DIY Hydro grow

Ok I deceided that I will do my log with the DIY stuff I have put together either by reading or thinking of something on my own or combo of both hehe. First we have our cabinet which is constructed of 2x4's and black/white poly. I "pinched" the poly between scrap 2x4 pieces and the frame itself that way the poly didnt tear like it prob would if just used staples or screws. Dimensions are 24"x40"x72" and is open at the top. The top will be covered with activated charcoal filter (which is used by diff air filter companys and bought at walmart, $10 a box and needed 2) this will act as a filter to help control smell but will allow airflow for heat to leave grow area. There is a small 6" fan mounted at the top which will circulate air down to the plants and will also push air past the light. The light is a 400w HPS/MH fixture. Have 2 plastic storage containers from walmart, 1 for tray and 1 for res, both painted to keep light out.

Now we move on to the "starting" table. 2x4's and plywood make up the table. I took another piece of plywood and mounted 3 fixtures to it and hung the plywood over the top of the table. Lights are hung by 3/16" poly rope and run through pullys that are mounted on the top so the light system can be lifted or lowered to it's desired height. The rope is secured to the side of the framework by using 2 rope cleats (same thing you tie a boat up to at a dock). Lights are 75w 6500k cfl's. Then we have pics of the "volunteers" which are 3rd generation clones. We have 4 Medibuds (left side) and 4 "who knows but smokes good". These pics show them at 14 days old. sorry getting started a lil late on log. To clone I use the same tray with Hydrotron covering the bottom, tray sits on a heat mat which runs 15 mins every hour. They started in 1.5" cubes and sat in smalll netpots on top of the Hydrotron with a dome on. 9 days and they moved into the 4" cubes that they are in now and will be there home. Up untill now all they have had is PH adjusted tap water and 1 drop Superthrive per gallon. Today I will give them a lil present by adding just a few drops of Dutchmaster Grow to the water. I also have found that when watering I have best luck "dunking" the block into a bucket than watering from top of block. This way I can semi control how high up the block gets "wet" and have had much better luck getting roots out the bottom instead of mostly sides. Stay tuned ..... to be continued...... :smokin:

Nice setup you've got goin there. Im about to start my first grow, how many grows did it take you to upgrade to this system? Imma be starting off small w/ my first few grows in a cabinet, but one day I wish to upgrade to something ridiculously efficent and high-yielding

This is actually my 2nd system. My first system I have about 4 grows in and everything was bought either online or from Hydro shops and after seeing what I got and how much I paid for it all I said "no frigging way" will I pay that again!! Pics of the first system are in "how do you make such huge buds?" posted by Easymare in this same hydro section. Over 3k invested in first system and about 500 in this DIY one so was a little easier on pocket lol :D Clones go into cabinet tonite and will post pics

Sorry no pics as yet, ran into quite a heat problem. Grossly underestimated how much heat I would be dealing with since the 1st cabint has a cooltube and this one has zero cooling on light. Creating intake ports to work with a 4 inch exhaust port that I created in the upper back right and mounted a 4 inch inline fan ( home depot $25 ) in front of it with a scrap piece of plywood. Intake ports are being made of 1 1/2 pvc elbows. Got tomorrow off so will shoot pics in AM

Sounds like you got your shit together!!! I've found that even paint made for plastics generally comes off very easy, I would suggest wrapping duct tape around it too. The only other thing I would suggest is next time starting them in grow plugs, Rockwool can be a pain in the ass plus the plugs are cheaper.:thumbsup:

P.S. the place you bought your grow light from has excellent customer service, Have been using them for years.

ok here we go and again sorry for the delay. first pic shows new exhaust creation and other pics show "the kids" and intakes in the background. Clones are 3 weeks old now and going onto a 5/5 ml per gal mixture of GH Micro/Bloom and 1 drop per gallon of Superthrive.

I think you should add 5ml of gh grow, this will still allow the plants to be small and bushy.

I have thought about GH Grow a couple of times but I didnt have or use during first 4 grows i did in other closet, also the receipe I am using (slightly tweaked) I got from this site and stated grow not needed plenty of N in Micro so I have not bought any. Plus when nutes I have are used up I am thinking of either changing to Advanced Nutrients or Fox Farm I'm not sure atm.

Why do you want to change your brand of nutes?

I guess it is because I read allot more peeps bragging about the others compared to GH. Dont get me wrong I have not had any problems with GH products except down to about 2 weeks to go in other closet and salt buildup is definitlly there and heard others had less salt using other products. I might stay with GH but upgrade to their Flora Nova class instead of the basic stuff but still have atleast 1 more run of nutes before I have to start worrying bout buying more so have about 17 wweks or so to make up my mind hehe ;)

First off I will say I really suck at keeping this up to date lol. The first 3 pics will show the new total of 10 babies in their little home. 2 more than I really think I have room for but the original 8 have been joined by 2 White Widows that deceided to sprout and grow quick enough to join. They are prob gonna get shaded out by the others but not sure of the sex on these seeds so as long as get big enough to tell sex when flower starts thats all I'm asking of them so i will know to clone or not.

What is the average height of the plants? when do you plan on flowering? You may run into root rot problems from taking males out.

average height atm is about 10in. the original 8 are clones the 2 WW are from seed. Original plan was to clone on the 19th and start flower on the 21st but will see how things are, might delay a day or 2 for good clones. My flowering is also quite fast, average up to this grow has been 6 weeks total and that includes the 1 week of plain water flush. We have our fingers crossed on the male/female thing. We started this hobby of ours with a "freebie" seed from a UK order and a generic bag seed from smoke purchased locally and as luck would have it both turned out to be female!!!! The WW are the first seeds we have done since our 1st grow and this one here is grow number 4. If I get 1 female WW I will be thrilled as I will be taking clones from both WW and 2 other plants out of the 8 others. Been trying to weed out the generic bagseed and keep only the UK Medibud that was 1 of the original seeds and hopefully the WW :smokin: WW is 3 1/2 weeks old atm and clones are 4 1/2 weeks old. Weight: quite heavy with gallons of water and about 12 pounds of hydrotron lol

6 weeks is awesome! Keep the updates coming, i cant wait to see them done?