DIY Home solutions automatic boxes

[Mañ'O'Green]

Damn. Mars hydro has 2100$ set up on sale for 75% off. Snap! Can I post the offer and someone say yay or nay

Yes, Mars Hydro is one of our approved vendors and we have an online Representative from Mars Hydro @MarshydroTina - Post away.

I have never been away from my grows for more than 3 days but I grow hydro and 3 days is an eternity in hydro. One thing to consider is water and watering; what about a leak or faulty valve. The floor pan in my grow space is a flood tray that will hold all of the water in my closed system. So even with a total malfunction no water can flood the room. I have a 35 gallon top-off tank.

 

[rusty shanty☆]

Yes, Mars Hydro is one of our approved vendors and we have an online Representative from Mars Hydro @MarshydroTina - Post away.

I have never been away from my grows for more than 3 days but I grow hydro and 3 days is an eternity in hydro. One thing to consider is water and watering; what about a leak or faulty valve. The floor pan in my grow space is a flood tray that will hold all of the water in my closed system. So even with a total malfunction no water can flood the room. I have a 35 gallon top-off tank.

View attachment 1233911

Lovely idea for the overflow. The deal I found is actually on an auction site. Mars hydro looks like the way to go for me

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Lovely idea for the overflow. The deal I found is actually on an auction site. Mars hydro looks like the way to go for me

Well You may be able to get a good deal on a new one here. Give @MarshydroTina a chance to catch up with you.

 

[WildBill]

Yes, Mars Hydro is one of our approved vendors and we have an online Representative from Mars Hydro @MarshydroTina - Post away.

I have never been away from my grows for more than 3 days but I grow hydro and 3 days is an eternity in hydro. One thing to consider is water and watering; what about a leak or faulty valve. The floor pan in my grow space is a flood tray that will hold all of the water in my closed system. So even with a total malfunction no water can flood the room. I have a 35 gallon top-off tank.

View attachment 1233911

Damn! 35gallon!

 

[Death The Cultivator]

Greetings, folks.

Please be aware of the terms of service and forum etiquette.

My current situation spurred the need for this discussion - which all are welcome to read and participate in. We want to stay as positive as possible with this discussion but also provide a serious critique about concerns or issues you may come up with. I want to avoid posting links to seller websites as it's unneccessary and we aren't here to sell something. Open, honest discussion only. If you own or use one - post pics to back up your position on why it's a critique or why it's positive.

Looking to start a discussion about automatic grow boxes. I've spent many months reading reviews and articles. Imo, the reviews aren't reliable because most of them just sound fake - be it overly gushing with positivity or unfairly bashing the product. The articles are hard to determine if they are written by an actual person who used it or if it's just a company paying for a solidly positive review. Do some researching and you'll see what I mean.

I've looked at cloudponics [apparently bankrupt?], leaf, grobo, bc northern lights grow box and spinnerxp. All appear great in theory and all amazingly expensive [imo]. Do you know of any other companies?

Issues I've read about that seem legit relates to light leaks and smell problems that occurred because of poor manufacturing or damage that occurred during shipping.

Does anyone have experience with an automated growbox that can detail their experience? How automated was it? What odor control mechanisms were effective and what did you do to assist in odor control? Yes, I'm aware there will always be smell.

If you can avoid openly endorsing a company or openly bashing a product please feel free to participate.

About me: moderate experience with moderate results. Love outdoor but can't do it anymore. Indoor might be an option but it has to be reliable and actually automated.

Once a discussion happens maybe we'll have a vote to determine which I'll buy [if any] and I'll post a grow journal with it.

Love yall, I dont expect much conversation about the topic because these units are so expensive and I doubt there are many folks who have purchased one, let alone multiple from different manufacturers.
So please chime in with your thoughts, concerns, and critique.

You won't find a good cabinet. The lowest end consumer automation is going to be through Trolmaster and that is around $1000-1500 per individual space for full automation. I've browsed them all as well because I think grow tents are trash but I'm going to build a cabinet to suit my special needs.

@Chronic_ passion has a certain amount of automation but for now crappy grow tents are the only option unless you build something. I'm getting the materials together for three cabinets to run perpetual, I wrote a blog for the whole process so far.
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I think automation is great if you understand how to manage all the parameters in your space but 20 days is a long time to be gone. @Olderfart is probably right that soil and autopots would be your best bet. The longest I can leave is a week then I have to manage pH and top offs unless I ran dosers in my system.

What size space are you considering? Overall budget?

 

[rusty shanty☆]

You won't find a good cabinet. The lowest end consumer automation is going to be through Trolmaster and that is around $1000-1500 per individual space for full automation. I've browsed them all as well because I think grow tents are trash but I'm going to build a cabinet to suit my special needs.

@Chronic_ passion has a certain amount of automation but for now crappy grow tents are the only option unless you build something. I'm getting the materials together for three cabinets to run perpetual, I wrote a blog for the whole process so far.
xa_ubs_view_blog_entry_item_x
I think automation is great if you understand how to manage all the parameters in your space but 20 days is a long time to be gone. @Olderfart is probably right that soil and autopots would be your best bet. The longest I can leave is a week then I have to manage pH and top offs unless I ran dosers in my system.

What size space are you considering? Overall budget?

2k budget. Unlimited space.
Building a box.......I wanted to build a box using a 3d printer...you could print it as a whole piece and guarantee no light leaks and would help with odor because it's primarily one piece. Also you could 3dprint customized schematics with everything built in like a slot for power cords etc I have access to a 3d printer but not one that would 3dprint with metal. It would be a composite type plastic

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Damn! 35gallon!

I was running 3 - 17 gallon reservoirs with 10 gallons of nutrient capacity each so I needed 30 gallons to do all reservoir changes at the same time. I have kept it in the system now just to aerate and PH water before it goes into the single 10gal. reservoir I use now.

 

[WildBill]

2k budget. Unlimited space.
Building a box.......I wanted to build a box using a 3d printer...you could print it as a whole piece and guarantee no light leaks and would help with odor because it's primarily one piece. Also you could 3dprint customized schematics with everything built in like a slot for power cords etc I have access to a 3d printer but not one that would 3dprint with metal. It would be a composite type plastic

Gotta be UV resistant of you'll have to coat it with a UV resistant coating

 

[Death The Cultivator]

2k budget. Unlimited space.
Building a box.......I wanted to build a box using a 3d printer...you could print it as a whole piece and guarantee no light leaks and would help with odor because it's primarily one piece. Also you could 3dprint customized schematics with everything built in like a slot for power cords etc I have access to a 3d printer but not one that would 3dprint with metal. It would be a composite type plastic

If you can do that sure, I'm aiming for insulated/ductless cabinet. I don't like grow tents, my wife abhors them and I'm not trying to hide my grow or move it in a pinch.

2k is a large budget but lights are going to eat a good portion of it if you go for good ones, less if you DIY. Fans, exhaust fans, appliances, grow medium, pots/system, and water as well. Even if it's multiple pieces, having one in and out will draw a lot of the air through your filter. Tents aren't sealed but don't suffer from odor that often. I knew a few people in cabinets that aren't the best put together but you smell a thing.

InkBird controllers can automate your HVAC/humidity. Autopots automate irrigation. Plenty of sub $30 WiFi cameras with pan features, and a Pulse monitor for redundancy and VPD. WIFI timers for lights.

What's your indoor climate like? I grow in an attic that stays around 72f and 60% RH but gets cold in the winter so i run heaters. Humidity will drop in the winter but I'll run a whole room humidifier to stay around 55%.

Imo, you don't have to size your fan larger than an AC Infinity 4 inch Cloudline T4 as it has enough CFMs for a 4x8. These have controllers on them for more automation.

I'm interested to see what you do though. Good luck.

 

[Chronic_passion]

I've automated mine as @damien50 says, as far as I can anyway. I wrote a full instructional in my blog (see signature for link). The only thing I'm missing is light movement but for this last run I set them 44" high and left them which worked really well.
Most times I'm away from the tent for up to 5 weeks. Any emergencies and I get my garden carer to intervene.
If you don't like tents, all I can suggest is building a wooden box to the suitable size. You can make it as air tight as you like then
IP timers and cameras, AutoPots and BioTabs are the best option to automate in my opinion.
Hope you find what you're looking for.