DIY CFL Bubbleponics Grow Cab

[Lt Shiny Sides]

They look great Mata! Do you know when to start nutrients?

 

[FryingPanFlyer]

And all with cute little names, my parents used L's for our first names!

 

[MataGrowa]

They look great Mata! Do you know when to start nutrients?

Hey Lt. thanks for the compliment. Just so you know I have been following your grow very closely. I will be thrilled if my girls look as good as yours in a few months.

I believe I should start with 1/4 nutes as soon as I see another set of true leaves on a couple of my girls?

I plan to use GH nutes following the Lucas Formula. The Lucas formula for veg is 5ml micro and 10ml bloom per gallon. So I figure I will start with 6ml micro and 12ml bloom (since I am using 6 gallons of water) and then add the same amount every other day or so until I reach the 5ml micro and 10ml bloom amount per gallon. Then I'll wait a day or two and then start to drain and replenish the res with 5 and 10 ml per gallon weekly. I do have a ppm meter that I plan to use just to make sure these values put me in the correct range.

One question I have is if my water is 400 ppm out of the tap should I subtract that 400 from my reading?

I am using hard water micro as my city obviously has very hard water.

If I am missing something and some of this sounds awful please let me know.

 

[MataGrowa]

And all with cute little names, my parents used L's for our first names!

Yeah my wife helped me to name them fry. I used all A names as this is my first grow. The next grow will definately be featuring a Bree.

 

[MataGrowa]

Things seem to be progressing nicely in my secret garden. All of my plants now have a root coming down from the bottom of the net pot. A couple of the roots are hanging about 4 inches down. A couple plants just started to show their second set of true leaves today. I plan to start with a very light dose of nutes tomorrow.

 

[volcomrider157]

awesome man I plan to start nutes tomorrow as well, they will be a week old.

 

[strongarm]

The whole set up looks sweet....Mata like you I have followed the bubbleheads and they seem to be on the a very good method. I think I finally have talked the wife into letting me get my first grow on but I have 2 issue....1) space 2) start up capital. For issue #1 after all the research I want to do a grow cab which leads me to issue #2 start up capital. So the only real answer to that is DIY my issue is if im left on my own the DIY turns into a WTF DIJD ( What the F did I just do) . I said all of that to ask this...do you have some instructions on that tight lighting set up you made so the none DIY guys can have a shot at doing it.....

 

[strongarm]

The cabs interior is 50" tall by 30" wide by 21" deep, painted entirely flat white.

Sorry for all the questions but I am looking for ideas on the cab. Did you build yours or is it an unused closet/wardrobe. Most of the great bubbleheads have actual cloest/small room grows this is the first cab cfl bubble grow that I found are there any others?

 

[MataGrowa]

The whole set up looks sweet....Mata like you I have followed the bubbleheads and they seem to be on the a very good method. I think I finally have talked the wife into letting me get my first grow on but I have 2 issue....1) space 2) start up capital. For issue #1 after all the research I want to do a grow cab which leads me to issue #2 start up capital. So the only real answer to that is DIY my issue is if im left on my own the DIY turns into a WTF DIJD ( What the F did I just do) . I said all of that to ask this...do you have some instructions on that tight lighting set up you made so the none DIY guys can have a shot at doing it.....

Hey strongarm hows it goin. Well after the help I have received from all the bubbleheads on this site I am certainly happy to try and help.

If your not a DIYer I wouldnt attempt to make the light the way I did it. I have some electrical experience and I had trouble running all the wires thru that 1" pvc. I would say buy the cheapest 3 or 4 light bathroom fixture at home depot and use y sockets to make it 6 or 8 lights. Buy a plug for the end of the wire and plug it in. Be sure and attach the black wire to the brass screw when you wire the plug. Even easier would be to just buy some clamp lights and y sockets plus you get a lot more flexibility on where you want to put em. They come with the cord and plug attached so no wiring at all. If you still want I would be willing to give detailed instructions on the light I made.

Sorry for all the questions but I am looking for ideas on the cab. Did you build yours or is it an unused closet/wardrobe. Most of the great bubbleheads have actual cloest/small room grows this is the first cab cfl bubble grow that I found are there any others?

I built my cab but only because I couldn't find the perfect sized armoire on craigslist. I needed specific dimensions so I could fit it in my closet but if that is not an issue I see plenty of good sized armoires on craigslist for about 50 bucks. Look for a big interior with just a couple of drawers. I do see a lot of people on here with homemade grow cabs maybe just not a lot of bubbleheads although I do see a lot of bubbleheads using grow tents. Anyway I made mine with just two sheets of plywood, paint and nails. Probably about 40 bucks total. Make sure you know your dimensions before you buy the plywood and they will cut it for you at home depot or lowes.

 

[Topher89]

Hey there, this is lookin' great bud, I am subscribed. Good luck!

 

[HIWAY]

I just finnished a grow of 6 plants in the same space with a 600watt hps and found that with that many plants in a small space i finally had to Blow in outside air. the passive air flow from bottom wasnt enough to keep the heat down .
but with bubbleponics i got 12.5 ozs from the cabinet !!!

 

[imabeast]

man sweet light setup, If you get the time you should shoot us a quick tutorial on how u made that.

peace

 

[MataGrowa]

I just finnished a grow of 6 plants in the same space with a 600watt hps and found that with that many plants in a small space i finally had to Blow in outside air. the passive air flow from bottom wasnt enough to keep the heat down .
but with bubbleponics i got 12.5 ozs from the cabinet !!!

yeah i got a little fan for intake but i used a smaller one than the exhaust so that my leaks around the doors would become passive intakes. my thermometer is saying about 90 degrees if i keep the door shut but i'm not sure if i should be worried about that because thats with the thermometer on top of the res and about two inches from the lights. the sensor for the thermometer i keep on the inside wall of the cab and that is only running about 70 degrees and my water is about 70 degrees as well. but i have been keeping the door open most of the time with a fan on the plants to help the stems get thicker.

 

[MataGrowa]

man sweet light setup, If you get the time you should shoot us a quick tutorial on how u made that.

peace

Thanks for the compliment imabeast. I will try to make up a tutorial on the light in the next few days.

 

[volcomrider157]

I think I might have my water too warm, i'm gonna go so if i can find a water thermo today, i'd like to get a digital one, do think i could just use a freezer thermo and just run the cord down in the water, i dont wanna have to open res to check temps everytime....

 

[MataGrowa]

I think I might have my water too warm, i'm gonna go so if i can find a water thermo today, i'd like to get a digital one, do think i could just use a freezer thermo and just run the cord down in the water, i dont wanna have to open res to check temps everytime....

I guess as long as the sensor is waterproof that would work volcom.

My ppm meter had a thermometer so I am using that.

My water is running right on 70 degrees. I have my air pump on a shelf at the top of the cab so that it is not under the lights. I believe it helps to keep the heat down.

 

[volcomrider157]

hey man didn't mean to invade your thread, i was just curious as to what you were using. I bought and indoor/outdoor thermo for 12 bucks at walmart, i figured since you run the cord outside and it rains its gotta be waterproof/weather proof. sure enough it works awesome so i have the temp of my space and water in one! My water temps are not where I want them tho, im runnin 78.6 I think thats a bit warm i'd get much better use of my Oxegen if could bring it down a bit. I got two more 10in stones one more for each res, i'm gonna change my water today and i'm hoping to hold that temp down with this additional oxegen. I'll post the results on my thread. so you started nutes right? i can tell mine are loving them, im sure yours are as well. lets see em =)

 

[MataGrowa]

Volcom you can post here anytime bud its nice to know people are following. I believe I have the same thermometer/hygrometer as you, I attached a pic of it. It is now giving me an actual humidity %, I guess it was just too low to get a reading at first (I live in the desert). I was worried to use the sensor in the water but glad to hear it is working for ya. So how about the air pump is that under your light, because I think that would affect your res temp.

So I started soaking my seeds on 12/11, put them in the system on 12/12 and on 12/14 i had 5 sprouts. The sixth seed which didn't make it was the one that cracked open within a couple hours of soaking. I don't know if it drowned or if it was just a dud to begin with. It was one of the free seeds attitude sent me with my order so no big deal, I am happy with 5 plants for this grow.

I actually started nutes this morning. I am using GH flora micro and flora bloom following the Lucas formula. For veg Lucas says 5ml micro and 10ml bloom per gallon. I used 5ml micro and 10ml bloom total so I figure that as 1/6th of full strength. I figure I will add another 1/6th every other day for a week and then next monday change the water out with 6 new gallons and a full dose of nutes.

Now I would love some input from anyone who is very good with ppm. I have the HM digital tds 3. It has a conversion factor of .5. Now my water comes out of the tap at 380 ppm and with todays dose it went up to 580. If it keeps going up at that rate ill be at 1580 with a full dose which seems too high. Should I be worried by this or should I try to go more by what my plants are telling me and not worry about ppm?

Anyway here are some pics 11 days after soaking, 10 days in the system and 7 days from sprouts.

 

[volcomrider157]

right on man mine has a bit different button set up as yours but yea same thermo, I just finished the water changes and I'm reading 71.6 now so thats much better. as far as nutes I am also running the GH nutes and I just upped some of my plants to the "mild" setting according to the feeding instructions on the bottle. I'm running all three, micro, veg and bloom--1 tsp/gal of each and as far as ppms man I have no clue what I got going here lol, its something I'm gonna look more into but at this point for me I dont think I am going to worry about it. I at that water conditioner for fish tanks to my water and dial in the PH and add the nutes...no problems yet, plants seem to be doing good. and yours are looking very nice as well.. just a touch behind mine

 

[spyvy]

Looking real good... Where did you get that Hub for your hoses.. Nice set up// Also your light set up is way cool .. Looks like Mine LOL

https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/284413-my-first-build-grow-bubble.html