First Grow Chamber

[Peat]

Just finished up on my first nep grow chamber. This one is my lowland chamber... or highland... not sure yet, I have to build the second chamber in a couple of weeks.

I am still debating whether or not to sacrifice looks for efficiency, the side glass panels let out a lot of light but I will test around and change to foil if necessary. I am also considering different options for the top... I may lower the lights in so I can build a good hood to keep in the humidity. I will add foil to the top for sure though, and I am working on a fan for some air movement. I purchased a fogger at menards to keep up the humidity and heatpads will be positioned on the floor underneath trays of water.

The front doors are sliding glass and the sides are tempered glass sheets as well. The back is covered with plastic and a layer of foil. The wood is pine, and yes... i used nothing to protect the wood from the humidity : ) I do plan on having to rebuild in a couple years but this is kind of a test.

Just posting to share with TF, if there are any questions shoot. Hopefully this can give somebody some ideas on how to build in the future.

Hope you enjoy, if you would like me to post pictures after I have placed my plants inside just say so and Ill update in a bit.

-Peat

The dimensions: 4'x3'x2'

The light fixtures are 4' T8 w/ a warm and cool bulb in each. Any recommendations pertaining to my lights is welcomed.

Sorry for the enormous size of the pics, resizing on photobucket isnt much of an option with dialup

Fin

 

[watnazn]

Lets get some plants in this badboy lol.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Looking good ;>

4 tubes though seems a bit shy on the lighting. Particularly if they are 1-2' above the plants.

 

[macamus3]

With a chamber that size you may want to look at a 270 Watt HPS system with the son-agro full spectrum bulb. If it is in your budget can get a Sungrow fan cooled light for about $250-300. It would give you tons of light. If not you should go with as many T8's as you can fit up there. (At least six) Also should raise plants closer to the T8's/put pots on pedistals. Just my opinion, and there may be other options. I am having light issues on my highland chamber which has eight T8's on it now and is not nearly as large as yours/deep.

 

[Peat]

well college student and large budget dont mix together so nice haha but I do for sure need to raise the plants up to the lights or lower the lights. I am thinking about adding 2 or 4 more T8's as well now that you guys mention it.

I do have a question though, I got a hold of a 400watt sodium HID fixture for a really good price. I was going to use it on some other plants but what do you guys think would happen if I put it on the top of this chamber for my neps? I personally think my apartment would burn down w/in a couple hours but I havent really heard anyones opinion on this topic before. Obviously the light puts off a lot of heat but do you think the light would be too intense and might burn the plants? I can get more spec on the light if needed.

 

[macamus3]

The 400 watt fixture could never be too intense lightwise. Nothing is as intense as the sun. The problem as you already mentioned would be the heat generated. Your chamber could possibly overheat. So unless you get one of the new water cooled bulb fixtures, I think you would have heat issues. That is why I reccommended one of the 270 watt fixtures. Only about 1/3 the heat generated by this fixture. you also could still have heat problems with flourescents too.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Just on a side note. You could put 8 T8 normal output tubes up there and they still would be too little for the distance. The amount of light that reaches the plants is based on the distance and the intensity of the light source. Normal output fluorescent tubes are very low in intensity and must be close to the plants to provide enough intensity on the leaf surface. The only alternative is to use a higher intensity light source if you wish to have the lights up high. HPS or metal halide, or some sort of higher intensity fluorescent such as T5 high output. You might look into those 100w 6500k compact fluorescent Fluorex fixtures. They are designed for outdoor floodlighting at night but can be rigged to work indoors for this purpose. They run cooler than HPS or MH and put out alot of light. Two of those babies on there would be pretty nice.

 

[GrowinOld]

2 cents....

Hi,
To extend the life of the wood/structure of your unit, consider some waterproof caulk
and or shellac or a good indoor/outdoor spar urethane or marine varnish.
Allow it to soak into cracks and do a couple coats.
I have a large lowland chamber I have had unexpectedly for over 18 years, so don't think a
wooden unit won't last, especially if you take a little extra care and cost to build it well.

This will not only protect the wood from rotting, but will also keep water from seeping thru
the cracks or even thru the wood itself. Otherwise with high humidity,
the wood could warp badly, preventing the glass doors from sliding, or water could even leak
out onto whatever you have the unit sitting on, like a floor rug!
(Been there, done that! I had enough flooding the plastic sheet under it un-noticed
until our rug and floor was drenched!)

The urethane will also seal around the glass some, which helps even more.
Just be sure it's dry before putting the glass doors back in.
(Do keep in mind, that you need enough space for the doors to slide in the track groove
once the urethane is painted in. Nothing worse than it being so tight fitting that it freezes
in place, and having uncured varnish literally "glue" the door in place!)

While my unit is a little different, I have some plastic sheeting (2-3 layers) secured
around the bottom few inches so if water did build up on the bottom of the unit,
it doesn't create a "pooling" problem. If your trays/tubs that you may use can fit close
together and up against the sides, this "loose moisture" can be kept from escaping.
Taping a strip of plastic around the sides and back glass walls, that then drains/flaps/lays
down into the trays a few inches below can help divert any moisture
dripping down the walls even better!*

If you have no top on the unit, it will allow the humidity to vaporize from the heat
of the lamps and easily escape. Any plexigalss, glass, plywood scrap pieces can easily be cut
and set in place between the lamps and the top edges of the unit
to prevent the humidity from escaping.

Everyone is right about the lights. I have mine in an east facing window with supplimental
natural (the sun) lighting, which has worked quite well over the years, but more light is better
for the best growth, and what you have now isn't much. If you are starting with smaller
plants, either use lights that fit inside and can be lowered (It looks like your unit is shorter
than your light fixtures, so thats out), or make shelves to raise the plants up to the lights,
to maximize your current lighting. *(Using the plastic sheet strip taped to the walls
mentioned above, will help seal off this smaller [upper] area like a separate smaller chamber,
maximizing your "humidification" of your plants.)

If money is an issue, it looks like you can easily and pretty cheaply add one if not two more
fixtures to the top. It may look bright to you, but with the distance from the bulb to even
half way down the chamber, a lot of light is lost. (If you look at the bulbs from a distance of
4-6 inches, and then from a distance of 2', you will see the difference.
A LOT less light, especially if you are a plant!)
(Warning! Do not look directly at the bulbs for a long time,
or you could become blind, and stupid!)

Well, I have obviously run out of good advice... Oh, almost!
If you have not grown a lot of plant varieties (Neps) already, do try to start with
lowlanders/intermediates unless your room temps are already that of a highlanders needs.
Its a lot easier to have warm household conditions that many plants can thrive at,
than it is to provide a good highland/ultra-highland environment that some plants require.

Good luck with your new grow chamber! It is looking good so far.
I hope some of my suggestions may be of interest or thought provoking and helpful.

There's many ways to do things,
and that is part of the challenge, and fun!

Paul

 

[Peat]

Thanks guys, Im going to look into some other forms of lighting and dink around with what I have as well.

Paul, I like the ideas of covering the wood with something, it will be a lot of extra work but totally worth it. The lights can actually fit inside, they are on a ledge at the top of the chamber. I will definitely rig up some shelving or lower the lights as I am aware of the distance requirements. And yes there are many ways to do things, and yes it is so much fun : ) Thanks a lot for the advice. This may be me trying to find an easy way out, but are there any wood finishes I could apply without having to take the whole unit apart? Just curious because I really dont want warping involved (super headaches!!!)

 

[GrowinOld]

Peat,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you....
You want to put the varnish on after its assembled so it seeps into the cracks and seals them. I would suggest applying 2 or 3 thin coats. Except I would use enough varnish (well wet and pool it) where the cracks and joints are so the varnish seeps in and eventually (after 2+ coats) seals them.
Thinning down (with mineral spirits) the first coat (only) will allow the varnish to actually soak into the wood better, making the wood itself more waterproof (well...more water resistant actually). Its not necessary if you are doing 2 or 3 good coats anyway, but I usually do a quick, thinned down first coat, and then at least 2 un-thinned coats, and the results are great, easy to do (tho time consuming) and long lasting. (Just don't allow too much "pooling" of water in the terrarium, as its not totally water "proof"!)
(If you thin down the first coat of varnish, it will take longer to dry, so give it the time it needs and you will be rewarded in the end... it is worth being patient on this step.)

I would suggest varnishing where the glass sides and wood meet, as this will help seal things. And again, using thinned down varnish helps the varnish to seep in better.

On the glass-door tracks, be sure there is enough space/tolerance big enough to allow for the thickness of the varnish as the doors need to slide freely.
If you don't have much "extra space/play" in the door tracks, thin the varnish a little for all your coats and sand lightly between coats as the varnish tends to lift the wood fibers, and you should have decent results.
Oh yea, since you ask, I use either marine "spar varnish", Minwax Indoor/Outdoor Helmsman Spar Urethane, or sometimes Shellac. I try to get what is readily available, and always get Outdoor use products, as you are exposing it to an Outdoor environment. (Shellac is waterproof, but has its own set of problems with its use, and can be affected by simple glass cleaner.)

The extra heat from lowering the lights into the unit may be beneficial to certain "heat loving" plants, it allows the lights to get closer to the plants and maximize exposure, and also allows you to seal off the top of the terrarium better and keep the humidity in.

Again, good luck,
Paul
GrowinOld

 

[Peat]

Whelp, here is the college move-in update on my grow chamber : )

Took your advise growinold and decided to bite the bullet and put a few coats of polyurethane on the entire chamber. The wood should be free of warp for many plants to come.

I upgraded to 8 t8 bulbs. I installed a 4 bulb t8 fixture at the top and tilted 2 other 2 bulb t8 fixtures in the corners. I raised my plants closer to the lights and added some 40watts to the bottom so I can still grow some succulents and tropicals.

The fogger was a big hastle and didnt seem to work for my chamber due to the chamber's size i think. I instead purchased a warm-air humidifier from target for the same price and it has worked wonders! I can keep my tank at 85% humidity all day and all night by simply turning on the humidifier for 20 minutes or so a day (with some tinkering here and there as well of course : )

I finally have a home for all of my neps, they should be acclimated within a couple months hopefully, some are already responding very nicely to the humidity and temps. The temp drops at night are easily achieved by the central air in my apartment, it goes down to about 65 at night(still working out some bugs with keeping temps low at night).

The lights do however make for some hot and stagnant air so I rigged up a couple computer fans to a motherboard/power source positioned at the back of the chamber.

There is still a lot of tinkering and growing left to be done! I welcome any comments and I hope the updates give some ideas to growers in the future.

Grow chamber with a large wandering jew, pineapple, baby stagfern, and various nifty things on top. Below you can see the two levels inside the glass.

Growchamber, you can see the humidifier and my thermostat (neps are on at the top) (and dont judge my humidity percentage the doors were open! haha) edit: eek i need to clean that glass!

As much of the lighting as I could get:

Just a few pics of my neps, cant wait till a few months from now.

And a bonus pic of my chamber on the otherside of the room. My roommate is growing peppers and I have some orchids/various housed in the top chamber.

Of course questions are welcome as well.

Thanks a Lot Everybody,
-Peat

 

[Halt]

Just hope your roommates dont use your growchamber to grow something bad:/