I found this pic on the net. Its of swims first attempt at a monotub. Too say he cut a few corners is a under-statement. He will be trying this again soon.

Why, what's wrong with this one? Looks fine
SWIM never understood doing larger batches. He use to use BRF cakes and all that jazz, but then he realized that since he doesn't trip that often, why bother. Madseason bags are a godsend

Nothing is really wrong but he cut enough corners that Im sure it will be better for him next time. He said he trips alot. He spent 3 months on a love binge once.

They look pretty tasty to me. Especially to say it's his first attempt.

nice clusters man - what strain, substrate and is it multispore or isolate ?

SWIM was wondering whether SWIY knew if casing in trays over a bed of perilite will be at all effective in a monotub? Sort of a cross between the shotgun and monotub method. SWIM would like to do one like this and also a proper monotub, side-by-side.

Lovley clusters they look so sweet huddling togeather

Much Peace

Swim was told more popped up over night. So far he thinks he will get a few dry oz's from it. Swim told me they are puerto rican. Only ones swim ever really liked. He used a homemade spore syringe and colonized on brf/verm. He didnt plan on doing a monotub until he had some brf/verm done. So he is going to try rye grain and wbs in a week or so. He also plans on trying 4 different strains on different sub to see what works best. For this he used coco coir/verm/coffee grounds and composted cow manure. He said he knows composted manure isnt as good but its all he had. He picked up some earthworm castings and is trying to get a truck to get horse. He did not case this tub.

Armor - Swim told me that a monotub works because the spawn generates its own humidity. So using perlite and casings would not really be a monotub because you would probally still have to spray it every once and awhile but it may lessen the need for fanning if you use polyfil and a fan for frequent air exchange. When swim used tray casings he either built a small green house or just used geolite or lava rocks and put aquarium air strips in the bottom and made polyfil holes at the top.

Yeah, maybe SWIM should just take the plunge and switch completely to monotubs.

Swim recommends it. Maybe its cause he has been doing it a few years now but he thinks grains and spawn are way easier then brf and cakes. plus you get more.

SWIM's got a few more questions:
-A proper monotub requires no airflow (as in no fan) to facilitate gas exchange? The CO2 essentially falls or freely flows out and the O2 falls or freely flows in?
-How does SWIY set up his substrate/casing layer? What thickness? Perilite and casing underneath the substrate?
-How about a garbage bag under the substrate/casing: Necessary or not?

Swim puts a circulating fan near them so there is air exchange. He doesnt use perlite, there is no need since the sub makes it own moisture. He just lays down a trash bag (mainly so he can lift out the colonized sub to dunk them) and lays a layer of colonized grain/sub/small grain layer then a small sub layer on top of the grain. Swim would have to say 3-5 inch sub depending on the size of the tub. Swiy can case the top part of the sub but there have been reports that there is not much of a difference in casing if you use a sub already high in the proper nutes. Swim recommends straw/manure or coco coir/spent coffee grounds/verm/manure. Swim didnt case this tub.

SWIM has made good use of the 'mycodome' concept that has worked rather well in the past, all thanks to tropicaire humidifier keeping FAE and humidity levels at a constant. Perlite or hydroton mediums bring humidity levels pretty low as the humidifier brings it up to 80-95% which is perfect conditions for cubensis. Fanning& misting becomes an otherwise unnecessary step.

For SWIM, this is what he used for indoor cultivation(<$40USD):
-2 5gallon buckets
-perforated tray
-large Solar Bell/Rubbermaid dome
-submersible heater
-air pump
-Tropicaire Humidifier

Pretty much looks like this:

SWIM was really just looking for a lowbudge incubator at the time and came up with that. This can all be converted to the doubletub setup. The second bucket was really just for incubating & drying, and the solar bell is really just for show xD

Where the magic happens is in the humidifier which can be easily built I figure. The pump heats up the air slightly, which causes it to hold more water vapour than air at the ambient temperature and as the saturated air travels through the tubes it cools off and then the excess water condenses out. Defintely recommended looking into..

Hey thanks!

After careful consideration, SWIM's decided to go with his original plan of one fruiting chamber, one monotub, starting with the chamber. Both will be prepared in such a way that either can act as a monotub when needed.

use pasturized horse poo as substrate. works amazing. swim's never tried a casing layer.

and do garbage bag up to substrate surface level inside the tub and not just outside as the cakes will shrink during the grow process. this will cause buds to prefer the outside edge of the substrate. possibly because they recieve more airflow. if you garbage bag inside the tub next to the substrate, this edge will not be illuminated and more growth will occur on the higher surface area top surface.

garbage bagging also allows for significantly easier rehydration of substrate.