Hey everyone. I acquired this small wooden box and want to make it into a microgrow. It measures: 22 1/2" L, 13 1/2" W, 17 1/4" D I plan on using CFLs. I want to use one 125W lamp. I went to a hydroponic store and the dude wanted to sell me a 4" fan some duct tubing and a carbon filter. Can I get away with using axial fans? Like a PC fan or do I HAVE to buy a big bulky fan? This is a very small space and its a good sturdy box. I don't want to cut a bunch of unnecessary holes. I'm interested in possibly making this a negative pressure system. I have found some DIY carbon filter that I plan on making to save money.
125w sounds about right in that space but you will definitely need ventilation. and you should get away with like a pc fan if you wanted to be cheap or you can get some low cost bathroom fans off eBay and some cheap ducting. I have some old fans lying around I would let you have them off me but you probably live far away lol
Well, lets put it this way, how concerned are you about odor? I too have a micro grow going, and I use my grow tent which is 18"x24"x30 and I have two 4" booster fans, for the outtake alone. The intake i use a PC fan, because if you have good negative pressure you don't really need an intake fan, the air will get sucked in automatically. As for odor, I had to get a carbon filter. This gets away a good amount of the odor from 5 flowering plants. My 15ft x 12ft room gets a bit smelly, but the carbon filter works great because it doesn't stink up my whole house. As for the CFL's, I know you are trying to grow on a budget, but you could look into LED UFO grow lights. Especially on eBay. You can get a decent 90W LED light for $40-50! And, you can use that for both the veg & flowering stage, just change your light cycle. Let me know if you have any more quesitons
Thank you. I live in a condo so I have neighbors on both sides of me. I want to keep it out in the garage so odor elimination is a must. I googled a DIY cool tube light that uses a 150W HPS, a pyrex glass tube and some ducting. I might be able to get away with something like that pending the size of the pyrex tube. If I do PC fans, would I need to put one on the bottom to pull air through the box and one at the top because heat rises? If I use a bulky fan with a carbon filter, Is it possible to run the duct work to the outside of the box and attach a filter at the end? The box is small and anything I can put on the outside of the box, the better.