Dave's First LED Grow Using Area 51

Ordered an Area 51 2013 model SGS-160, arriving tomorrow. Using it in a stealth cabinet that's in my bedroom closet.

Dimensions: 36" x 18" floorspace x 55" height.

Planning to use a modified "Hempy Bucket" system that's self-watering (inspired by Flowamasta's journals). Main bucket will contain 15 gallons of coarse Perlite. Pictures to follow after I finish building it.

Got 2 seeds sprouting right now:
Looking forward to seeing how much better the Area 51 is compared to my T5 light box overhead and big CFL's on either side of the cabinet. All together, those were hot, soaked up more wattage and were much dimmer than the Area 51. I've been using them for all of my previous grows and I've been averaging only about 2-3 oz of bud each time. I recently saw that The Dawg got 8 oz in a cabinet similar to mine in size using an Area 51. For me, that would be awesome! I'm helping out an old friend who has rheumatoid arthritis as well as myself, so if I can increase my yield that much, it would supply us both for a long time.

My reason for growing:
I have a bad case of central nerve pain, caused by a spinal cord injury that I got from a mountain biking accident 12 years ago. Before I started toking, I was having horrible pain flare-ups about 2-3 times per week. But after suffering for 9 years, I discovered how well pot prevents the really serious flare-ups and relieves them after they start. Now I only have one or two per month! So I've been toking almost every day for the past 3 years. Unfortunately, on my disability income I couldn't possibly afford to buy a half ounce every month for $200. So I started growing my own. The chronic pain also gave me insomnia so bad that the sleep doctor told me that I had "no discernible sleep pattern". Since I started toking, I've been sleeping MUCH better and overall I've become 10 times more functional than I was before. Now I need to grow for 2 people, because an old friend of mine developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis in a lot of her major joints. She just started using pot at my recommendation in order to control her pain and insomnia too. I'm hoping that this LED light panel will increase my yields over my crappy fluorescent lights, so that I can supply us both with the medicine we need.

Subbed Up Brother However Im Supprised To Find No Popcorn Brother What Gives????

The Dawg said:

Subbed Up Brother However Im Supprised To Find No Popcorn Brother What Gives????

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Hey Mr Dawg! Good to see you!

You and PSUAGRO found me pretty quick. Glad you're here.

Sorry for my bad manners... Didn't know about the popcorn thing. How about a bud from my last grow:



That's the Critical Kush strain that I'm growing again this time. It's some damn potent shit.

I can't wait to see what I get from this badass LED panel that's arriving in the mail tomorrow!!!

Welcome aboard, brotha.

My Area 51 SGS-160 arrived today in the mail:



Here are my 2 girls growing:



The Critical Kush is in front and the LSD is in back. Like I said before, the LSD is only a backup plant this time. (It's smaller because I sprouted it about a week later than the other one.) I like growing just one plant at a time. I'll probably SCOG it, modeled after The Dawg's design.

Speaking of which, here's a photo showing how I envision my new system that I'm building:



I'm going to make a home made waterfarm, basically. I'll drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the bucket that are too small for the Hydroton clay pellets to fall through, but big enough to make good drainage and allow the roots to grow through and dangle down into the res. I'll also saw a large hole in the shelf, just slightly smaller than the bucket (or maybe slightly bigger?) and place the bucket over it (or in it).

The bottom res holds about 4 gallons of water, as opposed to the waterfarm's 2 gallon res. The top bucket is 5 gallons. I'll probably just fill it with Hydroton like the waterfarm.

I ordered a water farm kit today for about $15, which is just the 2 tubes, watering ring and grommet basically. What I like about it is the way it oxygenates the water using only an air pump without any water pump. I just hope that the tubes are long enough -- this might be a little taller than the commercial waterfarm.

Today I hung up the Area 51 light panel above my little seedlings. Here's a look inside my cabinet:



This light panel is built like a Sherman tank! Really heavy duty construction. You don't want this baby to fall on your plants, because it would be like dropping a cinder block on them! I hope I'll be able to keep the sturdy panel for many years, just replacing the LED's when they lose their brightness.



I tied 120 lb test rope between the 2 anchors on each side to make sure it doesn't snap. There's a lot of tension when I raise the light this high. (Someday I'll have to reposition the anchors in my cabinet, so that the ropes hang straight down.)

Here are my little girls:



In front is the Critical Kush and in back the LSD. The nice thing about Critical Kush girls is that they don't stretch too much. But this gal's color was starting to fade a little today, so I added a small amount of nute in the water.
5.7 pH
380 ppm
Also added an airstone to the water to oxygenate it. The roots of both seedings are hanging down below the Rockwool cubes and dangling in the res water.

The lights are currently 26" above my girls. Area 51 recommends 30" for seedlings, so I placed them a little off center for now. Tomorrow I'll move them to the lower shelf. They already got moved around enough today, so I'll let them rest a while.

The first thing that I noticed after hanging the Area 51 is that my cabinet is much cooler already than when I was hanging my T5 light box in there for my seedlings:



Yesterday it was about 81 degrees in there. After running these lights for a few hours, it's still only 74-75 degrees. And when I touch the lights, they feel COOL to the touch! But if I put the back of my hand right up against an LED, I get a little bee sting feeling there -- not from touching it, but from the light emitting from it! That's how intense it is. Whenever I open up my cabinet, I get blinded for a few seconds while my eyes adjust. My T5's never did that, not anywhere near as much.

So far Area 51 has really impressed me with the SGS-160. Sturdy construction, brightness of the lights, lack of heat generation, American made… So glad I purchased this. I have a feeling I'm going to be very happy with the results!

Looking good dave!
I have also a critical kush seed sitting here for one of my future grows.
Thats the sgs160?!? Its all white? I thought the sgs was red and white? Or do the reds only come in later for flowering?
Our grows will be running somewhat simultaneously, since 1 of my seedlings is a little older than yours and 1 a little younger.

How long/big do you plan to veg?

GroenJoe said:

Looking good dave!
I have also a critical kush seed sitting here for one of my future grows.
Thats the sgs160?!? Its all white? I thought the sgs was red and white? Or do the reds only come in later for flowering?
Our grows will be running somewhat simultaneously, since 1 of my seedlings is a little older than yours and 1 a little younger.

How long/big do you plan to veg?

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That's cool. I plan to follow yours, too. The Critical Kush doesn't need to get too big in veg, because it keeps growing a lot after switching the light schedule to 12/12. I'll have to look at my previous journal, because the plant eventually grew all the way up to my fluorescent lights.

There's a switch that turns on the red lights. When I turn em on, each of those domino-looking rectangles has all 6 LEDs lit. And the lights get REALLY bright. The red tint is really strong, too.

Started building my new garden today. Tried to use the Waterfarm kit, but I don't think my air pump is strong enough. The water just gurgles and a few drops come out of the drip ring occasionally, but usually in the same spot on the ring every time. So I'll probably go back to my idea of making a Hempy Bucket that's watered automatically using a water pump inside the res. The pictures below show it with the Waterfarm kit inside, but I'll use a different water ring fed by a hose from outside the bucket.

Anyway, here's what it looks like so far:



I sawed a big circular hole in the shelf and cut a piece of sheet metal to fit on either side of it and bolted them together to make a real strong shelf. (Later I'll cover all the exposed edges with waterproofing metal tape.) The bucket fits nice and snug in that hole with the bottom sitting about an inch below the shelf. Later I'll make another narrow shelf to cover the front of the res where you see it still uncovered. I'll put holes in between the 2 boards for the water hose and electrical cord for the pump, so that when I take the narrow shelf away I'll be able to take the pump right out. It'll be clearer after I cut the front shelf. I'll make a hole there for the line to the air stone, too.

I also drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of the bucket (like everyone does to their Waterfarms):



This will allow good drainage and let the roots grow down into the res. The 6 big holes you see are too big to hold back the Hydroton, so I glued little screen door patches over them using aquarium glue (not shown here). I'm letting the glue dry for 48 hours according to the instructions.

PetFlora said:

Consider putting lava rock on the bottom third, large polished ornamental rock (river) in the middle, and small as a cap unless you have a flat disc as a top cap to keep light out

Reusable and much cleaner than hydroton, although the lava rock still sloughs

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Where did you get that information, dude? Do you have a source for that? I'm not questioning it, I just never read it before.

See my last and current grow threads. I use it most effectively.

daveroller said:

Where did you get that information, dude? Do you have a source for that? I'm not questioning it, I just never read it before.

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PetFlora said:

See my last and current grow threads. I use it most effectively.

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It looks interesting. Do the smooth river stones let water drain out easier than Hydroton? That's what I would guess. I might go out and buy some tonight to use as the bottom layer. But I was planning to use Perlite as the main medium. 100% Perlite worked good for me in a system similar to Flowamasta's. He got 2.5 lbs from one plant recently. The bottom layer of stones would be there mainly to keep Perlite chunks from getting through the holes in my bucket. And the better the drainage using this method, the better. I don't use a constant drip, just one watering every hour or two, then let the roots get some air in between waterings.

They drain faster plus no residue sloughing off. This allows me to run 13 seconds every ~ 26 minutes (during veg I increase feed time and decrease pause cycle). The Dollar Store has them, usually near the fake flowers

daveroller said:

It looks interesting. Do the smooth river stones let water drain out easier than Hydroton? That's what I would guess. I might go out and buy some tonight to use as the bottom layer. But I was planning to use Perlite as the main medium. 100% Perlite worked good for me in a system similar to Flowamasta's. He got 2.5 lbs from one plant recently. The bottom layer of stones would be there mainly to keep Perlite chunks from getting through the holes in my bucket. And the better the drainage using this method, the better. I don't use a constant drip, just one watering every hour or two, then let the roots get some air in between waterings.

Click to expand...

PetFlora said:

They drain faster plus no residue sloughing off. This allows me to run 13 seconds every ~ 26 minutes (during veg I increase feed time and decrease pause cycle. The Dollar Store has them, usually near the fake flowers

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Cool! Thanks, I never thought of looking there.

Subbed! Sorry I'm late, I can't wait to see this one go!

Rubix said:

Subbed! Sorry I'm late, I can't wait to see this one go!

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Welcome, Rubix! Glad you're here. Awesome grow you're doing, btw!

Thanks man. I've seen some good results with the Area 51 LEDs so I can't wait to see this in full stride. It'll be here before we know it.

Almost finished building my system. Cut out a space for the bucket to sit in with the bottom sticking a few inches below the shelf.



The holes between the shelves are for the airstone hose, the water pump hose and the water pump's electrical cord.



You can see the screen door patches that I glued over the big holes inside the bottom of the bucket:



Next I'm going to cover the cracks with some insulation, mainly to keep light out of the res and bucket.