Im making my own grow box for some homegrown weed and i have a few questions. I just want to keep the whole thing as cheap as possible, and as i live in norway, even the cheapest simplest things in the US, can be very expensive and hard to find here. Anyways. My first question: Im making an airfilter with activated charcoal, and as i want to keep things as small as possible, i want the filter to be inside the box. So i cant make a traditional airfilter outside. I have a 0.5L can that ive hollowed out on each side and thinking about filling it with activated charcoal and have a sponge textured filter on each side to hold the charcoal in place. Im wondering how much activated charcoal i need and how much i can use in the can? If i use too much, then the air wont get through? If i use too little, it cant catch all of the smell? My second question is about CFL lights: The only good priced CFL lights i can get here have 66 actual watts. And i have a setup for 8 lights. Will that give my plants 8x66watts? Or will it just give a better coverage of 66watts? And is 66watts enough? Thank you...
8 - 65 watts cfls is 360 watts, thats a nice amount for some plants! I know you said things are hard to find but is there anyway you can find a T5 set up? I think LEDs would be better than both but Im assuming LEDs are hard to come by there. T5s should be common even there. I cant give you much help on a homemade carbon filter, Im sure youtube would be good for that.
One of the better homemade carbon filter setups is just a bucket with a lid. Place a second bucket under it with a bunch of holes drilled in the bottom for air intake. Put a layer of dryer sheets in the bottom of the first bucket and layer the activated charcoal and dryer sheets as deep as you want. Put the lid on and cut a 6" hole in the top of the lid for a 6" or 4" duct adapter for your exhaust fan. Hang the bucket from the ceiling in your grow space so it remove the hottest air. Change the charcoal and dryer sheets every couple of months. T5HO lights will probably not be that hard to find. I've actually seen a lot of new led replacement 4' bulbs lately with great outputs that plug into older fluorescent fixtures. I would do what I could to find another better lighting system. It's hard to be happy with CFL's. The efficiency in growing with them as in how many watts per gram is so bad compared to other systems. I don't think I've seen anyone even yield .5g/watt with CFL. The average is more like around .3g/watt. People have hit 1.9g/watt with leds. I know you can't order from here but if you could pick up a 4 bulb fluorescent fixture or two you may be able to find some of these bulbs. 18watts each but 2000 lumens. That's much better output then CFL. www.amazon.com/Sunco-Lighting-Pack-Fluorescent-Replacement/dp/B0163D7CP8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1506729510&sr=8-3&keywords=4%27+led+tube+light