PC grow diary: 125W CFL with a bit of a how-to..

Okay so here goes.. I have spent a long time constructing my box and I thought if I posted how I did it and my progress then it might help some newbies out there.

So I got the boxes from work, I have 3 but I have only built one box yet.. they are quite large..approx 2 ft (ugly as hell though)...




I gutted out the inside and removed all the rivets( tip to newbs- drill them they just pop out easily) and covered the insides with Diamond Mylar..

One of the first questions I had as a newb was "How do I install the light fittings?" most of the examples I had seen were made in the usa and used those awful little mains plug to light fitting adapters.. I didn't like this idea so decided to make my own. It was really easy.

All I did was get a sheet of fibreglass and attach 5 of these.. it was a simple job of drilling them (they have drill holes in the bottom - one thing they never show in the photos!!!!) I then wired them all up in parallel and mounted the fitting on little plastic pillars ot keep the wiring away from the metal box - I insulated the connections too for extra safety.

Hopefully you can kind of make out what I did here.. (I used these bulbs btw and they are great.. lovely white light)


Another thing that got me at first was which fans to use.. I thought it would just be a simple case of using the case fans and the PSU fan already in the case but after building the thing and testing the temperatures it became apparent that the cheapo case fans were garbage!

So I then opted to install 2 silverstone FM121 fans.. one halfway up the side of the case and another in the front.. to make the square holes I just chain drilled a square out and filed it down.. They are great fans as they have a little control and amazing airflow so I can regulate the temperature a lot now..

On the side fan I added this filter which is just a clip on job.. it stops most of the light escaping and allows for a really nice airflow.. not sure how it will do for smell in the future though...

Here are some photos of the fans.


I wanted a way to be able to turn the fans on and off and add new fans so I designed a little circuit on a piece of stripboard which allows me to do this and it can be seen here..


I made a decision that I wanted to absolutely maximise the internal space of the PC so without designing my own timer circuitry (which I will do in the next box I build) I opted to have a second supply which I added to the back of the PC case.. this detracts a little bit from the stealth aspect but I don't think its much of a problem.. I am then doing the timing for the lights with a plug in timer which is just some cheapo one I found in Wilkinsons..


I also managed to hide the supply for the fans inside the front of the case.. it is just a standard 12V 2A AC/DC adapter I had lying around.. I unscrewed the front of the case.. cut a square hole in the plastic and then fed the output to that fan circuit you can see above.. maximising the space again..

So that is it I think.. here are some photos of the finished case..



I am going to update this all the time.. I just hope it helps a newbie out.. also I hope you like it Happy growing people

I kinda went a bit insane on the nutrients when I went to the Hydroponic store as you can see from the attached photo lol

A bit of extra info... the internal temperatures with the bulbs on ranges from 27 degrees C to 33 degrees C that is how much control the fans have..

The humidity is 51%.. I am currently in day 3 of germination of some White Shark and some other seed I am not sure what it is ( I had some seed lying around and wanted to practice with those before wasting money killing expensive seeds) the tiny white roots have just started showing.. Hoping to plant in next few days..

Okay well Germination is complete on the 3 seeds I started off with... 1 of those soldiers was lost to the game though for some reason nothing happened.. I am going to keep an eye on it and see if something happens soon but meh..

Overall the germination took 4 days.. 2 days in cup of water, 2 days in paper towel..

I didn't know that you were supposed to keep the germing seeds in the dark though until day 3 and the room they were in was cold as hell but they still made it the hardy little buggers.

Heres a photo of the seeds just before they were planted.

As you can see the one on the bottom right just didn't do anything.. this is just bagseed though so seed was probably damaged.

I filled the bottom inch or two of my pot with perlite and then the rest with coco coir this is what it looked like just before watering and planting

I am using these little tupperware containers to collect all the excess run off.

I had to sort out the PH of my water as it was about 7 but the guide says for coco I should be using 5.5-6 so I made the Ph about 6 with some ph down.. christ that stuff is powerful.. a couple of drops in a bucket did the trick..

So I then watered the soil until I had run off coming out the bottom and made a little hole about half an inch in both pots


Putting the seeds in was quite hard as they just did not want to go in with the roots pointed downwards but eventually (with the help of some tweezers) I managed to get it done and both seeds were planted.


and that was that.. both of them in the case now.. about 2 inches from the light.. it is quite cool in there (28.4 degrees) with humidity at 50%..

So I have said my hail mary's and closed the door.. it is in the FSM's hands now..

Good luck brave little guys.. I hope you grow into the best smoke ever!! 1kg dried or more is what I am aiming for..


I have another bag seed which is in the glass of water at the minute so if that germs then I will be planting it with these guys in a few days.

Slick and clean PC.

Wish mine was like that. Im using a power strip with those plug adapters. But i would like to get those sockets you have.

Any Link / tutorial you used; i could use google but asking is always nicer

Ill keep an eye on this thread

No I didn't really follow any tutorial.. I just bought a load of different light fittings to see how it might be best to screw them in.. Then I noticed that the Ceramic holders had 2 screw holes in the bottom.. so I thought why not just screw them to a sheet of plastic.. and that's what I did.. Saves loads of space.

The only problem is.. the lights are fixed.. In my next box I might look at somehow being able to lower them freely so I can put them all the way down to the bottom of the case as the plant is growing.

Quick update.. both plants are growing.. YAYY

It took 24-36hours for one of them to come through and then about another 24 hours for the other one to pop up..

Now on 72 hours they both have 4 small leaves..

I have kept them quite moist for this stage.. I will put them onto normal watering in a day or so..

HELPPP

So it is one week in and the plants have both got purple tips around the leaves..

Here are some photos


I have read some of the things this can be such as overwatering/underwatering/cold/nute burn

Okay so heres some info about my setup..

I am using 1/3 perlite 2/3 coco and watering every few days when the top inch of the soil is feeling dry.. the water drains through to the bottom..

I am not using nutes at the minute..and the temperature is between 24 and 28C so never too hot or too cold..

I have the plants on 24/0 about 4 inches from the bulbs as can be seen here..



Someone says it could be sunburn.. maybe I should try changing to 18/6? but would this confuse and stress the plants now?

Basically is this a bad thing and what can I do?

it may well be windburn. i know it sounds silly but this was my problem in my last micro grow. too much airfflow was giving me so many issues. as soon as i placed some perspex under the lights and reduced the airflow underneath all my problems went away.

Windburn.. that one is new to me.. theres like no breeze in there though.. ? I thought maybe underwatering and humidity.. I noticed my humidity is only 20% in the box for some reason.. so I have watered the shit out of them today and misted them with a sprayer.. I have reduced the fans too to bring the temp up slightly to about 27..

Hopefully tomorrow I will see results..

Well what a difference a week makes..

It turns out my mistake was not putting in any nutes at all in my coco/perlite mix.. Apparently the plant should have everything it needs but mine seemingly didn't

As soon as I put in some half strength nutes the plant just exploded.

I am now watering it with alternate water/full strength nutes (coco A + B, Cannazym and Rhizo)

Here they are 2 weeks in anyway, looking lovely and green.

I've the same pc box, but I'm not using it actually. Impressed to see how well you arranged it! Amazing job!

Consider to set up a little hydro system, I'm actually run it and results in a pc grow box are really better than soil.

Check out my post about it, I'm really happy of it!

Cheers!

don't over do the nutes big guy all my friends had to rescue their plants on the bath because they thought the amount of nutrients = amount of growth
Nice setup by the way, really looks good! How many lumen you got in there? I have subscribed

Hey man thanks a lot, I will be sure to check it out..

What kind of yields and time frame have you got up to now in the PC box with both hydro and soil?

MrFowlio said:

don't over do the nutes big guy all my friends had to rescue their plants on the bath because they thought the amount of nutrients = amount of growth
Nice setup by the way, really looks good! How many lumen you got in there? I have subscribed

Click to expand...

Thanks, I did try a lot to make it nice and clean inside.

I have at the minute 5x25W CFL's with a total of 8000lumen..

I am kinda worries about all the lights being at the top.. I wish i had some down the sides for flowering and such but just can't find the space.. wish there was a super flat cfl I could attach to the side.

I would try to add a perspex or acrylic heat divider like was suggested earlier. It has helped a lot with heat. But I was running at 90 F before i installed it.View attachment 2616891

Lovely lookin PC there... Well, on the inside it is... Love the 'web server' sign too, nice touch

You mentioned flat CFL's... I'm wondering, is there any way you could rig these up to it? They're 'push-fit' CFL, only I can never find the things they plug into. Anyways, just an idea off the top of my head.

Have just started a similar grow, but in a smaller box with just 3 x 23w lights. I think I'm about a week behind you, but have started the grow on 12/12 to hopefully end up with a short stocky girl.

Anyway, I'm subbed in now, and lookin forward to a good read.

TheWeatherWizard said:

Hey man thanks a lot, I will be sure to check it out..

What kind of yields and time frame have you got up to now in the PC box with both hydro and soil?

Click to expand...

Hi man, desolated for the delay...
I'm currently run my very first attempt with DWC in pc growbox, but the plant is really bigger and present many more buds than the same case, same lights same vents, but in soil.

I'm uploading some pictures right now, if you compare these pics with the others in my previous journal you'll see the difference by yourself!

On top of this...Nice idea to put an acrilic foil under your light, but remember that with CFL you have to put the plant very close to the light for best results! Don't worry, if don't exceed with nutes and you get a correct inside ventilation there will be no problem if you put your plant 1-2 cm under your lights.

I don't really think heat is much of an issue at the minute for me. I have 2 thermometers in at the minute and I have about 29-31 degrees at the lights but the one at the level of the plants stays between 23-28 degrees so should be the right temperature.

I am going to do a big update tomorrow and take some pics, I need to know whether it is time to LST or whether I even should.. They are both looking really good at the minute.

What I have realised though is that they are sucking water down, I am only watering when the top inch - inch and a half is completely dry and that seems to be about every day at the minute.

I am watering every day - 2 days with alternating water and full strength nutes.. What do you think?

mewk69 said:

Lovely lookin PC there... Well, on the inside it is... Love the 'web server' sign too, nice touch

You mentioned flat CFL's... I'm wondering, is there any way you could rig these up to it? They're 'push-fit' CFL, only I can never find the things they plug into. Anyways, just an idea off the top of my head.

Have just started a similar grow, but in a smaller box with just 3 x 23w lights. I think I'm about a week behind you, but have started the grow on 12/12 to hopefully end up with a short stocky girl.

Anyway, I'm subbed in now, and lookin forward to a good read.

Click to expand...

I have been thinking about this a lot.. Either that one you showed or multiple thin tube cfls http://www.amazon.co.uk/Energy-Saving-Light-6500k-Daylight/dp/B000I6KQ1O/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1366053292&sr=1-1 that kinda thing
I can get 11w long thin 2700k cfl tubes for quite cheap.. Maybe I could mount 5 vertically and make like a little shelf to mount them on on the side of the box. I do think they need big bulky ballasts though so it would just not be worth it if so..

The thing I worry about though with doing a side mounted light is heat issues.. the plants will definitely touch it.. Maybe a perspex sheet over the top of it as per the advice above

Okay so the plants both seem to be doing fine to me..

They are just not stretching AT ALL!! from what I have seen from other peoples LSTing it seems these plants are LSTing themselves.. really bushy and just growing need leaves all over the place..

Here are some photos



I have taped down the leaves of the one on the left to try and make it spread out to that gap on its left hand side, I have left the one on the right totally as it was.


There is a slight bit of nute burn on a couple of the leaves but this hasn't progressed any further so I am not really worried.. I am flushing them with water inbetween every feed

I think I am going to veg them for one more week and then see about moving them over to 12/12..

Sub'd up
great stealthy set-up
gorgeous healthy looking plants
cant wait to see how those bagseeds turn out.