BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Hey all, Been a good while since I've posted a grow in here, it's been a long time coming! Been growing on and off for about 18 years but due to living in house shares I've not been able to do anything for about 8 years Living circumstances have now changed for the better and I've finally got the missus on board with the idea of small grow! She's happy so long as she cant see, smell, or hear it (2 of those are alot easier than the third). The room I have is a semi-converted loft space, accessible through a small door that looks like it's a cupboard door (more on this later!) There was a single skin plasterboard wall on one side that you could hear our dog breathing through, so first step was to attempt to soundproof the room. I did this by filling all the gaps with acoustic/fire mastic, filling the voids with acoustic insulation, then boarding the wall with 2 layers of plasterboard. I then sectioned part of the room off with a piece of ply to create a tray type thing, lined it with damp proof membrane to ensure any spillages/pump malfunctions are contained (learnt the hard way in the past!) I was offered a tent by a friend but I've never been a fan of them and my space has to fit within the attic ceiling so I decided to build a bespoke box from celotex with a metal frame. I've left an inch gap between the internal wall for noise reasons, and between the ceiling for thermal transfer reasons. As a side note, all of celotex and metal work was reclaimed from a skip on site so not only have I stopped it going to waste, I've managed to build it for fuck all! 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) To expel the extraction I cut a section from the soil stack which runs through the loft and added a rubber tee piece which I fitted upside down in an attemp to guide the air upwards. My extraction system is a 6" hyperfan stealth with an 8" mountain air filter and 8" phonics trap ducting. I got a fair bit of noise leakage either side of the fan through the reducers so wrapped them in leftover dpm and stuffed them with leftover acoustic insulation. It's still not as silent as I'd hoped but it's barely audible from outside the room so itll have to do for now! Intake is passive. The bathroom fan below had ducting running through the loft to an outlet on the roof. I cut the duct in half so I'm now passively pulling air through that outlet, the bathroom, and gaps around the roof. I may need block the hole to the bathroom if I get issues with humidity. Drawing mostly from outside means it does get cold. Edited January 5, 2020 by BushDoctoR 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Impressive! I will watch this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) The system I built was a run to waste coco dripper system. First step was to build a raised platform to ensure that the drippers are above reservoir water level and so I can get a catchment tank underneath. The timber for this was all reclaimed from a skip too. You can see the laser line in the photo which I used to make sure one corner is lower than the rest for drainage. On top of the platform I layed some more reclaimed celotex, then 1sqM underfloor heating which is hooked up to an inkbird. The underfloor heating mat only cost a tenner, so happy with that! The hole in the mat is for the drain outlet. Lastly I stuck a 1sqM Garland tray on top and drilled a hole for an aquarium outlet. This drains down to a 30L plastic container underneath. If you look closely you can see I had to remove the ribs from the tray in order to get a nice water tight fit on the outlet. I had to cut the ply containment I had done earlier in order to get the tank in and out. I then added some piano hinge (more reclaimed stuff!) and a couple of gate bolts to keep it closed Last pic shows the outlet and the babies in their new home. Got 10x Super Orange Glue and 2x Sour Diesel from a mate. Edited January 5, 2020 by BushDoctoR 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Next pic is the babies freshly potted up into ecothrive coco lite. Never used this before but it's what my local stocks, seems pretty good so far. Very good consistency, virtually no lumps or clumps at all. Stuck them under a 250w cfl which a friend donated to me (he also gave me the garland tray) while they were waiting for the HPS to arrive HPS in and on! Picked up an Omega 600w digital and adjust-a-wing. Was quite impressed with the shade as the seem to have improved in quality since I last bought one unlike other grow brands that seem to have gone the other way Not too long after being under the 600 they are ready for final pots! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 I selected 9 of the 12 and they were potted into 5L square fabric pots. I ran into a few problems at this point, I was underfeeding, they were sometimes getting cold, and I'd stupidly given them a couple of cold feeds which I think caused a mix of N and Ca deficiencies. I upped the feed shortly after this, and stuck the radiator into the intake, which seemed to remedy everything. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 I dont trust the oil radiators built in thermostat and I had an old sunvic laying around I bought for a grow years ago but never used so wired that up to the radiator instead Looking a bit happier now Circulation is all from those 140mm case fans on the right above canopy, I plan to add more blowing up through the canopy when I get time. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) At this point they had become a fair bit more vegged than I wanted, they are now going to be too tall and I'll probably need to train the fuck out of them, it's also quite cramped to will need to remove loads of growth. The issue is that the ones I had selected to mother were in there with them, so next step was to build a mother/nursery area. Again this had to follow the shape of the roof and was made from reclaimed celotex. Air is expelled to flower room via some 6" ducting I had laying around and another 140mm case fan, air is passively drawn from flower room via another 6" duct. I've stuck a little 20w cfl in there for the time being, purely so I could get the mums in there and the others into flower, the plan is to get maybe a 125w cfl in there? Unsure yet The box with the red lid I "borrowed" from work. It holds about 180L when full and will be the res for the main flower room. Intake for the flower room is below the mums and has not yet been baffled in this pic Next pic shows how the flower and veg rooms both follow the ceiling. Pretty impressed with the use of space as I didnt think I'd manage to cram it all in! Edited January 5, 2020 by BushDoctoR 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Onto the dripper system. I made this circular manifold from 13mm pipe and attached 9x 360° adjustable drip stakes. I used these as they are what I used to use, but it seems everyone is more a fan of the wilma type drippers nowadays. Might give them a go after this crop. Maxijet 1000 feed pump, 300w heater, and 500lph circulation pump. Atm the circ pump just pumps from one end to the other, I may modify this so I get better surface agitation. Under canopy shot of drippers pre-prune Reservoir wrapped in insulation (reclaimed of course!) Light baffle completed. Mother box also doubles up as a steady temperature storage box for my ferts too! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) This is the flower and veg boxes with the doors on. Flower chamber still needs some light proofing when I get round to it (For now I just dont go into loft and turn light on). Power board. When I started there was a single light in the loft and no sockets at all. In order to overcome that I extended the upstairs ring main into the loft and onto this board. This meant I could get the power up here discreetly and safer than using extention leads. Wish I'd put more sockets in now though Edited January 5, 2020 by BushDoctoR 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCKSTEADY6 Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 (edited) That's an awesome arrangement in my eyes. I like the space used and how you used it. My bathroom is looking more like this each day too. Keep updating as this is really interesting. Edited January 5, 2020 by ROCKSTEADY6 Spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratdog Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 welcome back to the site mate, all looking great and nice use of the space. best of luck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot808 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Awesome m8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmgsneakyg Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 (edited) Loving the set up pal. Really nice clearly you have some building knowledge which makes me wanna pic your brains. Have you extended your ring main by simply jumping of the back of a switch below. If you have how safe is it to run how many watts trough. Is ther a limit you would stop at . How much weight can I put up ther.ie 9 20l pots wet. Plus equipment. I do have very gd building knowledge iv fitted bathrooms kitchens can skim lay floors fit doors ect but electrical is not my thing whatsoever iv wired sockets iv fed wire from showers to mains and had spark connect to consumers iv ran spot lights of existing lights n reskim but never would I know which wire to use I just get told what to do with it And iv done lofts but iv never worried about weight again just get told to board it out skim. Pleas don't ask me to just ask my gaffer Edited January 8, 2020 by Xmgsneakyg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joint hogger Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Welcome back Bushdoctor & nice bit of work. tho I did notice something you might not have considered it, its not a good idea to have your cables tied up the way they are as they can over heat, especially as the ballast runs at 660w (10% running power factor) & pulls more watts at start up so a bunched up cable isnt ideal. I had a similar problem with my set up & I simply chopped a good bit of the ballasts power lead & put on a new plug. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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