tank, its spring water from supercenter as well.

I dont have any nutes in there now. Should i put any in or should i wait till middle of week 1 or beginning of week 2?? I have GH Flora Series. in 16 oz bottles. i believe.

OK so its the second day, seedlings are getting plenty of water obviously cause this guy/girl sprouted already. 1st one to. i know it wasnt planter right in the middle of rockwool, but itll be fine. Now those leaves dont look very green. is that bad or are they getting to much water or wat???? Should i turn my lights on just for that one to maybe give it some energy?? help asap

For seedlings I ran my CFL lights 24/0. Never had problems but as soon as the seedlings are tall enough sink those rockwool cubes deeper into the net pot and cover it up with the clay rocks. This will help prevent algae from forming on the rockwool and mold to a point.

how tall is that? about 4-5 inches tall enough to move net pots?

StUpId HiGh PaNdA said:

how tall is that? about 4-5 inches tall enough to move net pots?

Click to expand...

No you don't move the netpots you just take the rockwool and put it deeper into the netpot

yeah you dont want algae. either do what toolage is saying. or you can put a thin layer of aluminum foil over the top, this also works well.

I went ahead and sunk the rockwool deeper. This is the setup now. Thanks for advice, haha, i felt like something wasnt right but this was it. the one cube that has sprouted is bottom right pot in tank. the others have great tap roots though. headed for the water. my thermometer says 77* but at the bottom of the light to the plant is 10 inches, and usually reads 83. is that to far away? and is that to hot for the seedlings??

Looks alot better. I don't know. I have never measured the water temps when I did hydro. I never had a problem yet.

StUpId HiGh PaNdA said:

I went ahead and sunk the rockwool deeper. This is the setup now. Thanks for advice, haha, i felt like something wasnt right but this was it. the one cube that has sprouted is bottom right pot in tank. the others have great tap roots though. headed for the water. my thermometer says 77* but at the bottom of the light to the plant is 10 inches, and usually reads 83. is that to far away? and is that to hot for the seedlings??

Click to expand...

hydroponic root temp range is 68F-75F. The higher the temps the less available oxygen to the roots.

no no no. i ment that the lights are 10 inches away from the plants right now. the temp at the plants, (which is where the thermometer/hydrometer is) is usually, in the 80's. right now its 82. this is with no circulation or venting...yet. but the plant thats poking out now, has stood up tall, and is headed for the light...

Heres a quick pic...



ALL the plants has a constant flow of water available to them. and looks well as of now.

I've had a 45w CFL and a 70w MH a few inches from the tops of my plants and no problems. If you can I would put the rockwool a bit deeper or cover it up more.

SO just a quick update. Back right finally broke ground. I took your advice toolage and put all of the deeper. the left 2, i checked how they were looking and they going good. moved them towards the top cause i put em a little to low. So they should break thru tonight or tomo morning.

My temp is at 84* here, but i'd been in there for a little bit working. when i first opened up this morning, it was 88*, so i got a fan, and its next to them on the right. still no ducting, but im working on it. If it stays hot, ill be looking for smaller fans and ducting.



It is a space heater, with the fan option. unfortunately its the only thing at supercenter that would work for the price/budget. It stands at their level, and i have it tilted a bit just so some air hits the lights to keep the temp down.


Makeshift reflectors. suggestions/advice on anything so far is welcome.

Wanted to add that my budget for any suggestions, for fans or anything.. if its online, my budget is 15$ USD. Here in my town, they tore down my bank and took the atm and didnt put another atm anywhere in town...so i can put money into my acct. Go Figure right, lol. what are the odds. but anyway, if its at like a walmart, or possible an auto shop, orchlens, or a medium town hardware store, then my budget is whatever, but not trying to go crazy for some fans and ducting, ect.

anyway, thanks, will update when other two plants break ground.

Alright so heres and update for you all.

Planted ALL Seeds 9/27/12 (last Thursday) Heres what I've got 4 days later.



Looking very well. The temp stays at around 81-85 mostly. It has gone up to 90 before, but im not gonna let that happen again. It was only for 9 hours most. The one on the front right (1st to break ground) Is already getting its 3 pair of leaves.

Questions i have, when should i start giving them nutes? Im using GH Flora Series. I've heard you can use half strength doses at seedlings/week 1/clones, and thats what they are now seedlings in week 1. If anyone could help me find a feeding guide for this type of nutes, i've been looking yea....
Also, how much water should i mix the nutes with before adding to res. of 2 gals? i watched a vid and he put in 200 ml water, and had to get to 300ml with the nutes added. but he had an 18 gal tank with 5 gal water. So if anyone could help with that as well, it would be cool.


Right now thats how i have my big fan, its supposed to blow the hot air up and out thru the ducting. But its not as good as i want it to be. I want to get the temp down to at least 77-78*F.



I have found these computer fans.

This on is a 120 mm fan
Speed reference: 1800 +/-10% RPM
Bearing Type: Sleeve Bearing
Noise Reference: 23 db
Reference air flow: 60CFM
Rated Voltage: 12V
Rated Current: 0.36A
Interface Type: 4 Pins Male and Female
Length: 11.8inches
Size: 4.7 x 4.7 x 0.9in(L x W x H)
Color: black

This is the 80mm fan.
Speed reference: 1800+/-10% RPM
Bearing Type: Sleeve Bearing
Noise Reference: 23 db
Reference air flow: 60CFM
Rated Voltage: 12V
Rated Current: 0.18A
Interface Type: 3 Pins
Length: 9.4inches
Size: 3.1 x 3.1 x 1 in(L x W x H)
Color: black

I was thinking get 2 of the 120mm fans, and 1 80mm fan. One of the 120's to connect to the ducting at the top. and the 80 as the intake near the bottom. Itll be above the plastic thou, i dont want to cut into the plastic.
So heres what i want for intake fan. or should i put the intake higher so it pulls out-of-room air in straight on the plants base? Or go low to it can go throughout the room?


This is what i got the 2 seeds that sprouted first. THe two on the right side of tank. So i cant wait to c what it looks like when i do it....itt doesnt look to bad for mids.

Feedback/Advice is welcome- THANKS peace

Oh and the other 120 fan would be used to bow air around the plants hanging from somewhere on ceiling.

What is the Cubic Feet for your grow area?

um, i do nnot know. its 43 in back to front. (on floor) 26 in wide, side to side. (floor) and 70 inches floor to ceiling.....