Let The Healing Begin! First Grow- DIY CXB3070

Alright alright........tape ordered. I think I might order another heatsink as well, set up the three when the tape comes in and the last whenever it ships. Pretty irraz I bought these tools and stuff and they break on me when a week ago I could have ordered the tape and saved money.

Oh well, live and learn. Growing pains. I know my veg cab build and her lights will be flawless because of these issues I'm facing now.

Really man? 1k's no ac? Skills.
I'm probably worrying too much about every little detail because this is my first grow haha but what kind of temps did you have? And was it organics or hydro or what

Waiks said:

Alright alright........tape ordered. I think I might order another heatsink as well, set up the three when the tape comes in and the last whenever it ships. Pretty irraz I bought these tools and stuff and they break on me when a week ago I could have ordered the tape and saved money.

Oh well, live and learn. Growing pains. I know my veg cab build and her lights will be flawless because of these issues I'm facing now.

Really man? 1k's no ac? Skills.
I'm probably worrying too much about every little detail because this is my first grow haha but what kind of temps did you have? And was it organics or hydro or what

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To be fair, i live wahiawa lol you know its cold up there and lights on at night still drive me up to 82-85f. That is 600cfm(200w24/7) + 1kw per 5x6 cab. Its not skills, it never really is. Its all about learning along the way and taking the right advice. Believe me if Im growing a strain im not familiar with especially sativa doms then its a 50/50 chance i will cause damage trying to find its limits untill i get it right.

Tools is another thing, cheap tools break! Its just something I've experienced over decades! Growing is expensive in hawaii, and we really dont have the budget to fuck up! Worst of all we cant just order stuff like (neem/certain live predators,chemical insecticides) ect all hard shit to buy online because our island is strict with that shit!
The best thing to do is order what you need and pay the price for quality to minimize any future problems and plan it all out while your waiting for it.

Wise words!

Sounds like a nice setup. I hope to move somewhere bigger and cooler soon. This studio is cheap, but small, and way too hot. Super old too lol. Got to be teal careful not to trip a breaker.

Been learning the hard way about planning. I swear every time I go into the hardward store or whatever I only have a general idea of what I need, and end up getting the wrong stuff and taking forever. A lot of wasted money due to not enough research. Also I think I made a bad move picking up these clones from a guy I just met. They came in real shitty shape for the large donation he received. They haven't shown any positive signs of growth since I got em 2 weeks ago either. Another example of bad planning and not investing in quality lol.

And Hawaii shipping...like none other.
Ordered worm power from BAS, the standard shipping was more than the price of the bag

Can I use 18 gauge 150 volt thermostat wire to hook up the fans together? And is it possible to wire that to a USB cable plugged into a power block thing like a smartphone charger? Figure I get some little things done while I wait for the mail.

Waiks said:

I might just have to wait for kapton to come in.

Bought a drill guide and titanium bits and was successful in drilling two holes.
Then I broke the tap inside the sink.
So now I have 2 bits and 1 tap broken inside the heatsink.

Tears of frustration and money wasted have been shed.

If anyone on Oahu is reading this, please hook a brotha up with some tape lol I don't want to wait another 3 days plus shipping fees to get this shit going!!! Arghhhh

Any risk in Arctic Silver 5ing the cob and the little brims of the holder directly onto the heatisink? No screws or tape, just AS5 thermal compound to keep it from falling off, until kapton is delivered. I really need to get this going before my deadline to return the HPS passes

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I broke a few off and just rotated them a little. Just file off any burrs sticking up from broken ones. I was using CREE cobs though. A drill press makes a little difference and also just don't force it. I drill in a little and then pull it out and spin off slivers and then again and again also use some oil.

medicinehuman said:

I broke a few off and just rotated them a little. Just file off any burrs sticking up from broken ones. I was using CREE cobs though. A drill press makes a little difference and also just don't force it. I drill in a little and then pull it out and spin off slivers and then again and again also use some oil.

Click to expand...

Were you able to get the cob down without any contact with the chippped bit part? Mine are a little deep in the heatsink and not sticking out above the surface at all. If I were to put the cob down the paste would run over and fill the hole and I'm not too happy about that. Probably not a big deal, but the sinks were cheap and the shipping is pretty quick. I have kapton tape coming in on monday, so I'll just paste and tape.

After being so frustrated with the drill and tap breaking, waiting the few days for the tape is no big deal!
Thanks for the drilling tips... I may try it again in the future

A little hole won't hurt it, happy building!

Let there be light!!!!
Details of the build soon to be posted...
Going out to dinner with the lady now

Much Love!

36" x 20" × 62" tent
~238 total watts for entire tent- lights, fans, etc
4 x CXB3070 AB
1 x HLG 185 1400a
4 x Arctic Alpine Silver Plus
4 x 24" Aluminum angles
Crimp alide connectors
18/2 thermostat wire
#4 nuts and screws
Eye bolts
1 x 4pin fan cable extension 12"
3 x 4pin fan cable splitter
Adjustable voltage power block
Kapton tape
Arctic silver 5
Much Love!!!
Would not be possible to cut my total power by 65% without yall
Thank you!!

The girls are ready to flower!
Did some good trimming today and opened them up nicely. Installed some panda film outside of my cheapo tent for extra lightproofing. Plants are about 14" tall each and 21" from light. No bad signs after 1 day/night under leds. Temps dropped from 88 to 82. This reading was taken after a few mornings, 3+ hours after lights came back on fron 18/6. Replacing 400w mh. The spread is so much better compared to the old cool toob with reflector! Packed and ready to return already



Top dressed with some oly fish, worm power, kelp, fish bone, lil neem, lil crab, lil perlite
Watered with aloe, agsil, and hydrated kelp tea.






Some beauty from my home land to you my friends! I hope you all are enjoying your day

Shoutout to the LED section! So many jedi knights helping the padawans. Lurkin hard recently lol

So my fixture has been running for 5 days now. I have zero complaints! There is nice even light spread through out the tent, something I was hurting for with my previous cool tube setup.
Temps are a stable 81 day high and 70 night low. The 400 watt mh/hps had me peaking up to 88 at times! (All variables within the tent remained the same except for lighting system) Despite my generic design and super novice wiring skills, the visual coolness is much nicer than the cooltube as well

More and more people are jumping on this LED train, I'm truly grateful I went the DIY route over cheaply made and/or extremely overpriced/overhyped commercial fixtures. No doubt there are some good COB options out there now, but DIY has saved me a few hundred dollars compared to buying one of those. Also, the hands on experience with wiring and the build in general, both good and bad, is invaluable to me. The only experience I had with wiring was helping a friend with a car stereo system lol. I can now confidently say I can build an LED (LES) grow light yo!

In fact, I already have some vero 10s and cree xpl's along with appropriate drivers and heatsinks on order and in transit! Going to be putting together an LED propogation station. Mamas/seedlings/cuttings

Praise Jah for all the organic gurus making my first grow so easy that I have time to play with light building bahaha

Also in the think tank:
DrBudGreenGenes' style 20oz bottle SOG ------- with vero 10/18 or cree 2530/40s
I forsee great big things happening in nicely lit tiny spaces... 36"W x 16"L x 25"H
Should fit 27 (9/sq ft) plantlets more than comfortably. Harvest 5-10gs (low estimate) each from 7 clones every 2 weeks. 70-140g every 4 weeks off of a ~100 watt box.
Can also stagger the tent with two scrogged or mainlined big beauties and expect 100g from each (200w light, 1gpw). 170-240g per 4 weeks. Should be able to help out some patients in great need! Juicing cannabis for medicine. Fk you pills lol

Of course this is all theoretical numbers; I'm high af right now rambling, but I definitely see plausibility to it. Crazy ambitions for a first time cultivator? I think not
I would like to quit my day job soon, obviously.

Day 11 Flower


The girls are thriving!
Saw something flying yesterday so they got a nice shower of 3/4 strength neem/aloe/agsil spray. Will probably be the last I spray anything. Alternating between plain bubbled water and aloe/agsil feedings. Will hit with SST in a few days to a week. Trynna source some organic 6 row with low shipping... Nothing locally organic.

They have all grown about 4-5" vertically, and the canopy remains even. I'm really hoping the CSSH won't stretch further than the Mt. Cooks. Time shall tell!

Lights at 16-17" above..took some clones couple days ago. First time lol good vibes towards their roots! I will be taking more at the start of week 2. They're sitting in my halfway done vegestation right now. Waiting on stuff from China so I can finish then I'll post pics.

Hope you all are enjoying your day!
Much Love

Noice !

although they seem a little hungry to me .. maybe a little mag def too.

Yeah brotha I agree with the mag... the watering before last actually had some bioag tm7 with it. Tm7 is macronutrients plus humic and fulvic. No noticable changes since, however. I will do an epsom salt watering next. If no progress after a few days I will topdress some fish bone or perhaps make a nice tea. Don't wanna go crazy though, as I have read it is quite normal during the first 2-3 weeks of flower that the new tops will look super limey/light green. This is my first grow and want to be cautious!

Thanks for stoppin in

Maybe they are overwatered === most common beginner's mistake.

True about the limy light green, but it's only meant to be in the new leaves because of fast growth, if the whole plant is limy => hungry girls.

Humic and fulvic will speed up the intake of nutrients, but if your soil is low on them, it will accelerate the fading ...

I'd seriously consider giving them nutes one way or an other, top dressing might not be enough if they fall more behind ...

just my 2cents, have a good grow

Gotcha. I think the 3000k cobs are making it look limier than it really is...I'll get some pics up with the girls outside the tent when the lights come on tomorrow. Starting an alfalfa tea right now either way. Makes sense that it's around feeding time...last lil thing they got was that flower top dress .

Thanks!

Hey man glad you got your COB setup fired up! Loving the organic soil mix too. I noticed what you said about the high shipping cost of EWC and the Oly mountain compost. I recently ordered from BAS and noted they had recently changed their shipping options around. I am not sure if that works out better for mainland customers, but for sure if you are ordering from Hawaii or Alaska the USPS flat rate shipping is the way to go. A few of the products at BAS are still offering flat rate shipping but not the EWC or Oly. Huge respect to Jeremy Silva at BAS, but for those who need flat rate check out Kelp4Less on eBay. Their prices and shipping are higher at their website, but for whatever reason they offer better pricing with free shipping on ebay and they do have EWC

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-LBS-Best-Organic-Worm-Castings-Odorless-Soil-Enhancer-All-Plants-/170891226861?hash=item27c9e92eed

Good work my friend... Since you're using CCs mix, I should be safe in assuming that you let it sit before using it? In my experience clawing/burnt tips like that usually meant the plants ran into some "hot" material or uncomposted material. If that were the case I strongly suggest an ACT... Even if it wasn't I still strongly suggest it lol...

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think its a deficiency (but it does look like one strangely...) as long as you got the soil mixed properly (from personal experience and others evidence, the mix will fire with just water). CC suggests an ACT/top dress at the onset of flower, maybe a ACT after transplanting and a few sstS for good measure... Don't forget your mulch.

Also thanks for that info Supra, I didn't know kelp4less products could be found cheaper !!

I mix mine on a tarp now. Tried to mix it in containers and some times it seemed to have hot spots on occasion. Mixing your own Organics is the way to go

Thanks Supra! Wouldn't be able to without you haha. I actually sourced the majority of my nutes and what not from Jeremy. His site is great and full of info. The composts usually come out to a higher shipping charge than the bag itself, I'll check out kelp4less for my next order. Can you vouch for the ewc quality?

Hilo! Funny story actually... the CSSH was transplanted from a solo cup to the 3 gal smartie of ccs mix sans minerals after 2 days of 'cooking'. I was very nooby and worried about her getting rootbound in the cup at 4 inches tall haha. It was hit with an act at transplant then a kelp/alfalfa/ewc/molasses tea two and a halfish weeks later. Got nothin but plain or aloe/agsil for waterings since. One watering of tm7 recently..
The transplant into cc's mix was on 9/17.

The Mt. Cooks were given to me when not expected at all, and I had no soil ready I left them in their solo cups (they were a month old already and 11" tall) and mixed up some cc soil (to the T) that night, along with brewing some act. When the tea was done they got transplanted and hit. This was on 10/4. Since then they have gotten one kelp/alfalfa tea and the rest plain or aloe/agsil waterings.

Both transplants were over a month ago now...should be good right? I know I should have let it cook for a while but I did some reading on it and there were a handful of people saying they had minimal cook time, if any, without major issues. More problems arose from hotter mixes not cooking down long enough, like subcools and others will blood/bone meals.

The kelp/alfalfa tea I have brewing now was almost going to be a regular act based on your logic exactly lol, but after reading cc's post of him using that tea up to week 4 of flower, I decided to go for it. I will probably be dilluting it a little bit.

I've personally planted directly into the same mix after a day of sitting and some plants didn't even miss a beat, some were retarded for at least a few weeks after that.

After a month you should be seeing them bouncing back IMO, if not something is off... I've never seen burnt tips like that in a CC mix (that wasn't added to) if that makes any difference at all. ACT is the equivalent of duct tape in my arsenal, I haven't found a problem it can't fix... Perhaps your tea will green them back up, I just hope it doesn't cause them to claw again. Either way I'm curious to see what goes down... I can't speak to the quality of BAS EWC but I'm sure you could make a much better product (I dont think it's a bad product at all, can be improved upon though).