A noob's guide to doin it right the 1st time

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

Ok, I have spent the last 2.5 months researching on this site and others, reading a few "grow bibles" and whatnot, and just generally asking a lot of questions. I have always been one to believe that if you're gonna do something, you might as well do it right

I've done my research, and decided to sacrifice my only closet to this project

But appearances are not always what they seem.....

What you are witnessing is the one, the ONLY HydroHut Mini. A ginormous 3'x3'x6.5' That's a total of 9sq. ft, or 58.5 ft3. A totally self-contained atmosphere which will allow me to completely control every environmental factor related to my grow, which I have decided will be good ole' Northern Lights

What you see here is a 600 watt cooltube from HTG Supply. A total of 95,000 initial lumens, or 10,555.55 lumens per sq. foot, or 66.66 watts per sq. foot. This is well within all generally accepted minimum light requirements

Those are 18 gallon rubbermaid tubs, in which will be placed 5 or 6 plants a piece, with 3'' net pots containing hydroton. I will attempting a SOG grow with this setup. I will be building my own bubbler system here within the next couple of weeks, cash flow permitting. You will notice the lack of airflow devices, this will also be taken care of in the next two weeks. I will be building my own activated carbon filter, and creating a passive airflow system to keep the smell down to a dull roar.

List of things I still need:

2 6'' inline fans, 1 for air filter (250 cfm), 1 for cooltube to keep temps down
1 ph meter
1 tds meter
1 hygrometer
1'' rockwool cubes
4 air pumps w/ multiple outlets
10 or 12 circular airstones to be placed under each plant site
3 Part General Hydroponics Nutes
3" net pots
Stuff for building charcoal filter (which can be found at any pet store & home dePOT)
Fans for strengthening the plants (which I already have)
Feminized seeds from an as of yet undetermined seed bank


Ok, I think that's about it. I have checked and this setup will be totally light proof. I'm gonna have to get used to the sound of my ballast a hummin away while I'm trying to sleep, but I have a turbo fan that I can't sleep without anyways, which covers the sound pretty good.

As you can hopefully tell, I've done a lot of research on this whole thing before I purchased a single item. Better to be prepared as you can be BEFORE you start sinking money into something. I'm looking forward to this being a lifelong hobby of mine. I like nature, and I like the herb, so this is a wonderful marriage between the two. I know that I'm going to fuck up some, but that's what learning is all about. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I post again here, but I will be putting up pictures documenting the final assembly of my grow area

 

[VictorVIcious]

wow, didn't know you had it in ya, rock on. This is the first time we have ever seen anything that big, 9 sqft, wow. Bet you have the first one ever sold, and its perfect.
Looks like a plan, Man. VV

 

[BloodShotI'z]

So where are you going to vent from? The cool tube needs a fan and duct to vent out doesnt it?

 

[daddychrisg]

Why not run your exhaust like this...Carbon filter to cool tube, to exhaust fan..Looks like you have a pretty good stealth set-up. 600w's in that closet is going to be HOT, so you better have a good venting system is my concern.. Did you pick up a digital Ballast? If you are keeping the ballast inside the hut, this would help keep heat down. I don't know how you can hang your electrical equipment in a hut, but you need to get that power strip off the ground. Obvious, but I thought I would throw it out there! GL, looks good, do more research, and ask alot of questions! Do you have a local grow shop? They can be alot of help sometimes...

 

[Austinfrosty]

Unless you have done rockwool before you might want to give RapidRooter a try. I have had better success with them!

Very nice rig by the way.

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

The HydroHut comes with 7 vents total, 3 at the top for ductwork, 1 at the bottom for cold air intake, and 3 flaps at the bottom for passive airflow. I had thought about just using the 1 vent, and using the carbon scrubber on the same fan as the cooltube, but I realized that the filter would interfere with the cfm's on the fan. I know it'll be another $40, but I think it will be worth it.

As far as my ballast goes, I do have it outside of the hut. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up a digital ballast, but I can definitely see the advantages of having one. After this first grow, I'll probably pick one up and sell my other. It has a 2 year warranty, so it should last a few months

There are some gaps under and around the doors of the closet which will allow adequate ventilation. I work 3rd shift, so there is a blanket up over my window to keep light out since I sleep during the day. I keep my apartment pretty cool, and I have two turbine fans which I use just to keep air flowing in the apartment. My thinking is that with a 250 cfm fan just for the cooltube, that should keep the light from being able to generate as much heat as it otherwise would.

I should have mentioned that I haven't purchased any of the ductwork yet either, but this last splurge in spending should be able to get me around 3rd and to home. So far I've spent about $450 on this setup, and I'll probably be dropping close to another $300, maybe more before it's all said and done. It's not cheap, but I know that this setup will pay for itself after my first harvest

I should also mention that so far everything I have I've purchased online. There aren't any specialty hydro shops within a reasonable distance. I also live in a college town, so purchases like these have to kept on the DL cause cops around here have nothing better to do.

I welcome all questions and comments!

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

All this waiting around is killing me!!! I have all this equipment but can't do anything with it yet but sit here and look at it!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[daddychrisg]

LOL that would drive me Mad also! Hey, when you buy the ducting, look around for the stuff that has a plastic material inside of it. On the packaging there is a guy hanging off the stuff, kinda like that old super glue commercial. That stuff is great to work with and does not get those little tears in it over time...Venting looks good to me, the temp inside your cabinet will depend now on the house temp. Keep a postin! And what is up with your seeds?

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

I haven't ordered my beans yet I'm trying to find feminized Northern Lights seeds to I don't have to hack my roots to death in the event of males.

Thanks for the info on the ducting, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that stuff!

 

[nobody]

nice, how much did that hut run you?

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

Around $450 so far. It's not cheap to do it right, but I want to be doing this for a long time so the initial investment is worth it to me.

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

HANNA HI99104 Pocket pH Tester/Meter/Checker, HI 99104 - (eBay item 280143864801 end time Aug-22-07 23:33:45 PDT)

HANNA Primo TDS Meter, PPM Tester, Conductivity - (eBay item 280143872315 end time Aug-23-07 00:42:55 PDT)

check em out. huge bargain on those. and their from Hannah too. even comes with calibration stuff! weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

on another note, i just ordered most of the nuts and bolts i need to complete my setup. pretty much the only stuff i need is air pumps, air stones, my carbon filter and seeds

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

so the mailman came yesterday with lots of goodies!!

i ordered my beans on saturday, so as soon as they get here i'll be ready to go. i ordered some AK47 and Northern Lights i've done a couple of test runs with the everything on to determine what temps i'm going to be dealing with. so far, it looks like i'll be running a high of 88 with lights on and about 72 at night. this is a little more action than i really want, so most likely i'll end up buying another inline fan and re-doing my ductwork to keep the temps a little more steady. fyi, my carbon filter is a d.i.y. deal. i was gonna post a tutorial, but my camera screwed up and i lost the pictures

i've been keeping track of my expenditures thus far, in case anyone else is curious about how much it costs to go from nothing to everything you need.

HydroHut: $192.39 including shipping
600W CoolTube w/ ballast: $278.95 plus shipping
6" inline fan $39.95
General Hydroponics Flora Kit 3 pack Quart size : $29.99
10 pack of 3" net pots $9.50
2, 2 liter bags of Hydroton: $7.90
45 1 inch rockwool cubes: $8.95
Ph up 1 qt. $12.95
Ph down 1 qt. $12.95
Hannah Ph meter: $22.99
Hannah TDS meter: $11.99
Indoor/outdoor hygrometer: $21.95
16' aluminum ducting $23.94
Hardware cloth: $6.97
4 6" worm clamps: $7.16
2 6" to 4" reducer $8.64
2 4" worm clamps: $2.38
6' end cap: $3.92
4" end cap $3.69
4" collar: $2.69
2 900 ml activated charcoal: $10.94
pantyhose: $.99
2 air pumps: $19.94
4 18" air curtains: $17.88
8' air hose: $1.33

total spent including beans thus far: $868.58 including miscellaneous taxes and shipping fees not included.

next update when my beans arrive!

 

[daddychrisg]

KILLER!!! You have the tools, now lets see it in action! GL

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

well, i ran into a little problem with my setup. i did a dry run with all of my equipment on for a while and found that my puny 250cfm fan is worthless for evacuating the heat from my HydroHut. temps peaked at 92, and probably could have gone higher. this means that i need to get another fan just for my exhaust. i've been looking at a 465 cfm unit, but i'm not sure if this will be enough even.

in the meantime, i have disconnected the filter half of airflow setup in an attempt to get more air flowing through the cooltube. i may try putting the fan directly on the light, but i'm not sure how wise that will be considering i would probably have to use duct tape to secure it properly, which will react negatively to that much heat. if can manage a tapeless solution, i feel that the fan being attached to the light will be able to move much more air. then i can reconfigure everything using the lower intake on the hut and a top exhaust.

until i can get some more cash for this venture though, it looks like the hut is going to need to stay part way open along with the closet to keep temps reasonable. hopefully my beans get here soon

 

[Kiz0r]

Awesome setup man

 

[butter111]

they sell foil tape at air conditioning supply shops that can take alot of heat duct tape wont work its for sealing heat pumps and large comercial vents looks just like duct but shiney

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

So I'm getting really impatient. I've spent all this money on growing and now I'm waiting on stupid seeds. I ordered them on the 25th from the Doc and they still aren't here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If they don't show by Tuesday, I'm germinating some bagseed. This shit is rediculous! 6 days to get from England to the midwest? What did they do, ship them on a fucking ocean liner? Most likely, they were apprehended while trying to cross the fucking border.

 

[FaCultGen]

did they send you a tracking number? look in your email for it and then youll know where they are

 

[Drizzle]

So I'm getting really impatient. I've spent all this money on growing and now I'm waiting on stupid seeds. I ordered them on the 25th from the Doc and they still aren't here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If they don't show by Tuesday, I'm germinating some bagseed. This shit is rediculous! 6 days to get from England to the midwest? What did they do, ship them on a fucking ocean liner? Most likely, they were apprehended while trying to cross the fucking border.

You realize they just send that stuff air mail right? At a minimum, its gonna take like 5 business days. If you ordered it on Saturday the 25th, it would have shipped this Monday (27th). I would at least give it until next Friday. Also, sometimes places like that are backed up with orders, and might not process it for 24-48hours, so you have to also factor that in.