Dadio's Flood and Drain closet .

[dadio161]

I am using a 44" x 84 " closet but I will only be using 44" x 26 " for my growing area .At this point , I just got done slapping on a sloppy coat of flat white paint . A gallon only cost $7 and is enought to repaint 4 times .
I bought a garment rack with a zip up tent to put clothing in so that I will be able to use this closet with a locking door . I have this exact same space on the other side of the closet that will eventually become another grow area . I Just lack the funds for another light system right now .

 

[dadio161]

I next built a PVC stand to hold up my flood table. I used PVC because it is easy to customize and is water proof .

 

[dadio161]

I next mounted a 3/8 " plywood board to help keep the flood table from falling thru the stand . It also helps steady the table to distribute the weight . I used 1 1/4 " PVC pipe that might have been a little over-kill but it will hold anything I out on it .I cut out a small section so that the drain fittings can sit flat .

 

[dadio161]

Here is a pic of the supplies I will be using to assymble the flood and drain system . It is really rather basic .

Reservoir............ 8.00
Sub. Pump........... 20.00
Air Pump............. 10.00
Hoses................ 2.00
Air Stones .......... 10.00
PVC Stand .......... 25.00
2 x 4 Flood Tray ... 50.00
Surge Protector .... 13.00
Timers .............. 20.00
Fans ................ 30.00
GH Nutes ........... 40.00
Rockwool Blocks ... 15.00
______

$ 243.00

This should cover almost everything except for the light set up .

 

[dadio161]

I next set the flood table flat on the stand. I attached a 6" piece of 3/4 " black hose to the overflow fitting . I put this on as a precaution . I wanted to make SURE that the overflow water went back into the reservoir .

 

[dadio161]

Now , I bought a 18 gallon Rubbermaid tub to use as my reservoir . I drilled two 1/4 " holes on one side so that I may put the air tubes for the airstones thru here without having to worry about pinching off . I use two airstones for this size reservoir so that I can keep oxygen in the water and keep the nutes from setteling on the bottom .

 

[dadio161]

I put one airstone on each side of the reservoir and ran hoses thru the holes I just drilled . I next hooked up the hoses to the dual airpump . I set the pump on the box it came in so that the pump is always higher than the airstones so as to prevent any air backing up and filling with water . Again , just another precaution .

 

[dadio161]

Next , I put the submersible pump on the bottom and attach my 1/2" blue hose to the FILL fitting . I made the hose just a little longer than I really needed it so that it is long enough to hold down the pump . Don't want it floating away .

 

[dadio161]

So now here . We are basically finished . All that is left is to plug every thing in and add water to the reservoir .
I start with a power surger that is rated for construction work . That way I know it can handle more amps . I use one of the timers and I plug the submersible pump into that so I can control flood times . I use the other timer to plug in my ballast and control the light cycle . Plug the air pump directly in to the power strip . You want this to always run to keep things stired up . My closet is small so I don't use any exaust vents . I just leave my door open all the way during the day and that is more than enough to keep things moving . I use a oscillating fan and a tower fan to keep a LOT of air moving in there at all times . I run the house air conditioner set at 75 degrees and my closet is always at 80 degrees and 22 percent humidity . I plug both fans directly into the power strip and run both during the day and turn one off at night .

 

[dadio161]

I mounted a 1 x 3 board acorss both sides of the closet screwing into the studs . I did this so that when I mount the closet rod holder, I will screw into wood instead of drywall . Makes things a lot safer .
When I first got my light kit , I bought those yo-yo light hangers because everybody said that was the way to go . My heavy light hood kept falling on one side so I took them back after 15 minutes and bought chains instead .Chains give me more peace of mind . I sure as hell didn't want to wake up one morning and find that lights have fallen and broke a girl . Just saved myself from having a pissed off day . I am not too lazy to take 45 seconds to raise the light by hand .

 

[dadio161]

I next put six prepared blocks with six clones into the tray and cover blocks with block covers . I choose not to hydroton so that I can move the girls around as I see fit . It keeps the cost down and the tray as clean as possible .The roots will only come out of the bottom very little and will air prune themselves . I have never had to trim them and have never had a problem with root rot .

 

[dadio161]

All thats left to do is add the nutrients to the reservoir and set the timers . It's really easy to operate and clean . Timers run the show . You just need to add nutes . Go easy on the nutes at first . As I have found out , you can over feed them and burn them .
Happy Growing !!

 

[dadio161]

As for my light set up , I went with a NEXTGEN 400W/600W electronic ballast . It came with a free starter bulb of my choice . I naturally took a 600W HPS bulb . I use that for flower . I went to Home Depot and purchased a 400W MH bulb for $28 and it works just fine . I know that there are better bulbs out there but I am just learning and am trying to keep costs to a minimum . I did two grows so far and achieved 12 ozs each harvest . I am using a SUNSPOT6 light fixture by Sunleaves . I recommend a aircooled hood to everybody . Makes controlling heat a bit easier . Mine just happened to fall off the back of a truck brand new still in the box .

 

[NewClosetGrower]

i think its awesome man, looking forward to the grow

 

[sourdieseltech]

yessssss... you are going to be a happy man before long. trust me young padawon

 

[dadio161]

Okay , the pics above in entry #12 were from my first grow . I wanted to show how things fit but I was not ready to start my newest grow yet .

I have now started my newest grow as I was able to get some new clones . I like to use clones because they are usually free to me , and I know that they are females . Some day I will start from seeds to get a certain strain , but for now while I am learning , Free clones are the way to start .
When I receive my clones , they are in Rapid Rooter Plugs and planted in a soil mixture in small cups . So , I dump out the soil and I gently rinse off in the sink under running water . There are lot of roots so I try to handle gently . I noticed that a couple clones had a few spider-mites , so I gave all the girls a bath. While I had them in the sink , I used soapy dish soap and hand washed all of them . I washed each one twice making sure to rub the back sides of all the leaves . I used my microscope to check that I got all of that off . I don't want mites in my closet .I have gone in once a day since planting and sprayed them again well with soapy water just in case any got past me . They seem to be looking healthy this morning so I don't think the soapy water had any bad effects on them .
Took a couple pics 15 minutes after planting . I started this grow Thursday evening on the7th . I was able to get 4 girls that are Blue Berry and I also got 2 girls that are PEZ . Let the grow begin !

 

[Dropastone]

I'll tag along. Nice setup brah, when I first started out I wanted to do a setup like yours but opted to do dwc instead because it was much cheaper. I like the flood a drain because you can pack the flood table with plants and have a SOG to maximize space and yield. I like the idea of growing a lot of little plants instead of growing a few larger ones.

Peace.

 

[dadio161]

thanks . This is a legal grow and I am limited to 6 plants in a residence in my town . Don't want to push my luck . I eventually plan to stage a mirror system on the other side of the closet so I will have three plants on each side and stagger them to harvest once a month . I first decided to go with this system because I saw a friends grow and was impressed on how easy it is to run . I also need it to fit in my closet so I can have a locking door . This is my third grow and I have already paid for everything , so this grow only cost me $15 to get started for the Rockwool blocks . I have everything else left over from previous grow .

 

[dadio161]

Here are a few pics I snapped this morning . As you can see , the girls are standing up proud and adjusting well to being transplanted and washed . I have some leaves that look damaged from the spider-mites . I have checked them several times and no more mites . The leaves have a little color missing but are standing up healthy otherwise , so I will leave them alone and let nature pick them off . New grow looking a very healthy green .

 

[Dropastone]

Looks good and I'm here for the long haul on this one. I read earlier that you used those yoyo's in the past and was not very happy with them. I couldn't agree more I used them as well but I couldn't even get them to work, the braking mechanism wouldn't hold my light in place and I wound up resorting to chains myself. I later found these hangers that work like a charm. It's based on a ratcheting mechanism that locks into place when you raise or lower your light.

I just thought I would pass along this link so that you could check it out. Also have a look at the video it explains everything.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ProGrip-Rope-Ratchet-Grow-Light-Reflector-Hangers-yoyo_W0QQitemZ250700522744QQcategoryZ42225QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo=SIC&its=I%2BC&itu=UCI%2BIA%2BUA%2BFICS%2BUFI%2BDDSIC&otn=10&pmod=120619871376&ps=63&clkid=5086844607648993611

Peace.