Couple things I got done today. My heatsink compound arrived so I removed the strips and re-installed them with the compound. I had been trying to be a little conservative with my power level and I hope to bump it a bit now. I also know that I could use a little better ventilation as well. Just a little move even distribution of moving air should help. Also I dissected a couple of my a19 led bulbs in anticipation of my micro bucket project. I ordered some heat sinks for that so not much more to do till I get them.
I found a brick of burpee coco coir at HD for $2.98 so I bought it. Stuck it in a bucket and added water after breaking it up and getting it rehydrated I checked the ph and ppm’s. It needed washing a bit so I did that and it’s draining but I think it’s ground pretty fine and not going to be something I like much. I’d like something a bit more chunky so I think I’ll try to find coco chips if I can.
With the burpee coco I’ve found 70 coco/ 30 perlite works fine. Might try that out.
Question for @Baudelaire the temps taken on the face of my strips with a cheap laser gun vary from about 100f in the center of the box to mid 130’s at the edges of the box. I do hope to rearrange my vent fans to help airflow around the LEDs… are these temps going to be a problem? The ambient temps at the canopy level are mid 60’s to mid 70’s. I’m mostly worried about the lifespan of the LEDs.
operating temperature is -40 to +185 F for LM561C - mine run at ~165F all the time
Quoting from an email exchange I had with @Baudelaire
" Keeps strip temps below 50C, which is the upper end of the strips rated operating temperature."
122f is the max id be comfortable letting them run. You just need a little more airflow and you should be golden.
Got my heatsink stuff slathered around and she’s cool a bit. Soon as the current couple of girls are finished I’ll do a bit of remodel on my cabinet. I’m gonna make it just a tad smaller to fit with my space and change up the ventilation a bit, maybe think about some more automation since I like to do a bit of traveling.
The girls are coming along, I’m excited to finish this run as I’m going to move and modify my grow cabinet before starting the next round.
Here is a bud shot of my blue dream CBD. A couple more weeks at least I guess.
But I did start a bucket grow yesterday. My bucket was inspired by @Mr.Sparkle and his orange bucket. Inside is a polar express autoflower, hopefully emerging in the next day or so.
I used four of the 14 what disassembled led bulbs, hopefully I’m not over powering things. We’ll see I guess. If so I may wire two of the chips in parallel on the same driver.
Righteous and Over the Top. (out of likes)
Love these buckets.
High Tech meets High Times!
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Great thread. Need to read-read when time permits. 
Go bucket baby!
Yeah, there still looks like a lot of growth left in her.
Would say 2-3 weeks, could be more.
Fabric containers.
Organic soil? About to be watered??
Nice lookin’
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Just took her out of the cabinet for some photos and a trim. I’ve been using earth juice nutes up to now and will continue on this girl. I’m trying MegaCrop and coco chips on the next run and the little bucket grow I’ve got going. I think the soil she’s in is a combo of Roots Organic and FFOF, just what I had on hand at the time. Her trichs are just starting to cloud up now.
May not have two weeks??
Looking forward to the smoke report
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Nice bucket. I am using 3x15w bulbs with no issues yet. Single tier bucket. My passive intakes are 4 2” holes drilled straight in the floor… not super effective but once my 80mm fan has its filter on it might only be pushing 15-20cfm max which is fine for almost half a sq foot.
I might convert to 2 x15w bulbs in next build for even a simpler setup, given that I won’t lose any bud for the light decrease.
Any insight on how you mounted your bulbs, which heatsink ect
I’m terrible at keeping records so I can’t remember exactly when I started her, about a week I guess. I’m currently hand watering with MegaCrop and she seems to be doing well. I like the simplicity of the single nute mix and I hope to make it even more simpler soon with some automation. Today I mixed 4 grams with 2 gallons of my tap water and forgot to adjust the ph but afterward I checked the runoff and ph was at 6.5. Maybe a little high but my tap starts at 7.
That’s why you take pictures and post them and also have your camera/cell have the default naming system to include the date in the file name, which makes it easy to look back to see.
A grow journal on Overgrow solves so many of my documentation issues, it is hard to imagine going back to paper notes.
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