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Ranec's loft


Ranec

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having finally booted up my rather antiquated laptop i thought I'd make a rolling diary for my grow space prior to starting my first grow.

 

somewhere underneath two layers of foil lined bubble wrap is a Gorilla Grow Tents Shorty (0.8m wide x 0.6m deep x 1.4m high). Tent was chosen as its one of the very few that will fit the space i have.

 

large.IMG_20190427_202544.jpg

 

making the tent coat was a labour of love, all seams are sealed on both sides with silver insulation tape and the inner skin has foil flaps around the intake, outtake and electrical ports. Outer skin would have had them too but i had a rather weighty bifta and the thing was built and in the loft before i realised id forgotten them :skin_up:

Outer layer rolls up around an old broom handle and is then held up by the bungee cables around the cross beams, inner layer opens out double door style..

 

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inside is a Medusa Hydroponics Lotus P1 NFT system. this seems to be a pretty new piece of kit but i chose it over the GT205 as it gives me a little extra space within the tent.

Lighting is a Scope 220 from our very own @diyleduk :yep:

 

large.IMG_20190427_202948.jpg

 

Intake is via a 4" semi-passive set up (boosted by an extractor fan built into the room below) and extraction is handled by a 5" Black Orchid Centri-Flo fan with built in speed and temperature control. Squeezed into that 25l brewing bucket is a 5" CarboAir 50 filter to remove any funky odours before the old air is pushed out of the eaves.

 

large.IMG_20190427_203119.jpg

 

At the minute I'm just running it empty and keeping an eye on internal and external temps and humidity prior to embarking on my first grow, readings are within reasonable limits and seem pretty stable for now but time will tell..

 

I've got a few ideas for future grows, first of which will probably be a small water heater to keep res temps up (depending on how they do in the future).

 

I'd love to hear any ideas or recommendations - thanks for reading :smokin:

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Very tidy set up mate. I'm an attic grower and it can be a nightmare keeping the temps right in summer and in winter. The way you've insulated your tent and by drawing air from the room below should work great :yep:

Drawing air in from below and having your fans dialled in right will probably keep your water temps good when the lights are on so it's a good idea to have a water heater for your res at lights out in winter.

 

Good luck with your first grow :v:

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Very nice work.  Great to see love going into this stuff. And I've just bought that exact same light.  It's seriously bright, isn't it?  Good luck with the grow.  Looks like you're off to a good start. :yep:

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Thanks @jadenugs, the design evolved a lot as I read the various diary's and help threads here - as with most attic tent grows keeping the environment constant seems to be the biggest battle, hopefully the tent coat and warm-ish intake will keep the worst of winter at bay... Do wish I'd bought a res thermometer with min/max readings now tho, would be interesting to see how far they swing...

 

@JJJ the Scope220 seems like a serious piece of kit!. I researched a few led lights before I joined this forum (I've got LEDs all through the house) but when I saw the passion and knowledge that @diyleduk brings it was an easy choice. 

 

First bean went into soak yesterday and was dropped into a rootit sponge this evening, with any luck she'll pop up over the next few days and I can start a grow diary in earnest :D

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Lovely set up! Wish I'd not jumped in head first and spent more time saving and preparing my kit :wallbash:

 

Hey-ho I've got this far and it's looking good even with my bodge job kit! Will be keen to see the diary what strain(s) are you growing?

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Thanks @SBBudz420, luckily patience is one of my (few) virtues lol

 

I originally decided to grow because I was sick of paying silly money for CBD vape juice and also because finding a reliable source of decent weed isn't as easy as it used to be.

The plan is to start with a few 1:1 variety's and maybe try doing some extracts before working up to some of the more space-cadet strains, to which end I've got Dinafem's Critical Mass CBD in the propagator as well as Dinafem's Shark Attack ready to pop for round 2 :yep:

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Sounds great @Ranec! Would really like to try growing some 1:1 or even just some high CBD flowers, to be honest I've never even smoked the CBD flowers that you see around in the shops but I can't imagine those being the best quality. Seen some really good looking plants too from the 1:1 family, definitely on my list of things to try.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Veg Cab update

 

After difficulties getting my babies to thrive in my original propagation / veg cabinet I thought I'd better up my game, to which ends I'm pleased to welcome veg cab v2.0 to the family :)

 

large.IMG_20190526_140308.jpg

 

Originally costing me £5 from a local charity shop it's undergone a few alterations since it first came home with me, most noticeable of which are the extraction fan and 36w 4k HLG veg board courtesy of @diyleduk

 

large.IMG_20190526_140333.jpg

 

There's still a few bits to do like replace the clunky connection box with a 2 piece ip68 waterproof coupler and fit a cooker hood carbon filter over the intake and extraction ports, but other than that my babies are looking pretty happy in there....

 

large.IMG_20190526_140345.jpg

 

Currently the hlg board is dimmed right down but I plan to turn it up slowly over the next week or so and see how the girls react...

 

Amazingly enough the little lady on the right there is my original Dinafem Critical Mass CBD seedling, now about 3 weeks old and still only 3 inches tall thanks to the 15w 5k led bulb I originally had her under lol  She's just been topped (poorly and probably too early) but she's suffered the worst of my learning curve and pulled through so we'll see how she recovers and maybe she'll even make it into the flower tent sometime :D

Edited by Ranec
spellingz
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Genius...! Nice conversion. Love stuff like this :taz:.  I noticed that the  driver gets a little bit warm so mounted it on a board outside the tent with the summer temps coming and all.  Loving the work though. :thumsup:

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18 minutes ago, Ranec said:

Veg Cab update

 

After difficulties getting my babies to thrive in my original propagation / veg cabinet I thought I'd better up my game, to which ends I'm pleased to welcome veg cab v2.0 to the family :)

 

large.IMG_20190526_140308.jpg

 

Originally costing me £5 from a local charity shop it's undergone a few alterations since it first came home with me, most noticeable of which are the extraction fan and 36w 4k HLG veg board courtesy of @diyleduk

 

large.IMG_20190526_140333.jpg

 

There's still a few bits to do like replace the clunky connection box with a 2 piece ip68 waterproof coupler and fit a cooker hood carbon filter over the intake and extraction ports, but other than that my babies are looking pretty happy in there....

 

large.IMG_20190526_140345.jpg

 

Currently the hlg board is dimmed right down but I plan to turn it up slowly over the next week or so and see how the girls react...

 

Amazingly enough the little lady on the right there is my original Dinafem Critical Mass CBD seedling, now about 3 weeks old and still only 3 inches tall thanks to the 15w 5k led bulb I originally had her under lol  She's just been topped (poorly and probably too early) but she's suffered the worst of my learning curve and pulled through so we'll see how she recovers and maybe she'll even make it into the flower tent sometime :D

 

Love this innovative cabinet

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Thanks @JJJ and @Timbuds373 but I can't take all the credit, all the ideas I've used have come from somewhere on the UK420 boards, I just mashed them all together to make something that fits my needs :skin_up:

 

ETA - @JJJ I've got a variable 3/5/7/12v mains adapter on order so I can turn the extract fan speed up and down as I need :yep:

Edited by Ranec
Eta
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Just now, Ranec said:

Thanks @JJJ and @Timbuds373 but I can't take all the credit, all the ideas I've used have come from somewhere on the UK420 boards, I just mashed them all together to make something that fits my needs :skin_up:

All innovation stems from inspiration.

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  • 2 months later...

Both fabulous builds, really like the nifty loft set up. Really brings out the best in people, never ceases to amaze me the level of innervation. Keeping costs down, nothing fancy needed whilst still achieving the goal. Those drawers made me chuckle, imagine a house guest getting a surprise ... have you got any scissors I can borrow, I'll just look in here :)  I'll be following your progress, very best of luck.

 

 

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Thanks @Poisonata, I've got a few ideas for improvements with both the veg cab and flower tent, all of which have taken a back seat whilst I convert my spare bedroom into a study/workshop... 

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