Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W LED

trichtone

trichtone

New Member
Hi All,

Let me start off by saying that I have a doctors recommendation to grow cannabis for my medical conditions.

Welcome to my very first grow. After many...many months of reading threads on this great forum, I took the plunge and started a grow. I just got my clones in my system and to say I that I am nervous is an understatement, but with the great support of this community I think I will make it through. :smokin:

As a new grower, I am sure that I will make all of the classic mistakes. Feel free to offer any advice or offer suggestions if you think I am doing something the hard way. I apologize in advance for all of the stupid questions I am bound to ask. :rasta:

Now to the stats!

This is a stealth grow in my garage cabinets.

Hardware:
Garage Cabinet: 3' x 4' x 8'
Lights: 2 x 300W LED from GLH (awesome lights - check out Irish boy's grow and others)
Hydro: 4 - 5gal DWC buckets with 1 - 5gal reservoir
Vent: 4" vortex fan with carbon filter
Meter: Hanna Tri-meter

Cabinet-closed-web.jpg


Cabinet-without-light.jpg


Cabinet-under-light-web.jpg


Plants:
XJ-13: 2 buckets

XJ-13-1-web.jpg


XJ--13-2-web.jpg


Purple Kush: 2 buckets

PK-1-web.jpg


PK-2-web.jpg


Now all of the plants

All-plants-DWC-under-light-.jpg


Plants-with-cabinet-under-l.jpg
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

The one issue i am most worried about at this point is the temps. I live in a hot climate and I have no A/C to this cabinet. Temps last night ran into the high 80's but it was a very cool night last night. I know a few other LED growers have been able to run their temps in the high 90's without any ill effects (at least during veg). Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

I am getting a lot of positive air pressure with the system I have setup. I think I read somewhere that positive air pressure is not good for the plants. Does anyone have any experience with growing in a positive pressure environment?

Also, can anyone see any issues with the way I have setup the air filtration system? I think that I am getting the positive air pressure from Hepa Filter. When i remove the filter the positive air pressure goes way down. I got a 6" Hepa Filter while the rest of the system is 4". I guess that I could install another Hepa Filter, but they are pretty expensive? Any other suggestions to reduce positive air pressure?

Cabinet-without-light-air-f.jpg
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

Irishboy said:
do you mean negative pressure? i might be too high but how does ur positive air pressure goes way down when you remove the Hepa Filter? would that allow more air in? is this a passive intake?
Click to expand...

Yeah...I could have it backwards. It feels like a vacuum effect (ie the doors are hard to open due to the suction).

It is a passive intake. My cabinet sits 3" off the floor. I cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and placed a Hepa filter in it. I think I am not using it with the direction of airflow it was designed for. I thought it might be air flow direction agnostic. When i remove the filter and just have an open hole the air pressure goes down and more air flows into the cab. It does reduce the temp by around 8F.

I need to figure out how to get the Hepa filter to work right. I want to keep my cab as sterile as possible and sucking garage floor crap into the cab would not be good :grinjoint:
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

trichtone said:
Yeah...I could have it backwards. It feels like a vacuum effect (ie the doors are hard to open due to the suction).

It is a passive intake. My cabinet sits 3" off the floor. I cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and placed a Hepa filter in it. I think I am not using it with the direction of airflow it was designed for. I thought it might be air flow direction agnostic. When i remove the filter and just have an open hole the air pressure goes down and more air flows into the cab. It does reduce the temp by around 8F.

I need to figure out how to get the Hepa filter to work right. I want to keep my cab as sterile as possible and sucking garage floor crap into the cab would not be good :grinjoint:
Click to expand...
i believe you have it backwards? unless after all this time ive had it backwards?lol.

go to lowes or walmart and by a 3M air filter for around $10-$13. attach it to your hole and your good to go. some of those filter will by out mold, viruses, spider mites you name it. i used one for a while and it worked great. just cut little peaces off the sheet and attach then to your intake and every month Chang it out. if you need more pressure make another hole and just keep adding to it until you get it dialed in. if your room dropped 8F then thats a huge difference. or you could add and intake fan to your Hepa filter to bring in more air. i believe their made to push air out also? if not just hook it up on the out side and have the fan on the inside. all of these ways should work.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

:popcorn: Ok, I only looked at the first post so far, but man :thumb: on the clean cabinet design! The tidiness will pay dividends down the road.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

trichtone said:
I am getting a lot of positive air pressure with the system I have setup. I think I read somewhere that positive air pressure is not good for the plants. Does anyone have any experience with growing in a positive pressure environment?

Also, can anyone see any issues with the way I have setup the air filtration system? I think that I am getting the positive air pressure from Hepa Filter. When i remove the filter the positive air pressure goes way down. I got a 6" Hepa Filter while the rest of the system is 4". I guess that I could install another Hepa Filter, but they are pretty expensive? Any other suggestions to reduce positive air pressure?

Cabinet-without-light-air-f.jpg
Click to expand...

Are you actively pushing air into the cab through that air filter? You would need to have more air going in than out to achieve positive air pressure in the cab. You don't want that though, because then the skunky, weed smelling air will leak out through each crack of the cabinet. Negative pressure will help to direct all air flow out through your carbon scrubber.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

Irishboy said:
i believe you have it backwards? unless after all this time ive had it backwards?lol.

go to lowes or walmart and by a 3M air filter for around $10-$13. attach it to your hole and your good to go. some of those filter will by out mold, viruses, spider mites you name it. i used one for a while and it worked great. just cut little peaces off the sheet and attach then to your intake and every month Chang it out. if you need more pressure make another hole and just keep adding to it until you get it dialed in. if your room dropped 8F then thats a huge difference. or you could add and intake fan to your Hepa filter to bring in more air. i believe their made to push air out also? if not just hook it up on the out side and have the fan on the inside. all of these ways should work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. I really want to make a passive intake work as I am trying to make this as stealthy as possible. I am already at my noise threshold and adding another fan would make me concerned. I will try using a 3M filter and add another intake if necessary. :grinjoint:
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

Munki said:
:popcorn: Ok, I only looked at the first post so far, but man :thumb: on the clean cabinet design! The tidiness will pay dividends down the road.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the positive comments. For the last year, I have been a forum troll and tried capturing cabinet designs that i thought would work for me.

Munki said:
Are you actively pushing air into the cab through that air filter? You would need to have more air going in than out to achieve positive air pressure in the cab. You don't want that though, because then the skunky, weed smelling air will leak out through each crack of the cabinet. Negative pressure will help to direct all air flow out through your carbon scrubber.
Click to expand...

Hehe...I had it backwards. I have a lot of negative air pressure. I need better air flow into the cab. I think the Hepa filter i am using is meant more for active intake systems instead of passive intakes. I am going to try Irish's suggestion of the 3M filters. Hopefully this solution will reduce the negative air pressure, but not eliminate it. Totally makes sense that I will need at least a little negative air pressure to get the carbon filter working correctly. :ganjamon:
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

If the doors are hard to open, it's negative pressure, which is a good thing.

Beautiful clean setup!!!

How does the 5-gal reservoir bucket work? Do you have a pump? DWC usually doesn't usually use a separate bucket for reservoir.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

wow i am so glade to see other join your thread. everyone here is real good people, and i have to most respect for, you are in good hands. How high are you keeping your lights? i am thinking you have the other res for add backs and to keep water levels good just in-case you leave town? i have a friend that does this and works great for him. IMO - pressure is a good thing for smells, but if you add more air and ur temps are going down 8F* then i would cut back the the - pressure IMO. 8F* is allot, dont get me wrong you still want some -pressure, but maybe not as much. I dont know just sharing my thoughts. You are gonna so love that XJ-13 its amazing bud.

see i do both negative pressure and + pressure since i have and active intake i can switch it. so when its hot i have more air coming in, but when someone is coming over i lower the intake air to create -P and remove the smell all the way. remember =P will leave smell leaking out into the room. their is a happy medium u just have to play around with it.
 
Re: Trichtones First Grow | XJ-13 and PK | 600W GLH LED

grandaddie77 said:
Man, nice cab friend, I've enjoyed both the strains you are growing, there AWESOME. I wish you luck and will drop in from time to time. I love DWC, maybe i'll get to try it someday. :)
Click to expand...

Hehe....I can't wait until they are ready. But I have a long ways to go. It is the journey that is the best part :-)

Thanks for stopping by :grinjoint:
 
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