Newbie with a Rough Situation but a Hopeful Plan. Please Help!

I have actually have ( now that I've been thinking about it ) perfect closet grow set up plans. And everything I've purchased so far will easily transfer over to my future closet grow. I'll post some pics soon.

Question about the scrubber tho. I understand what it does but what does the equipment entail? I have a post above this one ( obviously) that has a link to a carbon filter. Will that work for what I need? Is that piece the fan and filter and everything?

Do I run it twenty four seven all the time? And will it jack up my bill?

This closet grow should work fantastic, I just want to do one smaller grow first so I know what I'm getting into.

I also finished one of my mini carbon filters and it works amazingly.

It is the DIY micro grow Zen carbon filter design but my fan is the fan out of a hair dryer. Moves a ton of air. I will need one more tho.

This is the link here.

I don't understand. Is this everything I need? Fan filter and all?

http://www.amazon.com/Hydropronic-Inline-Exhaust-Scrubber-Replacement/dp/B002ZJPXGA

I don't know about that particular one. The 1 review on that thing isn't great and I have a feeling you get what you pay for...that is way cheap. Basically, that is all you need though. Typically, you would have an enclosed space. At the top you would have the filter connected to a fan blowing out through ducting out of the area. What I'm proposing is skipping the out part. So it would be the filter with the fan sucking through it and just blowing back into the closet. Scrubbing the air instead of filtering and exhausting. Run 24/7...it's not going to pull enough juice to jack your bill over a couple of bucks.

Ok that sounds like a good idea. Just have it like, sitting on the floor running?

Will that make the grow space super hot tho? The light and the plants and that motor all enclosed.? Wouldn't I have to worry about fresh air? Would I have in fans then?

Do I need to buy the filter and the fan? Or do those can filters have fans in them? Because they are advertised with cfm ratings.

Is there any cheaper fans you recommend getting? Any links?,

You could boost up next to the exhaust or put it on the top shelf. You would have to experiment. It's not going to change the heat much, but if you are concerned put it up high. Regardless of whether you incorporate this or not, you are going to have to figure out how to vent the closet. In the case of this being a scrubber for the general area, it's a non-factor. Check out how they vent the closet grows...if the cracks aren't enough, you may want to get a booster fan and use ducting somehow

Robweed said:

Do I need to buy the filter and the fan? Or do those can filters have fans in them? Because they are advertised with cfm ratings.

Is there any cheaper fans you recommend getting? Any links?,

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You are most likely going to get your ass eaten on shipping. Hit the hydro store and see what they have. And the can fans some with matching filters, but they are purchased separately and have to be connected. http://www.htgsupply.com/ is popular on this site, but this may be something you want to see in person prior to purchase especially on the first go around

if you'd like to post pics of the mini carbon filter that is working, it would be nice to see
if it's really working, you've done well
one test for filter effectiveness i've seen is a cup of ammonia in the grow chamber, switch on the filter, and check for ammonia odor
never tried it, but sounded like a good test

You can also hold a lighter next to it. If the flame gravitates towards the filter, that's good. But also, stick your hand over the exhaust to see what the drop off is before and after. If you are using PC fans, you may need two of these homemade jobs.

im actually blowing air threw the carbon filter rather then sucking it in.

blowing works, so does pulling, just so the smelly air is pushed/pulled through the filter
i'm not which way is better, may depend on the type of fan being used

Fans are supposed to suck better than blow (giggle). But they are more efficient at pulling. I would pull through the filter and out the area...unless you can't fit the filter in it

yeah ill have to wait till flowering.

i think the filter i made with the hair dryer fan might be wayy to loud to run all day in that closet but well see.

my grow box is taking a bit longer but im still growing in the frame in my closet. im doing a twenty four hour light cycle now. i did eighteen six for a while but now im back to twenty four. she looks healthier that way and is growing a bit faster.

otherwise again, shes going pretty slow compared to other peoples pictures.

ive been reading about some different kinds of lst and i think im gonna do some fimming combined with tieing down. what do you think?

and when should i start fimming?

can't help on fimming - haven't tried that yet
lst is a great way to go in smaller spaces, it works great with cfl's

yeah for some reason i feel more comfortable and feel like i would get a bigger yield using uncle bens method and doing some fimming

when should i be cloning?

i dont want to use any more seeds, i just want to clone to kinda do a perpetual grow.

always go with your comfort zone, make your best choice and learn from the experience
cloning is a very good thing, there are a couple ways you can go
the 1st is to start plants in flower, find the females, then put them back in veg, clone from them
what i've done is to flower out the plant, then reveg if i like what i got
i cut clones from the revegged plant

ohhhhhh ok.

well my seeds are all fem and im only doing one plant right now but what i want to do is (maybe this is a bad idea, i dunno) right before flower, clip two clones, make sure they take root and are healthy, then flower the first plant, chop it, all while the new clones are vegging for the next crop.

sound like a good idea?

Robweed said:

ohhhhhh ok.

well my seeds are all fem and im only doing one plant right now but what i want to do is (maybe this is a bad idea, i dunno) right before flower, clip two clones, make sure they take root and are healthy, then flower the first plant, chop it, all while the new clones are vegging for the next crop.

sound like a good idea?

Click to expand...

Yes..................

I would top and maybe train the plant just to get through a first run and maybe play with FIM'ng on a 2nd grow, especially if you are only doing one plant. Also, there is a lot of debate on light cycles, but a dark period should give the plants a chance to rest and do their night thing. Uncle Ben for instance, advocates a 20/4 cycle. A lot of this stuff is all opinion, but you are gonna have plenty of problems as it is without overcomplicating things the first run

I\'ll post some pics in a bit. She\'s doing real well. Really bushy.

The more poking around this site I do, the more I wish I would have gone hydro. I used to have fish as a hobby which is similar to some of the stuff you do for hydro like testing the water, the general set up and nutes.

I wish I would have done hydro with a aeroponic fog machine. You can build one for cheap and its easy. Instead of me rigging all this space for dirt and the smell of dirt and stuff.

Oh well. You live and you learn.