Cannafan's Perpetual Grow White Widow-Master Kush Reveg & More! CFL's - LED - HPS

Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Glad to see you all, and thanks for the +reps and subscribing to my journal! I will be looking over the information you suggested, rainstacks. I don't know why sometimes things are bleeped out either, I've seen it several times while reading through journals.

I was really hoping to see those cuttings today, but no go. Hopefully over the weekend. I'm antsy to get started with them! Not that I don't have plenty to do...lighting, soil mixing, plant pots...etc. I'll keep busy for sure.
I'll get some pics up again this weekend.
Happy growing all!:)
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Thanks, brauywilles. On the motion detector light fixtures I removed the wire that goes to the motion sensor and removed that part too. The only two wires left are for power. I'll get a pic up as soon as it is wired to a power cord and has the lights in it.
Also, is that your actual home address listed with your user I.D. for all to see?? Do you really want that showing up on the threads?
Just a thought. :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

It works! I got the PVC CFL light fixture completed and it works great! Using the basic instructions from another forum, I think the originator of the design was "matagrowa"?, I developed a design and put it together this morning.
The original design had aluminum on the top for reflecting. I couldn't find anything to cut my aluminum here so I scrounged around and found a plastic light cover that is used under fluorescent ceiling lights. I cut it to fit the top of the fixture in a small dome shape and then covered the inside of it with Mylar. Worked out fine. I may change that later when I get some tin snips for the aluminum. The hardest part of this was working with the electrical wires. They were so stiff that getting them bent into the pvc tubes after getting the wire nuts on them proved to be a major task. Next time I'm going to use lamp cord, it isn't near as hard to work with.
This fixture houses 8 large CFL bulbs. All of the sockets are 660w
LightHanging1.jpg


This image is from the side so you can see how the mylar covered plastic forms a dome:
LightSide1.jpg

And this is the underside:
LIghtUnder.jpg


I'm kinda thinking....not too bad for a girl Yep, cat's out of the bag...I'm a girl. Hadn't really thought about mentioning that until today when I saw I hadn't answered that on my profile. :biglaugh:

Better get back to work, daylight is dwindling and I have a room to set up for veggie stage yet.
Happy growing all!:thumb:
Oh, here's a link to the original instructions for this light fixture:
CFL Light Tutorial
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

interesting light fixture, good work! i have a Compact Florescent Light fixture with 4 light bulbs with ducting as a reflector, i covered the open ends with a aluminum tape to reflect the light coming out of the top downward to the plants.
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Thanks KingJohnC!
I did want to cover up those sides with some mylar, but I figured I better wait until I know if I'm going to use the aluminum. I'm not real sure how that plastic cover is going to do with the heat from CFL's. I have some 45w CFL photo bulbs mixed in there right now and they are throwing off some heat. I will test it a good long time and then feel the plastic for heat build up. The 45 watt bulbs are definitely brighter with a whiter light than the other bulbs, but are slighter smaller. Go figure.:hmmmm:
I like that aluminum tape idea, I'll have to check Hardware stores this week and pick some up if it isn't too expensive.:thankyou:

On a side note, I got a PPM testing unit in the mail today. I will be testing my well water to see what it reads. Hopefully it will be usable, but I have serious doubts. LOL
Happy weeding all. :peace:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Good luck with the water ppm, and nice light setup......for a girl :)


:rollit:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Water PPM:
I tested my Tap water, and my outside faucet (which I believe ties into my indoor plumbing, so it goes through the water softener) and they tested between 196 PPM and 210 PPM. I know I can't use those due to the salt in the softener without an RO system.
But what I'm kind of hoping on is the well water from the barn. This well is one of those hand pump styles, not the main well for outside sprinkling. It is no where near as deep into the ground as the sprinkler/house wells.
It tested out at 176 PPM. Now because this is not going through a softener, is it in a proper PPM range to use to water my cannabis plants?
Thanks everyone. I would be lost without this forum!:loopy:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Wow Cana!! That is so cool that you built that thing. I am very very impressed. Guy or girl that is one tight DIY setup! I love the little flower arrangement you put in there to show it off. In order to test the heat coming off of it you can put your hand under the light to feel it. If it is comfortable for your hand your plants should be okay too. I use small tomato plants that volunteer in my garden to test on too.
Very nice progress. Keep up the solid work!
:surf:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Woo Hoo! That solves a lot of trouble for me here on the water thing. Run a hose from the barn to the house and fill my water containers.:cheertwo:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Thanks Hijinks!
The cost would depend a lot on how many bulbs are going to be used. I chose 8 bulbs and I didn't want to use 60w sockets. Originally I was going to put two 40-45w CFL bulbs per socket in the fixture but the design didn't work out, it ended up being long instead of square, which didn't work out in the space I want to put it in. The 660w sockets were over $3.00 each, times 8 of them...that's where I had a major cost factor. I'm sure 60w sockets are much cheaper. The sockets I bought had a rubberized outer coating that fit absolutely perfectly snug into the T's, I'm not sure if the 60w sockets have that. You might have to find another way to seat them securely into the T.
The 1 1/4" PVC pieces and the pvc pipe I already had available. 4 Elbows, 8 T's and two 5' lengths of pipe. I'm not sure what the prices are on PVC these days.
The electrical wire, I bought 16' of 18/2 gauge at .20 per foot and had quite a bit left over. Next time I will use lamp cord or a long extension cord and get by much cheaper, not to mention easier to work with.
I had to buy a bag of wire nuts too. Not real expensive.
I'm thinking if you go with only 6 bulbs and use 60w sockets, you could get this done under $50.00 if you had to buy everything new.
It did take a few hours to complete. I cut the PVC pieces with the chop saw and that made things go a lot faster. I can't tell you how many times I tossed that dull wire stripper with cussing. There is a lot of wire stripping involved.
Hope that helps.:cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Thanks Rainstacks! I am seriously considering bringing my tomato plants inside while I wait for my clones and seeds. They are not doing well outside right now, I'm losing the battle to drought, bugs and critters again this year.
Have a great day:peace:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

On second thought...I better not do that. I don't want to introduce any bugs to my grow room.
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Ah, Rainstacks...we think alike. LOL I have some seeds soaking in water right now. (some kind of edible flower, I forgot the name already) I want to see if they will sprout and start a little "practice" session with germination until my real seeds get here or my cuttings. Whichever arrives first.
I believe my veggie room is all set except for the reflectors on top of the light fixtures. I'll upload a pic later.
Unfortunately the Plastic dome on my PVC fixture did not work, it wound up pulling away from the tape overnight. I didn't like the looks of the tape anyway, so now I am forced to get the aluminum cut for it. I'll drill some holes in the front and back of the aluminum edges so I can secure it to the fixture with good strong zip ties.
Happy growing!:battingeyelashes:
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Well I have done all I'm going to do today on the grow rooms. I have yard work to do. I hope my indoor weeds grow as bushy and fast as outdoor weeds do. :rofl:

Here's a couple pics, first is the veggie room. I only have the reflectors on the light fixtures to get done yet. The shelf on the right is an old section of a bowling alley lane. It's about 7' long and extremely heavy. It was a tool bench for many years. Took quite awhile to "walk" that thing into the room and then a major task to get it on top of the old bathroom cabinet it's sitting on. I'm tired! Using that old cabinet works out well, I can store my grow supplies and such out of sight.
VeggieRoom.jpg


Remember the pull up white movie screens for showing home movies? This makes a great light reflector I can set in front of my plants and move out of the way easily.
WhiteScreen.jpg

Have a great day everyone.
 
Re: Newest of Noobs..from set up to growing and harvesting

Thanks all!
Now, while I'm waiting for the babies to arrive I decided to do some maintenance with my electric consumption to prepare for the spike in the bill. It is absolutely amazing when you start going through your home/property how many things are plugged into your power that you never gave a second thought.
Here's the steps I took:
Removed the grids from the bottom of the refrigerator and the extra freezer and vacuumed up all the dirt and dust from the coils. I have a cat. Holy smokes was there some cat hair around there! This will make my fridge and freezer not have to work so hard now.

I replaced both furnace filters and vacuumed in and around the furnace to remove dust/hair

I turned the freezer down a few degrees. I found that I don't really need things frozen to the point of bricks. LOL

I unplugged a compact refrigerator that was used for storing farm eggs and other extra things. I found plenty of room in my regular refrigerator to store the stuff and was able to unplug the compact one.

I turned my water heater down to about 120 degrees. It was up much higher than that!

Throughout the house I went through and turned off any unused power strips, mostly electronics things like receivers and computers, I also unplugged small appliances that are not used daily.

In the garage and barn I unplugged anything that was not being used daily. I had 4 cordless drill chargers plugged in and charging batteries! I only use one battery at a time. LOL

I had 3 cordless phone units plugged, I only use one phone at a time...and It's usually my cell phone. I eliminated two of them.

I reduced the amount of time that the underground sprinklers are on.

I replaced all 60w bulbs in the house to 13w CFL's (that will save a bunch!)

I will continue to look at things and unplug or adjust as necessary. I believe even the smallest thing, like a dvd player/blu-ray player, should be completely unplugged when not in use or the power strip turned off. Just because it's turned off does not mean it isn't still drawing power. If you walk through your house at night with the lights off, but still make your way around because of all the power button and LED lights on your electronics shining a light for you like a christmas tree...well it's wasted energy.
If you all have any other power saving tips, do let me know. :-)
Happy growing!
 
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