nice420
Active Member
First off, I would like to say hello to everyone. I'm a long time lurker, now planning to start a personal grow. I've completed a little over 2 years of higher level education, and hope to return to school and finish a degree, sooner rather than later. I've very much the DIY type, there isnt a project I won't take up. So lets get straight to the details. This project has been something I've been turning over in my head for quite some time now. It is only now that I'm finally actually putting stuff down on paper, err pixles, <3 google sketchup. Everything is open to suggestions and critique.
My plan is to build a mostly enclosed box, somewhere around the dimensions of 7x3x3 (see atachment bellow). The enterior will be sealed and water proofed, and then either covered with panda sheeting or painted a flat white. This box will have 3 chambers, from right to left: Intake, electronics, etc; Veg (and perhaps a mother but I think I'll build a seperate box for her); and Flowering. I plan for it to be completely sealed, with air intake pulled through a filter (i hate dust), and of course exhausted through an activated carbon filter. I plan to run everything off of ~1000 watt computer power supply, something with a large single and stable 12v rail. For air I plan to use 120mm PWM, for which I will be building PWM generators for. For Light I plan to build several of my own led grow lights. I've found a supplier on ebay that I can order led's in bulk on the cheap, and more time with a soldering iron in hand is always enjoyed (i say that now, ask me when im done soldering a few thousand leads).
questions I have
My first questions have to do with fans. Both in power and placement. I can find PWM fans all the way up to around 160cfm (but they get a bit pricey up there, not to mention noise, but noise is only a moderate concern). My concern is hurting plants by having such high constant airflow.
Is this even really a concern?
At What locations on the walls should the fans be placed? and how powerful(cfm) should they be.
i.e, use a single large high cfm fan towards the top of each chamber blowing into the next, or 2-3 less powerful fans located either across the top, or at different heights.
Should air just go from right to left, from one intake to veg to flowering to exhaust, or should I use ducting to use separate intakes /exhausts from each section.
Next has to do with lighting.
I've heard mix results about led growing, more so in flowering. Is that just a bunch of bull, or would it be wise to include a couple cfl's in the flowering chamber?
Next, on wavelengths. I plan to build more blue balance panels for the veg chamber, and more red balance but I'd like to know more specifically on the multiple spectrum's. From the research I've done, the following 6 seem to be what the more complex panels have, with the ones marked with a * being to be the standard 3:
violet 420nm
blue 460nm*
orange 612nm
red 630nm*
red 660nm*
far red 730nm
I've also seen people say to add some uv led's, but i've seen just as many people say don't bother they'll do more harm than good. as with most of what i've found in looking for information on led's. there more people arguing with no real evidence rather than actually supporting what they're saying with some results.
So am I about in the right ballpark? I've considered doing all 6, and making each spectrum independent on all panels, so that i can turn them on and off and experiment a bit.
I plan 2 panels, height adjustable, over both the veg and grow chamber at ~ 50watts (450 or so led's) each, as well as smaller on the walls of each chamber, all the way around about half way up. Will this be to much light? should i scale back a smidge?
Also, as you saw above, i plan to use large amounts of small led's over fewer large led's. This is because I feel that I can produce more light per watt. I've included in my attachments a photo of a panel similar to what i plan to build, (except he used 50/50 red blue). However I think he was growing hot peppers not cannabis, so does anybody have any experience growing cannabis with large amounts of small led's?
Finally on space. Is this going to be enough space for 4 plants to flower and 12 to clones/veg (Montana's new bullsh* law, for any of you who know whats going on up here, bad vibes), or will this be to cramped? I originally planned to be more around 5x3x3, but the more i looked at it in sketchup the more it felt like it would be far to small.
I think that about covers it. Just a couple other quick things, the reason I am going in this direction as opposed to a couple of HPS lights is mostly financial. I currently live on rather limited income, but have a small amount that I've set aside, and feel that I can build this for around $300-$400, and not eat up every bit of savings i do have, to leave some spare cash for other things i may end up needing. I do however, have access to a wholesale account to a garden supply company back east, the msrb and wholesale prices are significantly spread, so if anybody has suggestion to a more conventional equivalently sized grow setup, i can thumb through it and see if it would be a viable option in the same price range.
thanks in advance guys, I look forward to seeing what you have to say
edit: I plan to start with soil as my medium, as its the most forgiving. also, the plan is right now to acquire some clones from somebody local, but if not I'll order feminised seeds
My plan is to build a mostly enclosed box, somewhere around the dimensions of 7x3x3 (see atachment bellow). The enterior will be sealed and water proofed, and then either covered with panda sheeting or painted a flat white. This box will have 3 chambers, from right to left: Intake, electronics, etc; Veg (and perhaps a mother but I think I'll build a seperate box for her); and Flowering. I plan for it to be completely sealed, with air intake pulled through a filter (i hate dust), and of course exhausted through an activated carbon filter. I plan to run everything off of ~1000 watt computer power supply, something with a large single and stable 12v rail. For air I plan to use 120mm PWM, for which I will be building PWM generators for. For Light I plan to build several of my own led grow lights. I've found a supplier on ebay that I can order led's in bulk on the cheap, and more time with a soldering iron in hand is always enjoyed (i say that now, ask me when im done soldering a few thousand leads).
questions I have
My first questions have to do with fans. Both in power and placement. I can find PWM fans all the way up to around 160cfm (but they get a bit pricey up there, not to mention noise, but noise is only a moderate concern). My concern is hurting plants by having such high constant airflow.
Is this even really a concern?
At What locations on the walls should the fans be placed? and how powerful(cfm) should they be.
i.e, use a single large high cfm fan towards the top of each chamber blowing into the next, or 2-3 less powerful fans located either across the top, or at different heights.
Should air just go from right to left, from one intake to veg to flowering to exhaust, or should I use ducting to use separate intakes /exhausts from each section.
Next has to do with lighting.
I've heard mix results about led growing, more so in flowering. Is that just a bunch of bull, or would it be wise to include a couple cfl's in the flowering chamber?
Next, on wavelengths. I plan to build more blue balance panels for the veg chamber, and more red balance but I'd like to know more specifically on the multiple spectrum's. From the research I've done, the following 6 seem to be what the more complex panels have, with the ones marked with a * being to be the standard 3:
violet 420nm
blue 460nm*
orange 612nm
red 630nm*
red 660nm*
far red 730nm
I've also seen people say to add some uv led's, but i've seen just as many people say don't bother they'll do more harm than good. as with most of what i've found in looking for information on led's. there more people arguing with no real evidence rather than actually supporting what they're saying with some results.
So am I about in the right ballpark? I've considered doing all 6, and making each spectrum independent on all panels, so that i can turn them on and off and experiment a bit.
I plan 2 panels, height adjustable, over both the veg and grow chamber at ~ 50watts (450 or so led's) each, as well as smaller on the walls of each chamber, all the way around about half way up. Will this be to much light? should i scale back a smidge?
Also, as you saw above, i plan to use large amounts of small led's over fewer large led's. This is because I feel that I can produce more light per watt. I've included in my attachments a photo of a panel similar to what i plan to build, (except he used 50/50 red blue). However I think he was growing hot peppers not cannabis, so does anybody have any experience growing cannabis with large amounts of small led's?
Finally on space. Is this going to be enough space for 4 plants to flower and 12 to clones/veg (Montana's new bullsh* law, for any of you who know whats going on up here, bad vibes), or will this be to cramped? I originally planned to be more around 5x3x3, but the more i looked at it in sketchup the more it felt like it would be far to small.
I think that about covers it. Just a couple other quick things, the reason I am going in this direction as opposed to a couple of HPS lights is mostly financial. I currently live on rather limited income, but have a small amount that I've set aside, and feel that I can build this for around $300-$400, and not eat up every bit of savings i do have, to leave some spare cash for other things i may end up needing. I do however, have access to a wholesale account to a garden supply company back east, the msrb and wholesale prices are significantly spread, so if anybody has suggestion to a more conventional equivalently sized grow setup, i can thumb through it and see if it would be a viable option in the same price range.
thanks in advance guys, I look forward to seeing what you have to say
edit: I plan to start with soil as my medium, as its the most forgiving. also, the plan is right now to acquire some clones from somebody local, but if not I'll order feminised seeds
