Mr. Galikanokus' First Grow

*I didnt know there were two journal areas, so I will copy the other one to here since it is easier to add pictures here.*


Building and set up

So after picking up a bunch of equipment and nutrients from a friend, I am about to start my own grow.
I received a 600w ballast and cool tube with 2 600w HPS bulbs, a 400w ballast, hood and 3 400w HPS bulbs. A hamster cage fan, 4x2 ebb table, 2x2 ebb table, co2 system, thermostat switch, small cooling fans and a bunch of timers. Originally I was going to use the cabinet all of it came in but decided to go a little bigger and section off a part of my basement. I started by framing up a totally sealed room, 5'2" x 3'9-1/2" x 6'4" tall. I used good old fashioned plywood, 3/4" all the way around except 1/2" for the top and 3/8 for the door. Everything got painted glossy white and then covered with reflective mylar all seems were caulked, all wood edges were covered with aluminum ducting tape. My only set back was having to use 2 of the existing concrete walls which could not be altered, they were white to begin with but since have been covered with mylar. For the door I used 3/8" and covered it with mylar and a strip of aluminum ducting tape all around to give a nice surface for the foam seal tape to stick to. The door over laps the wall it is mounted to by about 2" so I used weather stripping around the edge of the door and more around the edge of the opening on the wall to make a double seal to insure my best chance of fighting oder and light leakage. After sealing up everything and getting the mylar up I started to plan where everything was going to be mounted. I decided to use the 600w for this room and will be using the 400w for a veg room I still have to build. I decided to mount the 600w ballast outside of the room in hopes of keeping the temps down inside. I mounted a power strip inside for the smaller stuff, air pump for the res, heater for the res, pump for the res, and a fan for circulation. The co2 and ballasts will get power from outside of the room. Next was to set up the co2, I drilled a small hole to run the line in the room and then T'd it so I could run it all the way around the room, keeping it where I imagine the tops of the plants will be, I had to run it slightly higher on the door side to clear the door but I dont think that will make too big of a difference. Then I hung the cool tube reflector with the supplied chain centered in the room on hooks that will easily allow adjustment as my plants grow. Then hooked up the ducting, the original user of the equipment was running 4" duct that he had to adapt down from the 6" openings on the fan and light, not liking this I threw that all away and went direct with 6" duct thinking it will run a little easier on the fan not having to suck through a smaller 4" duct. Next was setting up the res and table, I used a rubbermaid tote I had as the res, looks like it will hold 40+ gallons so that will be plenty, I used cinder blocks around that standing on end to hold up the flood table, dropped in the air stone, heater and pump, hooked up all the lines and started testing each piece, individually at first then all of them at once. Everything worked perfectly! So I tested again! Still perfect!
So now the room is ready to go, everything is tested, all that is left is a carbon filter but I believe I have some time before I need to stress about that, another thing I am holding off on for now is venting the room as I decide how I want to do it since I will be using co2 I do not want to waste any of it.
So now I wait and decide which clones to use, I am leaning towards NL for its ease and forgiveness since this will be my first time, would also like to add a p-91 / hogsbreath since they are some of my all time favorites. Cant think too long tho, I am planning on flipping the switch very soon!!

A big thanks to everyone on this forum! I spent days and days reading through tons of great info that helped me design and build my set up, and with nute regiment (will be a later post, as soon as I start actually using them!)

Here are some pics of where I am at right now....

first grow was with nl, very underrated strain, my friend. smoke was trippy! and it was easy t ogrow, to boot. liking the set up, obviously well thought out attempt.

if there was any advice iwould offer a newbie(no offense), it would be dont LOVE YOUR PLANTS TO DEATH. dont fret every spot or dying leaf. focus on growth, proper atmosphere and providing what the plant needs.

No offense taken, I am 100% newb any advice is awesome. I appreciate your advise, I have a feeling it will come in handy, I have a tendency to be a little ocd. I will try to stay vigilant about a proper environment but not smother the babies.
Solid advice imadoofus, thank you

important to perfectly stretch out mylar so its a flat surface else u get heat spots that could burn parts of plants

hopefully your lights can be easily moved up and down as u will be doing this alot to check them + as they get taller

make sure u get femmed seeds

run the grow room with nothing in it for 24 hrs with a max min temp and humidity gauge in it ($15) this way u can adjust anything needs adjusting

buy a propergation tank for the seeds to germ in - needs 75% + humiduty for a week ish - try to get a 400w metal hallide bulb (if your ballast can run both hps and mh) and use it for seedling and veg stage (decreases node distance), veg stage use 400w MH in conjuction with your 600w HPS - then 4 budding swop out the MH bulb for the 400w HPS u got

u wont need the co2 till plants about 1' then use sparingly and in increasing amouts as the plants grow

basements can get cold and damp especaly when lights off for 12 hrs during 12/12 - if so have a decent electric or gas heater standing by


errr thats all i can think of for now the more info u give the more likely people able to help - pictures really help

gl bro and happy growing

one technique that helps tremendously with mylar is heating it with a blow dryer while laying it. apply common sense and only heat it lightly; but, when it cools and retracts, it pulls tight, like a fuckin mirror.

lol, bro, im lovin the attention to detail your giving your first grow. remember, k.i.s.s.!

buddwasher said:

important to perfectly stretch out mylar so its a flat surface else u get heat spots that could burn parts of plants

hopefully your lights can be easily moved up and down as u will be doing this alot to check them + as they get taller

make sure u get femmed seeds

run the grow room with nothing in it for 24 hrs with a max min temp and humidity gauge in it ($15) this way u can adjust anything needs adjusting

buy a propergation tank for the seeds to germ in - needs 75% + humiduty for a week ish - try to get a 400w metal hallide bulb (if your ballast can run both hps and mh) and use it for seedling and veg stage (decreases node distance), veg stage use 400w MH in conjuction with your 600w HPS - then 4 budding swop out the MH bulb for the 400w HPS u got

u wont need the co2 till plants about 1' then use sparingly and in increasing amouts as the plants grow

basements can get cold and damp especaly when lights off for 12 hrs during 12/12 - if so have a decent electric or gas heater standing by


errr thats all i can think of for now the more info u give the more likely people able to help - pictures really help

gl bro and happy growing

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Thanks Buddwasher,
That is what makes this site great! Great info.
I did not stumble across keeping the mylar tight in my research, thank you for letting me know, I will fix that up today
I am going to go with clones to make it easier for me and them invest in a good cloning machine once everything gets rolling

Another great idea you brought up is running the cab empty for 24 hours to see what I will be fighting, I will do that now which should be just enough time before the baby girls show up.

I have been keeping track of temps while it has been off, we are at the coldest part of the year for us and the basement still stays around 60* with everything off, I think humidity will be my big factor, but 60* in the dark hours doesnt sound too bad right?

imadoofus said:

one technique that helps tremendously with mylar is heating it with a blow dryer while laying it. apply common sense and only heat it lightly; but, when it cools and retracts, it pulls tight, like a fuckin mirror.

lol, bro, im lovin the attention to detail your giving your first grow. remember, k.i.s.s.!

Click to expand...

Great advice on getting that mylar nice and tight, I have a heat gun with a low setting I will try out

Where would I be without this site!!

Rep for sure, for the both of ya!

lol and I will try to keep it simple, promise hahahaha

Ok so after using the great advice I got here, I got the mylar a little tighter and ran the cab for about 10 hours yesterday to see what my temps would be. I was actually impressed to see my temps barely moved! I started out at 60-61* after about 4 hours I was up to 65* and noticed that I forgot to turn on the oscilating fan inside, turned that on and ranit for several more hours and still the temps did not go over 70, I think 67-68* was my high. That was with the res heater going, light, cooltube, fan, res airstone, pretty much everything. I also decided to switch my bulb and ballest to the 400w since I will obviously be starting with veg mode, I am using the GE 400 MH conversion, rated at 31,000 LU and 4500k, it was the closest to 6500k I had, the 2 600w bulbs I have are both in the 2000k range

I did notice that I was getting a fair amount of humidity, how dangerous is that going to be this early in the game?

Well off to pick up some baby girls!!!!!!!!!!!

try to get your temps running consistanly at 80 with lights on

high humidity is good for till plants about 16" then u wanna start bringing it down so its pretty dry else might mould your buds - loads of time to work it out

if u running a resi heater make sure no light gets in - with nuted up warm resi bactia loves to grow if any light gets in, so run airstones 24/7 - whilst roots would like tepid water its an added risk from disease like root rot or pests oh and bacteria that might be growing - so i think most growers (myself inc) keep resi safe side of cool (60 for me - warms in pipes a bit too when flooding)


anyway cant wait to see some pics of your girls mr G

gl dude

***UPDATE***

This just in.... Ladies!

So I wasnt able to get the clones that I wanted, the selection was not great so I went with the ones that had the best root structure.
Ended up getting 1 Sour Diesel, 2 Platinum Kush, and 2 Poison Kush

After soaking the grow blocks in 5.5 water for a half hour (With just a little Liquid Karma) I sprinkled a little Great White Shark in each hole and plugged them with the little ladies.
I also made yet another lighting change, have them under a T5 now with 4 54w 6500k bulbs rather than the 5000k MH 400w in cool tube.
Now gotta go fill up the tray with clay balls... and its 4:20 lol
Here they are...

buddwasher said:

try to get your temps running consistanly at 80 with lights on

high humidity is good for till plants about 16" then u wanna start bringing it down so its pretty dry else might mould your buds - loads of time to work it out

if u running a resi heater make sure no light gets in - with nuted up warm resi bactia loves to grow if any light gets in, so run airstones 24/7 - whilst roots would like tepid water its an added risk from disease like root rot or pests oh and bacteria that might be growing - so i think most growers (myself inc) keep resi safe side of cool (60 for me - warms in pipes a bit too when flooding)


anyway cant wait to see some pics of your girls mr G

gl dude

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More great advice! Thanks so much man, I didnt know about covering the res, just did that. The bubbler has been going 24/7 too
And a big relief about the humidity, I got lots of time to handle that one

nice seedling pics dude - those nodes look gr8 - close together

when u gonna pot them? what nutes and extras u using?

im researching nutes at mo - + cannazyme, nutrazyme, h2o2, - at mo i using all 3 nutrazyme promotes strong veg - cannazyme keeps roots clean - breaks down dead stuff and h2o2 low strength adds o2 to roots once a week strong strength flushes pipes, sezi and cleans roots

at mo am in research mode - no conclutions as yet will keep u posted (i am sure u have a way to keep your system clean)

keep it up bro

buddwasher said:

nice seedling pics dude - those nodes look gr8 - close together

when u gonna pot them? what nutes and extras u using?

im researching nutes at mo - + cannazyme, nutrazyme, h2o2, - at mo i using all 3 nutrazyme promotes strong veg - cannazyme keeps roots clean - breaks down dead stuff and h2o2 low strength adds o2 to roots once a week strong strength flushes pipes, sezi and cleans roots

at mo am in research mode - no conclutions as yet will keep u posted (i am sure u have a way to keep your system clean)

keep it up bro

Click to expand...

Thanks buddwasher, they look pretty good, no major stress yet and the roots look great!

I'm debating weather or not to put them in to mesh bottom pots or just let them hang out in the cubes surrounded by the clay balls, also debating adding some grow cubes to the clay once they get a little bigger to retain just a little more water, not right now as I think they were over watered before I got em.

Ah yes NUTES!
That is next on my research list, I have done a little so far just to figure out what they want right now.
Right now they have a 1/2 strength Liquid Karma diet and a dash of Great White Shark for rooting.
I have a ton of nutes that came with the set up and some more handed down to me.
I will probably be using GH Gro, Bloom, and Micro since it was I have the most of, over a gallon of each.
I also have, GH FloraNova, Kool Bloom(2-45-2, Mad Farmer MOAB (Mother of all Blooms-1-52-2, Fox Farms Tiger Bloom (2-8-4), Dr Hornby Big Bud (10-40-7), Spray n Grow Micronutrient Complex and a bunch of different ph downs
So I gotta research what I have and see where and when to use it, if I use it.
I am a cheap skate so to keep the roots good and clean I am thinking of the 6 drops of bleach per gallon since most of my nutes are non-organic, the h2o2 is pricey and works better with organic nutes I hear.
If you stumble across any of the nutes I have in your research please let me know.

I checked out your pics, your plants are looking great! Cant wait till I am at that point!
Great job man

yeah i dont know enough about nutes - so much too learn, fortunately have bumped into old m8 who is in the nute industry so i hope to gleen all the knowledge i can from him - will cost me alot of beer money

h2o2 is hydrogen peroxide ~(hair bleech) so it cheap - only buy the 35% strength stuff and if u really wanna save some cash buy it from a hair dressor i pay about $2 per litre

as i use some nutes with enzymes in them i have to be careful - so when i rezi flush i then do one flood with just water and h2o2 - wait an hour and add nutes

gonna be several months b4 i really know my nutes set up and timing - but its good fun learning

thanx for looking at my grow, i put some new pics up today

and as for placing empty cubes in buckets with clay balls - i see your reasoning never heard it done b4 - i been advised if i want to increase amount of water held to add something like perlite or vermaculite to clay ball mix

but tbh i am happy with just clay balls - my 1st grow used perlite on its own succesfully - i think what ever u go with they all work real well - i would put a new post up asking for advise on this idea incase we missing some obvious downside

and mesh bottoms - they trying to sell them to me too for my next grow - dont think i will bother as like u i am a cheap skate lol

keep it going dude