First Ever Grow - Stealth - Scrog - NFT

Hey everyone so this is my very first attempt at growing, been smoking for a while but thought I would take up a small stealth grow (3 plants) as a hobby. After researching growing techniques and reading journals and going through blogs I have come up with what I need and want for my grow box. Everything I chose to put in this box was for a good reason, either shortage of cash, the limited space I had, or the fact I need it to be SILENT.

The specs of this box will be as follows:
-4 X 3 X 4 box
-3 plant NFT system (DIY with 4" PVC piping)
-18 gallon res (Dunno if I need something this big but oh well)

Lighting
-250W Lighthouse Blackstar LED lights (I need my light source to be strong, and also quiet but most importantly I dont want my ladies to get overheated. I know there is a ongoing debate whether LED are good or not, I dont care I need LED's cause they stay at a cooler temp, and most importantly they are silent.
-80W CFL (Side) Just to help out with overall lighting. And also will use this for my clones and new seedlings. In a separate veg room once I get a few grows under my belt.

Ventalation
- S&P 140cfm inline fan (heard these were quite quiet)
-DIY Inline Carbon filter (https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/7074-easy-build-diy-carbon-filter.html) Im going to use this method but also add my own tweaks to make it an inline carbon filter. just an extra 6" ducting piece and also a 4" to 6" connecting piece.
- 2 oscillating fans
- Computer fan intake (with a filter added to it)

Other
- Nutradip Tri- Meter
- Mag drive 350 water pump
- Mylar reflective sheets

Nutes
I decided to go organic, and go with the Botanicare line of products read some good reviews and they seem like a good company that knows what they are doing.
-Pure Blend Gro Pro & Bloom
-Sweet, Liquid Karma, Cal mag Plus
-Clearex to flush
-Some sort of root agent like Zho


I am just in the planning stages of my box, I want it to be perfect, so I will take my time with little details to make my life easier during the whole growing process. I need this system to by as quiet as possible and totally light proof. I also want this system to be somewhat automated so when I do go away my ladies haven't suffered that much.

Well its time for me to get started, I am going to go buy some 2X4 and sheets of plywood to construct my box. I will update when just the exterior of my box is complete.

Some comments, suggestions, advice would be appreciated. Peace

Sounds like u really know what u are doing.. Can't wait to see your grow when its ready

Haha nah man just been doing a lot of researching and google'ing every question you could imagine. Sites n forums such as these ones really help newbies, or else I would be clueless. But thanks, I will post up some pictures n updates as I go along.

Im Subbed. Pics Pics pics!!! I am also thinking of doing something similar. Cant Wait!

Are you thinking a drip system?

Hey a drip system is very similar to a NFT system but they have their slight differences. Here is a link to a website that shows you the difference. (http://www.simplyhydro.com/system.htm) After doing much thought I decided to switch it up to aeroponic system. This is due to the limited space that I have and I dont have the space to put all that piping in. And also it would look all cluttered. I would like to keep y system pretty neat.

Also after doing some more research on LED's I found that they were not that great during the veg part of the grow. So I decided to add a 200W CFL to the mix, getting rid of the 80w. There was a great journal of a LED grow, and I found that LED's will give you a very nice overall plant, but for a even better grow I am just going to spend a extra 100$ to get a 200 w CFL into the system. It will help a lot with the veg. Well thats what I think at least lol.

I have managed to finish up the exterior making it 99% light proof, and also pretty quiet. I managed to build this box and put only 3 holes in it: exhaust, intake, small electrical cord hole. The two exhaust holes lead into ducts so they are totally dark. While the small electrical cord hole was sealed with a all purpose space filler. It is used in carpentry I think, came in a spray can, pretty cool turns into a thick foam. I also sealed all the edges with a all purpose sealant. And used mylar as my reflective wallpaper. I used aluminum tape and tacs to secure the mylar to the walls. The only problem I had making the box totally light proof was the door. When I atached it with two hinges, the board seemed to be warped.... great.. so I had to nail it in place and try to "train" it to stay there didnt really work. So I just got some window weatherproofing to seal up the gaps. It really helped, but what made the biggest difference was putting a black towel over the door opening really hid the light very well. So whatever light made it through the towel, wouldn't make it through the box. This made the box 99% lightproof. pretty happy about that.

I am right now in the process of making my aeroponic system, I connected all the hoses and got my sprayers and hosing. Tested it out with my Magdrive 500GPH pump and it all works very well. Just one problem, the res box I got is leaking..... great. So What I decided to do is put window weatherproofing between the lid. This helped a bit but it was still having minor leak problems. And I dont want any leaks at all... over time this leak will turn into a major puddle. So I found that if I put a lot of pressure on the lid it will stay closed. Just got to go get some clamps now and it will be all done.

So far what I have managed to get done is:
-Finished the box ( except some minor details of course)
-200w CFl light set up
-Mylar wallpapering
-electrical wiring throughout the box with all the timers connected.
-DIY Inline carbon filter
-Exhaust and Intake all ready (just waiting on fan)

Ordered seeds from Attitudes - Green House seeds, 5 feminized Great White Shark, Attitudes was having a great deal if you spend over 30p then you get 5 free seeds on top of that. G13 - PE , P haze, Ak and also UFO #1 and #2 both feminized. ordered last night and by the time I woke up it was shipped, that's awesome.
Got a Reverse Osmosis system on the way (Ebay)
Temp controlled outlet turns on at 78 and off at 70... perfect for my exhaust fan to control temperature.
Got a tri meter on the way

Oh ya and also if you all didnt know I am doing a SCROG and it seems like most people do their scrog using metal chicken wire. This has it positives and negatives. Yes it is strong and holds the plant very well, but it has no give.... It puts more stress on the plant rather than just giving it slight resistance. That is why I am using a string instead of chicken wire. This will also help during the harvesting stage. With chicken wire the nugs form into the wire making it difficult to get the buds out in one piece. At least with string we can cut and slide the string off the nugs leaving larger and more intact nuggets.

Alright Imma stop talking, when I'm baked I can type forever lol. Here are some pics of the progress

Damn.... Looks Great! Your only going to use the CFL?

Nope a week or two into veggin Im going to order the 250w LED. Need to get the bankroll back up though lol.

yeah man defo need more light i'm thinking ... but looking cool already

You got to remember this is my first ever grow, just getting started. I dont want to go overboard and get everything right away. Maybe third or fourth grow ill add more lights. But for now I am pretty happy with what I got. But your right for optimum growth I am going to need more lights.

3rd or 4th grow????? Just go for it baby get the best and u get the best! Get the most then u boast! Lol more lights soon learn ur lessons b4 u bump ur head like me. Lol even if ur just adding more cflz. A.w.c all wattz count

Very spiffy! Sprayers are a great choice. Best of luck to you!

Thank you lordji
And ya obviously I want to go for it but I dont have the money to go for it or I would lol. Lets see how this first grow goes then maybe we can go from there. Just want to get one under my belt at least

So decided to change things up again and just go with a HPS light. The only thing holding me back before was the high temp scare..... But with a installation of a cool tube I should be alright given my limited space and height..... (Hope so) I decided to go with a 250w HPS/MH combo because it seemed perfect for the space that I have. Plus my 140cfm SP fan can efficiently cool a 250, and maybe not a 400. And I can always upgrade to a 400 later on, or just add a LED.

I have the box all set up ready for the light, it is still in the mail being delivered. But I have my 200w CFL for the begining stages of veg, until the HPS arrives.

Also the seeds I ordered from Attitudes arrived. I was shocked by how quickly it came. I ordered it Friday morning and it came by Tues. Well done Attitudes, I was a bit skeptical about ordering online but all the seeds came through even though it was obvious customs had taken a peek inside.

Started the germ process in rockwool, which have been soaked in ph 5.8 water and double bagged up and put on top of my water heater. Nice and dark and warm.

The box is complete and I have test ran the aeroponic system for about 10 minutes for any leaks. From what I saw there were none.

Umm yaaa so just patiently waiting for the seeds to break

So after 3 days of germinating the seeds have broke and 4 out of the 5 have broken the surface. I wasn't sure if I was able to put them under lighting yet, but I heard just some weak fluorescent lighting is enough during the early stages. So I am using a aquarium light that I had lying around. its around 20 watts.... pretty weak but soon enough I will be putting them under the 200 watt.
For now I am keeping them under a sink inside my house. My grow box is located outside so the temps are really low... the air temp inside the box lights off is around 65 (hope that will okay for later on) with lights on it rises up to around 75.
Also when should I start using root nutes? I have a bottle of General Organics Bio Root.

Advice n comments welcomed Thanks

Just planted the new seedlings into hydroton. And now they are being put under 200W CFL for the beginning stages of veggin. I was originally going to just have 3 plants, but since all 5 seeds germinated properly and the fact that I am doing SCROG I decided to grow out all 5 of the seedlings. This will speed up the overall process hopefully. The net pots are 6" so hopefully the roots will have enough space to grow.

Nothin that exciting going on right now here are some pics though.