So I've been contemplating creating my own grow box for quite a while now. At first I thought about buyin something really expensive like a Supercloset or one of those already-assembled ones, but it seems too expensive for my budget and a lot of reviews/posts are saying you could DIY. While I'd love to do a DIY Growbox, I find a lot of it kind of intimidating/difficult to do, and I just had a few basic questions about growboxes. 1. In terms of fans, I notice a lot of grow boxes have 2+ fans, and this is my main concern with creating my own growbox. Is some sort of duct piping needed or could you just drill several holes in your box? If its possible to have ventilation without duct piping, is there any way to completely mask the smell still? 2. From what I've seen it seems like growboxes will have a fan that draws air TOWARDS it and another fan blowing air towards plants, is this correct or am I wrong? 3. My biggest concern right now is stealth, I look at all these DIY growboxes that have been created and how to make them, and I see wiring involved with the fans, figuring out ventilation etc. I'm not a very "handy" person, should I still give this DIY growbox a shot? Thanks in advance for any responses.
Hi, 1. If i were you I'd use cheap pc fans. they're available everywhere online and consume almost nothing. I'd say 1 in the bottom and one at the top are enough. What i did to mask the smel is just buy a third one and take away the propellor and fill with carbon( fishtank filter) 2.so bottom intake top outtake and done 3. electricity isn't hard. most of the time you have red wire and black wire. just twist them together and tape over it. done. most fans fo 12v dc so find a 12 or 24v and put in serial. done i taped it all to the wall and cover all with mylar...tada nothing else visible
1. In terms of fans, I notice a lot of grow boxes have 2+ fans, and this is my main concern with creating my own growbox. Is some sort of duct piping needed or could you just drill several holes in your box? If its possible to have ventilation without duct piping, is there any way to completely mask the smell still? I never needed nor used ducting. My fans would go straight out the box. For passive intakes I have used a series of PVC pipes with the inside painted flat black and a series of 90 degree turns to keep light from leaking. For my first box I didn't use any filter at all. For my second box (the dual chamber) I used a very simple filter in the veg chamber that basically consisted of putting a square of carbon filter in front of the exhaust fan. I didn't need much for the veg, she doesn't really start stankin' til she blooms. For the flower chamber I made some pretty nifty filters. However, I can't attest to how they work in flower because I upgraded to a tent and HID lighting before I ever flowered in the flower chamber. Check the link in my sig for the dual chamber box and you can see the filters I am talking about. 2. From what I've seen it seems like growboxes will have a fan that draws air TOWARDS it and another fan blowing air towards plants, is this correct or am I wrong? I've done two different grow boxes before I upgraded to my current tent and HID lighting. My first one was a very rudimentary basic box for roughly one plant with CFLs. The second box was a dual chamber box with a dedicated veg chamber and dedicated flower chamber. In both boxes I have built I used two fans. But they were only for exhaust. I'm a firm believer in passive intake and active exhaust. If your box is built correctly and you have the right size and number of passive intakes, a fan for intake is not necessary. I've had no problems with either of my boxes as far as temps go. Granted, I was only using CFLs in those grows. 3. My biggest concern right now is stealth, I look at all these DIY growboxes that have been created and how to make them, and I see wiring involved with the fans, figuring out ventilation etc. I'm not a very "handy" person, should I still give this DIY growbox a shot? I fancy myself pretty handy, so maybe it was easier for me. However, I still think you should give it a go. If nothing else, you will be much handier after the project is done, i.e., it will be a very beneficial learning experience. The wiring isn't hard at all. It's been done and discussed around these parts extensively. I researched for months and months and months before building my dual chamber box. As I came across links or threads that were applicable to me I would email them to myself so I could have later. For example, if I found great instructions on wiring but wasn't even close to that point in my build yet, I would email it to myself to have for later on. Check out the links in my sig to see how I went about it. My dual chamber is ultimate stealth and I am very proud of it. Now that I have upgraded to a tent I don't want to just trash the box that I put so much work into. So now I will likely use it as a mother box and/or clone box. But all that is a little ways away. I just started my first DWC hydro grow in the tent so that will be occupying most of my efforts. Good luck!
check out the thread in my sig. ive gone over all those questions and ive made a pretty stealthy box.
I recommend instead, that you look into places outdoors where you can tweak the soil and prep it for young plants. Exactly where you'll germinate and raise the seedlings is another question. Some folks set 'em up on roofs or platforms they hoist up into the trees. I'm recommending that you grow outdoors; let mother nature do most of the work. You may have to hike in nutrition-laced water every other day for 30 or so plants. Think of the muscles you'll build. If you've grown plants, you know they stink good. You'll have to have serious ventilation to keep that a secret in the house and folks outside that know the smell are going to know something's going on.