Hank Dank's First Grow and Stealth Box Build- 60 Day Wonder -DWC-Mini SCROG

Hello RIU, This is my personal journal to document my first ever grow attempt.
Please feel free to join me on this journey.

Within the last few weeks i've decide id rather just grow my own, for all the obvious reasons.

I ordered Northern Lights from Nirvana, and a 60 Day Wonder from Attitude
I think i'm going to do the 60DW first, as I read its a smaller plant and should be easier to scrog my first try.

As for the grow box, I had an old 90's Kenwood entertainment center, with the big speakers that sit on the sides.

I fitted the interior with 3/4 inch insulation paneling, whiting out the inside completely. Then i hung a 150w floralux mini, mounted 2 processor fans used in PCs for the intake at the height of the pot, and two larger box cooler PC fans for the exhaust up where the light and eventually the canopy of the scrog will be.
(this is all trial and error, hopefully minimal error with a lil help from this site)

Box is nearly complete, fans wired, lights work, bubble boy DWC installed, thermostat hung inside, just need to find some rubber window sealers to line around the front door to create a nice seal and stop any light leakage around the edges.
(for my first attempt with minimal knowledge how to do so, im mighty proud of myself)

(pics coming real soon, current HP camera does'nt work with windows 7..how lame is that)

Seeds should arrive sometime next week, will continue with journal once its time to germinate.

((Question Area: Do i need to run my fans 24/7 or only when running my light?))

Thanks for any comments, opinions, or just hello's

Stay High Everybody

Heres a few pics i snapped with the cam off my phone to show off the box a little, its not finished, still needing to install weather stripping around the door to seal out the light

To anyone out there who actually responds to these.... Does this setup look ok, or is the 150w overkill for the size box i have? Temps seem to stay under 84 as long as the fans are blowing, Is this bad for flowering stage tho?

Hoping those seeds come in tomorrow!

6/27 Seeds ordered from Attitude (4 days after seeds ordered from Nirvana) Have arrived!!! 2 60 Day Wonders and 1 Dinafem Industrial Plant as a freebie

Going to germinate a 60DW right now!

(hoping nirvana's seeds show up soon, have 5 Northern Lights on the way)

It looks like you don't have any way to cool water temps. Here's my input. Hydro is a bitch if you have high water temps. On top of that, smaller amounts of water heat up way faster than larger bodies. Run 3/4 inch tubing from your bucket to another bucket/tub outside of the growcab with the use of 3/4" rubber grommets and bite connecters. I'll stick around if you have any questions. Things look good thus far, but with a cab that small and temps that high, a Smart Pot and some soil might be your best bet. Hydro will work though, you will need to prepare though. It seems as if you've done your research and are going with a very small yet advanced setup. Things get tricky here, as a first grow should be kept as simple as possible for the obvious reasons. Just try not to over-everything- A common practice for the first time grower. First time growers over water, over feed, over stress, over calculate, over spend on, and over analyze their first grow. Good luck!

Hey dsmoke thanks alot for the insight, i've began to realize how i've went with a more difficult setup, but i should state, although this is my first cannabis grow, i've lived on a farm my whole life, i plant gardens and vegetables in soil and i understand that most plants seem to thrive on "just enough", I will be very cautious not to over water or feed my plants, trying to think of ever way i can reduce the stress factor as well by not having to move the plant around much. I know im a noob grower here, but im not noob minded, I probably should of kept things a bit simpler, but i know im able to do this if anyone else can. Its all a learning experience and i tend to excel at most things after i've put in the hard work it takes.

I really appreciate you bringing up the water temps, I have been going over how to solve this myself, if i were to wrap the entire bucket in an insulated material would that help keep the temps down significantly?
What you were saying about running the extra bucket outside the cab, to see if i have a good idea what your saying- This is to create a larger res to causing the water temps to take much longer to warm up and connecting the buckets in such a way will circulate the water through both?

Im adding the door sealing strips now, ill check the temps after an hour of running the system to see if they've lowered any.

HankDank said:

Hey dsmoke thanks alot for the insight, i've began to realize how i've went with a more difficult setup, but i should state, although this is my first cannabis grow, i've lived on a farm my whole life, i plant gardens and vegetables in soil and i understand that most plants seem to thrive on "just enough", I will be very cautious not to over water or feed my plants, trying to thing of ever way i can reduce the stress factor as well by not having to move the plant around much. I know im a noob grower here, but im noob minded, I probably should of kept things a bit simpler, but i know im able to do this if anyone else can. Its all a learning experience and i tend to excel at most things after i've put in the hard work it takes.

I really appreciate you bringing up the water temps, I have been going over how to solve this myself, if i were to wrap the entire bucket in an insulated material would that help keep the temps down significantly?
What you were saying about running the extra bucket outside the cab, to see if i have a good idea what your saying- This is to create a larger res to causing the water temps to take much longer to warm up and connecting the buckets in such a way will circulate the water through both?

Im adding the door sealing strips now, ill check the temps after an hour of running the system to see if they've lowered any.

Click to expand...

You're correct on the external res. Not only does it make your "body of water" larger, thus taking longer to heat up, but it is in a cooler zone itself. Some people cool their external reservoirs fairly easy with frozen water bottles they swap out once a day or when the temps get hot. It sounds like you have it pretty well figured out, so I'm not going to advise you against hydro. Hydroponics is an awesome way to grow cannabis- If everything else is dialed in perfectly. Water temps is a huge one for hydro. Even if you have no light leaks, you can still brew some nasty nasty stuff with water temps above 80. I would do a dry test for a few days and see how hot your water temps get. If you can keep it in the 70s, and keep the pH stable, you're set for success.

So as long as i can keep the water atleast in the mid 70s i should be ok is what your saying.
Just got my first baby in the growcube, germinating on top of the xbox under a CFL in a ziplock baggie with about an inch open at the top.
Guessing this will do fine, just have to wait till the lil booger sprouts!
This is 60 Day Wonder and they state it finishes from seed to harvest in 60 days, so let the countdown begin!
Day 1
View attachment 1667577

6/28 Update
No Nirvana seeds yet

Seed nearing 24 hours germination

Moved Box near A/C got a few degrees drop in temperature, Also added a small desktop fan underneath the 150w HPS lamp, providing another few degrees off
Temps now reading 74-75 degrees right on top of bucket.

Planning to purchase an Attwood 3" inline booster fan, made for boats n such, at walmart for 19 bucks, going to try to increase either the intake or exhaust to lower the temps just a little more, will play around with both to see which does better, plus i want to redesign the back of the box, right now its pretty much southern ingenuity and duck tape, it works to keep the exhaust air separate from the intake air.



Plan to use an extra 3 1/2 gal bucket for feeding that way i can just quickly swap the buckets out once a week to keep the stress down from having to move the plant around to much.

feel free to make fun of my rigging lol

6/29
Nirvana Seeds Arrived
QUESTION: Anyone else ordered these NLs from Nirvana? Are these seeds supposed to be this tiny? They are half the size of any cannabis seed i've ever seen.
No other exciting news, just doing a dry run of the DWC system to check water temps and Ph to see how stable they remain.
The 60DW is still germinating, no signs of it hitting the surface yet

Whats up Hank? Interesting set up. dsmoke has some good points but dwc is not that hard. But he's right it s gonna get hot... However your going to have a few issues to over come, like height. Are you germinating autos or maybe femmed beans? You have the right idea about air flow you'll have move a lot with that combo 150 your using. Best of luck to ya...How stealthy do you need to be?

Mr.Natural said:

Whats up Hank? Interesting set up. dsmoke has some good points but dwc is not that hard. But he's right it s gonna get hot... However your going to have a few issues to over come, like height. Are you germinating autos or maybe femmed beans? You have the right idea about air flow you'll have move a lot with that combo 150 your using. Best of luck to ya...How stealthy do you need to be?

Click to expand...

Hey Mr.Natural, Yeah im worried about height as well, im germinating an 60 day wonder, which is supposed to be a femmed auto. Right now by adjusting the A/C unit sitting behind the box i can adjust my temps from 69-80 just by setting the thermostat up or down a few degrees. Im trying to shoot for 75 degrees so that my water gets no warmer than that.
Right now from the top of my bucket, to the top of my light, theres only 14 inches space. As far as stealth issues goes i need to remain fairly discrete.
I was hoping to top,lst,and scrog to try and keep the height issue down to a minimum. With some modifications i could maybe raise the light up another 4 inches.
I've looked all over for proper light height above the canopy, everyone says, if you can hold your hand there, its fine, i can hold my hand 4 inches below the light for a minute and it feels warm but not even close to hot to me. In your opinion do you think im going to end up scorching this first plant?

Hey Hank, dsmoke offered a good suggestion with the smart pot. How married to that bucket are you? A little happy frog soil and a little perlite is a winning combo. You could solve a couple issues right from the start. But if you must maybe a shorter res, I used a small 4 gal for many runs and it was only about 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide. You will get good at LST trust me....When the cab fills up is when its really gonna get tricky. The auto will help, I wouldnt top an auto, just bend her back while she is young..

Thanks, so i should just do a good LST on her then. As far as the bucket, i REALLY want to do this hydroponically, my buckets 12 inches tall as well. I wish i could find one of equal or greater volume but just a bit shorter. I've seen several examples on here of people keeping their plants reallly low, no higher than 7 inches over the top of the bucket, the odds of me sucessfully doing this are obviously less in my favor as im a first timer, I think right now my major concern tho is whats the closest i can have the light without burning the plants? Is 12 inches with a 150 still to close or what? I guess ill really just have to find out by doing, just don't want to do it at the expense of plants life

Like i said, i really wanted to do this hydroponically, but again i dont want to do it if im just going to kill the plant because of light and spacing issues. If i absolutely must revert to soil to keep the plant lower to the base of the box, i will. I have a friend who is going to grow the Northern Lights from Nirvana, ill just let him borrow my DWC so he does'nt have to purchase one. THIS IS ONLY A LAST RESORT.

Ha ha well then hydro it is...lol The hand thing works as long as there is good air circulation. Start them out on cfls not as intense, a couple 22 or 23 watts is plenty. 6500k
Here's what I used maybe it will help..I put a tape measure to it. Its 8 inches tall x 10.5 wide.

I picked it up a lowes...4 inches would will help some..

Sitting here going over all the pros/cons i could think of, along with everything you guys have brought up. I've decided on this first grow to change up some things a bit. Im going to set up the DWC system at my friends, his growing space is much larger, closet size actually. So i'll be running the hydro setup there.

For this grow, Ive found a coco pot, 14 inches round, 6 3/4 inches high, giving me an extra 5 inches grow height im sitting at 19 inches from lamp to top of pot.I think this will work fine, i have plenty of cool air flow inside my box, Hoping i can kill a few birds here by reducing height constraints as well as i wont have to worry about root temps quite as much. Just picked it up from wal-fart and i got some organic mix from miracle grow, its a 10-5-10 mix not trying to over do anything especially the nutes. Just need to grab some perlite to mix about 20-25% in it to thin it out a bit

Sorry everyone reading all this, i know theres nothing really exciting going on here right now, but hopefully soon ill have plenty of bud porn for u all!

Small update

Checked on the baby germinating, its just starting to lift up the "lid" i placed over the hole in the rockwool, transfered it into the grow box under the 150hps, temps are around 78, baggie looks nice and humid inside, lights are a good 23" away, will check on it again in the morning.

Right on. You shouldn't have any problems with that soil. If I'm not mistaken, you should need to add perlite (10-20%) to help with drainage. You'll really enjoy the taste of organics as well. A little molasses and mother earth will give you the stickiest, sweetest buds. Hope this helps!

And dolomite lime, to help balance out the ph in that MG potting soil. What nutrients are you gonna use?

Hey dsmoke, yeah i was just reading up on the molasses thats sounds interesting, where im from i can get fresh black strap. Plan to pick up some perlite tomorrow actually. Should grab some of that dolomite lime too, wouldnt be a bad idea.

As of now, Mr.Natural im probably going with the Toke N Grow nutes, i hear really good things and at a reasonable price, plus my friend and i are running the hydro setups at another location so ill be using the nutes for that mainly, but for my box im going to try and stay light on them for veg, see to many people over feeding with soil thats already got nutes and they end up wreckin the plant, so obviously im going to play it by ear but for flowering id like to add a little nugget factory and bonsai bloom to get the phosphates up

Sounds like you have a good grasp on the feeding. They will show you when they are hungry....