? about in side of my gorw box

i would go with flat white i had did it in my room and it seems to works. but someone did tell me i should have went with mylar. no tin foil

 

tin foil-> worst
white paint -> middle of the road
mylar-> best

http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47435

goog luck!

 

IMHO, having experience using both, both work well. Here are some things to consider though when deciding what to use:

Cost, a gl of flat white paint can be bought for under $10. A roll of reflective mylar cost about $20-$30.

What kind of light(s) you using? If yu feel your lighting may be somewhat lacking for the size of the room, use the mylar, it has proven to be better for rooms/cabs that are alcking in light. If you feel you are using sufficient light(30-40 watts per sq ft), then save some cash and go w/ the white paint.

Would it be easier for you to use the paint or the mylar. Mylar can be difficult to put up and keep smooth, where white paint is fairly easy to keep even and smooth. If you decide on the mylar, there are some good installation techniques mentioned on here in other threads, just do a search. The whit epaint is pretty much a no brainer.

As I said, it really does not matter, as long as you do not use tinfoil.

less

 

Paint can be tricky. Depends on what kind of cabinet he has. If it's plastic, it won't stick. Plastic primer and/or direct-to-plastic spraypaint (like krylon fusion etc) can be expensive (3-4 bucks a can) and runny too. Certain kinds of wood won't take paint too well either. My box is OSB plywood, and it wouldn't take paint well. It was white and all but you could still see through to the wood after a couple coats so I hung some cheap survival blankets to start and things got lots better. They ripped alot so I switched to those silvery window reflectors for cars. I'll get the good stuff one day.

 

A good roller works well to evenly coat almost any cabnet. Oil based paint can cost a little more, but works for any surface. Also, outdoor paint works best also, for one it is more durable, second it is thicker and coats much better than most indoor paints.

Regardless of how you do it or what you decide on, they are both work. Mylar can take a long time b/c you want it as smooth as possible, and it is hard to apply, if you use spray on adhesives, you have to wait a few days for the air to clear. Plywood is very absorbant, you would want to use a good outdoor primer then a good exterior latex.

I presently use white trash bags, double lined, and they work well. Bought 3 boxes at a dollar store for $3.18 for 60 bags, they were easy to apply smoothly, and my only other investment was a roll of packing tape which I bought at the same dollar store. Took me about an hour to put up. I think my results are good, just look at my gallery, all these were grown using the trash bags as a reflectant in my cabnet.

less

 

Check out the link in my signature for an awesome lighting comparison thread with some tips. If you're going to use CFL, then I'd say trash bags should be fine. Just make sure they don't rip and sag- I'd be concerned about plastic sagging onto a CFL spiral, melting, and burning. That said, I'm sure it's not that big a deal. I'd say you could use thumb tacks to pin it up in place, and tape right over the tacks all around the edges of the bag.

There are also some pretty cool types of metallic foil insulation material you can get at homedepot or lowes etc to line the inside of the box with. I'll try to find the link.

If you're going to use white paint I'd say good luck I guess. I'm not sure what I did wrong to mine- I just kept going over it with coat after coat BIN primer/sealer until all my paint was gone and I could still see through to the wood tone a little bit when I was done.

 

Link- http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...31843&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&langId=-1

 

I'm sure it does... But if you're growing with CFL then you probably won't have too much heat to worry about. Remember- you're going to have to put an intake and an exhaust on the cabinet with some fans anyway, so your fans and cooling plans etc should take that into consideration. Ventillation isn't just about letting the plants breathe, you should also take cooling into consideration when you design your system. Lots of ppl on here say they use pc fans no problem, but I don't have the same experience... I upgraded to 4" muffin fans I got at an electronics surplus shop for like 5 bucks each. They're 120V so I don't have to screw around with getting a wall adaptor, and I was able to connect a solid state (knob design) fan control from ace hardware for like 6 bucks so I get excellent speed control. I think each fan is like 90 or 120CFM and they each only use 14 watts. Other people report using bathroom fans like a "Nu-Tone" or whatever and cutting them into the ceiling of the grow space. This also seems to work well, and the advantage is the fan is already connected to a shroud with a 4" or 6" duct outlet, so adding a homemade DIY carbon air filer is easy. Whatever you do, if you try to put a fan controller on any 120V fan, make sure it says "solid state" and "fan controller." Do not buy a light controller to control fans. They are cheaper, and they look the same, but they're different inside and using a light controller on a fan can start a fire