long time coming. . new cab grow

[Darkone7]

it has been a couple of months since my last run here.
Problems aquiring equip and building a new permanent cabinet slowed me up conciderably.
Last run I did a T-5 grow.Turned out not bad concidering I used blue spec bulbs start to finish.
This time around I am going to go HID with a couple of different digital ballasts.
First I am running a Quantum 400 digi.(was asked to test this for a friend).Starting at 300w I will dial it up to 400w after a couple weeks.I am then going to switch up to the Quantum 600 digital and run it at 3/4 and then full at mid bud cycle,then back to 3/4 or perhaps 1/2 power to finish.
I will be using an Infinite Breeze fan for interior circulation (love the way these fans bob up and down as well as side to side) and an 8in Typhoon fan for exhaust.
The typhoon fan has it's own set of issues. . . it is freakin LOUD!!
I cant locate a variable rheostat for it here in town so I have built a sound proof (sound damping) box,to cut the noise at least somewhat.
I have popped 14 seeds of mixed Kush ancestry of wich I will keep the best ten,maybe twelve,to be transplanted in 3 gallon pots for veg and flower.Final number of course to be determined after sexing plants.
Enough preamble for this grow. . . here are some pics.

Darkone7 Reviewed by Darkone7 on 07-20-2010. long time coming. . new cab grow it has been a couple of months since my last run here. Problems aquiring equip and building a new permanent cabinet slowed me up conciderably. Last run I did a T-5 grow.Turned out not bad concidering I used blue spec bulbs start to finish. This time around I am going to go HID with a couple of different digital ballasts. First I am running a Quantum 400 digi.(was asked to test this for a friend).Starting at 300w I will dial it up to 400w after a couple weeks.I am then going to switch up to Rating: 5

[truepunk87]

very nice setup:thumbsup: ill be waiting to see some plants n there

[Darkone7]

Bit of an update for you.

I finished the insulated box for the 6" Typhoon fan.It works very well,just unfortunately not well enough.
Although the sound has been cut by better than 1/2 it is still just not quite enough to make my room sound proof from my neighbors.

As I have already popped my beans, I need to have lights . . . NOW!
So I have strung my Badboy T-5 under the shade for the HID bulb and am using it on 1/2 power for the new sprouts.

Since the T-5's produce so little heat compared to the HID light, I am using a vent booster fan to suck out the heat.The local Canadian Tire only had one in stock,but when I get another of these fans,the pair of them should provide enough airflow to handle the HID light.They are thermostatically controled and super quiet.

I will post some pics of the cabinet when I get the new fan system built and installed.

Here is a pic of the Vent fan.

[Darkone7]

had a busy long weekend doing yet another reconfiguration on my cabinet.
As I am starting from seed again,I decided that starting with the 400 or 600 might be a bit harsh.
So to be expedient (read lazy) I hung the Badboy unit under the shade for the HID light.
This worked well,but it meant I had to lay on my belly to water the plants. . . not my thing at all!
You can see from the first pics how tight a space it became.
So I removed the HID shade and the ducting running to it.My new fan box is designed to hook to 8'' ducting for when I use it to cool the shade but for now I just have it drawing air from the entire cabinet with no ducting on the intake to allow the T-5 to be out of the way a bit.
The new CT fan seems to cool the T-5 lights just fine.I am picking up a second fan at the end of the week(I designed the box to hold two) and that should give me enough airflow through duct and shade to run the HID lighting when the plants are a bit bigger.
The seedlings are doing very well with only minute stretching from the T-5's.
The bigger plant in the middle was given to me when it accidently got left behind on a trip to the bush for an outdoor grow.It is some type of Skunk cross varient...see how she does

[HMBigBUd]

nice start man,,,ill be following

[Darkone7]

Second week under the lights for the new girls.
The new vent fan exhaust seems to be working very well for the T-5's.Temps are staying in mid seventies to low eighties (ambient outdoor temps are 80+).
I will be picking up the second fan today or tomorow and installing it in the fanbox.I probably won't need to run it untill I switch to the HID light.
The girls have been fed twice now with Seaweed extract.I still prefer that as a starter food for young veg plants.Next feeding they will get a taste of some veg tea.
The SkunkX plant (big one in middle) is doing better after it's long stay lost in a cup under an apple tree.She is getting a bit leggy,but a few more top pinches should cure that.
Well this part of the grow is always a bit boring ,so thats it for now.
2 pics of the girls. . 1 pic of exhaust port. . 1 pic of fan and intake port.

[HMBigBUd]

Did you get Feminized seeds or are they just bag seed?

_________________

http://boards.cannabis.com/closet-ca...b-growlog.html

[Darkone7]

With the ambient temps around here hovering in the low to mid thirties (celcius) I have had to tone the project down for a bit.
I am now running only 4 of the 8 tubes in the Badboy on an 18/6 cycle.
The light is off from noon to 6pm to avoid the peak day temps.
The smaller Kushx's dont seem that bothered by the warm temps but the larger Skunkx in the mix was really starting to suffer.
This whole issue is going to set back the switching to HID lighting by about a week as temps are supposed to start dropping some time later this week.

Other than that, the girls have had two shots of water and one of seaweed extract at 10ml per 2quart water container.
I will post some progress pics later in the week when everything is back up to full scale.


HMbigbud. . . I would not call the breeder that gave me the seeds quite a pro. . so. . they were not (to my knowledge) properly feminized through any specific process.
Oddly enough though,with having planted over 100 of these in a timeframe of three years. . .I have never had a male andonly two mils hermies.

[Darkone7]

our little heat wave has finally broken here and temps have dropped back into the mid 20's.

So I decided that with the temp drop and the fact that I picked up the second fan for my box,it was a good time to change from the T-5 Badboy to the new Digi ballast.

I pulled the T-5 unit out,put the HID light shade in and popped the duct back onto the shade....voila Flower Cabinet.
As a buddy sent me the Quantum Digital 400watt ballast to test,I am starting with that.
I did the switch on Saturday and set the ballast to 1/2 power or 200watts.I will leave it on 1/2 for 3 or 4 days just to let the girls adjust to the different spectrum and intensity.
I am also still on 18/6 light cycle.
Then I will switch the 400 to full power and a 12/12 cycle..I also have a 600watt digi but I think I will run that next time to give this 400 a fair run.

After observing the new setup for a couple of days,there are some adjustments I might have to work on.
Because my exhaust runs from outside the cab,through the air-cooled shade and straight out,I am not drawing any air from the cabinet itself.
I did this as it is not only a more efficient use of my low powered exhaust fans,but also as it doesnt draw any odor through the exhaust..and so no filter/scrubber required.

The down side to this is I have no humidity control now.
If it becomes a real issue I will try running a small (computer type) intake fan to see if mixing fresh air will lower humidity.If not I will of course have to install an exhaust fan and filter system.

No pics today as the light doesnt go out untill noon and I hate those yellow ass pics that sodium lights give.
So I will take some pics just after lights out and put them up tomorrow.

[Darkone7]

I have now switched to a 12/12 cycle and set the ballast 400watts.

The girls also got thier first taste of bloom food today with a mild dose of Pure Blend Bloom.
I have also installed the second fan in my fanbox.These two "vent booster" fans are taking care of the heat from the 400HID with no issues.They are whisper quiet too.
The temps in the cabinet are staying in the low 70's now.I will be looking around for a humidity gauge though,as this may become an issue as time goes on.

Here are some plant pics and the completed fan box.