trying a hybrid bubbleponics thing. long story

so i own a SMALL home with no grow room. small lot. lots of people. the only way to feasibly grow would be in my attic. I live close to the border of MI/IN so temp changes alot., was upwards around 108 up there this summer when i started this change, running wire, laying a floor down etc... on to whats important;

i have quickly drew up and built a test box as i will call it that fits up there giving max height, i went with boxes so i can contain my heat/cool during the changing seasons. attached is a quick horrible looking rendition and rough sizes. given the height i figured i would go with a somewhat SCROG approach and eventually fit many boxes up there creating a perpetual. View attachment attic boxes.pdf

as of now i have all this built, the rez is off to the side, all is leak free, air stones look like they are ok to me etc. now heat... ive never worked with a 600w HPS before and I underestimated the amount of heat the light puts off even when vented, inline fan and really just sits on the box. heat seal between the glass and light fixture. another inline fan sucking heat out of the box. both fans are 240ish cfm given the size of the box was small, i went with midsize fans. i cant get the temp steady under 88-95 or so degrees. very frustrating. i will throw some more pics on here for help with the missing details.

-the material of the box is 3/4" particle board with a melamine side facing in. super bright white and reflects a ton more than just painted board. been through this.
-running a submersed waterpump from the rez outside the box to each individual bucket. flow is fine and even with "choke points" at the ends (in the bucket lids)
-air stones are working pretty well. i may upgrade for more bubbles at a later time.
-buckets are 2 gallon. givin the height restrictions i dont think these will be too small for root systems of a 28" tall final plant.
-light is a 600w HPS in a yeildmaster II 6" vented with a fan. none of which shares air with the box at all. just sits on top.

i need to improve and make changes to this system to get it going further. any tips suggestions? i was thinking among options of water chiller, smaller light, different tech light altogether, maybe altering an air conditioner to blow air directly into the box? any other ideas suggestions?
View attachment attic boxes.pdf
this is in my bedroom. using it as a test area.

on a side note, i may just have the cheap thermometer directly in the light and giving me a false reading. trying that now.

looks like the hottest thing since sliced bread

The New Jim Jones said:

looks like the hottest thing since sliced bread

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Ya.. too big in too little. I mean you have a small space you need to think small. You have no room in there for stuff you don't even think about let alone the plants.

That thermometer costs 3$, of course it's no where near accurate. Also, the stronger the fan for your hood, the less heat there will be. Don't be silly and buy something like 600+ CFM

the light hood is a sealed system completely separate from the box itself and its 65-69 degrees in that room. intake and exhaust are not in the same system as anything in the box.

can you say bud rot?

what would cause the bud rot? i have a good amount of filtered air going in, air flow you can feel in the box. humidity isnt high at all. am i missing something? what part would you change to steer away from bud rot?

It looks like a 600 is too much for that box are u thinking 28" tall plants when they touch the hood? Cuz that's going to be burning them if so. Bump up to a 435cfm fan for exhaust. My tent gets into the upper 80's and low 90's on the hottest days.

double the exhaust fan's cfm. will do. the way i understood it was you cant have too much light as long as temps and humidity were in check? im new to the small container idea. most of my planting has been of the outside sort.

The reason I say use 600++ cfh is because he said he plans on having multiple containers in his attic. One might suffice with 435, but anything more you really need more air flow. You can't have too little. It will also help lower smell issues. Also, when planting, use as little veg as possible, maybe even no veg, just clones.

JUICEN66 said:

what would cause the bud rot? i have a good amount of filtered air going in, air flow you can feel in the box. humidity isnt high at all. am i missing something? what part would you change to steer away from bud rot?

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you have no plants in there. just wait until week 2-3 of flower and see how the humidity is. lots of ventilation.

thanks ganja will do. moved my setup a little bit and all is good. stable 75 degrees night and day. since the night i posted this originally. and mr friendly im on the same page you are. the purpose of this setup is to be able to do the math to "string" several boxes together. with the ventilation anyway. they may be on diff schedules. just so happens i timed it right to have 2 rounds of bag weed seedlings as test subjects just to be sure all is good before i start taking clones from my buddies mother plant. whitch used to be mine. lol.
they have been in there 1 full day. other than my air hose falling off the pump (fixed) there are no problems. just the normal shock from transplanting.
so for future setups, i can make this work with about 250 cfm of air to the light and box each. so the 600+ big guy will be ok for 3 boxes, another for 3 lights. boosters added if needed. did the math yesterday im sitting at just over 3k lumens per square ft, 19 total gallons in the system. ph and nute formulas per gallon and so on. on my way to getting this working completely.

here are the seedlings 2 weeks ago when i dropped em in the buckets. they went through a few days of shock.

the next 3 pics are today. just switched them to 12/12. they are a foot tall give or take an inch. growing crazy fast. flushed, used flower nutes etc. looks like the plants grow a little too wide to be in this area. another setup other than 3x3?