B-52 Stealth Bubbler: Bubbleponics And CFL Stealth Experiment

Thank you for taking time to look at what I am doing. This is a long post but please read it.

This is my first time in a forum ever, so please excuse any newbish behavior. I am setting up my stealth box this semester, and starting my grow about halfway through January 2009.

After reading HiGHLiFE28's journal (https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/105029-build-your-own-dwc-bubbleponics.html#post1255595) and seeing his garden in person!!! I have decided to grow!

Intro:

This is my first "true" grow. After failing miserablly, I did my research. I talked to HiGHLiFE28 about a week ago and decided on doing a stealth grow. However, I didn't want to blow $2000 on a stealth grow box, so I decided to make my own. I live in a studio apartment and literally have no where to grow except out in the open. So I decided to look at cheap furniture at Wal-Mart and IKEA. But to no avail:

Set Up:

I ended up buying a garage storage cabinet from Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100120789&N=10000003+90401+502362 Dimensions: 30W x 17D x 70H. It has three moveable shelves ( in about 6.5" increments) that hold 66 lbs. each. The floors of each chamber have an area of 3.54 sq ft. I plan on putting mylar on every applicable square inch of this beast. And it LOCKS!!!

Inside:

TOP CHAMBER

I have the top shelf in the highest position, which is the floor for my exhaust/deodorizing system and electronics chamber and will now refer to as the TOP chamber. In the TOP chamber I have wired up 2 33 CFM Computer Fans from Radio Shack that draw air straight up and out of the box. I am thinking of adding 2 intake fans (1 each in VEG and FLR chambers) . I have built an activated carbon filter above the exhaust fans to control odor. All wiring, timers, and air pumps sit in the top chamber. This chamber vents heat as it is at the top and helps get excess heat from the electronics out. The exhaust fans can't be seen from a standing position.

VEG AND FLR CHAMBERS:

On the underside of the top shelf (floor for TOP chamber and the ceiling for the VEG chamber) I have attached 2 24" Floro Bulbs (to provide 24 hour light and promote veg for 5 weeks don't know lumens but they are not too bright) and 2 105W 6500K CFL's (6900 lumens/bulb = 3898.3 lumens/sq ft + lumens from duo of 24" Floros) positioned at top of plants (to provide 18/6 lighting for the first 5 weeks). Then I will reduce CFLs and Floros in VEG chamber to 16/8 lighting for another 3 weeks. I'll take clones during Week 7 (the week before switching to flower lighting) and put them in VEG chamber with current plants. Week 8 my ladies are moving to FLR chamber. The second shelf, which will be the floor of my VEG chamber and the ceiling for my FLR chamber. I am planning on eight 85W 3000K CFL's (4200 lumens/bulb = 9491.5 lumens/sq ft) in FLR chamber (4 at top and 2 on each side) In VEG chamber I will have one 5-gallon tub, and in FLR chamber one 10-gallon tub, both holding two 4 in. net baskets each with hydroton clay balls as the growing medium. I will have small bubblestones in each basket as well as 2 bubble bars on the bottom of the 10-gal container in FLR chamber for maximum oxygen delivery. The bubbles will only run when light is on(24hrs for first 5 weeks of VEG chamber, then 18hrs for second 3 weeks in VEG chamber, and bubbles for 12hrs in FLR chamber). I am not looking for plants to get too tall, as this must be stealthy. I am also lacking room height-wise to keep VEG and FLR chambers going at the same time with big plants, and I am looking forward to quick harvests. I am super excited about this and have put quite some time into it.

I am ready to start growing on January 11. I will begin germinating in on the 8th or 9th of January. I have a couple of different seeds I will be starting (6 total to ensure 2 females) and am curious to see how pretty these ladies will get.

Again, this is what I have compiled through my research. If you see fault or room for improvement please let me know. As I said, this will not start for over a month so there is still time to adjust and tweak my system. I don't claim to know everything, and am open to new ideas.

Thanks for reading.

cant wait to see pics!

I have a camera but need to buy a charger for it, and mylar is en route, so I will hopefully get pictures of the entire set up by the end of next week.

Looking at my calender this week, I noticed that my harvest week was not the best for me. Thus, a change of plans.

Yesterday I started 6 seeds, 3 bag seeds which I have dubbed Strain X and 3 seeds from a different bag which are labeled Strain Y. I will be unable to tend to them until January 8th but a friend is coming over to monitor them, move lights, and ensure their overall well-being. I won't put them into the bubbleponics system until the roots show at the bottom of the peat moss starter pods they are in.

Mylar should come in today and should take me most of the day to put up.

Pics by the end of the week.

Alright, here are the pics so everyone will have a better understanding of what is going on.

The first pic is of the closed cabinet in the corner of my room.
The second pic is of the TOP chamber and the VEG chamber (I'm babysitting a friends plants).
The third pic is a close up of the TOP chamber(notice the fan duct made from cardboard at top left).
The fourth you can see how the FLR chamber and tub will sit, however the lights are not installed in the FLR chamber.
The fifth is just the open cabinet with VEG chamber lights on (notice two 24" floros at top).
The sixth is just the girls I am babysitting.

Let me know what you guys think I can improve. Mylar isn't finished.

Picked up some more fans today from a computer repair shop for like $4 each. If you need computer fans go to a run down or 'slow' computer repair store, not radio shack, because everything is much cheaper and the guys are much friendlier (atleast in my case).

After I install my fans and put up my mylar, more pics will be up.

Let me know of anything I should change or improve.

Pic 1 you can see the 2 24" Floros that are screwed into the top of the VEG chamber.
Pic 2 is my Amsterdam Design Studio double perc bong, his name is Loki, the Norse God of Mischeif.
Pic 3 is my Aeroponics Cloner during a test run.
Pic 4 is the fan I installed to bring air up from the VEG chamber to the TOP chamber for venting.

After further research I have modified my game plan somewhat. I am going to have 2 mother plants, hopefully from different strains in the VEG chamber indefinitely and just take clones from them, which will in turn keep the mothers pretty small. Then I am going to have a mini SOG system where I will be taking clones every 4 weeks, and harvesting every 4 weeks. My VEG chamber will have 2 mother plants, the Aeroponics Cloner, and a seperate tub to have my rooted clones to veg in. My FLR chamber will have 2 tubs, one will have the oldest rooted clones and the other will have the rooted clones moved from the third tub in the VEG chamber when new clones are taken.

Needed another DC converter to run more fans but didn't want to give Radio Shack another $20. Went to Goodwill and got one from the electronics shelf, it puts out almost twice as many amps as the Radio Shack one and only cost a buck!

Net pots and clay balls are coming tomorrow, and the seeds I started last week are just now germinating, which is beneficial because my DWC Bubbleponics set up will be complete tomorrow.

I'm rearranging my shelves a little (based on this):

http://www.supercloset.com/proddetail.asp?prod=supercloset001

And this little gem should sparkle:

http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=3&FGNumber=E-HR4H40QZ

Here's some pics of the updates:

Pic 1 shows that I moved the floor of the VEG chamber up, and on the floor of the FLR chamber you can see the tub I have (I'm taking it back and getting two that are twice as tall

Pic 2 is a close up of the VEG chamber. Two mothers (which will be pruned alot) will be in there. The prunings will be clones and spend 2 weeks in the Aeroponics cloner. Then they will move tubs (more clones will be taken at this time) and then spend another 2 weeks in VEG (total of 4 weeks in the VEG chamber). Then they'll move to the FLR chamber. And change tubs (so that I can still flush nutes before harvest) after 4 weeks (total 8 weeks in FLR). (Essentially I'm doing a SOG system and harvesting 4 plants every 4 weeks).

Pic 3 you can see how tall the FLR chamber will be. But there is no light (that little puppy from above is going in there) and the DWC tubs will be twice as tall as the one in the pic. I still think it is a nice sized room though.

Pic 4 does anyone know if I should leave the plastic diffuser shields on the Floros or take them off?

Pic 5 is a plant I clipped out of that red pot. I put it in the Aeroponics cloner last night.

Pic 6 Damn! There is already a root on that 'clone'!!!!!

Pic 7 is my intake fans, pretty nice for $4.

Let me know what you guys think!!!!

lookin good, 2,400 for that wow what a rip, yours looks better haha

That is looking to be an awesome cab!!
Where you gonna cut your intake/exaust ports?? And what nutes are you going to be using?
.......and that wasn't a root, was it..........?
That is a really cool fan you found! 4 in 1?? Do they all run at the same time or as needed?
Have fun!!

I've got two exhaust fans at the top of the cabinet (Pic 1). Then one fan on each level that pulls air up and eventually into those two top fans. I'm mounting that 4 in 1 fan (all 4 came prewired so I only have to wire it once to that new DC converter) on the backside of the FLR chamber to help control heat from the light and bring in fresh air.

I've got the SensiGrow nutes as seen below (Pic 2).

Maybe it's not but I'm pretty sure it is the beginning of a root because I don't remember it being there when I chopped her down (pretty high at the time). I guess time will tell. I'll take another pic of it in a couple of days. I checked the "root" today and it looks like a chicken foot (it has 3 little nodes coming from it and the tips are white). And she is continuing to flower (Pic 4).

I'm not sure how I'm going to run my fans as far as timing goes. I'm thinking all the fans should run 18/6 just to keep fresh air in there. The cabinet is in the corner of my room so I need to keep pumping fresh air in and stale air out.

Does anyone know if I need to cover my exhaust fans with charcoal filters or if I can just have them near the fans to absorb odors. The problem is when I cover my fans with the filter they seem to slow down and get louder (under increased load of moving air through the filter I'm assuming). I made my own filters with activated carbon from a fish store and reusable paper towel thingys from Wal Mart (Pic 3).

Thanks for replying guys.

My net pots and Hydroton Balls are out for delivery right now! I'll post more stuff when I get it set up!

Damn! I think I found the answer to my potential odor problems. And they put out 1,850 lumens.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/Air-Purifiers/9136/

Sounds good my man.
Good luck

Alright the Hydroton balls came and so did the net baskets!

Pic 1: Got those intake fans for the FLR chamber which should help cool my light and bring in fresh air.

Pic 2: Cleaning those balls.

Pic 3: Veg growth container test.

Pic 4: Made my container that will house the clones after 2 weeks of root growth in the Aeroponics Chamber. Got clay balls and seeds in there.

Pic 5: Signs of life, I hope she grows up strong. Hopefully someday she will be a great mother and produce lots of clones.

Pic 6: Now you can see what I'm thinking, the tub for mothers will be to the right side of the VEG chamber.

Pic 7: Coming together.

Pic 8: Tubs in the FLR chamber, each pair of plants will spend 2 weeks in each row of baskets.

Pic 9: The VEG tub has airstones in the middle of each basket, which will stay in each basket until harvest. I am hoping to increase oxygen uptake alot using this method.

Let me know what you guys are thinking?

looks real dope craig, but i heard that those cfl odor absorbers dont work that well with what your growing.

K cool, thanks for the heads up!

That's a hell of a nice cab you've got there. HiGHLiFE28 is right about the bulbs... they're not likely to completely cover the odor but they could help. If it were me I'd probably buy/build a bigger scrubber just in case, and wait to see if I need it.

I love the Sensi 2-part. Have you used it before?

UPDATE: I got in a bit of trouble, so I have decided not to grow. However, I am growing Jalapenos in my cabinet now. I'm just seeing what I can learn for use at a later date.

The Sensi nutes are great, atleast they are working well on my Jalapeno tree so far.

hey where did you get those fans for only $4?? great setup btw, +rep

craigx said:

UPDATE: I got in a bit of trouble, so I have decided not to grow. However, I am growing Jalapenos in my cabinet now. I'm just seeing what I can learn for use at a later date.

The Sensi nutes are great, atleast they are working well on my Jalapeno tree so far.

Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. When I was first thinking of starting a hydroponic system I grew a tomato plant to start off. It was an easy way to get the feel for how things worked without growing a plant I'd be upset if it died.

Plus, you don't have to stealth something like that.