Need to choose between turnkey type grow cabinet - please help.

Ive found my hydro setup to be very simple and I hardly haul any water. Certainly not gallons daily. I top off my 10 gallon res with a quart bottle once or twice a day. Watering will require routine lifting for soil I would assume. Hempy may be best, but I would not say hydro is actually high maintenance. I was and am still very surprised at how little I have to do with my setup. Then again, I run organic nutes and can just empty and refill small portions at a time until my ppm reads below 20, then I retop and add nutes. The rest of the 7-10 days is lazy as can be. I wish there were more to do sometimes.

But yes, hydro could be done by someone who is limited to only lifting light objects. I did it while I recovered from a horrible surgery. Small bottle and many trips works fine and it will keep you busy. I would rather see buckets in that setup, though. It would be easier all around I would think.

Good luck. Taking a good amount of time to decide always helps if you can. Everyone is giving you some good info to think about, too. Cant wait to see you happily growing.

+1 on the cheap ppm meter. I think I paid 15 online. The ph monitor is sooooo much more important imo. I would skip the pen style ph meters. I tried it and then bought a 100 dollar monitor and it is a world of difference. Your ph will be a breeze instead of a nightmare. Others might get by with a meter, but I cant.
 
Renegade69 said:
Are hempy's portable???

And what about a 2-3 gallon res?? Still have to lug water but at least it's a small res. And you don't want to go less than a 2-3 gallon because of size needed for roots. Tad I believe you got a nice small bucket system and I was looking at GrowLand Hydroponics and still may get a set so I can do 2 plants at a time in separate res's.

GHE Waterfarm 15L | growland-hydroponics.com

All told my complete setup minus the cabinet which I already had cost me around $500. A few other minor things for about $25.

$100 for the Reservoir
$170 for LED
$99 for exhaust
$24 for timer
$80 for mister and RH pen
$21 for PH kit
$22 for PH pen
$45 for GH's Nutrients

Forgot to add that all above items except for Res and LED were purchased thru Amazon. My one and only go to store for just about everything....
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I believe hempys are portable from what I've read here @ 420mag, esp the smaller ones.

I do like the individual plant reservoirs like the waterfarm you posted. Since I only want to grow one or two plants at a time, something like that would probably be better than the multi-hole reservoirs that come with the pre-made cabinets.

I would love to put together a really kick-a$$ grow tent. With the amount of $ that I would spend on one of the cabs I've been looking at, I probably could buy a super duper top of the line tent with all of the bells and whistles and still have $ left over. I'm just afraid once I purchased everything, that I wouldn't be able to put it all together. I'm thinking that there is a lot of over the head type of work in putting together a grow tent with components. My right arm (I'm right-handed) I cannot lift away from my body, whether its forward, upwards or out to the side, due to 2 failed rotator cuff surgeries and a collapsed humeral head (the top of the upper arm bone). My left shoulder also has a torn rotator cuff (that they won't do surgery on), but I can still use it, except no heavy lifting > 10 lbs. That's not even mentioning my back/hip issues. I'm also vertically challenged (5'2").

Maybe my fears are unjustified. I don't know. Do you think given what I've told you so far, if you had the same issues, would you be able to put everything together?

I also am a big fan of Amazon. I'm a Prime member, which is great with their free 2 day shipping, movies, music and Kindle books!! :yahoo:
 
cannateer said:
Ive found my hydro setup to be very simple and I hardly haul any water. Certainly not gallons daily. I top off my 10 gallon res with a quart bottle once or twice a day. Watering will require routine lifting for soil I would assume. Hempy may be best, but I would not say hydro is actually high maintenance. I was and am still very surprised at how little I have to do with my setup. Then again, I run organic nutes and can just empty and refill small portions at a time until my ppm reads below 20, then I retop and add nutes. The rest of the 7-10 days is lazy as can be. I wish there were more to do sometimes.

But yes, hydro could be done by someone who is limited to only lifting light objects. I did it while I recovered from a horrible surgery. Small bottle and many trips works fine and it will keep you busy. I would rather see buckets in that setup, though. It would be easier all around I would think.

Good luck. Taking a good amount of time to decide always helps if you can. Everyone is giving you some good info to think about, too. Cant wait to see you happily growing.

+1 on the cheap ppm meter. I think I paid 15 online. The ph monitor is sooooo much more important imo. I would skip the pen style ph meters. I tried it and then bought a 100 dollar monitor and it is a world of difference. Your ph will be a breeze instead of a nightmare. Others might get by with a meter, but I cant.
Click to expand...

I am so happy to hear about your experience with hydro. I have been thinking along those same lines. Could you tell me what organic nutes that you use to keep your conditions so stable? I'm sure that operator experience has everything to do with it also. :thumb:

Thankfully, I started researching this about 3 months ago, both on manufacturers' websites and here at :420: . I rarely make snap decisions (only if I absolutely have to)...it's just not in my nature.

I also love the idea of the individual hydro buckets, but unfortunately the cabs I'm considering don't come with those. However, I've already been considering that if the multi-plant reservoir turns out to be a PITA, then I could always purchase the buckets later. I would want to give the original components a fair trial before changing anything though.

I agree that pH would be the most important thing esp in hydro. My profession required that I take umpteen chemistry classes, so I know from experience that the pH strips and solution are purely subjective. You never really know for sure what your pH is. The digital monitors are much more precise. What brand/type of pH monitor did you purchase? I'm not intending to purchase the upgrade for $300+ for the 3 in 1 Blue Lab monitor. That seems a little outrageous, even for me, who is willing to pay $2500+ for the pre-made cab.

I think I'm going to take a little break now, smoke some good weed and watch a movie or something. Hope you have a great weekend and thank you for help. :blunt:
 
C Sprite,
I have a turn key cabinet that I'm running now and to put myself into your shoes and to think about the process, I'm not sure that a cabinet would be the answer for you. I run soil and have created a SIP tray for watering, although it is very easy as far as just filling the 1.75l bottles that I use, it is a bit of a hassle to tend to the plants. I regularly have to reach out and into the cabinet to tuck, poke, and adjust the plants as they grow and fill the space making it hard work for just the simple things in there. The wider and shallow cabinets would alleviate some of that but you are still limited by the growth of the plants.

I have seen the Gorilla Tents and seen them put together and there really isn't much to it. I have also seen the Secret Jardin tent put together and it is equally as easy and low stress as far as range of motion. Another possibility with the tent angle, if you have a reputable hydro store they sometimes will be more than willing to set up for you and help with getting you started. I'm not real sure what your exact local is but this is something I had seen a lot of in Michigan. The benefit of a larger tent would be that you could have a nice 5'x5' tent and run a small amount of plants and be ale to get in there with the plants and work close in and not be constantly reaching out away from your body.

So in a nutshell the turnkey system is convenient at initial start but there are ways around that initial start and the bigger issue will arise as the grow continues and limitations of the cabinet are realized.

Other food for thought, I'm not sure how the site is that has the turnkey systems you are interested in but when mine was new it was crated up and all lights and vent fan/carbon filter all needed to be installed and were just boxed up inside the cabinet. I know that many companies are different but if you go that route I'd make extra sure that it shows up ready to go.
 
Most tents are lightweight fabric and pvc, so it don't take much to put one up. And I agree with you, hempy are portable and easy to work with. 3 gallon buckets are a great size, but they can get heavy when you start to flower. Those turnkey boxes are cool and a great idea, but everyone says they have a hard time flowering in them because of space and heat buildup. And they said it gets complicated to water. More people use tents for a reason, and I'd just hate to see you spend that much money on it. Plus, it's easier to sell a tent and setup than it is to sell a turnkey box, so you could get your money back if it ain't for you. But do what works for you, cause it's your money and your grow!
 
Thank you to both Firebolt420 and PeytonManning for joining in on this discussion. :thanks:

You guys have given me food for thought. I've yet to pull the trigger and order the cabinet, as it is a big investment and I don't want to make the wrong choice. I don't have the room for a 5'x5' tent...the biggest I could go would be 4' wide by 2' deep, which I don't think is really big enough to get inside of to work on the plants (once they go into flower). I think I will be pretty much stuck having to pull up a chair/stool and then reach in with my left hand to do most of the plants' training/care.

To Firebolt420: Which turnkey cabinet did you buy? What are the dimensions of your cabinet? How much work was it to put all the components together? I will definitely have to contact the mfr of the cabinets that I'm considering to see if they come pre-assembled or not. I do know that on the growboxusa cab that I'm looking at, the owner of the company said that they could put the glide frame on prior to shipping so that the cabinet could be slid out of the box and pushed to wherever I want to put it. That would help considerably, as the cabinets weigh about 250 lbs. :thankyou:
 
Renegade69 said:
Sprite,

Did you check out "SuperCloset". When I was first looking thru were the ones I liked the best.
Click to expand...

Yes I have. The LED Deluxe 3.0 at SuperCloset is one of the three cabs I've been considering. I like the lights a little better in that one, but I like that the growboxusa one comes with a chiller. Most of the other stuff is comparable and they are similar in overall size, but the cloning/veg chamber takes up more height in the SuperCloset one. Decisions, decisions... :thedoubletake:
 
C Sprite said:
Yes I have. The LED Deluxe 3.0 at SuperCloset is one of the three cabs I've been considering. I like the lights a little better in that one, but I like that the growboxusa one comes with a chiller. Most of the other stuff is comparable and they are similar in overall size, but the cloning/veg chamber takes up more height in the SuperCloset one. Decisions, decisions... :thedoubletake:
Click to expand...

Oh yes....whatever you do get a chiller and include a root supplement like "AquaShield/HydroGuard" to your shopping list. The HydroGuard helps maintain a healthy res.
 
C Sprite,
I have the yielder max as seen here Grow Box - Dual Soil Grow Cabinet - Earth Cab Pro XL I purchased mine from another site though.
It is 2'x2'x60" for size and 2 plants is a fair amount of work.


As far as putting the components in the box, it is not that hard but a few screws must be installed and a drill helps. There are also 2 bolts that must be installed to mount the inline fan. The carbon filter needs a couple screws too and just a simple zip tie.

In comparison the box would have to be exactly what you would want because any updates would need some major modding to the box. Tents are more friendly as far as expand-ability when you want to upgrade to stronger lights or anything bigger and better.
 
Firebolt420 said:
C Sprite,
I have the yielder max as seen here Grow Box - Dual Soil Grow Cabinet - Earth Cab Pro XL I purchased mine from another site though.
It is 2'x2'x60" for size and 2 plants is a fair amount of work.


As far as putting the components in the box, it is not that hard but a few screws must be installed and a drill helps. There are also 2 bolts that must be installed to mount the inline fan. The carbon filter needs a couple screws too and just a simple zip tie.

In comparison the box would have to be exactly what you would want because any updates would need some major modding to the box. Tents are more friendly as far as expand-ability when you want to upgrade to stronger lights or anything bigger and better.
Click to expand...

How long have you had your Yielder Max? How many grows have you done? Are you happy with it? Pros/Cons? Have you tried to modify the cab at all? I noticed that your exhaust is on the back of the cab...how far away from the wall do you have to keep it?
 
C Sprite,
As a whole I'm very happy with the yielder max. I have had it for almost a year now but have only used it for the current grow since I moved from Michigan to my current location. I have made some mods as far as I installed a 250w HPS light and also have a 90w UFO LED in there as well. I also added 3 2' T5 lights on the sides. The results are amazing but I am going to revamp the lighting and go with a 300w LED to alleviate the heat issues I was having during the hottest summer days.

The exhaust vent on the back needs roughly 1' of space to clear the 90* and muffler that goes inline. Plus you have to figure on most will have all the electrical hook ups, timers and such on the back of the cabinet.

I know there are many things to consider on these but as I was looking at the site I used for the pic/description of the max I was looking at the bigger units (The Earth Cab Pro) and noticed those would make a difference as far as having to reach around plants/lights and stuff and it would be much easier. The price tag on those is healthy at around $2900 for the HID soil model but that would be well worth it for the results that would be seen from that. The main reason I went with a Yielder Max was for the lockability and stealth. I live in a much less than 420 friendly area and my brother in law is a LEO so I had to be sure, plus I have a 16yo living in the same house so security is a must. The Max passed the test as my BIL helped move the box in and really liked my "Gun Safe"... His words.

In my future grows I have decided I'm only going to run one plant at a time to reduce the clutter and just plain make things easier.

I hope this long winded reply has helped and I truly wish I could be of more help.
 
:thanks: so much Firebolt420. It does help me hearing about others' experiences with this type of cabinet. Stealth is not that big of a deal where I live since it's a legal state for mmj users, which I am. I basically just want to keep the smell down. The free shipping deal on the growboxusa cab that I've been leaning towards, is over at the end of this month, so I'm thinking that I just need to pull the trigger and order it so that I can start growing.

One more question...do you have the exhaust further ducted out of the room or is it sufficient just as it was designed? This is the primary reason that I am shying away from a tent. It seems that everyone who has a tent or has built their own grow space has had to run ducting up through the ceiling to an attic or outside through a window or something like that, and I just don't have that skill (amongst others lol). All along I've planned on using LED lights to cut down on heat issues especially living where I do in Central California, where it gets really hot. If I could I would buy a tent with all the bells and whistles that I want and still spend less than the growboxusa cab that I'm considering, BUT I'm worried about the venting/ducting issues.
 
C Sprite,
Ah so there may be an issue with that. You don't necessarily have to vent it to the outside, but if it is in a small confined area you will want to.
The smell wont be an issue with a good carbon filter in place, but what you'll get in a small space is it will constantly be recycling it's own air and even with LED you could see heat issues without the proper ventilation. At that point a tent and a cabinet would be even up as far as to run ventilation outside or not.

So I am assuming that you are planning on doing your growing in a closet of a spare bdrm or something like that? If so do you own or rent? is it a single family unit or multiple? Which unit are you leaning towards? If you own and want to have the ventilation run out side the solution is simple and would be as simple as calling a local contractor and before the box arrives simply have a new dryer vent/hook up installed. Just tell the installer that you want to move the dryer there in order to make laundry much easier and closer to where you are going to put it.

Another note to consider if your budget would allow it this would solve a lot of the issues that you may have Grow Daddy | Hydroponics Group
Yes they are very pricey but it would be something that would not look out of place in any room and have a lot of potential in the way of not having to bend over to work in there at all.
 
Firebolt420,

I own my home (single family, one story) and was planning on putting the cabinet in the spare bedroom that is my "office". I have a huge corner desk that is situated where the 2 outside walls (with windows) meet. The cabinet would need to be placed on an inside wall that is about 5' across. Behind that inside wall is a hallway. That means that any ducting to the outside would have to stretch across the entire width of the room in order to get to an outside wall. My house is on a raised foundation, so ducting to under the house might be possible, but I don't know about putting a hole in the floor. I was hoping that I would be able to avoid all of that by getting one of the "all-in-one" type of grow cabinet. Nowhere in any of the descriptions for the cabs that I've been researching does it say that anything about further ducting to the outside.

Yes, the Hydroponics Group of grow cabinets are really nice. With the cedar construction and the adjustable shelf, it not only doesn't look like anything grow-related, it is also ergonomically suited for those of us with back problems. As I stated at the beginning of this thread, the Bud Buddy is one of the three that I've been considering all along. I now just need to be clear on whether or not any or all of them will need further ventilation beyond what is provided in the original designs. Since I figure I'm going to spend at least $3K for the cabinet with accessories, I really don't want to have to spend further on ventilation issues if I can help it.
 
C Sprite,
Ok now that I have caught up to the reading I should have done first... (sometimes I'm a little slow) In that area you should be fine without ducting to the outside.

I truly am not trying to confuse you, I'd just hate to see you buy something that is going to cause buyers remorse and turn your back on something that will not only provide the meds to relieve the discomforts and pains you have but also the mental release of the pleasure of growing on your own. It is almost as soothing just to open up the box and see the life that you have grown as it is to medicate with it. Almost better than kids cause the plants wont ever back talk or sneak out on a school night to party with friends.
 
C Sprite

I have been looking at grow cabinets too. I have considered:
the LED Fullback with cloning chamber from growboxusa
the yielder max from cabinet grow
the LED Deluxe 3.0 from supercloset

I am also leaning towards the growboxusa unit. Will probably buy the hydro unit but will grow in soil the first few times to get the feel of things. I'm going to upgrade to the 480W dual drive LED and T5 side lighting. The automatic pH control option looks interesting but at $700 kind of pricey. But considering you are getting a pH PID control with two dosers, it might be worth it. Depends on much of a pain the daily pH adjustments are for you. You'll still have to go through the weekly water change though.

Unfortunately, I have to wait a few months before I can make my purchase. My new "toy" is my Christmas present to myself. And "I can hardly stand to wait, please Christmas don't be late". But seriously, stay in touch. I'd like to know what you end up going with and follow your progress. We can compare notes when I get my toy.

Good luck and happy growing!
 
Duckster said:
C Sprite

I have been looking at grow cabinets too. I have considered:
the LED Fullback with cloning chamber from growboxusa
the yielder max from cabinet grow
the LED Deluxe 3.0 from supercloset

I am also leaning towards the growboxusa unit. Will probably buy the hydro unit but will grow in soil the first few times to get the feel of things. I'm going to upgrade to the 480W dual drive LED and T5 side lighting. The automatic pH control option looks interesting but at $700 kind of pricey. But considering you are getting a pH PID control with two dosers, it might be worth it. Depends on much of a pain the daily pH adjustments are for you. You'll still have to go through the weekly water change though.

Unfortunately, I have to wait a few months before I can make my purchase. My new "toy" is my Christmas present to myself. And "I can hardly stand to wait, please Christmas don't be late". But seriously, stay in touch. I'd like to know what you end up going with and follow your progress. We can compare notes when I get my toy.

Good luck and happy growing!
Click to expand...

Hi Duckster,

It sounds like we are thinking the same. I still haven't bitten the bullet and purchased a cabinet yet. It surely is a very large purchase $$$. The fullback is also my favorite so far. I've noticed that they change their shipping costs every month, as I have been researching that and other sites since May. Last month was free shipping, this month $99 and next month will be $199, then the cycle will repeat. So if you are wanting one for Xmas, it will probably be cheapest again in November.

The one thing that I didn't like about the growboxusa cabs were the lights. They seem to be no name lights and I don't know enough about them to feel comfortable with them. The 5W diode dual drive 480W LED lights are brand new for them. I have heard that 5W diodes produce a lot of heat and I don't think that they have adjusted their ventilation system to accommodate them. My plan (if I end up with growboxusa) is to just get whatever LED light that comes with it, then I would purchase a better LED light like the reflector LED 96x3W from TopLED or the 432W Spider COB LED, both of which have significant proof of their effectiveness on this website and they are both significantly cheaper than purchasing the upgrade from growboxusa. However, I would get the T5 side light upgrade.

At first I thought about getting the auto pH upgrade, but I don't think that I need it. I am home 90% of the time, so I can check the pH daily if I want . Also, after reading so many journals on this website, I found that quite a few hydro growers who went on fairly short vacations (<or= 1 week) didn't have pH problems when they were gone. It just seems like a waste of $675 unless you go on 2 week vacations.

One other thing...even if I do get the fullback, I think that I will get it without the cloning chamber. I have an Aerogarden, which I found that I can use for germination and early-mid veg stage. There is even a journal on here where the full grow was done on an Aerogarden! I don't want to do the full grow on it, but it would be nice to have a separate area for veg. I also want to have as much height for flowering as I can. It is also cheaper for me to run the AG with the CFLs then running the entire cabinet with the LEDs, exhaust, fans, etc. for veg.

We can definitely stay in touch. I have found one other grower on here (stealthgrow) who runs his hydro grows in Supercloset's Trinity model. We spoke (emailed) last week, and he said that he loves his cabinet and that it has more than paid for itself within this first year. You should check out some of his journals, if you want.

Best of luck to you also.
 
Hi C Sprite,
Thanks for the tip on the shipping prices. I did check out Stealthgrow's first grow journal. It was pretty detailed. Lots of good information and I know I learned a thing or two. Thanks again
 
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