Cool CAb Stealth CAb with LED

Just started up my Sunlight sheds cool cab with two 90 W UFO leds. Haven'ty seen a grow report on one of these yet so I thought I would share. Uses drip irrigation with fogger and bubbler. Originally bought the cab with LED based on research they had on the site. Been reading lots of conflicting stuff online about LED vs HID/HPS so figure foirst grow will be a test. HAve grown before years ago in a homemade soil set up..First time with hydro. Planted 4 fem WW, 4 CArmelicious and 6 wild card seeds I got from seedbank overseas 6 days ago. Put seed straight into plugs supplied in hydroton and let system rip with lights on 24 hrs. With my softened tap water, I ened up with very high ds so sAll 4 WW are off to a strong start followed by 3 of 4 Carms- can see tap roots on wildcards but nothing above ground. Plan on running lights 24 hrs until they are ready to go to 12/12 flower cycle. Plan on seeing if flowering is strong at week three before deciding on any supplemental lights. Considering T-8s on side walls to get under SOG to increase buds. Plan on cloning ww and carm after sexing for round two, esp if yield is off with LEDs. Wilpost pics as the grow progresses in about a week or so.

Started a grow with a mini cool cab 2 weeks ago. Check out my grow & let's share notes. + rep for u

Day 7- the 4 fem WW are going strong and are about 2" tall and looking great. 2 of 4 carms are up- one strong, one had some tap root shrivel but still growing. One has a bigtap root but no flowers and other looks like a dud. In the 6 wild card pots, 3 of 6 are growing but slower germination than the good stuff. HAve a back up plate going now just in case to fill out the string and keep carm population up. PLan on croissing the widow and carm if I get a male carm on one fem ww node, and seeing how that goes for grow 2. Hoping on having 8-11 plants to gop to flower cycle in a few weeks.

Still concerned about the ufos for fl;owering based on what I'm reading but staying the course so far- threads on the 357 Magnum look interesting and I will follow his results.

Temp is a steady 78 and rh is 40%. pH is 6-6.2- doesnt want to seem to go to 5.7 despite daily adjustments to try. Lights on 24 hrs until I get ready to flower. Plan on adding nutes at day 14 or 4", whichever comes first. So far CAb has been as promised except for backup rez...on second one now- both leak from grommet- looking at other sealing solutions for when it starts to need water regularly. Set up only took about 20 mins despite directions being for HID/HPS model vs led. small light leaks from door and in back, but working to fix those for stealth from kids...It is quiet when standing next to gas furnaces and hw heater so no probs there. No odor yet so have not stated charcoal/ozone system yet. Needed a second power strip for all the pumps, fans and lights

Will also take clones at day 14 of flower cycle based on what I have read..may do a few earlier as well to see how my technique works. Will get some pics up later this weekend.

Ok- now at Day 11 and I feel like an expectant Dad. The 4 widows are thriving and are now poppin their 4th set of leaves after only 11 days. Added a 23W cfl ( 1600 lumen) yesterday to bring cab temp up from 72 ( its cool in area I have cab ) to 78. Rh at 36%. Two of the 4 carms germinated- one looks pretty good, other is a runt- think root initially got dried out at exposed tip. Fixed it in peat pot and now is starting to grow better. The 6 wild cards are another story- two are up and growing slowly, other four are barely germinated- either real slow seeds or not going to happen. I got impatient and started two more carmelicious and 6 wild cards I got with seed order - 20 freebies ( Amsterdam seeds btw). They started to pop so I put them into starter plugs and switched them out with the slow ones in the net pots- put the slow growers up inthe cloner to see if they ever grow. More curiosity than hoping they do. With 14 sites in this cab, I dont think more than 6 or 8 will fit to maturity, but figure sexing and me screwing a few up will reduce the population. Gota say I am thrilled with the feminized widows- wow are they lush for beng babies.

Have finally gotten pH to about 5.8 to 6 using test soln. Seemed to be a ton of pH down to get there and brought the ppm up to about 700. i did add a touch of themoon dust- maybe 100 pmm to give the widows somethng to chew on a few days back. I had left a bit of the buffered tap water in when I swapped it out for spring water ( Poland springs- 40ppm) as I couldnt locate DI water. Finally found it and added a gallon of DI to the tank yesterday to top it off and cut the ppm down a hair. The two ufos ate 8"abovethe tops of the widows. PLan on misting today as they look a little dry leafed .

This system is drip, DW and fogger so it is using some water up with evaporation and growth plus testing twice a day trying to get it right. Pluged upholes in top as recommeded to shield from light and adding HooH today. I did have a tank heater in but removed it- was concerned the 60 degree water would cool the cab too much and slow germination- I had it as high as 76...then learned that is asking for trouble. Now back at 68 from cool cement floor cab is on. Off to Homedepot to get a few things:

Weatherstrippping /duct tape to cut light from doors, aroundfan cut outs and screw holes- electrical taps- the lights are grounded three prong- cords inside are two prong. The refill tank that was leaking ( new one sent by sunlight solutions) is stillleaking from gromet after trying plumbers tape. Will get some RTV and try sealing it. Checking water levels by hand in mean time. It was nice to have the whole system as is but definitely see why people retro fit or build there own if they saw the plans. I would probably do a sep cloner box now and use the extra height for growing.

Keeping an eye on the MAgnum 357 growth journal to see how flowering does. All these posts about weak bud formation with LED have me spooked, but hope these LEds are really better as claimed. Will add the magnum or a HPS if it looks weak to back end of grow or next round. Impatient I know. Still running lights 24 hrs until week 3 or 4 then will cut back to 18/6 once growth is established. Was considering the 6 day flower cycle I have been reading up on- 12 hrs dark, 16 hrs light using a 7 day timer to increase growth- anybody ever try this? Better results as claimed?

Sounds cool. I'll be watching this one. I may be silent, but I will def. be watching. Good luck!

I also have this all journaled for my grow, but thought I'd post a few things about the LED cab I have learned for those interested.

The extention cords/power strips are barely enough for all the adapters etc for the pieces involved. If you add any more light to the cab, you will need a three- two adapter, an extra power strip ( 6 ft). I also bought velcro cord organizers- the damn wires from the lights as well as pump and fogger can end up hitting plants if not carefully restrained. USed velcro to attach hygrometer/thermometer to inside of cab too- easy to remove if needed to change batteries vs screws provided, and another hole in cab.Buy a good pH meter- not the $20 one from amazon. You will also need light insulation for the tank to prevent growth- i used duct tape and foil. HAd to change out and clean res after three weeks due to algae bloom. Also had to do some sealing work in back of cab and around doors to seal off light leaks.

I just ordered a blackstar 240 W with cree 3 w leds- everything I have read says to get better penetration if not growing sog is to go higher wattage. The UFO is great for veg so far, but don't think it will cut it with 6 3-4 Ft plants. You will also need tubing to conect bubbler from air pump- kinda stupid they only supply pump ( outside cab) and bubbler ( in tank) but no connecting hose- visit the local pet store. LAst, been through two back up rez bottles, both leaked. Buy some silicone tub sealant and reseal grommet before you fill it up.

LAst, you will need a small pump to empty the tank when you cange water out- the plants will get big enough that lifting them out will not be safe nor practical. No drain on rez. I also had to add a CFL to get temps up in cab. BAsement is in 60's and LEDs dont throw much heat. 23 W, 5500K cfl holds temps at 78 vs 71 without.

The 240 W blackstar has been added with the two original UFO's on side- so net 420 w or really 230w or so. Plants doing very well now- see journal for the grow.

Im also using the Cool Cab (Mini) and was thinking about upgrading lights with 240 Blackstar for flower. Would like to hear your thoughts on the difference in growth. A lot of hype on the 3w LED's but I continue to hear that 1w is more efficient and even if not as bright puts out more par than the 3w. 3w gives out more lumens and is brighter to our eyes but that means little to the absorption of good light. That is the hole reason LED's are used. Sunlight Solutions has other lights, more powerful, with better angles for penetration also with the 1w LED's but has only the 7.1.1 ratio 3 band. I have also seen the 3 band expanded to a 5 band for 2 spikes in blue and red, Prosourseworldwide.com. Do you believe this could be better given what I said and if it is true!!!?? I understand that for the flower phase of development they also benefit from UV and "infra red"? but this can be supplemental lighting I can turn off whenever. T5, CFL, so on... I'm getting off topic. How has the Blackstar work for you. My two 90w 1w UFO from sun solutions has been amazing in veg but i did supplement with t5 actinic blue.

This is around week 3 1/2 ish.

Latest update...Just did a rez change out and have the girls flushing for the day with RO water and a little bloom booster. They were lookinga litle dry and I was close to upper limit on ppm/ec so thoyught I would give them a nice cool drink. The second power supply came in from Gotham the other day ( first one was for an early model and was wrong voltage), so fixed that this am and have it lighting the grow on angle from the tub up into the canopy,lghting up the popcorn and the lowewr bud sights on the clones that the mother Blueberry is pretty much covering. So the cab now has a 357 MAgnum on full power , a 240 W Blackstar flower model and 2 90 w Ufos on the sides on angle- so figure with the step downs,I have 300 full watts at 3 w and 90 w of 1 w chips..It is bright as hell in there.

To recap, I have one mother Blueberry, two blueberry clones and two widow clones from where I started back in January. The clones were dropped straight into 12/12 so they are single stalk but thickening up nicely with buds. The mother blueberry is tied up since she was so damn heavy with large colas. I counted again today and have 20 large colas on the Mother plus several smaller ones now getting full light from below. I changed light cycle to 14 off/10 on today to try and push ripening a little faster before the mother outgrows the cab...Will step down nutes to make sure they stay under 1000 ppm total until next change- hoping it will be the final flush cycles since I am at about 7 weeks. Trichs are mostly sill clear. HAve a few amber on older stry leaves, but buds are still full of white hairs and new buds popping up everywhere since I left that T-5 on for a few days. No balls so far, so looks like this DP pheno is stable no matter how I beat her up.

I also took some clones a few weeks ago while in flower of oth the widows and BB..have a few in soil already to become mothers..will pop the others into my next grow. Strongly leaning toward at Subcool combo grow- have Ace of Spades and PLush berry in my catalogue of seeds....Think I have made just about every mistake so far and will try and make that grow clean . I have accumulated so many different seeds while trying to finish this grow, I am still debating. Also have the famous Tangerine dream among others, but will wait til I know I have things down before attempting that.

I have one UFo right over the shorter WW clones and it is doing the job up close. The Blackstar is at the bottom right of the purple pic- you can see the light it is throwing up into canopy. Some BB color is starting to show on the buds finally- at nights the grow area is about 67F The base of the grow is about 72 with lights on- about 80F at top of canopy. I have a secondary fan on top of the Magnume circulating air top to bottom as the two intake fans at bottom draw air into cab and a large exhaust fan takes it out through cartridge.

At 800 pmm now with three part GH nutes, B-52, Big Bud, Bud CAndy and just added Ginormous to last few weeks...Still budding like mad. Since they are so damn heavy, they are on angle and new buds are growing to the lights just like LST in VEG. Trichs still clear... I'm guessing 4 more weeks, but on 10 /14 (off) it might speed up some.


Been trying to post pics but for some reason uploader will not work here.

Sorry I missed this- have been fighting my own screw ups with rez going anerabic, lights being left on, broken timers, etc.

To answer your questions, the 2010 90 W UFos seem to work real well in veg and flower. I added the 240 Blackstar after worrying I would be wasting my time in flower..i.e. getting fluffy buds. A power supply in my blackstar crapped uout a few weeks into flower so I was on half power until I realized it was broken after a few weeks, but the buds near the UFOs have continued to packon serious weight. I just added a Magnum as well, whilewaiting for the power supply, so I have 300 real W of light w 3 w leds and 90 with1 w firing away in there- ( I did get the parts from Gotham in about a week- there was confusion as to which model I had so I got two different ones)- you need to email vic directly for help- their website link does not seem to alwaya work)

So is this a clean grow for the 90W lights- no, not at all- I was looking to maximize returns after so many screw ups- this grow started 10 mo agao although nothing in there is original


The widow clones ( Very indica) are Gen III from the original seeds- AMS- but the buds directly under a UFO are getting fat and are dense as hell- not airy at all. The Blue berry and her clones were started much later, and again, the buds near the UFOs that got cont light are fat and heavy. This is a def DP Blueberry Sativa Pheno - lanky as hell, but producing 12-18" colas all over. probably done in 4 weeks- trichs still all clear and buds popping everywhere still now that I also added the Magnum and fixed Blackstar

How is your grow going?

PumpkinsAss said:

Im also using the Cool Cab (Mini) and was thinking about upgrading lights with 240 Blackstar for flower. Would like to hear your thoughts on the difference in growth. A lot of hype on the 3w LED's but I continue to hear that 1w is more efficient and even if not as bright puts out more par than the 3w. 3w gives out more lumens and is brighter to our eyes but that means little to the absorption of good light. That is the hole reason LED's are used. Sunlight Solutions has other lights, more powerful, with better angles for penetration also with the 1w LED's but has only the 7.1.1 ratio 3 band. I have also seen the 3 band expanded to a 5 band for 2 spikes in blue and red, Prosourseworldwide.com. Do you believe this could be better given what I said and if it is true!!!?? I understand that for the flower phase of development they also benefit from UV and "infra red"? but this can be supplemental lighting I can turn off whenever. T5, CFL, so on... I'm getting off topic. How has the Blackstar work for you. My two 90w 1w UFO from sun solutions has been amazing in veg but i did supplement with t5 actinic blue.

This is around week 3 1/2 ish.

Click to expand...

Figured I would update a bit more since I was mia for so long. The clone chamber T-5 being left for a couple days on generated a further stretch in the DP Blueberry which now is filling in quite nicely with buds under 10/14 light schedule. Having a Blackstar 240 flower, a MAg 357 and two 90w UFos going seems to be boosting the rates as well..if you believe the light manufacturers I have better than 1000W HPS PAR equivalent going in a 18" x 36" footprint Nutes are now at 1000..had them at 800 but the plants were quickly depleting them. pH is bouncing a bit, mostly lower. Temp at top of canopy is 82F, 70 at bottom near rez. RH is about 35%. Checked the trichs again and all are clear and most are not all that swollen so I have a while to go- guessing 4+ weeks since this def looks to be sativa dom relative to the widow.... Older Hairs are starting to turn various colors and I am getting some nice purples starting on the buds. Tons of secondary white hairs now. The smell is amazing..def a big difference between the widows...

So do you like the blackstar?

I do....got great growth out of it so far. Only complaint is it does throw some heat in a small confined space. Plants loved it in veg and flower so far.