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The New Grow Chamber!

hello all, ive been planning this thing out for a little while now. I finally found the time to do it with some appreciated help from Butch.

I only snatched a few pictures because im still busy tweaking with the temps and humidity.

IMG_1751.jpg


I bought the fixture off of ebay. it is a Hydrofarm 4ft 4 bulb fixture. i believe it was $142.99

I then broke down one of those 4 tier grow racks. I covered the back, left, right and bottom sides with 3/4in thick insulation foam boards. I sealed the front with some of the grow rack plastic for easy access.

IMG_1752.jpg


I got a 4in 12VDC case fan from Radioshack for 17.99. I spliced the wires from the fan to an old adapter. I plan on adding another fan in the near future in case one fails. Without the fan it can quickly get to 90+ in 30 minutes. I got the humidifier from Target for $30. I have a 2ft long plastic tube running from the humidifier into the chamber.

IMG_1753.jpg



The T5's produce some high heat, but with the fan running and the humidifier i have my temps down to about 68 degrees and 85% humidity. With all being said i am fairly happy at this point with those conditions but im still going to wait a little before i put my helis and such in. Now i have plenty of room for more plants =)

I will update ASAP as soon as i get my plants filled in there.
 
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your eBay link isn't working.. And just out of curiosity, what are you doing for water collection in the bottom?
 
for water collection im going to have trays under the bottom rack. i only have 1 tray right now so i need to go get 1 more.
 
But will that really catch all of it? Maybe if you had one big tray that fit perfectly in there.. Or do you have it someplace like the garage where a little extra run off isn't going to hurt anything?
 
its in the basement. (nice cool temps) so im not worried about it at all. im just going to have them in place right when i water so i get the majority.
 
I was thinking about the excess water from the fogger. Mine soaked the floor after running for just a few hours. Which is why I ended up moving the grow box out into the cement floored sunroom.
 
ill have to check that out and see how it condensates. so far its dry not bad because of the fan but maybe after time.
 
Very very nice and very recognizable. :D lol!! Should do great and your plants will love it.
 
Nice job!
 
  • #10
Looks good! Can't wait to see the plants in there!
 
  • #11
Looks great Kg.... and somehow familiar ;)

With the constant fresh air input condensation isn't really an issue. When running, my setup never fully reaches saturation. The mist is dissipated a foot or so past the outlet.
If it does then things are out of balance somehow. Tweak your airflow/moisture output, condensation is a waste product in this case. However, I do have pans at the bottom to catch the run off from watering. In addition, make sure the humidifier outlet tube maintains a degree of slope so any condensation inside the tube is allowed to run back into the humidifier and then be recycled.

Your performance numbers look good.... and be sure to install that second fan and power supply. It's tempting to do but don't slack on that issue.... it can come back to hurt ya real bad.

You might end up moving the humidifier output closer to the fan.... depends if the negative pressure differential developed by the inlet air velocity is sufficient enough to induce proper blending of the two from that distance ;)

In other words.... make sure the fan sucks the mist into the airflow :)

Its a little counterintuitive but with this type of system, you don't want to see the mist sinking or collecting somewhere. We want it fully blended to get the maximum temperature drop (latent heat of vaporization)


just for fun, a little about Bernoulli from the master
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KCcZyW-6-5o&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KCcZyW-6-5o&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

and an old school vid on refrigeration
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b527al9D_rY&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b527al9D_rY&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


quiz in the morning ;)

Cheers'
Butch
 
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  • #12
thanks av. i really appreciate the help.

The mist is instantly sucked right to the fan and then exchanged from that distance, so i am happy with that. I am still tweaking with the humidifier to avoid having it run on full power. i am also really happy with the temps. My night time temp got to right around 60 degrees, so i have a decent drop.

I have moved many of my plants and i have the helis on the left side with the fan and such. i hope they like it =)
 
  • #13
What type or model humidifier are you using? Looks good. Thanks.
 
  • #14
that humidifier pumps out a nice mist, but it just sucks up water. ive had to fill it twice already today so i went ahead and bought a Vicks Ultrasonic Humidifier - V-5100-N. this one has a 1.7 gallon tank. it shouldnt be here for a week though.

---------- Post added at 09:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 PM ----------

Hey just took a few quickies of what its starting to look like with some of the plants in. bad quality but oh well.

IMG_1764.jpg


IMG_1763.jpg


IMG_1762.jpg


IMG_1761.jpg
 
  • #15
...

Its a little counterintuitive but with this type of system, you don't want to see the mist sinking or collecting somewhere. We want it fully blended to get the maximum temperature drop (latent heat of vaporization)


just for fun, a little about Bernoulli from the master

and an old school vid on refrigeration


quiz in the morning ;)

Cheers'
Butch

Holy condensation....that was better than the year of thermo I got made to sit through in college. Thank you!!

/dunno why they didn't fail me out...probably just wanted me out of their hair already :jester:
 
  • #16
Holy condensation....that was better than the year of thermo I got made to sit through in college. Thank you!!

/dunno why they didn't fail me out...probably just wanted me out of their hair already :jester:

LOL, yw thez
I have a feeling thermo was not an issue
The prof prob just had a difficult time teaching the class

:angel:
 
  • #17
kgrudz: LOVE the moss!!
Very cute Helis too :love:

LOL, yw thez
I have a feeling thermo was not an issue
The prof prob just had a difficult time teaching the class

:angel:

You know how teaching assignments go .. :-))
 
  • #18
Wow, that's a very slick setup!
 
  • #19
Fantastic, Kevin!!
Thanks for sharing!!
 
  • #20
thanks for the comments !!

i cant wait till will this baby up. it looks so empty.
 
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