PC Case Micro SCRoG Grow

[PlayLoud]

Hi Everyone!

Finally I'm getting back on my feet from the defeat of killing my first couple rounds of AK-48 ladies. So I'm onto some mystery seeds that were included with my last order from a very reputable seed bank. These seeds could be anything but they're bound to be a step or five above bag seed. This time, I'm starting this journal out knowing that I should have been here in the first place. I will be posting pictures as soon as I get sprouts.

Unfortunately, stealth is a premium requirement and I simply don't have much more space than what a grow case or two (i'm going to build a clone box to speed my production up after seeing a pro built one) can afford me. Besides, my grow is for me only - no one else. All I want to do is simply grow some world class dank and not pay for it.

My hydro setup is as follows:

22" (20-5/8" interior height) high Tower case
4 fans (two low on front of tower - two high on back of tower).\
Magnetic mesh screen for SCROG growing,
1 gal. DWC Hydro tub with silent air pump & stone
(2) 1-1/2" dia. net pots
(4) 26W 6500K CFL's for vegging
(4) 26W 2700K CFL's for flowering.
TechnaFlora Nutrients

I germinated the two seeds today so this is technically Day 1. I'm excited.

I'll be leaning on a lot of good folks for little pointers here & there.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PlayLoud]

Ok everyone,

My babies are just about to push up through the rockwool, so tomorrow I will be transplanting and getting the hydro system going.

Can anyone recommend a digital pH meter for a reasonable price. I'm sure someone has already asked that a billion times but right now I'm too tired to go pilfering through the posts. Sorry.

I'm wondering if lowes or home depot sell any worth a damn. I have a General Hydroponics test kit and I learned early on that I need to get a digital one.

Anyway, I'll be posting pictures soon.

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

Hanna pH testers are good. I got my for about $55 and you can pay a lot more for a really good Hanna tester. Mine has worked great and you really can't pay less for a digital tester that won't break in a couple of weeks or that you have to always calibrate.

Good luck on the grow and I will be interested.

 

[GrumpyGrower]

I've seen digital testers on ebay for $10. I personally don't mind calibration, but I went with a hanna meter for $30 as the ebay seemed too good to be worth a crap. However in one of the SeeMoreBuds videos one of growers has a kick ass set up and mentions that he trusted the $10 tester from ebay, and apparently has no problems.

You can find the $30 unit fairly easy via google shopping link.

I wish someone would have told me a few things on my first DWC grow, and perhaps you have heard this before but...

When using such a small res, maintenance becomes more important than ever. You will want to make sure your res temps stay in the correct range and that it is lightproof. Algae and root rot can set in and take over really quickly in one gal of water. Ph will fluctuate a lot more and have much less "buffer" room. Your bank of dissolved oxygen in the water will be very small. I realize you plan to keep the plants small, but an older plant could drink 1 gal in a day. I am not suggesting you change your setup, jus saying you may want to be hyper-vigilant about the res at first.

 

[PlayLoud]

Hi Grumpy,

You're 100% right. My first two grows were failures simply because I didn't stay on top of EVERYTHING with the reservoir. I changed it once a week as I should, but wasn't checking the pH every day and before I knew it, I had dead girls.

I'm going to be hyper-vigilant about the pH levels in the tank and make sure that it stays within acceptable ranges. Yes, the reservoir is light proof. My first pics are coming below.

 

[PlayLoud]

Ok, so here is Day 4. I germed the seeds in rockwool with pH balanced water and they've sprouted. One is a bit faster than the other, as the pics show.

I have two questions at this point:

1. How close to the light should I allow these to sit as of now? I only have two lamps on out of my 4 because I don't want to blast them with all that light to begin with.

2. I was thinking about setting up the reservoir tonight and planting them in the net pots tomorrow. Figured I'd give them one more day to stretch their leaves before I put them in the net pots.

I'm going to trim some of the rockwool away so they fit comfortably in my net pots and the rockwool isn't super compressed. I have no plans to put hydroton on top of the rockwool at this point. If the rockwool gets nasty later on, I'll pick out the nasty wool and then drop a few hydroton balls in there.

Pay no attention to the date on the pics, I forgot to turn off the date/time tag on my phone

I'm excited and here's hoping these are girls

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

It is hard to tell how far your light is but I would only have it 12-18 inches away at this point.

 

[BigLo]

Playloud I would set up your res as soon as your babies popped. If you haven't read Roseman's DIY Deep Water Culture tutorial I would recommend it. Its a great tutorial for the first timer.Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial

As far as the light situation if your using CFL's you need to have the lights about 1 to 2 inches from your babies since the lumens aren't as strong from far distances. Looking forward to your grow homie.

 

[GrumpyGrower]

Nice looking box you have there

I would say the seedlings will be fine if you put them in the res. I give mine straight water until I see the second set of true leaves develop. I personally would keep the light well away for a few days, maybe even a week. They wont want to be bathed in a ton of light jus yet. About the time you start adding nutes you can start moving the light closer, or if you notice them stretching too much before then. The CFL can be moved very close eventually, but take it easy for the moment.

You could try cutting out little foil squares to cover the cubes once the plants get a little older. Should help keep off algae growth.

I feel I should caution you about the PH. I didn't want to give you the wrong idea with my previous post. It's true you will need to stay on top of it a lot more cos of the small res, but the second mistake I made was chasing the PH too much. In other words... You want to set your PH to something like 5.5 and let it drift up to 6.5 before you adjust. I had it in my head that I was going to keep a perfect PH at all times, and tried to maintain 5.5. My plants stopped growing. Then Roseman taught me that different elements of the nute solution are available at different PH levels. In a DWC, you want it to drift, not stay at a steady reading. So if you check your PH and it's went from 5.5 to 6.0, let it go for a bit longer. Constantly chasing the PH can be worse than having a too high or too low PH, at least that's my experience. Also, different strains might like slightly different ranges.

Good luck, can't wait to see them take off

 

[PlayLoud]

Thanks everyone for the info.

Yes, I have been reading Roseman's tutorial and it is simply amazing generosity of detail he goes into for that tutorial. SO much great information. Wow.

Ok, so here's a small update. Last night I got a bit pissed going to Wal Mart, CVS, Target, Lowe's and not being able to find pH test strips. I didn't check the pool supply areas, but did check the aquarium sections and nada. I'm just going to go to the Pet Store locally and grab them and I'm contemplating getting a larger airstone than the small 1" on I have unless someone tells me otherwise. I figure the more bubbles I can get without making the water too turbulent will only benefit me

So I guess the general consensus is to get the reservoir up & running today and not add any weakened nute solution? I've heard both ways and it's a bit confusing because both sides of the diluted nute solutions have pretty good arguments.

I'm going to take Roseman's advice and just keep the CFL's on 24/7 and not obsess about the perfect pH. That tip in and of itself was worth gold because my first couple attempts I was always about to have a nervous breakdown worrying about pH levels. Maybe by the middle of next week I'll switch all my CFL lamps on, but for the time being I'll keep the two I have running.

One more thing, just so I'm clear: I want my rockwool cubes as far down in my net pots as possible, right?

I'm so glad I'm seeking advice & help this time & not trying to do this on my own. Thanks everyone.

 

[LiveTour]

Hello and welcome PlayLoud!! I have 0 experience w/ DWC hydro, yet I still want to throw out a suggestion about that last question.."I want my rockwool cubes as far down in my net pots as possible, right?"...
I would say keeping them towards the top is key, and if you need to take up space a small amount of hydroton will suffice, and or possibly additional rockwool. I love your case, and +reps for the stealth approach!

 

[PlayLoud]

Can someone inform me for DWC, how much of my net pot do I want submerged in the reservoir so the cubes stay moist.

I'll have another big update coming tonight with the system up & running. After reading Roseman's tutorial, I went ahead and bought some Home Defense pest spray (even with a micro grow) and a temperature/RH gauge at Home Depot as he said they were both non-negotiable musts.

I decided to do no nutes for the first week. So next Saturday I'll drain & clean the reservoir, I'll start my TechnaFlora nute recipes.

 

[PlayLoud]

Day 4

Well, today reminds me exactly why I'm doing this. I'm dry as a bone and no replenishment on the horizon for the next few days. It's nice to take a break, but I'd like it to be by choice rather than by circumstance.

On to the grow...

Well being in the South is going to be a challenge over the summer. It's only March and my case temps are already running in the high 80s and even peaked out at 91F with my air conditioner set at 74F inside. While that doesn't freak me out, I'd like it to be a lower. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong for not overly obsessing about the temp. I did make the executive decision and moved my case out of the closet into a larger part of the room that gets a lot more airflow. If the temps still run high, I'm sure I'll be back on here asking for direction.

Today's activities included getting the reservoir up & running. I used distilled water because I had two gallons on hand. After reading Roseman's DWC/Deep Water Culture Tutorial, I'll be using filtered tap water next fill up. I'm not using any nutes for the first week. I used Ortho Home Defense in the room & the closet to head off bug problems. I have two lamps on of my four CFL's and all 4 fans going. Lights are on 24/7 until flowering. I have the plants about 12-14" down from the lights for the first week.

Here are some pics from today. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Green Utopia]

Great little grow. I'm so pleased to see this grow. I've been hoping someone would do a nice mini scrog in a pc case.

You got a great setup going so far. Be careful not to over water the rockwool. You should really be seeing roots before you worry about nutes or anything else. If you keep the rw too wet you will get rot at the base of your stem.

As far as the light goes - if they stretch - you're too far. Anything closer would be basically ok - it would be tough for you to give them too much light.

You'll definitely want the temps a little lower cause you're gonna need to get the lights as close as possible to the scrog. But, unless you introduce some crazy liquid cooling or something, the best you will ever be able to do is the ambient temperature of your room. So that should make it easy to solve. If your fans can keep the inside of the box (with the lights on and pumps running) the same temp as your room - then you've got it right.

Very cool grow! +Reps

 

[PlayLoud]

Papa,

Thanks for the compliments

Well, currently I have my net pots with the rockwool maybe 1/8" submerged in the reservoir. Should I not being doing this? Will this saturate the rockwool?

In terms of the heat, the case naturally runs 5-6 degrees higher than ambient room temp. So I dunno how to cool it any more than by moving it out of the closet.

 

[PlayLoud]

So...today is day 6 and I feel like I should be doing something to the plants. I know that I'm best to just let them do their thing but it "feels" like I should be messing or checking the system/setup. I guess I'm afraid like last time, I'll come home and find them wilted or some other sad tale of demise, so I am being extra vigilant.

At what point should I turn all 4 of my CFL lamps on? Right now I have 2 of the 4 on since the plants are young but I'm wondering if I should go ahead and turn them all on, bring the sprouts closer to really kick start the growth.

Right now I'm running plain water with no nutes for the 1st week.

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

I would say the more light will cause faster bushier growth....it is all in what you want. That is what I found when I was using FL tube lights before switching to my T5.

 

[GrumpyGrower]

Might wanna pick up a water thermometer if you haven't already, another 'must' IMO.

Moving the light closer will increase growth, but not until a root system is formed. Until that happens, the seedlings will put the bulk of their energy into growing root mass. You can speed up root formation by using a root excelurator. I wouldn't give much thought to the light until you see some true leaves. Having the extra two lights on probably wont do anything but raise the temps. I would wait a few more days and save the energy. But yea, sometime soon the benefits of the extra light will outweigh the drawback of added heat. Of course if you choose to turn em on now, the plants will be ok. You might be interested in reading about the inverse square law of light to get an idea of how distance affects intensity.

I don't start my seeds in rockwool, I use peat pellets, but I had the same concerns about stem rot. I set the water level so that it is immediately below the basket. The bubbles splash up and keep things wet. The peat pellets stayed very wet but I didn't have any troubles. As the roots grew I dropped the level until the pellets were not staying wet all the time. So I don't think a few days of wet cubes will hurt anything. But there is nothing wrong with setting the water level lower and just hand watering the cubes for now if that works better for you.

I've seen many people suggest that DWC tubs can be placed on cement blocks which will apparently help draw out the heat and act as a heat sink. Perhaps if you set the case on some blocks it would help do the same. I've also set my air pumps inside a small tub and filled the tub with ice packs so that the air being pumped in is pre-cooled. I stopped doing this after about a week because it was a pain changing ice packs every hour or so, but I did get my water temp to drop a few degrees that way.

I know the feeling of always wanting to do something for the plants, and I've been cautioned by others that too much "fuss" is stressful. I've found a good way to pass the time is to watch grow videos. If I may suggest a few,

Jorge Cervantes ultimate grow 1-3
SeeMoreBuds series 1-3

I found these videos to be highly informative and entertaining. They show dozens of different set ups and situations. Much more enjoyable than the average tedious grow tutorial video and they gave me something to do while I waited for my plants to grow.

 

[PlayLoud]

Grumpy,

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and turned back off the 4 lamps. I had turned on all 4 mid day today but I'm just a bit concerned that it's too much too quick.

I've seen the Jorge Cervantes series but not See More Buds. I'll check that out.

I'll post more pics tonight of today's progress. I also added a rolled up wet wash cloth and put it on top of the reservoir tank to add some humidity in there as well as act as a buffer to keep the heat from raising the tank temp.

Where can I get a reservoir thermometer? Is there any one kind you recommend?

 

[GrumpyGrower]

I got mine for under $2 at the fish section in walmart. It just floats around in the water. You can get digital meters but I find the cheap ones work just fine.