First Grow - CFL

This is my first grow. I thought I would stay cheap, but as usual, I ended up spending way too much money - ~ $600 (pre-tax). I spent a bit of time researching the box design, and here are some pics.

Important to me was smell control, and ability to suck the air out. After doing some research and testing a PC fan, I realized mine couldn't draw air through a carbon scrubber. Also, because of the small closet space, I needed to bend ducting 180 degrees to get out of the closet. This required a quality fan to work against this pressure drop.

I bought a wood rubbermaid cabinet from the store for 3 reasons: couldn't fit a built cab in my vehicle (found some on craigslist for < $20), I think it was about as expensive as building from scratch, nice stealth appearance (shouldn't arouse suspicion).

I bought a 4" vortex fan and a Speedster speed controller (for temperature, noise, and electricity usage control). I contacted Atmosphere (Vortex manufacturer) and they endorsed Speedster.

I considered building my own scrubber, but when I researched the cost of materials in my area (activated carbon was $5-10/lb), I found a pre-made filter on Ebay. They get high quality carbon in bulk.

A breakdown of costs:
- Rubbermaid cabinet (Canadian Tire), 17" x 30" x 5' : $80
- Plywood for cabinet backing : $10
- Vortex fan + speed controller: $180
- Carbon scrubber, delivered: $80
- 5 CFLs : $75
- light fixtures and mounting 1x6 wood : $10
- mylar (25' roll) : $25
- double-sided tape : $5
- heavy duty mechanical timer: $12
- extension cords/3-way plug : $20
- chains/hooks/cords/screws/nails : $20
- weatherstripping : $10
- dryer ducting : $10

I needed some basic tools:
- jigsaw : $20
- spade bit / jigsaw blade : $10

I had the following items around the house:
- duct tape
- screwdrivers
- wire strippers
- PC fan

I'm germinating now, so more pics to come

I'm not sure if it'll work, but I left the bottom 1' of cabinet for a separate clone area with its own ventilation (PC fan) and lighting capability. I will put mylar on the shelf later.

BTW - please feel free to comment. I may not be visiting everyday, but when I do, I'd love to hear comments or questions.

nice lil setup you should have ued a 150 watt hps

yeah. i went back and forth a few times before settling on CFL. Grow time/quantity were not an issue for me. The startup cost for CFLs is about half of the HPS when you throw in ballast, reflector, and bulb. The other thing is that my belief of the CFL install being safer (maybe this is not true). I was looking at a 250W HPS, and I read about startup current (an inductive load, I believe), which can be 6-7 times the normal current. Since all my devices (timer, power bar, breaker) were all 15A, I didn't want to get that close to the setting. I also read about potential internal timer damage when used with a ballast, and I didn't want to risk an electrical problem.

3 of the 5 seeds sprouted somewhere between 24-36 hours (started germination Saturday night, checked seeds on Monday early evening)

if u have the receipt send the fan back, a do it yourself one is easy and cost much much less look in the diy forum for the specifics. how many watt are them cfl?

darkdestruction420 said:

if u have the receipt send the fan back, a do it yourself one is easy and cost much much less look in the diy forum for the specifics. how many watt are them cfl?

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Don't I need the fan to pull through the scrubber? My PC fan doesn't have enough oomph.
The CFLs are 42W.

oh, i see. you can still find a cheaper one that does as good a job though. your setup is very nice.

The final two seeds (out of 5) on the 3rd day after starting germination. Soaking the seeds in a glass of room temperature distilled water for ~ 12 hours, and then in distilled water soaked paper towels within a ziplock baggie.

Five days after planting all seeds in the soilless mix. Two of the seedlings look very healthy, one is a little stunted, and two will probably be written off.

The 6500K CFL's (x3) are about 12" above the tops of the seedlings. I've got the small PC fan sucking air out for temperature control, and the doors of the cabinet mostly open (for temperature). Each bulb seems to add about 2F to the box temperature while sucking out the air with the PC fan. It's been pretty dry and humidity is 33-41%, temps about 69-75F. Lights are on an 18 hour on cycle.

Please feel free to comment on my grow journal... I'm going to need the help

get your cfls closer, 2-3 inches away should be good.

my 42w cfl's have a ct 2700k If yours are the same you might want to trade 2 of them out for a lower watt higher ct cfl. for veg.

he said they are 6500k, so he's good till flowering time.....he might wanna start looking for 2700k cfls now though, lol, you'll want a bunch for flowering so see if ya cant find some sales or something.

Oh missed that. I can't find 6500k 42w.

stumps said:

Oh missed that. I can't find 6500k 42w.

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neither could I, lol. i ended up going with some 30w 6500k that were $4 each at this hardware store that was going out of business in my town.

lol I got 1-80w and 1-100w. need to get off my ass and go get a 600w hps so I can use the 400w mh for veg.

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darkdestruction420 said:

get your cfls closer, 2-3 inches away should be good.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I read in Cervantes book that as seedling, the intensity shouldn't be high. I think he said 12" away from the plants. Is this right? As soon as they're out of the seedling stage, I was going to move the lights to 2".

darkdestruction420 said:

he said they are 6500k, so he's good till flowering time.....he might wanna start looking for 2700k cfls now though, lol, you'll want a bunch for flowering so see if ya cant find some sales or something.

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I did buy a cool white Philips bulb (42W) that I was going to put on to provide a full spectrum once out of seedling stage. I don't know what the ct is though. I will need more for flowering though. The bulbs are awfully expensive here, ~ $14 each.

I wanted to get the 42 watters which have higher lumens (~ 2600). Hope this was a good plan.

I gave up on two of my plants (bad genetics, I think). Here are the final three. Hopefully, at least one turns out to be a lady!

yeah, i paid 14 each for my 18 40w 3000k 2700 lumens bulbs and had 6 others break on me so ive bought 24 in the last year lol