First grow! Nirvana ice, dresser grow box
- Thread starter Canocrpse86
- Start date
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
Do you have any pics or a grow journal? How are they turning out, height, smell etc. what's your grow setup like?
emannn2010
Well-Known Member
your cab seems to be close to the back wall, so when your fan exhausts some of it gets sucked back in from the intake fan, is it possible to pull the cab slightly forward, if you can and the temps drop your fine, if not then install another exhaust fan, which would work better on the left hand side of the side of the cab, but then your stealth factor is trumped. good luck and happy growing 
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
The current exhaust and intake are already on the sides of the cab. Intake is bottom right and 2 exhaust are top left. The closet is only 18 inches deep so the cab just barely fits to begin with. I think part of my problems came from the high temps here last week. Ambient temps in my house were at 78 so it wasn't helping. I have new fans on the way though, 4 inch desk fans so hopefully one of those will do it. I'm not so much concerned with stealth per se, just controlling the smell. But I can't do that if I can't seal the box.your cab seems to be close to the back wall, so when your fan exhausts some of it gets sucked back in from the intake fan, is it possible to pull the cab slightly forward, if you can and the temps drop your fine, if not then install another exhaust fan, which would work better on the left hand side of the side of the cab, but then your stealth factor is trumped. good luck and happy growing
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
I made some more changes with the lighting today. One of the fixtures for my 65 waters broke and while I was at lowes looking for a new one I found a great adjustable 3 arm desk lamp on clearance. It was missing all the lamp shades just had the sockets and I got it for $7. I proceeded to modify it and hang it from the top of my box. Now it's basically a ceiling fixture with 3 adjustable arms and I can put the lights exactly where I need them around the plant.
it works out great and attaching my adjustable ropes to the arms allows me to hold them in any position.
im debating removing the 65 waters and using four 26w bulbs in each socket. Any opinions there? That would give me 312 watts that are moveable and then maybe I can still mount the 65,era elsewhere?
I also got a timer and this will be my first day going to 12/12. I want to finish these girls off quickly since I don't want them too high. I'm germinating another seed right now and that plant will be vegged longer. I might even try mainlining it. I really like the control you can get with that.
heres the plants.
do they look droopy? Let me know what you guys think.
it works out great and attaching my adjustable ropes to the arms allows me to hold them in any position.
im debating removing the 65 waters and using four 26w bulbs in each socket. Any opinions there? That would give me 312 watts that are moveable and then maybe I can still mount the 65,era elsewhere?
I also got a timer and this will be my first day going to 12/12. I want to finish these girls off quickly since I don't want them too high. I'm germinating another seed right now and that plant will be vegged longer. I might even try mainlining it. I really like the control you can get with that.
heres the plants.
do they look droopy? Let me know what you guys think.
robnarley1111
Active Member
Nice and healthy looking plant!
Leaves are slightly leaning downward, not necessarily droopy...is she thirsty for water? I notice the leaf fringes are turned up, so it's possible the leaves could be overheating a bit, and just doing what they do trying to keep cool. Do you have heat pockets near any the lights?
Leaves are slightly leaning downward, not necessarily droopy...is she thirsty for water? I notice the leaf fringes are turned up, so it's possible the leaves could be overheating a bit, and just doing what they do trying to keep cool. Do you have heat pockets near any the lights?
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
I just watered both of them this morning so that shouldn't be the problem. I have been watering every 2-3 days and they are on half strength nutes now. More than likely I'm thinking its just heat stress. Hopefully my fans will hurry up and get here.
StevieStoner
Well-Known Member
Looks great man. That's a nice setup you got there. I would say your problem is over feeding. I've been using FFOF for years and never burns my seeds. When plants are young they don't really need any nutrients when grow in FF. Try giving her some fresh water only from now on (ph'ed of course) and after a week or so she should be good.
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
Got my fans in today. Just waiting to get some time to install them after dinner tonight. Update with pics coming soon
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
alright we have some updates tonight. I got my box sorted out with the new fans. Just took a little bit of work after dinner and we were good to go. One fan is installed in the upper left as exhaust. The other fan is inside for air circulation. I also installed a foam dust filter/ light block on my passive intake. The exhaust fan is moving more air than both my pc fans combined. Not sure what the cfm is but it's a hoss. Without further ado....pics
the box is closed up right now and I will be going to check on temps after about 30 minutes to determine if the mod was successful. Got my fingers crossed.
in other news
if you will notice some of the fan leaves are fucked up. That's because my cat was eating my plants while I was out in the garage working on my damn cab. Fml....
the box is closed up right now and I will be going to check on temps after about 30 minutes to determine if the mod was successful. Got my fingers crossed.
in other news
if you will notice some of the fan leaves are fucked up. That's because my cat was eating my plants while I was out in the garage working on my damn cab. Fml....
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
It appears to be another fail on the temperature control. Close up the box for 20 minutes and it hits 90 and still climbing. I have no idea what to do now and I'm about to give up with this damn cab....
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
Super cropped the plants today right before feeding time. They are growing strong so we will see how long it takes them to bounce back from this and hopefully we get some nice strong nodes. The girls are starting to STINK! The smell on my hands after bending the stems was making me light headed it was so strong.
WildBud420
Member
you might want to consider switching from those cfls, to a single 50 or 70w HPS, you'll get more lumens and probably less heat as the ballast can be mounted outside the box. though for such a small HPS you'd have to get a wire it yourself as i have not seen any pre-built kits for such low wattage HPS's. but you can get DIY kits on Amazon as cheap as $30 for the ballast kit and $30-$60 for the bulb. Just food for thought. either way if heat is an big issue, you might also consider fixing the lights in the top and putting glass or clear plastic beneath them and seal it off and use some fans to air cool the lights from side to side. Your pretty handy from what i've seen and should be easy for ya to do.
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
The biggest heat problem is that ambient temps in my house are 80F so it's not to far a stretch for a box full of light bulbs to hit 90 or 100. I'll check out the small hps kits but really this was meant to be a low budget grow and I feel like I've already spent too much. Basically I've resigned myself to just finishing these with the box open and hopefully in the future I can get this cab sorted to be a clone box. The idea of sealing the lights off sounds like a good idea. Kind of like a vented hood for an hps except built into the box.
PRBudman
Member
Haha. I feel your pain on the feline issue. I think my cat loves my plants as much as i do. Everything looks good so far. Would it be possible to move the dresser into another room that has a cooler ambient temp? Im having heat issues with my 250w cabinet and its a pita to fix. But dont give up man(!), it'll be well worth it at the end 
robnarley1111
Active Member
I would definitely stay with CFLs instead of going with an HPS in your space. That would pose even more heat issues to tackle, imo.
Problem with the heat buildup is due to the PC fans; they don't have enough CFMs to move/replace the air in such a significantly large space effectively. So, as soon as they move the air, the CFLs are perpetually creating more heat than they can replace, while hotspots are also a factor. If you could create a simple CFL fixture to mount your lights to (check out some of the cool DIYs on RIU), then cut/saw square openings to mount your PC fans above the lights.....this will allow the fans to suck/pull the hot air from the CFLs and out of the fixture. You can mount ducting on each fan, leading out of your cab to help redirect the hot air.
Since your ambient temps are not too bad at 80°, you will be golden once you get the CFL heat contained. They shouldn't increase the temps in your cab by no more than 2-5° if done properly. So your max temps would be about 85, which isn't bad, as long as the heat from your bulbs are effectively blowing away from your plants and out of your cab. Oh yeah, and make sure your intake ventilation is allowing enough air to come into your cab, otherwise the hot, stale air surrounds your plants leaves. And your leaves will actually be MUCH hotter than the temps in the air surrounding them.
I had the same issues with my growbuckets, so I'm here to help!
Problem with the heat buildup is due to the PC fans; they don't have enough CFMs to move/replace the air in such a significantly large space effectively. So, as soon as they move the air, the CFLs are perpetually creating more heat than they can replace, while hotspots are also a factor. If you could create a simple CFL fixture to mount your lights to (check out some of the cool DIYs on RIU), then cut/saw square openings to mount your PC fans above the lights.....this will allow the fans to suck/pull the hot air from the CFLs and out of the fixture. You can mount ducting on each fan, leading out of your cab to help redirect the hot air.
Since your ambient temps are not too bad at 80°, you will be golden once you get the CFL heat contained. They shouldn't increase the temps in your cab by no more than 2-5° if done properly. So your max temps would be about 85, which isn't bad, as long as the heat from your bulbs are effectively blowing away from your plants and out of your cab. Oh yeah, and make sure your intake ventilation is allowing enough air to come into your cab, otherwise the hot, stale air surrounds your plants leaves. And your leaves will actually be MUCH hotter than the temps in the air surrounding them.
I had the same issues with my growbuckets, so I'm here to help!
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
Good advice there robnarley. I have stepped up from the pc fans as the exhaust to a stronger 4 inch fan that still didn't work well. I think the problem may be that my intake surface area is not big enough. The intake is a 120mm which is smaller than the 4 inch. The fan pulls hard but when I put the door on the cab it starts to sound funny and slows down. I think the exhaust fan is trying to empty the air faster than it can come in through the intake, thus making too much negative pressure and dragging the fan down. I tried stacking two computer fans on the intake to push more air through but that actually made it worse. I think what I need now is a second hole for the intake in order to get more air moving through I just haven't had the time to do it yet. I'm just running right now with the door off the cab in a light sealed bedroom and the plants are doing great. Eventually we will get this worked out
Canocrpse86
Well-Known Member
Well here's an update on the plants. 18 days old and 6 days after going to 12/12. They are looking mighty fine. I made a mistake of supercropping the fan leaves along with my tops. Lol so the fan leaves don't need to be super cropped, and also don't recover the same way. I will eventually trim them off anyway but I'm leaving them for now since they are fine just a little bent. Other then that the tops recovered nice and strong and they are going great. Still waiting for them to sex and hopefully I will have a girl.
Liddle
Well-Known Member
.Get It Cold In The Room the closet is in helps me
Liddle
Well-Known Member
or a direct top exhaust is needed. just build something to sit over it to look normal but open on the back