Micro/PC Growers Thread - A place to exchange pics, knowledge, and advice.

C

Carolina Green Bud

Active Member
Hey guys,
I've been reading this thread for a while, and trying to learn something. Taking my inspiration from the PC grows, I decided to build a grow box with something that I already had, a two drawer filing cabinet.

I removed the bottom from top drawer, an the dimensions are 22" tall, 22' deep, and 14" wide. I guess as far as the height and depth, it's not a lot bigger than the PC case, however I do have greater width. Hopefully this will allow me to use a larger volume container to have more room for root growth. The total area comes in at just under 4 cu ft.

At this point I have (4) 26 watt CFL's mounted at the top ( I left about 6" clear above to allow heat to rise). I have a 120mm exhaust fan rated at 78 cfm mounted in the area above the lights. I have the same size intake fan mounted towards the bottom of the cabinet.

With 4 cu ft of cabinet space, and 78 cfm rated fans, I'm completely exhanging the air in the cabinet almost 20 times per minute. Probably not that many times, because obviously it's not operating at maximum efficiency, but still pretty good.

My temps at the bottom of the cabinet directly across from the intake fan is holding steady at 78 degrees. If I move the thermometer to the same side as the fan so that it is not blowing directly on it, it is holding at around 86 degrees.

However, if I place my thermometer centered in the cabinet a couple inches directly beneath my lights, it is around 96 degrees. I have the intake fan blowing as close as I can get it beneath the lights.

I don't think that I can really do any better than this.

Has anyone ever really checked their temperatures directly beneath their lights within a couple of inches?

Would Plexiglass beneath the lights help?


In an area approximately 8 inches below the lights its around 92 degrees.

I haven't started trying to grow yet, I'm trying to get everything working right first. At some point, I plan on adding a couple more lights on the sides.

Thanks
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
hey carolina, i've got the same file cabinet - thought about doing the same thing myself
still growing in pc's for the moment
you're right on being thorough with you temp checks, that will save you some grief
i think you're issue is the fans, 4 cubic feet is well above what most pc cases are
maybe some big servers, my case is about 1 cubic foot
one case fan keeps in the low 70's, has a single 27w bulb at the moment
my guess is more fan flow is what you need
 
C

Carolina Green Bud

Active Member
growone said:
hey carolina, i've got the same file cabinet - thought about doing the same thing myself
still growing in pc's for the moment
you're right on being thorough with you temp checks, that will save you some grief
i think you're issue is the fans, 4 cubic feet is well above what most pc cases are
maybe some big servers, my case is about 1 cubic foot
one case fan keeps in the low 70's, has a single 27w bulb at the moment
my guess is more fan flow is what you need
Click to expand...
Everything I have read on here says that if you use CFL's to get the plant foliage as close as possible to the lights. I'm wondering if anyone has really checked temps that close to the lights. There is going to be a certian amount of radiant heat created, and obviously the temperatures are going to be higher closer to the source. The average temp in the cabinet is in the high 70's depending on where you measure. I mean, my fans are exchanging the air in the cabinets 20 times per minute.

Of course, I may be overthinking this thing!!!

I'm going to try some bagseed to begin with, so failure is not going to cost me very much.
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
Carolina Green Bud said:
Everything I have read on here says that if you use CFL's to get the plant foliage as close as possible to the lights. I'm wondering if anyone has really checked temps that close to the lights. There is going to be a certian amount of radiant heat created, and obviously the temperatures are going to be higher closer to the source. The average temp in the cabinet is in the high 70's depending on where you measure. I mean, my fans are exchanging the air in the cabinets 20 times per minute.

Of course, I may be overthinking this thing!!!

I'm going to try some bagseed to begin with, so failure is not going to cost me very much.
Click to expand...
i think you're doing just what you should do, i measured my canopy temps in my last grow
had the sensor right up near the top of the plant
and i did find there was a quirk, if i covered the sensor with a bit of foil, my temps went down a good 5 degrees(i think)
i haven't tried this, but shoving in some houseplant could be a good dry run, if it doesn't cook, weed might be able to cope with it
 
Sgt.Sly

Sgt.Sly

Well-Known Member
end of the line said:
yeah, this thread isn't seeing much action, but dude your buds look awesome.

my little project I'm working on is making my autoflowering seeds:-P

couple pics.....
Click to expand...

But i also Breed feminized seeds.

TOOOOmany people freak out about males and it's hilarious.

If they only knew how valueable they are.

Nice to see someone breeding their own seedds.
 
end of the line

end of the line

Well-Known Member
Sgt.Sly said:
Wow cool man......MAybe we can do a seed exchange....I like to collect.

But i also Breed feminized seeds.

TOOOOmany people freak out about males and it's hilarious.

If they only knew how valueable they are.

Nice to see someone breeding their own seedds.
Click to expand...
I was going to make try to make some seeds on my first grow but I wanted to make it to harvest atleast.
It's starting to be a nice little hobby & a better learning experience
 
RockstarEnergy

RockstarEnergy

Well-Known Member
hey everyone! cool thread

this is my stealth-ish cabinet i set up. the inside dementions are 36"x15"x18", which fits one plant nicely using LST/supercropping techniques. i have one 80mm pc fan for exhaust, another for intake and theres a little 50mm fan in there for added circulation. temps stay around 76-80degrees. im using 4 CFLs, two 26watt and two 15watt 6500K for veg. my plants 3 weeks old growing in Canna Coco Coir with Canna brand nutes. it looks droopy cuz it needs to be watered but i have to wait for the lights to come on. i plan on transplanting to a 2gal pot before i flower it.

hope you guys like it! this is my first indoor grow.
 

Attachments

Sgt.Sly

Sgt.Sly

Well-Known Member
RockstarEnergy said:
hey everyone! cool thread

this is my stealth-ish cabinet i set up. the inside dementions are 36"x15"x18", which fits one plant nicely using LST/supercropping techniques. i have one 80mm pc fan for exhaust, another for intake and theres a little 50mm fan in there for added circulation. temps stay around 76-80degrees. im using 4 CFLs, two 26watt and two 15watt 6500K for veg. my plants 3 weeks old growing in Canna Coco Coir with Canna brand nutes. it looks droopy cuz it needs to be watered but i have to wait for the lights to come on. i plan on transplanting to a 2gal pot before i flower it.

hope you guys like it! this is my first indoor grow.
Click to expand...
Hey thanks for posting in my thread. Nice cab you got there, +rep. Plants are suppose to look droopy in there dark cycle eh, not water deprived droopy but you know. But she's lookin good keep her nice an close eh, I would pile a few more books under and bring her right up a few more inches. Your lower watt CFLs will have more effect when kept super close.
 
RockstarEnergy

RockstarEnergy

Well-Known Member
Sgt.Sly said:
Hey thanks for posting in my thread. Nice cab you got there, +rep. Plants are suppose to look droopy in there dark cycle eh, not water deprived droopy but you know. But she's lookin good keep her nice an close eh, I would pile a few more books under and bring her right up a few more inches. Your lower watt CFLs will have more effect when kept super close.
Click to expand...
thanks man. yea i know they get droopy in the dark but the coco was also dry. im gonna supercrop the main stem in a day or two and im letting it stretch out a bit so theres room to pinch, then im gonna put it back real close.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top