new cabinet I built, getting back at it again.
- Thread starter Zoltan32
- Start date
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
Well after much delay I got things goin again... And I finally got a chance to drop in here and check up on things, so here's a quick update...
I revamped the whole led setup. I mounted all the power supplies up top, and made a simple light bar. As you'll see, I went nuts with some rivets; even on the Chiplok holders I ordered
I just used a light shroud from my old ballast setup. Everything is just directly riveted together... I just went in small increments on the chiploks, and made sure the COB was centered thru the process... They're pretty small rivets, and should drill out pretty easy if needed, I'm not too worried if it Comes down to it.
We're a few weeks into the new beans, and there doin great. The 2 train wreck seeds popped, but never developed... The 2 pineapple chunk are kicking strong. And I started a northern lights after the trainwrecks failed... Soooo looks like 3 is the number.
Hope to be dropping in more often again, off to catch up on things!
I revamped the whole led setup. I mounted all the power supplies up top, and made a simple light bar. As you'll see, I went nuts with some rivets; even on the Chiplok holders I ordered
I just used a light shroud from my old ballast setup. Everything is just directly riveted together... I just went in small increments on the chiploks, and made sure the COB was centered thru the process... They're pretty small rivets, and should drill out pretty easy if needed, I'm not too worried if it Comes down to it.
We're a few weeks into the new beans, and there doin great. The 2 train wreck seeds popped, but never developed... The 2 pineapple chunk are kicking strong. And I started a northern lights after the trainwrecks failed... Soooo looks like 3 is the number.
Hope to be dropping in more often again, off to catch up on things!
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Looks good man, are you in the same cabinet?Well after much delay I got things goin again... And I finally got a chance to drop in here and check up on things, so here's a quick update...
I revamped the whole led setup. I mounted all the power supplies up top, and made a simple light bar. As you'll see, I went nuts with some rivets; even on the Chiplok holders I ordered
I just used a light shroud from my old ballast setup. Everything is just directly riveted together... I just went in small increments on the chiploks, and made sure the COB was centered thru the process... They're pretty small rivets, and should drill out pretty easy if needed, I'm not too worried if it Comes down to it.
We're a few weeks into the new beans, and there doin great. The 2 train wreck seeds popped, but never developed... The 2 pineapple chunk are kicking strong. And I started a northern lights after the trainwrecks failed... Soooo looks like 3 is the number.
Hope to be dropping in more often again, off to catch up on things!
View attachment 3495982 View attachment 3495983 View attachment 3495984 View attachment 3495985
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
Ya same box, just changed up a few things to make the space a little more sleak. I'm hoping this thing will suit my needs for awhile, I'll just let it evolve after each season. I still need to put some work into the exterior so it looks a little more normal.
Here's the current status. Made this little fan setup, which is adjustable with the lights. Wish they had a little more velocity, but they do the job.
Here's the current status. Made this little fan setup, which is adjustable with the lights. Wish they had a little more velocity, but they do the job.
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Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
so far im pretty pleased with the start.
I started the two pineapple chunk on aug 16, and the northern lights on the 22nd.
the trainwreck seeds popped open, but never produced anything.
Got them all going full steam ahead on the 29th, with a 22 hour light cycle, and began with some light nutes. still using the dyna-gro line.
this past week i began cutting the light cycle back a few hours each day. I lost power during the light cycle yesterday, and went ahead and cut the lights back to 12/12. looking back at my timeline now (4 wks not counting seedling time), this may have been too soon. butttt.... I decided not to top or anything again, just going to bend them around and make room; so i think ill be fine, they really put out a ton of growth in those first weeks. I intended to veg for a much shorter period this time around, would any of you say this was too soon? or should i go back to like a 16/8 for a week or two?
I hope ive got a good chunk strain; the leafs look indica dominant, its been very tight and compact, but also grew rapidly. Ive been light on the nutes, but they seem to be eating it up, and very happy.
the northern lights is a week behind, i started it after the trainwrecks failed. It shot up pretty quick, but is also very compact and short, maybe 2-3 inches behind the others.
i switched to primarily lava rocks for the medium, i did mix in some hydroton i had left over, but you cant beat the price and local pickup at the hardware store.
I started the two pineapple chunk on aug 16, and the northern lights on the 22nd.
the trainwreck seeds popped open, but never produced anything.
Got them all going full steam ahead on the 29th, with a 22 hour light cycle, and began with some light nutes. still using the dyna-gro line.
this past week i began cutting the light cycle back a few hours each day. I lost power during the light cycle yesterday, and went ahead and cut the lights back to 12/12. looking back at my timeline now (4 wks not counting seedling time), this may have been too soon. butttt.... I decided not to top or anything again, just going to bend them around and make room; so i think ill be fine, they really put out a ton of growth in those first weeks. I intended to veg for a much shorter period this time around, would any of you say this was too soon? or should i go back to like a 16/8 for a week or two?
I hope ive got a good chunk strain; the leafs look indica dominant, its been very tight and compact, but also grew rapidly. Ive been light on the nutes, but they seem to be eating it up, and very happy.
the northern lights is a week behind, i started it after the trainwrecks failed. It shot up pretty quick, but is also very compact and short, maybe 2-3 inches behind the others.
i switched to primarily lava rocks for the medium, i did mix in some hydroton i had left over, but you cant beat the price and local pickup at the hardware store.
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Looks great
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
Well its been a month, things really moving along... One go round I'll spend the time to top and sog, but I've done virtually nothing pruning wise. Just trimmed off some lower branches, and pruned off the dieing leafs.
The water has been very predictable. The PPMs drop steadily, and when I notice bigger/quicker drops, I up the fert ratio. I Just add back water until I have trouble keeping the pH above 5.2. That's when I know it's time for a fresh mix. I'm at 500 now, and it's been sucking it up the last few days.
They just recently put on the stretch, I flipped them kind of early, and they kept it together until they started to flower.
Welcome to the jungle
The water has been very predictable. The PPMs drop steadily, and when I notice bigger/quicker drops, I up the fert ratio. I Just add back water until I have trouble keeping the pH above 5.2. That's when I know it's time for a fresh mix. I'm at 500 now, and it's been sucking it up the last few days.
They just recently put on the stretch, I flipped them kind of early, and they kept it together until they started to flower.
Welcome to the jungle
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Hey man, can you tell us allitle more about your hydro set up
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
Sure thing, I'll see if I can give a good description here, lol.
it's a very basic ebb and flow. I bought two Rubbermaid totes, both the same size. I ordered some hydroponic compression adapters, cut some holes and tighten them down. they come with rubber grommets, but I used some fish aquarium epoxy as well for safe measure. Since my reservoir is directly under it any small drips just leak down to it. I installed two inlets, and one in the middle for the flood level. I also installed a large overflow in the top side just in case the flood drain clogs. I've never had an issue these last go rounds... But in the past I've overflowed the tote because the flood drain couldn't keep up, or it became clogged.
I'm using a mix of hydroton and lava rocks for my medium. But in the future it'll just be lava rocks. It's so cheap, and readily available. I'll just buy a new bag for each grow, the bag is like 6 bucks, and is plenty to fill my tote.
For the reservoir, I just cut a couple holes in the lid for the above plumbing to drop down into. I picked up a mediumish pond pump, like 30 bucks from the hardware store. I used a fish aquarium air pump, with the longest air stone they had, I think it's 12" long. I also plumbed in couple manual valves, So when it comes time to change the reservoir, I just turn one off, open the other, stick the tube in a 5gal bucket, and let my pump empty it out.
It's a 10 gallon tote, so I usually get 8-9 gallons in it. I probably have to fill up every 3-5 days depending on the stage of growth. To fill up I just use another small pond pump, and pump out of a 5 gal bucket. Then I measure how much fresh water I added, And add the according amount of fertilizer. I'm using the dyna gro line, and I just follow their recirculating schedule per their website.
I use a cheap PPM pen, and it's pretty easy to tell when you've gone too far. If the ppms go up by the next day, I add some fresh water. If they go down, then I know I can up my ratio at the next fill up. If its about the same, I keep my ratios the same. And as I mentioned previously, if I'm having pH problems, it's time for a fresh batch of water. It's either old, or I jacked up the fert ratio.
I'm fortunate to have good tap water, I do absolutely nothing to it, If its a complete reservoir change, I have to pH down a little at first. But after that, adding back fresh tap water brings it up. I Also don't worry too much about keeping pH exact. I set it to 5.8. I won't mess with it at all until it drops below 5.2. Sometimes I'll up the pH to 6.2ish to keep it up higher, longer, I'm usually doing this to prolong a reservoir change.
I think my resv Temps are a little on the high side. I throw in frozen water bottles at the beginning of the light cycle... I should really be doing it every day, but.... I'm lazy, soooooo, some days I do, somedays I don't. That's my next project, a water chiller of sorts. I've read about a diy method using a heatsink and fan, but the name has left me at the moment... I'll have to re-research it lol.
I hope that made sense.
it's really pretty easy to maintain, some days I do virtually nothing, and others only 15-20 minutes.
Edit; I flood every other hour for 5 min, and only during the light cycle. I've done various other schedules... Sometimes less often for longer... Some days I'll manually flood it once, and let it dry out a day. But if water does don't regularly flow thru the tubes, roots start growing into the inlet tube, clogging flow.
it's a very basic ebb and flow. I bought two Rubbermaid totes, both the same size. I ordered some hydroponic compression adapters, cut some holes and tighten them down. they come with rubber grommets, but I used some fish aquarium epoxy as well for safe measure. Since my reservoir is directly under it any small drips just leak down to it. I installed two inlets, and one in the middle for the flood level. I also installed a large overflow in the top side just in case the flood drain clogs. I've never had an issue these last go rounds... But in the past I've overflowed the tote because the flood drain couldn't keep up, or it became clogged.
I'm using a mix of hydroton and lava rocks for my medium. But in the future it'll just be lava rocks. It's so cheap, and readily available. I'll just buy a new bag for each grow, the bag is like 6 bucks, and is plenty to fill my tote.
For the reservoir, I just cut a couple holes in the lid for the above plumbing to drop down into. I picked up a mediumish pond pump, like 30 bucks from the hardware store. I used a fish aquarium air pump, with the longest air stone they had, I think it's 12" long. I also plumbed in couple manual valves, So when it comes time to change the reservoir, I just turn one off, open the other, stick the tube in a 5gal bucket, and let my pump empty it out.
It's a 10 gallon tote, so I usually get 8-9 gallons in it. I probably have to fill up every 3-5 days depending on the stage of growth. To fill up I just use another small pond pump, and pump out of a 5 gal bucket. Then I measure how much fresh water I added, And add the according amount of fertilizer. I'm using the dyna gro line, and I just follow their recirculating schedule per their website.
I use a cheap PPM pen, and it's pretty easy to tell when you've gone too far. If the ppms go up by the next day, I add some fresh water. If they go down, then I know I can up my ratio at the next fill up. If its about the same, I keep my ratios the same. And as I mentioned previously, if I'm having pH problems, it's time for a fresh batch of water. It's either old, or I jacked up the fert ratio.
I'm fortunate to have good tap water, I do absolutely nothing to it, If its a complete reservoir change, I have to pH down a little at first. But after that, adding back fresh tap water brings it up. I Also don't worry too much about keeping pH exact. I set it to 5.8. I won't mess with it at all until it drops below 5.2. Sometimes I'll up the pH to 6.2ish to keep it up higher, longer, I'm usually doing this to prolong a reservoir change.
I think my resv Temps are a little on the high side. I throw in frozen water bottles at the beginning of the light cycle... I should really be doing it every day, but.... I'm lazy, soooooo, some days I do, somedays I don't. That's my next project, a water chiller of sorts. I've read about a diy method using a heatsink and fan, but the name has left me at the moment... I'll have to re-research it lol.
I hope that made sense.
it's really pretty easy to maintain, some days I do virtually nothing, and others only 15-20 minutes.Edit; I flood every other hour for 5 min, and only during the light cycle. I've done various other schedules... Sometimes less often for longer... Some days I'll manually flood it once, and let it dry out a day. But if water does don't regularly flow thru the tubes, roots start growing into the inlet tube, clogging flow.
Last edited:
fishdeth
Well-Known Member
Recipe?
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
here it goes, id advise researching the art of making candy caramels first too.
this recipe is for a 9x13 pan. i split it in half, and made a 8x8.
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup light corn syrup
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract (this goes in very last, after youve boiled)
tools and such:
a nice non-stick pot is pretty important, ours was brand new and a breeze to get it all out.
a non stick spatula for stirring and emptying the pot
a candy thermometer, i used an electric one, that just has a big needle, and goes up to like 400*
roll of parchment paper
a cake pan, or cookie sheet.
pizza slicer
-start warming a pot on the stove, and melt the butter
-stir in your brown sugar and desired dashes of salt.
-Then stir in your corn syrup
-finally stir in the condensed milk. this stuff is very thick, i placed the can in a pot of warm water before i started cooking to make it flow a little better.
-now is the time to start increasing your heat, i started off on medium/low and finished just over medium to get it to the desired temp. Once it begins boiling, constantly stir (wiping down the sides and bottom with a spatula to keep an even temp) , and watch your candy thermometer. I think the sweet spot is between 240-245* the key here is slowly bringing it up to that temp, it takes about 10 minutes once you start boiling
-have a cup of cold water nearby, and once it gets close to 235* start testing it. Take a small spoon full of caramel, dip it in the cold water for a second or two. and you should be able to make a small ball, not too runny. I wouldnt go over 250*, you want to be in the 'softball' or 'firm ball' stage. as the sugar reaches certain temps, it enters the next stage, so theres no going back.
-Now you want to remove it from the heat, you are going to add the vanilla extract after it cools a bit, if you dump it in immediately it will kinda steam and burn, i probably only waited a minute or two. and continued stirring as its cooling.
-as soon as you’ve mixed in the vanilla, pour it in a pan for cooling. I used a cake pan and lined it with parchment paper. i actually folded the paper up, so it made a nice perfect square. ive seen some people just pour it flat too, but i wanted a nice square to work with.
-i let mine cool at room temp for a few hours, and then put it in the fridge over night. i found it was much easier to cut when it was cold.
-the pizza cutter worked really good. I would cut about half, put it back in the fridge, and then finish cutting the 2nd half later. alot of this is determined by what candy stage you reached during boiling tho, and mine was kinda soft. cut up a bunch of parchment paper squares, place your caramel in the middle, roll it up, and twist the ends. I stored mine in the fridge, but they keep well at room temp. (this is also determined by the candy stage, i suppose if i cooked mine a little 'hotter' they would have been a little harder)
thats all there is to it, probably takes a little less than an hour from prep to clean up. and things start moving pretty fast once you begin boiling, so have everything ready to go. Read up on the various candy stages and caramel making, and maybe do a practice run with regular butter first. I would err on the softer side. if its too runny and your unable to actually cut it, you can use it as a caramel drizzle for ice cream or coffee... but if you go too hard, its bascily trash unless you want to risk pulling teeth and fillings.
this recipe is for a 9x13 pan. i split it in half, and made a 8x8.
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup light corn syrup
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract (this goes in very last, after youve boiled)
tools and such:
a nice non-stick pot is pretty important, ours was brand new and a breeze to get it all out.
a non stick spatula for stirring and emptying the pot
a candy thermometer, i used an electric one, that just has a big needle, and goes up to like 400*
roll of parchment paper
a cake pan, or cookie sheet.
pizza slicer
-start warming a pot on the stove, and melt the butter
-stir in your brown sugar and desired dashes of salt.
-Then stir in your corn syrup
-finally stir in the condensed milk. this stuff is very thick, i placed the can in a pot of warm water before i started cooking to make it flow a little better.
-now is the time to start increasing your heat, i started off on medium/low and finished just over medium to get it to the desired temp. Once it begins boiling, constantly stir (wiping down the sides and bottom with a spatula to keep an even temp) , and watch your candy thermometer. I think the sweet spot is between 240-245* the key here is slowly bringing it up to that temp, it takes about 10 minutes once you start boiling
-have a cup of cold water nearby, and once it gets close to 235* start testing it. Take a small spoon full of caramel, dip it in the cold water for a second or two. and you should be able to make a small ball, not too runny. I wouldnt go over 250*, you want to be in the 'softball' or 'firm ball' stage. as the sugar reaches certain temps, it enters the next stage, so theres no going back.
-Now you want to remove it from the heat, you are going to add the vanilla extract after it cools a bit, if you dump it in immediately it will kinda steam and burn, i probably only waited a minute or two. and continued stirring as its cooling.
-as soon as you’ve mixed in the vanilla, pour it in a pan for cooling. I used a cake pan and lined it with parchment paper. i actually folded the paper up, so it made a nice perfect square. ive seen some people just pour it flat too, but i wanted a nice square to work with.
-i let mine cool at room temp for a few hours, and then put it in the fridge over night. i found it was much easier to cut when it was cold.
-the pizza cutter worked really good. I would cut about half, put it back in the fridge, and then finish cutting the 2nd half later. alot of this is determined by what candy stage you reached during boiling tho, and mine was kinda soft. cut up a bunch of parchment paper squares, place your caramel in the middle, roll it up, and twist the ends. I stored mine in the fridge, but they keep well at room temp. (this is also determined by the candy stage, i suppose if i cooked mine a little 'hotter' they would have been a little harder)
thats all there is to it, probably takes a little less than an hour from prep to clean up. and things start moving pretty fast once you begin boiling, so have everything ready to go. Read up on the various candy stages and caramel making, and maybe do a practice run with regular butter first. I would err on the softer side. if its too runny and your unable to actually cut it, you can use it as a caramel drizzle for ice cream or coffee... but if you go too hard, its bascily trash unless you want to risk pulling teeth and fillings.
Last edited:
Abiqua
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tips, I make it quite frequently, just wondering really about amounts of ingredients, but more importantly and you left it out 
....How much material are you using in the taffy?
Trying to make another round of kanna saltwater taffy myself...I live, one mountain range from the ocean, lol and I have some seawater sitting in the fridge, but the salt taffy seems to a bitch to make sometimes, because of the water....
I remember making caramel a few years ago when I lived way up in the mountains...The elevation and location with barometer pressure really had an effect on baking caramel...@235 F or higher it would start to taste like burnt popcorn, but never above 225F seem to be the sweet spot...Now that I am near sea level at least in elevation...I never go below 230 it seems or it gets this unhealthy looking glaze to it....
Love your packaging...I had a big blob at one point and was just stabbing into and cutting chunks out...caveman style
....How much material are you using in the taffy?Trying to make another round of kanna saltwater taffy myself...I live, one mountain range from the ocean, lol and I have some seawater sitting in the fridge, but the salt taffy seems to a bitch to make sometimes, because of the water....
I remember making caramel a few years ago when I lived way up in the mountains...The elevation and location with barometer pressure really had an effect on baking caramel...@235 F or higher it would start to taste like burnt popcorn, but never above 225F seem to be the sweet spot...Now that I am near sea level at least in elevation...I never go below 230 it seems or it gets this unhealthy looking glaze to it....
Love your packaging...I had a big blob at one point and was just stabbing into and cutting chunks out...caveman style
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
Heheh, sometimes I get a little carried away with the details lol... Funny you mention taffy, that was next on my list to try...
There wasn't much of a science to my butter making... I used all my trim and some smaller buds... But I never weighed it. So in that recipe, I just directly replaced the butter with my own...
There wasn't much of a science to my butter making... I used all my trim and some smaller buds... But I never weighed it. So in that recipe, I just directly replaced the butter with my own...
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
figured id drop in with an over the midway update here.
everything was going pretty well with the ebb/flow untill i went a little overboard with the nutes. It was uptaking pretty good, so i figured i could bump up a good bit higher. It didnt like it, and I spent the next week trying to bring it back down, but the plants werent really responding to anything. So i ran some dyna-flush thru the system, i also washed some water from the top down to clean off some of the upper rocks that dont flood. i started over at a pretty low e.c. and the plants are finally responding again. Im feeding at around 450 ppm, i had made it up to 700 ppm before things went south. anywaaayy...
the nothern lights x big bud has a ridiculous amount of trichs goin on, this plant is pretty amazing looking all around.
and the pineapple chunk has some pretty big colas on it, its pretty thick too, and progressing along nicely... just curious to see how long this one will take, many say it takes forever to finish.
everything was going pretty well with the ebb/flow untill i went a little overboard with the nutes. It was uptaking pretty good, so i figured i could bump up a good bit higher. It didnt like it, and I spent the next week trying to bring it back down, but the plants werent really responding to anything. So i ran some dyna-flush thru the system, i also washed some water from the top down to clean off some of the upper rocks that dont flood. i started over at a pretty low e.c. and the plants are finally responding again. Im feeding at around 450 ppm, i had made it up to 700 ppm before things went south. anywaaayy...
the nothern lights x big bud has a ridiculous amount of trichs goin on, this plant is pretty amazing looking all around.
and the pineapple chunk has some pretty big colas on it, its pretty thick too, and progressing along nicely... just curious to see how long this one will take, many say it takes forever to finish.
Zoltan32
Well-Known Member
well it seems i have F'd up my EC levels in the system. Everything was moving along so well at first. I started off low, and only increased feeding if the ppms were dropping significantly. The pineapple chunk's growth has been stunted for at least a week and a half. Just when i thought it was about to thicken up, it just stopped. It had tons of white hairs at the time, and now a good bit of them have turned amber. The northern lights had already began thickening up at this time, but it really hasnt done much either. Hoping to get things under control in the next two weeks (or less hopefully) as I should be getting close to finishing mid november. Just going to keep diluting the solution and do another flush this weekend.
dopechess
Well-Known Member
Hi,
Just read your thread. Good job on making the DIY COB. I am looking to enhance my grow cab when i really plant my fem seeds on my next run, probably build a small setup myself.
Luckily the strain (white cookies) I got is suppose to be short/bushy, which is perfect for my short cabinet space (about 32" of usable height).
Was the northern lights and pineapple chunk stretch manageable? it appears from the pics, that they didn't over stretch like your bag seeds. Are they genetically short?