PC Micro Grow

New PC Grow
Dimension of box 47cm x 45cm x 20cm (w x d x h)

I aim to grow a few female autos at each time – first timegrowing, so prob gonna go with lowryder 2 - short and relatively easy i am told.

Purchased PC box already made from Ebay

Has 2 light fittings in it for CFL – have got 2 veg bulbsand 2 flowering both 30w

Covered in reflective (not mylar – but adequate)

2 exhaust fans situated towards bottom of box

1 homemade carbon filter covering exhaust fans – kitchen extractorfilled with activated carbon


Questions

No intake fan – is this needed?

No ventilation fans – should I put a mini fan in to helppush air around inside box?

Is two exhaust fans adequate? Also they are at the bottomof the case – should they not towards the top (heat rises) - Should I put in anotherfan near the lights?

Where can I go to read about how intake / outtake fan andventilation works?

Should I be worried about the wiring – is there anychance of fire? Purchased from Ebay so slightly worried

What can I do to mitigate fire hazard – plan to leave boxon 24-7 – can I cover in a fire blanket and just leave – will also help blocklight? Sorry if this is a stupid idea!


Other

Will be using biobizz all mix – along with BioBizz Groand Bloom

Have thermometer / hygrometer + digital pH pen /electrical timer / microscope 100x


Anything else I need – tools etc?

Will be using LST – what should I use to tie down – seen thefabric pegs to hold down tents – will these be ok?

Whats the max amount of plants I can fit in there? Andhow much yield can I realistically expect from the lights and the whole set up

I have square pots 13cm squared – is that too big forthis size box – what else can I use – have seen some people using Tupperware containersand ensuring they are not see through – are these short and wide ones ok – couldI get a short and wide one and plant a few seeds in there – is there any chanceof root tangle? Is it better to keep it separate – this way can raise and lowerfrom lights because plants will grow to different heights it might be easier tokeep them in separate pots

Will be starting a diary too, so hopefully will be aninteresting read of a micro soil pc grow from start to finish – there’s notmany complete diaries for micro grows available

More light, exhaust needs to be higher or use pvc to get them to reach higher. Also id say one plant for that space and lights. Good luck!

It's an ok grow box, it's not bad. You could do a few improvements though. How much did this cost you? You could probably have built one yourself a better one for a more reasonable price.

-You want at least 1 more light in there if you can, it's not essential but will increase your yield, 4 is ideal but may be hard to handle temps with 4 in a box like that. If you're able to improve ventilation then 4 would be worth it.
-You want an intake fan, or a you could get away with a passive intake (intake hole with no fan) situated near the bottom, or even on the floor of the case (lots of small holes NOT covered by pots) The reason you want this is so your plant can get fresh air and supplements from the air (it doesn't get everything from soil water and nutes)
-Two exhaust fans should be adequate as far as exhaust goes, but you'd be better off with 2 intake and 1 exhaust. If cost is holding you back you may get away with instaling a PVC elbow piece on the top exhaust fan which goes to the top of the case, and switching the bottom one to an intake. Ideal situation would be for you to change both into intake and stick an exhaust at the top on the other side.
-In my opinion there is next to no chance of a fire. You may want to ask around though, alls im saying is that i can't be held accountable if this does catch fire.
-If you're plants are small, I would stick 1 plant in at at a time. Alternatively you could do what I'm doing, whilst using a 12/12 from seed lighting schedule I can put one plant in, and when it is half way to harvest, put antother plant in ect. to get a somewhat perpetual grow and a more common harvest.

Bleezyboy1990 said:

More light, exhaust needs to be higher or use pvc to get them to reach higher. Also id say one plant for that space and lights. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Cheers mate - ok more light understood.
How can i move exhaust higher? - PVC to get them to reach higher? im lost dude - anyone any help on this?

RRain

It's an ok grow box, it's not bad. You could do a few improvements though. How much did this cost you? You could probably have built one yourself a better one for a more reasonable price.

-You want at least 1 more light in there if you can, it's not essential but will increase your yield, 4 is ideal but may be hard to handle temps with 4 in a box like that. If you're able to improve ventilation then 4 would be worth it.
-You want an intake fan, or a you could get away with a passive intake (intake hole with no fan) situated near the bottom, or even on the floor of the case (lots of small holes NOT covered by pots) The reason you want this is so your plant can get fresh air and supplements from the air (it doesn't get everything from soil water and nutes)
-Two exhaust fans should be adequate as far as exhaust goes, but you'd be better off with 2 intake and 1 exhaust. If cost is holding you back you may get away with instaling a PVC elbow piece on the top exhaust fan which goes to the top of the case, and switching the bottom one to an intake. Ideal situation would be for you to change both into intake and stick an exhaust at the top on the other side.
-In my opinion there is next to no chance of a fire. You may want to ask around though, alls im saying is that i can't be held accountable if this does catch fire.
-If you're plants are small, I would stick 1 plant in at at a time. Alternatively you could do what I'm doing, whilst using a 12/12 from seed lighting schedule I can put one plant in, and when it is half way to harvest, put antother plant in ect. to get a somewhat perpetual grow and a more common harvest.​

Click to expand...

Top advice and thanks for taking the time to provide detaisl matey

Ok i need more light - i will look into that for next grow or possibly add during this grow
Money is not really a worry - i mean i dont wanna spend too much given its only a micro grow but im willing to spend
Intake vs passive intake - obviously passive is easier, just need to make holes - what about light issues and smell issues then? - im guessing atleast with intake fan there is only one place where air is coming on so easy to block light and smell - can you help me with a intake fan?? Or even 2 intake fans, like i said if i get two intake and have two outtakesd with another fan for circulation will definatley be able to put more lights into the box as needed - maybe even 4 lights


Other
So light issue depends on when fan issue is sorted - Atleast i got separate lights for veg and bloom - prob not necessary for autos given the two week or less veg period, but still worth doing to avoid stretch etc - thinking about doing 18/6 - seems to make sense - am i right sating that the dark period should allow the plant to thicken / bush out and not get to tall and thin? I could do 12/12 but this grow is autos so planning on doing 18/6 - could i do 12/12 with autos is there any point? less electricity i guess lol


Will post some more pics this weekend of the box with various bits and bobs inside it and then start to measure temps / humidity etc before i get going


Ok this may sound like a stupid question but should i soak the seeds before planting them? Or should i literally just fill the buckets with soil and stick a seed in each bucket 1/2 inch from top of soil? Should i pre water the soil? Using biobizz all mix. Should i wash out the soil completely a couple of times - seen some youtube videos of people pouring a bucket or two of water over the 11 litre pots of soil beforehand and making it look swampllike before letting some water drain through and then planting the seed?
I am using 13cm square pots - I think 2.5l - not planning on repotting at all - dont want it too big due to box restraints


Ok thats it for now - sorry been posting up a few essays, but i always like reading long posts when im having a smoke - anyway - hopefully not put too many of you to sleep


peace

What I mean is get a pvc elbow and pipe and use it on the inside of the bottom fan and run it as exhaust. Look at my build and you will know what I mean. I had mine just like yours and had temps of aprox 85 while running. Added the tube and elbow and they sit at 79ish ito 82 tops. The passive intake is best too. You want negative pressure so you don't have smell leaking out once you flower if you throw a filter on it.
I don't have experieence with autos but I have seen people doing the 18/6 or a 20/4 cycle. Just make sure your light is only 2-3 inches away from the plant for even tighter node spacing. I wouldn't do 12/12 tho. Some people think it gives less yeild which makes sense.
As fot the seed I've always just punched it into soil up to the first knuckle and then water. But you could try the paper towel method, most people use it and it works well.
Sorry I didn't explain well earlier!!

Sorry haha I didn't see that you were using autos. I also don't have any experience with autos, I have seen succesful grow reports of people using a 20/4 cycle because autos can handle that, I have also read that autos can handle 24/0 but it is quite bad for them even though they can handle it (just thought it was relevant). I would reccomend germinating the seed first in a paper towel:
- Fold a kitchen paper towel to a roughly 4" square and make it wet. (make sure you don't tear with too much water)
- Unfold, stick a single seed in and then fold up again. Then place in a baggy (/ziplock bag)
- Keep in a dark place and keep it moist (re-moisten when you need to) until you see some root. Then stick a few mm in the soil and water with just water for first watering.

12/12 isn't good for autos. Like I said the fact it was autos slipped my mind. Those pot sizes are fine, probably don't want to use full nute solution, maybe 50% but I don't have any experience with biobizz or autos, not sure if autos have any different nute needs?

Sorry mate might have missed out some info, will re-view in about an hour but my favourite show is on right now! aha

Do you think looking at the wiring it is ok? Any chance of adding a light or two? Not much room but any genius ideas of adding a light or two would be great - reckon its worth putting a cfl or two on the side for side growth? Atleast that way dont need to move things round at the top of the case where the existing lights are

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Also do you think i should just add a fan - doesnt look too comlicated and actually looks like i could add exhaust to the top and change the two exhausts at the bottom in intakes? That definately makes more sence, but im thinking is all that worth it, when i can just add a passive intake - maybe something to bear in mind for next grow - will just keep it as it is for this grow, but any tips from the pros would be appreciated

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Looks liike there are some holes made in the bottom of the case, just 0.5cm big, but they are covered by the reflective cover - should i pierce holes at the bottom of the case (not covered by pots) and ensure these lead all the way through the case - is this a passive intake? Also will light leak? what about smell - its gonna reek if i do a passive intake right? or does air not flow out through there? how do i know the pressure is right and flowing in the right direction??

Can i stop the tilting of the lights using polyfilla? Also can try to cover the wires this way with polyfilla. with that make it a little safer??




thanks peace

Easy all

ok update after the weekend - made some changes ugardes to my box
installed an intake fan and a circulation fan - both are old pc fans which i connected up to a nokia charger

so basically all set now, got a total of four fans so could prob put another light or two, but will save that for next grow or sometime down the line - what everyones opinion on this got two 30w cfls in at any one time - have 2 for flowering and two for veg - is it worth even changing from veg to flower for autos or should i just use the flowering all the way through? does it even make a difference?

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on another note my mate went to his garden and realised that most of the seeds have germinated, wierd! its been freezing but he used some nice soil and they been in greehouse so maybe that helped - dont think they will grow very big if at all outside in his garden - is it worth me taking a couple of those seeds and sticking them in new compost in the box? or are they f@cked by now? they been out in the cold for about 2 weeks and they basically germinated and grown about 2cm spouts
my intake fan is not the most powerful but it will do, there is a light leak now, due to the intake fan (i have seen videos of peeps putting pvc elbows in to decrease light leak but this seems more effort than its worth - leak is not huge anyway

still need to cover the lights - conduit seems a little long - good idea but not sure how to do it - can i just cover with polyfilla and / or cover with masking tape - will try and get a white or silver masking tape

also have not attached the fourth fan to anything, gonna see what are needs a little extra ventilation once pots are in and plants are visible
planning on covering pots (heard this avoids drying out) with reflective material - firstly anything household i can use or is it worth getting a bit of mylar? secondly can i cover from day 1 or should i wait for plant to grow out of the soil and pop her head out then cut a hole for the stem to grow out of - seen a few peeps doing this and seems like a good idea
next time not gonna do autos - gonna get something different and do proper 12/12 and some major lst and hopefully with an extra couple of lights should get a decent yiled out of it - not expecting a huge anount this time - will put two plants in the box hoping that i can take one (hopefully 2) all the way and yield approx 10g per plant or from the one that goes all the way.

still need to put some garden wire in there to hold up the cfl lights, well not hold up, but extra support - as they were tilting majorly. I have now put some polyfilla over the wires and this has made it lean less but the garden wire would be nice just to secure it tightly
anyway that it for now - comment would be appreciated and as usual tipd from the pro's will be taken on board

time to strap a fatty

peace

easy peeps

seen a metal heat resistant tape for £10 for 50 feet from greens - it looks like good quality stuff - may be worth getting some of this just to tape up the shoddy work i did on sunday with the intake and also cover all the wires to the lights in this.

so you think i could use some of this tape to hold up the cfl ballasts? its the one from greens horticulture - Or worth getting the garden wire instead - how can i get the garden wire to hold up the lights? i know it needs to hold up the little ballasts but what do i attach it to on the sides? guess if i use the tape - if it is strong enough it should hold up itself and can always triple it up for added strength

in my pc grow based on pics posted up - is there any room in your opinion to add two more cfl lights? could i get an E27 splitter ans attach it to a a single plug extention lead, or get 2 e27s and a two plug extention to attach the addtional lights - also the existing lights are not through extention leads and E27 - looks like they are wired into ballast see pic - is it better for me (and i am not tech savvy at all) to wire up another two like the existing ones or simply put and extention lead and E27 to put either one or two more bulbs? - what parts do i need to buy for this - extention plug (one or two), e27 plug - is that it?

still worried about the carbon filter not working properly but will attempt to read up on that and by the time the plant starts to smell a couple weeks atleast will have filter sorted - if not will get two ona block and stick one inside pc case and one in the same room but outside case

finally how do i know i have the pressure right - ie outake blowing out more that what intake is blowing in - i think thats the right way it should be - how do i know if this is happening and air is getting replaced in the pc grow box atleast 1 or twice every minute - such a small lace sould be easy to keep it ventilated
one

-Use flowering bulbs when you start to see buds, they love the softer light.
-If the seeds have green and a bit of leaf on then use them, if not they sound dead by now.
-Not experienced in wiring like that, I've seen it done but if you ask me this seems kind of dodgy. Whoever made this would have been better off using a extension cord and some adapters.
-I wouldn't reccomend covering the soil, the reason for this is the soil gets no fresh air which it needs, also the roots would not get any fresh air.
-The more lights the merrier! I would say a maximum of 5 in a large PC case with optimum air flow but 4 is the usual. As long as your plants aren't more than 3 inches away from your plant they wont burn it but make it a happier grower.
-Use those e27 to mains adapters and throw an extension lead in there that you can attach anywhere. You might want to attach it in a way that means you can move it later. There are SO many ways to do this I don't think I need to name any.