Riverside's First Grow - Stealth Bookshelf w/ 180w Blackstar LED

[RiversidE]

Hey RIU! Been lurking here for awhile waiting for my situation to become ideal for growing, and that time has come! I've been planning this for months and things are finally starting to take shape. So, I have this old bookshelf that I had lying around. It stands about 5' tall and is 28" wide, 12" deep. I left the top shelf open so I can put actual books on it, leaving about 41" of grow space. Mylar came today so I've lined everything with that and am waiting on the ventilation fan and LEDs and a few other tools. Should begin to see some action next week though! Quick summary of this grow:

Space: 41"x26"x12"
Medium: Soil
Lights: Blackstar 180w LED
Strains: 2 unknown bagseeds (first grow, don't want to waste the good stuff yet) and 1 Grapefruit seed

I am also looking for feedback on a few things. First, that lock I have pictured is what I was planning on using as a way to keep the door closed, but that requires drilling a 1" hole in my door and could mess with the seal of the door. So I'm looking for suggestions on how to keep the door shut; I had tossed around the idea of magnets or some type of tab similar to what is used on cabinets but I don't know how feasible that will be.

Second, I have like 3 different types of seals for that door: 1/4" weatherstripping, 1/2" weatherstripping and 1/4" vinyl tubing. I'm worried about not being able to close the door with 1/2" or have a good enough seal with the 1/4" materials, so I was hoping to get some more suggestions on that.

Otherwise, stick around, voice some opinions/support, and the good stuff should be happening within the next week!

 

[hoss12781]

would be interested to see what the 180 from blackstar can do man. I own what I've gathered is their main competitor's 180 unit. I've got my chair pulled up.

 

[RiversidE]

Welcome to the show hoss! Small update now that the thread has finally been posted. Got the door mounted and went with magnetic latches. Used vinyl tubing to seal the door with the frame, and it looks pretty air tight so far. I'll probably mount the lights tomorrow and do the light test.

Ran into an issue today with the 12VDC supply that I was going to power my 12V 3.1A bilge blower with. The adapter I bought was made as a replacement for LCDs and says it is rated for 6A, but it just sputters out low current to the fan, so back to shopping for a new supply. This is what I had: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TUMDWG and now I'm looking at this: http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...tualkey67500000virtualkey675-CENB1050A1203F01 Twice as expensive, but should get the job done. I'm also searching for a DC fan controller that can handle up to 4A, which is proving to be difficult. Thread here about that if anyone has any suggestions: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/454562-high-current-dc-fan-controllers.html Anyway, picture update at least:

 

[RiversidE]

Dry run with lights. Doing some heat tests w/o ventilation and see how well the light is being blocked. Not very well as you can tell What the hell was I thinking using white vinyl tubing as sealant? It looks like a rope light.

 

[Wrekstar]

wowww does that look powerful
how much for the LED?

 

[RawBudzski]

Riverside California IE baby.

 

[RiversidE]

Starting germing the seeds today. Will probably have an update after transplant, hopefully after work.

wowww does that look powerful
how much for the LED?

$219 from Gotham Hydro.

Riverside California IE baby.

Riverside, Polish progressive rock group

 

[RiversidE]

Day 1 - 8/13

Two of the seeds popped their taproots, grapefruit and one of the three bag seeds. I'm trying to germinate at least one more bag seed as I'd like to have three plants growing here. Grapefruit and BS1 are in soil (Fox Farm Ocean Forest) and under the lights. Currently, I have no ventilation as I am waiting for the DC supply and regulator for my bilge blower, so the temps are around 91F at the bottom where the seeds are. Hopefully this won't hurt them while they're still under the soil. Those parts should be here on Monday, and hopefully the seeds will have sprouted by then.

 

[RiversidE]

Day 4 - 8/17

So, lots of new things today! All three seeds have sprouted with Bag Seed (BS) 2 winning so far. Grapefruit (GF) on the left is a close second with BS1 as the gimp.

Since the last update, the cab got a new cooling system: bilge blower, 4.2A DC supply and a speed controller. I had the controller mounted outside and the fan poking out through the back with no insulation was a bit worried about the noise from the fan. Not from the sound of the air moving, but the motor makes a fairly high pitched whine. The power supply brick is mounted with velcro near the center cross bar and easily reaches the timers.

Today, I pulled the fan away from the backboard and have it connected to the ducting inside of the cab, rather than outside. I surrounded it in some foam which has killed the small vibrations that I was getting and cut down on the whine. It's only possible to hear it from closer than 4 feet from the cabinet which gives me enough piece of mind to not worry about it anymore.

 

[RiversidE]

Day 9 - 8/22

Most of the seedlings have at least 2 nodes and are looking good and healthy so far!

 

[lostNug]

Lookin nice brotha. U from riverside, ca? Im right here by the beach, I go to school out in riverside (fabrication school)

 

[RiversidE]

Lookin nice brotha. U from riverside, ca? Im right here by the beach, I go to school out in riverside (fabrication school)

Nah man, just a fan of a Polish prog group called Riverside. One day I'll make it to Riverside Cali though.

Have a listen:
[video=youtube;GnK8DEYWxKs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnK8DEYWxKs[/video]

 

[RiversidE]

Day 11 - 8/24

Transplanted everyone to their new homes in some 7.5"x7.5"x8.75" pots. No signs of transplant stress that I can tell and BS2 is already bouncing back with new growth. Gettin' exciting now Probably do some 4-way LSTing this weekend and start flowering maybe mid-next week.

BS2 bouncing back from the transplant:

 

[KawiZZR]

Looks good so far, just started using LED myself now too.

 

[petethedom]

Looks good. I am dying to see the results with the led.

 

[RiversidE]

Day 14 - 8/27

Not too much interesting since the last post. I topped about a day and a half ago and am starting to see some new growth at the topping site. Growth has been slowing and I'm beginning to wonder about the conditions of these plants.

I'd really like someone to take a look at this and tell me what is up:

I've been trying to do some research on it myself and am not sure what the cause could be. Some leaves are curled up and droopy, indicative of some overwatering, so I have not watered them since I transplanted. But the crusty, dry spots are puzzling. It reminds me of water damage on leaves, but I don't think that can happen on a green leaf. Could also be too much light as the lights were sitting about 9" above the plants, so I upped those to 14" and will see if that makes a difference. But does anyone else have any opinions? No nutes are being used either. Watered with distilled water, and the soil is FF Ocean Forest.

Hi-Res of GF - notice the curled up leaves, droopy, and some discoloration on the edges. Again, could be light damage or overwatering, but let me hear experienced opinions.

 

[RiversidE]

Day 16 - 8/29

I think the cause of my plant issues were underwatering and possibly too much light. I moved the lights from 9" to 14" and they are responding well. Growth has picked up today and the plants are looking healthier. The topping sites are quickly coming to life and no new leaves are developing the dull/dry condition from before.

GF

BS1

BS2

They have also begun to stink, so I've made a carbon filter out of an auto air filter, pantyhose, and activated carbon. Works very well; I had to redo it once because I tried to fit too much carbon in and that just ended up blocking it and I wasn't satisfied with the flow of air passing into the filter. Less is more with this I suppose.

 

[RiversidE]

Day 24 - 9/6. Veg time: 23 days

I returned from labor day vacation to find the ventilation fan had fallen! It was only being held by the tape between the duct and fan and it must have come loose. Luckily, that scrog screen (which still needs to be cut; keep forgetting to do that) rescued the plants from any damage. Still the temps were up to 95F so I immediately got working on a new ventilation solution. I moved the fan outside of the case and took a page from one the threads about silencing I read around here. All I had lying around was a cardboard box to use as an enclosure and got some insulated ducting, a bag of polyfill, and a piece of scrap wood and built a fan silencer box.

Results were mixed. The cabinet is kept below 80F now that the fan is pulling from a tube rather than just a space. So new grower lesson #160: inline fans need to be "inline", not at the beginning or end. I modified my filter as well as using a pet odor filter wrapped around the outside rather than a bag of charcoal on the inside, improving airflow and still effective at kill odor. The issue now is that the fan is still a bit louder than it was when it was inside of the cabinet, but the cabinet is kept cool enough now that I can even shut the doors without having heat issues. I need to try a centrifugal or squirrel cage fan next time and see how their noise compares. Anyone care to chime in on this? Inline noise vs centrifugal/squirrel cage noise? The airflow is far stronger of course, but I wonder about the whine of motor, which seems to be an issue for inline fans.

And of course, the plants:

Grapefruit is recovering from what I'm pretty sure was an overwatering spell finally. The new growths are lush and healthy looking.

The bag seeds are looking nice as well. Its now pretty clear that they're different strains, which I did not think to be the case.

I added nutes to my grow as well. For the first watering, I used 1/2 TSP of FF Grow Big and 1/2 TBSP of FF Big Bloom to one gallon of distilled water, and I think this is to blame for the lush new growth. That or I'm finally watering properly. I've been on a feed-water-water schedule, but these only seem to need watering every 3-5 days.

Which gives me a new theory as to why LEDs can perform erratically, regarding being slightly less or better than HIDs and why the result is so unpredictable. Perhaps the great LED grows are done in dry environments where the moisture evaporates quickly leaving more nutrients and the under performing grows are done in more humid climates where the moisture stays longer, slowing absorption. The grower would add a lot of variability in there as well with their feed schedules then (feed every time or something else). An interesting idea to keep in mind for next time (unless this has been tested or something, or I'm again using bad plant science).

 

[bonghittersanber]

im right above riverside, ca! ya the ie ! lots of people from the ie on here.

 

[RiversidE]

im right above riverside, ca! ya the ie ! lots of people from the ie on here.

Awesome I'm not from Cali though

And I changed my mind about flowering. I turned the lights back to 19/5 (I dunno, I like to be different) so I'm gonna let it veg until they get a few inches taller.