Well, Im new to the forums, so hello to all. And for my first post, I was hoping for some feedback and opinions on my first grow box, which will hopefully be assembled before the weekend. Along the way I will be asking a few questions too, as a lot of this is new to me... Okay! So the general idea for the box itself is a 6ft tall 3x3 OSB constructed box reinforced on all inside edges with sections of 2x2. I was planning on lining the inside of the bottom with plastic, and painting the inside flat white. The lighting im looking at is here: HPS Bulb Then a 175w NMH bulb. The problem is. Im not sure what to do about the ballast. Lowes has some 10 1/2" reflectors that are rated up to 250w with the ballasts built in. But will these work, or will my 20 dollar bulbs just explode? Anyways. For venting, I'm planning on some kind of fan in a top corner, and an air inlet with a pvc elbow on the bottom. But should the elbow be on the outside or inside of the box? Also, I plan on caulking all inside edges to prevent the escape of light. Then I'll procure a thermometer/barometer and a light timer. So my real question, I guess, is what am I missing in my plan? Open to ALL comments and critisism.
Decided to change the light to a 400w ballast with a 400w HPS and a 400w NMH Conversion bulb. Anything? Help people!
get/bulild a cooltube and use a dedicated fan to cool that beast. personally im a CFL supporter for compact space grows, but sounds like your size should be fine for HPS. CARBON SCRUBBER build a nice one, search the board the tutorial is on here, make sure u use aquarium charcoal not the paper pad things. HYDRO!!! its fun put a bubble bucket in that grow room and grow a beast!
uh. what exactly is a cooltube? sorry... i was actually thinking about making a bubble bucket... and how does this fan look? Fan And how would i power that thing? Does the overall design sound good? Also. What should I use for soil and nutes? or should i just post that somewhere else...
well if you grow hydroponically you wont need any soil, just nutrients. Hydro will give you faster grow times and more control over the plant. Most people say don't do hydro your first grow as its more difficult, but I did it as my first and i didn't have any problems except male plants lol that fan looks like overkill, a 300cfm vortex would be fine a cooltube is a plexiglass tube with venting on each end that sucks cool air in from outside, passes it over the light, and exhausts it outside as a sealed system, so a minimal amount of heat is transferred to the grow space, im not trying to be a dick, but it sounds like you need to do a bit more research... I litereally lived on these boards for a MONTH making sure i knew exactly what was going on before starting, Good luck and keep us posted!
Actualy, thats exactly the advice I think I needed. I have the basic concept down, just not the specifics. Im begining to redisign everything anyways. Found a metal pipe about a foot in diameter with some pretty small holed grating on it in a back room. Think I'm going to try to use it in the design for air flow. I'm going to do some more research... '
haha if you have any questions, people on this forum dont really get angry unless its horribly stupid. i know theres some places where there is a strict no spoon-feeding rule, but here, were usually happy to help unless you say "im a noob i have a light and a cardboard box how do i grow help!"
shit i hit the wrong button instead of edit made a new post but who cares. ok Heres my 2 cents on your grow box. Honestly i think 3x3x6 is a perfect size for one monster plant, maybe two, but since its your first grow i would suggest one plant. Also a single bubble bucket in there would be awesome, although if hydro scares you thats fine too. http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/121335-lets-build-bubble-bucket-step-step.html check out this thread it shows you step by step how to build one and has a TON of information in there. (If you can find a solid black 5 gallon bucket you will save the hassle of light proofing it with aluminum tape!) Now the tricky business, ventilation, which largely depends on your lighting setup. If you are going to use a HPS bulb, i would suggest mounting it as high in your case as possible in a cool tube, basically just a solid tube going straight across your box in one side out the other, with one large exhaust fan pulling air out. |-------------------| | | #0===~~~~~~===0 | | thats the top of your box, the # is the fan, the 0's are the holes, the = is metal tubing, the ~~ is plexi tubing. (put aluminum tape on the top side of the plexi to reflect it downward) because it is straight, you get maximum airflow, and its easier to pull air than push, and you dont have an intake fan which could potentially heat air. obvioulsy this is stationary, so you need to raise and lower the plant and bucket, i would suggest making some kind of ajustable shelf or use phone books. if you use CFLs then ventilation and heat is not that much of an issue so you can just hang the lights on a chain or something and raise and lower them as needed. obviously all of this applies to a soil grow as well. let me know what you think! (you could use those big flexible laundry exhaust ducts to attach the intake and output of the lighting ventilation and subsequently raise and lower the lights, but that might negatively affect cooling performance.) if this dosn't make sense i will go find real pictures of setups for you let me know how it goes!