My CFL PC Server Case Grow box (lots of pics)

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dimethyltrip

Member
Sometime around January/February of 2009 I came across this page where a user designed a growbox out of his small PC case. I thought the idea was pretty cool so I decided to try it on my own. The best part being I am a computer tech, so having cases and computer parts, fans running, etc is a part of my life. No one would think twice. :):)

I had a tall server case that was just laying around, so I put my mind at work and started the build. Around March of 09 I had the case gutted, a fan installed, and the front inside of the case pretty much finished. I also had cut a powersupply, motherboard, and a modem PCI card to give it that stealth look from behind. I abandoned the project until May of 2010 when I decided to germinate a few seeds for fun. They grew in my window under regular sunlight for about a week until i decided it was time to get my case finished. I had everything I needed stored away in a box. It all came out and things got serious!


Now it is still not 100% complete, and I am toying around with different things as I have never grown before. So far things are going well but as I progress I find new idea's and challanges that I must overcome for the best possible growbox possible. Yes, that is my goal. I want to have the best one there is. When I first had the idea searching google only yieleded a few results. Fast forawrd one year and this whole "pc grow box" idea seems to have picked.

Remember, this is not fully finished nor even close IMO. Only reason I am using it without completion is I have 3 plants growing. These are bag seed grows (I have 4 different seeds) 1 of which is from over 2 years ago, stored in a pillbottle in a dark place. That is the newest one I planted, I am curious to see how it comes along. anyways enough talking lets see the pics!!

Look @ my new computer!! hehe


the case origionally had two huge fans on the side for ventalation. obviously this needed to be removed for stealth and light issues, not to mention they were the loudest fucking fans I've ever heard. I covered up the holes with a thick piece of black rubberish cardboard paper shit screwed in the fan covers, and taped all around the inside to hold it in place. (i had black duct tape over cardboard at first but this made it hard to slide the door on with the reflective material over it.


Also the front has a slide down cover. this is where the case is vulnerable. At first I was gonna put CD/DVD drive covers in this spot, but that didnt work out well. after trial and error It seems I might want to put another fan in that spot. I am also toying with the idea of blacking it out with a piece of plexiglass in the middle for viewing. Or for easy access matinance (kinda small area for that tho) I Might even just glue it so it cannot drop (probably the best idea, esp with a fan behind it. dunno.


at the bottom is an intake fan. this was finished back when i started. it looks extremely clean from the inside (you'll see pics later) and does a nice job of pulling air in. Also the cover does a good job of keeping the light out. Only think i noticed was that when the cover is pulled slightly forward (maybe 3/8ths an inch the airflow is much stronger. dunno what imma do about that.


Here is it when I first moved the plants from the window to the box. As you can see light was escaping, the wires for the lights and the fans were all coming out the side of the case which kept the door from closing completely. Also at this point there were only two fans installed.


first thing i did was take a piece of wood i had cut back when i first started and mounted it up top. I used a lot of duct tape and an 8 outlet power strip with 3 6500k CFL's. This will probably be changed by final completion as duct tape, heat, and gravity are not friends. For now, though it will have to do. here is a pic taken looking through the fan. As you can see there is a fan at the very bottom, which is perfect for a nice breeze, but not good for small plants as the lights are way to high.


This is where I realized I was probably going to need another intake fan up higher and/or a way to lower the lights because raising the plants killed the airflow from the fan on the bottom. I solved this problem by making a vent out of a cardboard box. I lined it up to the fan, and put some mylar (static free bags for computer parts) on the top of the box. the air now directs straight up. Not perfect, but better for sure.



I also added the my favorite fan i had read to use for this grow box. I wired it up and put it on the top of an upside down cup for better air circulation. I have bigger plans for this fan so it was only a temp think. Overall this vent/fan idea seemed to work pretty well!



 
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dimethyltrip

Member
It's kind of hard to work on the box while trying to grow, which is the only obstacle I have. I think thats a good think though because I can learn as I go instead of doing something permanent that fucks everything up. After tiring of the escaping light and obvious wires etc. I decided to wait til the night cycle (im running 18/6 currently) and i put the plants inside a dark cabinet and went to work. time to move one step forward to ultimate stealth.

I had a piece of wood cut when I first began the project. thats the last step I took before i abondoned my project in 09. I finally cut the wood how I wanted it and set it up and wrapped it with reflective material and cut holes for the parts to be installed. I put my special fan into the hole at the top as an exhust which worked excellent as a light trap because the other exaust fan on the back of the case is positioned lower, so much of the light is blocked. It is not perfect. I put a piece of a cabin air filter behind the exhaust fan(I think this is the same idea as a carbon filter) most of this esp the filter will eventually be reconfigured. But as of now its 10x better than it was as MUCH less light escapes in the dark. Its far from perfect though. Then I took my LCD tempature thing that came off of a hard drive cooler I had. I did not wire this up yet tho.


I cut the hole for the temp thing in a spot so when you look through the fan in the back of the case you would be able to see the temp. I then realized it would look stupid as hell from the inside so I turned it around. I installed the fan and resecured the piece of wood on top with two screws holding the 8 outlet power strip and the lights at the top of the case. That will come with time. (note, all the reflective material came from a car windsheild heat deflector thing. I dont care for the material on the doors and the piece of wood as it is thick. I think the front part of the case has a much cleaner look to it. There are two types of windshield stuff, I like the other better. I dont know what reflects light better though. After all that here is what we have..






Again, its work in progress. I need to get those wires out from the bottom. Im still trying to figure out how the fuck to wire everything to one plug from out the powersupply plug. any help would be appreciated. Idk what imma do about the metal where the cords now come out as i had to twist to fit the powercord through...I had trailer tape there originally (trailer tape for those who dont know is THICK stick tape used to patch holes on the top of the trailers on the 18wheelers) That didnt look very stealth either. Now that the metal is twisted I doubt I can fit two pci slot coveres back into place. we'll see.







All thats left is some more brainstorming and a lot of cauck to ensure every single possible area where light can escape is covered.

ON WITH IT! HERE ARE THE PLANTS!!!

Since i was orginally just fucking around and limted for space I used small cups and put multiple seeds in lol. When i moved them into the box I accidentally dropped the lights onto the one with 4 and i tossed it. The one with two is getting big and needs transplant. I think what Im going to do is take those and put them otuside. I have a brook that runs through my yard, there isnt a strong steady flow of water so I think I might plant them a few feet away and see what happens. I moved the single plant to a larger cup, and I also germinated a new seed from a reallllly old batch of seeds (i think i said that earlier right? Anways that new fucker sprouted in 24 hours with my awesome vent box upside down cup idea!! This is all for fun right now so I don't really expect results or bud quite yet. Not to mention I have more seeds from another batch germinating (dunno what imma do with em its been almost 4 days im sure they are ready lol) okokok here are the pixx! i first planted them in the window 2-3 weeks ago. Im sure with all the movement, environment changes, light during dark hours, and height experiment they are not ideal. That new one tho!! no window growing to start, a bigger cup, and much closer to the lights = step two of my journey as i see how fast that fucker sprouted! OKOKOK i get it!!...pix!! :):)

the newbie 1 day after seed


the twins (3 weeks of trial and error)


the solo (finally transplanted from the tiny ass cup lol) also 3 weeks trial and error abuse :)



Like i said, I've been running 18/6 light cycle turns off at 7:30 PM and on @ 1:30 AM. (for stealth purposes) I would rather have the light on at night and durning the day rather then after sunset since any activity in dark hours would be between sunset and 12-1 AM. I water each twice a day. 7:45 AM and 5-6 PM.

I know these fuckers if grown correctly are probably gonna get huge and be laughably too big for the case (even just one lol). I plan on LST (i have a piece of criss crossed small shelving I cut that will eventually be mounted)

Like i said, this is just trial and error. I know u gotta keep track of humidity and temp and ph level and all that cool stuff for a proper grow. Im also pretty sure having 4 plants with 3 lights isnt optimal. Im sure they are fighting for the light stunting growth etc. Its all good cuz right now im just having fun.

here is the family!!


well there ya have it! WHAT DO YOU THINK!? Please gimme your inputs. I want this to be the best pc grow box there is. I've already spent a years time working on it...slowly lol. So I am in no rush. Hope you enjoyed my post!
 
sickstoner

sickstoner

Well-Known Member
sick box plants are stretched they may fall over if you don't have some red spectrum in there too. the red will help strengthen the stem up
 
passthatsh!t23

passthatsh!t23

Well-Known Member
1. one plant per pot.
2. Bigger pots are needed.
3. more light evenutally...
4. nice grow box but turn the lights sideways. thats were they give off there lumens more.
good luck.
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
I have a bunch of 2700k bulbs for flowering. Are you saying I should throw one in there to strengthen the plants?

I've never actually germinated and attempted to grow before. I've seen a few 2-3 month old plants that all either got stolen by a parent or died. On of my friends got a nice plant goin in his front yard (he lives in the boonies) but thats about it. Thats why i threw mad seeds into one cup. I was just curious and doing it for fun.

The last plant I grew was when I was in first or second grade when you got to grow a plant in the window haha. I am just experimenting right now with bag seed. Hopefully with practice and advise I can one day get something nice going even if it yeilds a small amount. My buddy grows and really knows his shit. He hasn't seen my box nor have I ever seen his plants he's grown but I did smoke it. He agreed bag seed is the best to learn with so I dont waste my money on good seeds.

I hate the way I have the lights mounted right now. I need to get that stupid power strip out of there. I was thinking of somehow mounting the piece of wood aganst the back wall with some type of system that would allow me to slide it up and down. No idea how I could do that. How the fuck would I mount it without drilling?
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
lol of course i read the whole over watering thing right after i bathe the plants in water lmao. oh well. i came home to see my single plant had gotten much bigger. when i snapped the pic (after watering lol) it did seem to droop down a bit. its all good im just havin fun. it does smell like plant material when you enter my room now so I will have to figure something out fast. anyways heres them 2 days after my post. the newbie is comin along nice, the others I just transplanted and fucked up, they will probably die. no biggie plenty of seeds to use. gotta do somethin bout these lights too. thnx for all your input!





they always seem so thirsty :P haha. (not that i would even know if they were haha)

ill stop watering for a day or so see wat happens.

im using some scotts soil from home depot. no ph meter. dont rly care. im just havin fun. once i get the case all finshed and worked out ill attempt a real grow. for now ill just let these go until i gotta move em. then ill start over! :)
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
6 days after seed the newbie is coming along very nice!!! It almost makes me wanna toss the other plants considering those came from some OK midi's I had recently. The two smaller ones I transplanted don't look so good. Don't really want em anymore stealing energy from my other plants. I will leave them for a bit longer and see what happens.

I stopped watering so much. I watered all four plants wed. around 6pm. These pix were taken today friday @ 8 am.

The newbie seed came out of a pill bottle of at least 3 year old seeds I had. I tried germinating 5 or 6 but only one worked. I can't remember where they came from but I don't save seeds often so they must be from something decent. Anyways, 6 days after seed already showing purple. I know that probably doesn't mean anything. As far as I know thats either genetics or something wrong with the grow. Anyhoo a purple weed plant is cool in my book.


my baby :) is the mutation on the left bad?


The three other plants still seem droopy. When do I know its time to water again?

the single and biggest so far


the runts :)
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
06/13 DAMN this newbie grows fast!!!

my other ones..man IDK!!

these aint lookin so good


dying?


why is it so droopy? I've been watering it very seldomly now. skip a day, still seems droopy? Looked better 2 days ago.



and my baby, growing FAST!!


the healthy family
 
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cadillacjack81

Well-Known Member
Too much water buddy!!!! stick your finger down in the dirt is the easiest way to tell, stupid question but do you have holes in the bottom of the cups to let excess water run out?
 
brandon873

brandon873

Well-Known Member
cadillacjack81 said:
When they are that small you probably only have to water em every 4+ days you want the soil to dry out so they get aeration.
Click to expand...
completely agree. also, you might consider LSTin them in that box. i would just buy a cheap wire rack that goes in the shower or pantry from walmart and train them along that.
 
brandon873

brandon873

Well-Known Member
dimethyltrip said:
yea i have one actually. are they big enough yet?
Click to expand...
really, you can start lst'ing at anytime. for me, i would say they are too small. it looks like the cups are setting on a box. so with those removed, i would wait until your plants are about a 1/3rd of the way up the box and start making them go horizontal. that said i have never grown in a space that small and have no idea of how big your plants will get. they sale garden soft twist ties that help keep from damaging the plant. i used them to lst my buds on and on a clone. i reccommend them. you can see a picture of it about midways on my grow.
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
dude awesome. thanks for all the advice!! this is fun im excited. heres some pics from yesterday. ill prolly stop takin em for a while.












i thought this fucking thing was gonna die. its my happiest looking plant now lol. i started LST on it by just bending back the stem holding it in place with a piece of wire tie.




plants are fun.
 
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dimethyltrip

Member
the single


I thought i was gonna lose ya buddy!!


i put em too close to the bulbs the other day and gave em all a good burn. i know i know turn them sideways. still gettin to that lol. prolly some nitrogen shit too right? my buddy insisted on mirical grow. he gave me a bottle and he's an idiot. no chemicals for me.
 
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