Rolling Grow Rack - DWC

OK...

I have spent the past few weeks reading this site and have learned a alot.
I want to give props to FilthyFletch https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/18869-how-build-aero-setup.html
and AsianKatie https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/27981-asiankatie-s-first-grow-indoor.html

They both have great setups that have taught me enought to feel like I shoudl give this a shot.

So now that I have given credit... Let me lay out the idea.

I wanted something stealth but easy. I wanted enough space to do some cloing (if I can). I have a few of those rolling wireracks in my garage and thought that would be a great platform for a grow cabinet. So I put together a plan for a grow rack using:
1 - HPS light for the main grow area
3 - 60 watt CFLs for cloning/seedling area
4 - 120mm computer fans - for ventalation
6 - 3 Gal RUbbermaid containers for DWC - 1 per plant
6 - 6" netpots
6 - 6" airstones
3 - double outlet 60 Gal air pumps
I also plan to use a honeywell breeze fan to blow across the plants in the upper area and a small desk fan for the lower section.

I do have some questions to iron our before I get started...

Are my DWC tubs large enough? I only plan to have 1 plant per tub but...I am not sure this will provide enough root space and I am not certain how my high water level should be. Should it touch the pot or just splash from the bubbler?

Is a single 6" air stone per tub enough?

Are the 3 CFLs enough?

Since this will be my first indoor grow I will be taking this slow but would appreciate any advice. If there is interest... I will complete this build to grow to harvest and post it all.

kojinmal said:

OK...

I have spent the past few weeks reading this site and have learned a alot.
I want to give props to FilthyFletch https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/18869-how-build-aero-setup.html
and AsianKatie https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/27981-asiankatie-s-first-grow-indoor.html

They both have great setups that have taught me enought to feel like I shoudl give this a shot.

So now that I have given credit... Let me lay out the idea.

I wanted something stealth but easy. I wanted enough space to do some cloing (if I can). I have a few of those rolling wireracks in my garage and thought that would be a great platform for a grow cabinet. So I put together a plan for a grow rack using:
1 - HPS light for the main grow area
3 - 60 watt CFLs for cloning/seedling area
4 - 120mm computer fans - for ventalation
6 - 3 Gal RUbbermaid containers for DWC - 1 per plant
6 - 6" netpots
6 - 6" airstones
3 - double outlet 60 Gal air pumps
I also plan to use a honeywell breeze fan to blow across the plants in the upper area and a small desk fan for the lower section.

I do have some questions to iron our before I get started...

Are my DWC tubs large enough? I only plan to have 1 plant per tub but...I am not sure this will provide enough root space and I am not certain how my high water level should be. Should it touch the pot or just splash from the bubbler?

Is a single 6" air stone per tub enough?

Are the 3 CFLs enough?

Since this will be my first indoor grow I will be taking this slow but would appreciate any advice. If there is interest... I will complete this build to grow to harvest and post it all.

Click to expand...

Your tubs will be large enough. You might want to keep the ballasts farther away form your reservoirs, water temps above 65 degrees causes proplems and does not hold as much oxygen. VV

Thanks, I haven't turned on the light yet and am not sure how much heat it will put off. Will teh fans be enough to keep the temp down?

Thanks for the advice on the heat from the ballast. I have changed the plan to move the ballast to the top of the rack to get it out of the cabinet/rack. I thought this would provide enough space for seed starting?

Do I have enough ventalation for the 400HPS with the 2 120mm computer fans? I plan to put in another fan for the plants but I am thniking maybe I should add a couple more fans to the top of the rack???

I am getting really pumped about doing my 1st indoor grow and can't wait to start. I am going to go with 6" rockwool cubes for the netpots with enough Hydrotron to fill in around. I will use 1.5" rockwool for the seeds. I read that I will need to balance the PH before I plant in rockwool. Do I need to use vinegar in the water to help? I don't have a ppm or PH tester yet. I priced them out and I am looking at like $200! I want to get started with the grow but want to make sure I have it right before I start.... Can I get away with PH paper?

Well, I have made the change to the plan and layed out most of the materials in the garage. The nuts and rock wool are on order and I will pickup most of the cover materials tomorrow and the local home store. I will put together the rack tomorrow before I head to the store to check my measurements.

I am thnking about using a couple more shelves but cutting out the wire and just leaving the outside of the shelf in case I need to put anything else in later that can hook to the shelf frame... I am thinking about a webcam

I am including pics of the redesign, nutrient plan, and the parts list.
Any advice before I put this thing together? Since this is my first I would value any words of wisdom.

Wow I am having some issues posting pics any thoughts? I trying them 1 at a time now...

I have a couple questions about your setup.
are you planning on doing just a DWC bucket with air stone on bottom and that's it? no feeding system? what size plants are you planning to grow? or style?

I once planned like you, everything nice and tight, but remember this is a weed your growing, once they take off with growth they will fill up the area really fast, give yourself extra room for cloning.
And you really should keep all sources of power high up or far away, if your bucket leaked it would go right into that power/timer you got.
about fans, i'd put one about stem height, since plants use Co2 from under their leaves it's good to have air moving around down there

Thanks for the advice ultranyte... I went to pickup some of the stuff I needed and was re-thinking alot of the plan. I am thinking about changing alot of the power setup as well as the fans. You are very right about the leaking prob. I have been trying to find a long narrow pan I can use to help (in case). I was thinking to use some 4" duct fans instead and this would let use some 4"elbow ducts I found. Would this give enough air flow (haven't hooked'em up yet)? Planning to start some assembly tonite. As far as what I plan to grow... right now I have bag seed. I wanted to get some practice in before I ordered anything.

I was just planning the tubs for now I was going to mix the feed into the tub. I was starting to think of wasy to drain and refill teh tubs and baught a 14 Gal tub to sit next to the rack I could use for this along with a water pump. But, I didn't thik of anything on feeding. Is there a better way? I am such a noobie any advice would be very appreciated...

Thanks!

I have been working on the construction of the rack but have run into a few snags and need some advice!!!

I assembled the rack and used 3 shelves with all but the sides cutout to provide supports along the back and sides for mounting of fans, electrical ...

Everything looked good until I mounted the light reflector and the put the emtpy tubs in place. After measuring with the

light at it's highest I only have 23" of space between the top of the tub and the light. If I take out the bottom shelves I can add another 22".

How high should teh HPS light be? Is this enough space? I am thinking about moving he cloing area and CFL into a different rack...

Current Max height = 23 - Amount of space for light from plant 15 = Amount of adjustment avaialable (height of plant) 8"

Add another 22 inches should give me 30" of grow height...?

I will try to add some pics. but am hvaing trouble uploading...

Size your pics 800x800pixel works. You are going to need all the height you can scrape up, 30" is marginal but do-able. Good luck

if you only have a couple feet of grow space, you will have to look into SCROG which is using a screen to hold the plants back and doing some low stress training to the plants.

400w-hps is an air cooled hood right? i dont se any ducting in your pics so i ask...

Thanks for the advice psyclone... I will make the changes tonite and see if I can squeeze any more space out of the rack. I am thinking about a better way to mount the light. I am using 2 - "1" pulleys right now with wire cable but I am thinking to change these to 1/2" pulleys and use rope instead. It should buy me a few more inches.

I am also going to see how low I can put in the bottom shelf It might buy me a bit more space. I am hoping to get another 5" out of these adjustments in addition to the 22" from the shelf change.

I have been looking at alot of the SCROG info but I don't think I am quite ready for that. I want to keep this 1st one as simple as I can but am definately interested in moving that direction...

Unfortunately, I don't have an air cooled light but I am putting in 2 4" duct fans in the top of the cabinet to provide vent and cooling. I am also thinking about adding a fan to the hood with my dremel later on...

I have been busy with work but should have some time to post new pics this weekend thanks for the advice

I have been pretty busy with work but have managed to spend some time working on my dream...

I have made some changes based on the ideas you all have shared with me and some things that have occoured to me as I went along. This is really becoming a great learning experience.

Anyway, I have almost completed the smaller rack (yes, I have changed from a single rack to two). This rack is setup to be a CFL rack for cloning...

The larger rack is still setup to be the HPS rack but I have moved out alot of the stuff that was tying up the space I really needed. I now have 50" of height in the larger rack and 30.5" in the smaller rack.

My next steps are to fit the door on the small rack and check to make sure it is lightproof. I have already set some seeds to germinate... I am using the wet papertowel method and should have the small rack completed in time for these.

The larger rack will take a bit longer but the only parts left are to put the plywood on it and setup the hydroponics bubbler system.

As always... please send me any ideas. I will upload pics when I can...

Some pics...

i would get the ballest away from any type of water

I have been really busy but have finally finished the first rack (CFL). Just in time... because I had two germinated ready to go. I have another group germinating and am planning to be able to go Hydro with these. For the first two, I went with dirt. This should give me an idea of the difference... but I can't claim that this was my plan. I just didn't order my other stuff in time.

I am going to use two rubber made containers together to create a clone/seed starter chamber for hydro and will post pics when I get it done.

In the meantime... here are some pics of the small CFL rack finished and running(except for some painting ) .

Here is the latest...

The two I can in soil (a mix of miracle gro and pearlite) do not really seem to be taking off... Maybe I am just impatient .

One I can see is getting there the other seems to have been lost in the pot.

On the germination front I am having sme trouble and haven't had anymore pop.

I am using a homebuilt germinator but am having trouble keeping the temp in the right zone. I thougth I wanted to keep Germing seeds aroung 80 but I find it getting into the 90's or as low as the 60's sometimes. I am trying to use a lizard heater with a couple of plastic pot bottoms painted with the black paint for plastic.

I have also finished the homemade cloner/starter... Thanks to this site I was able to take a couple of rubbermaid containers and turn them into something that should work. I will include shots of the grow tubs I am planning to use. These are 3 gal tubs painted black with the plastics paint.

So my other question is what temp to kep the water in the tubs (I was thinking I read somewhere to keep it in the 60's??)

I will do some more research but if anyone has some advice... I could really use some help

Some Pics...

I put 3 seeds directly into the starter/cloner I built and already have 2 seedlings sprouting.

Pics of one of the completed Grow Tubs...