First Grow: DIY PC stealth, 125W CFL. Help/Comments Appreciated.

Hello RIU.

This is my first ever grow which I have started today and it is being done inside a PC case with stealth. All of this setup has been DIYed on a fairly low budget. Any help or comments or constructive criticism will be appreciated.

The case measures H41cm x D44cm x W19cm and it cost £26.

2 PC fans cost £10.

An adaptor for the fans cost £3.50.

Mylar sheeting cost £4.

125W Dual 2700/6500K CFL with wired socket cost £32.90

So that's £76.40 in total for the equipment. That's about 12 million dollars if you are from the USA. Joke .

I ordered my seeds from Sensible Seeds and that set me back about £45. I ordered 5 feminised Easy Ryder seeds and recieved 10 complimentary Afghani Special seeds. I've decided to use the complimentary seeds for my first grow and save the 5 Easy Ryder for when I'm more experienced.

Inconspicuous, no? I think I'll put an led in the front to make it seem more real, the fans are pretty quiet too. I don't know what light leakage will be like because it hasn't arrived yet but I've been pretty thorough with the Mylar.




Two fans placed so that cool air will come in from the bottom then rise as it is heated and exit via the exhaust fan at the top.



Wiring for the fans to the adapter, looks dodgy but it's pretty safe.



Afghani Special seeds - these supposedly grow to about 120cm as it says on the website so growing them in a pc case could be a challenge.

Day 2 - seeds have all split open, can see the white shoots inside. Still waiting for my CFL.

looks good man id recomend adding an a couple of 42 watt with the 125 watt when you get to flowering whats your growing medium gonna be

lrg said:

looks good man id recomend adding an a couple of 42 watt with the 125 watt when you get to flowering whats your growing medium gonna be

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Thanks. Probably perlite and some decent quality compost I have in the shed.

Day 3:
I am transferring the split seeds to compost in plastic cups now as the seeds and paper towel stink like rot. The cups will be on my windowsill for a few days as my CFL hasn't yet arrived and probably won't for a few days to come. Not exactly stealth but nevermind, the seedlings won't be noticeable as I have other plants on my window sill.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put these straight onto 12/12 when they sprout. Does anybody have experience with that? Or should I just do it normally?

magicSpoons said:

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put these straight onto 12/12 when they sprout. Does anybody have experience with that? Or should I just do it normally?

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yeah man do a 12/12 seed grow, its very common

magicSpoons said:

So that's £76.40 in total for the equipment. That's about 12 million dollars if you are from the USA. Joke .

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Untill hyperinflation kicks in

Dolce Vita said:

yeah man do a 12/12 seed grow, its very common

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Ok, if I do do that, will it be harder to control the size of my plant? How long will the vegative state last roughly?

you have to do 12/12 from seed, it will veg for 3 week anyway,but the 12 hours of light during its "veg" will limit it growth allowing it to fit in a pc case, and dont put it in to big of a pot or it might get out of control

Your gonna have to be careful with that. with such a small area, you gotta make sure they don't get, "over excited" and grow rather explosivly. make sure to trim occasionaly to keep the size down

Day 6 - No seedlings appeared yet and I'm still waiting for my frigging light, it should come today or tomorrow.

Ok, i'm having a really noobish problem here. My light has arrived but i can't suspend horzontally in the top of the pc case, the best i can do is tape around the ballast but eventually it would fall off. Any ideas? preferably that are cheap with materials to hand. Am I ok to wrap twine around the actual filaments of the bulb to suspend it?

as long as it doesnt get to hot

magicSpoons said:

Am I ok to wrap twine around the actual filaments of the bulb to suspend it?

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I'm not sure about that but be careful, you don't want to start a fire.

I have a socket super glued to the roof or my case and there is string around it to help with the weight of the bulb so it won't drop off. I'm not sure how sturdy my super glue job was so the sting is there to help with support. I don't have the string touching anything hot though.

nuggetgrower said:

I'm not sure about that but be careful, you don't want to start a fire.

I have a socket super glued to the roof or my case and there is string around it to help with the weight of the bulb so it won't drop off. I'm not sure how sturdy my super glue job was so the sting is there to help with support. I don't have the string touching anything hot though.

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Right well i better hope this twine im using is heat retardant because i just strung that CFL up like B&D style. ive got it on over night so if a fire starts ill be first one to know/die about it.

No ive checked the twine and tis holding nicely. the bulb is actually cool enough to touch it for a few seconds (even though i shouldnt do that).

My setup is finally complete! And the temperature is perfect too, just below 80F.

What kind of adapter did you use for your fans? I am trying to find some!

mowux said:

What kind of adapter did you use for your fans? I am trying to find some!

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It's just a 0.5A, 12DC, adaptor that I got off eBay.