Well i have been designing my grow box for about a month now and thought I'd share what i have done and learned so far. I knew absolutely nothing when I started and still havent grown anything yet as im on hold due to my house being listed for sale. But this waiting game has allowed me to think things through thoroughly. For me Ventilation is the second most important thing next to your lighting. But the two go hand in hand. The lights you choose reflect on the temperatures. which then in turn affect your ventilation system. If using Cfls the 6500k are for VEG (Veg is the first stage of growth where the light is either on 24hrs a day or 18/6) then when your plant reaches a decent height you turn to flower. Which you use a 2700k spectrum bulb. ( flower is 12 hours on and 12 hours of complete darkness) the recommended wattage for CFL's is about 100 actual watts per plant. Don't go by the replacement wattage. When to turn from veg to flower the rule of thumb is basically if your plant in VEG is 1 foot tall is should grow double to triple its size in flower. so 1 foot will become 3ft by the end of its life cycle. There are training methods such as LST (low stress training) and SCROG (screen of green) which help you control how tall they grow to control micro grows and increase yield in small areas. Then once you have chosen your lights you have to figure out if you need to control odor. If you need a scrubber these filters sap the exhaust power so you have to up you CFM strength to pull more airflow through the scrubber. Always pull through the scrubber never push through its too hard on the fan. So now you have the lights chosen and the odor issue figured out its time to purchase your fans. There are many available and many methods to vent your grow area. If i were to do this again i would buy a cool tube and vent thru the scrubber past the light and out of the box . Or vent fresh air in past the bulb and straight out of the box. When venting you can use a passive intake which is basically an opening (holes) that allows fresh air in and the exhaust fan pulls all the air out causing negative pressure. |The other option is to add an intake fan wich i have chosen to do. I like this method because it keeps any back pressure from allowing odors out of the box. But i built a Cfl rack hung on chains and it seems to heat the box more than i thought it would. but its what i have built so ill give it a shot. Then you need to choose pots to grow in or what system for hydroponics u want. As a newbie i chose soil. but pot size is very important. a deep pot allows deep root penetration and healthier larger plants but if you are doing a small scale grow the height steals from your grow area so shallow wide pans may work best at the very least the roots wont get root bound if they have room to move around in theory. Other things to build a successful box are light proofing it, a glowing box is an invitation to curiosity. also using a reflective wall surface is very important to increase your light output. Flatwhite is the easiest or panda film or Mylar are also good. But a whit cabinet made of Melamine would be very easy to find and has some water resistant qualities. Timers will control your lighting and fans. I suggest your lights be on at night and your dark period be when you are out at work so that the chances of any issue with fires be when you are home to deal with them. But thats just my opinion. If you need to work on your setup during the dark period you can use a green light bulb to do the work as the green spectrum doesn't affect the dark period. but the room has to be dark to keep them in the dark stage. You will need some digital thermometers to tell temps one near the lights and one down low to see the different heat areas in your box. A hygrometer to tell your relative humidity. which should be around 50% or less. excessive amounts of humidity are only needed during the early grow stage right after germination. Ideal temps are between 70F and 82F. Well im tired of writing So I'll end here but I thought I'd share some basics i have learned so far. So if you are designing a new grow box I hope my Thread could hep you get started on the right foot. There's tons of ways to do this so read all you can and take your time. Always be safe and dont always do things cheaply the end result will be better and you will spend twice as much when you figure out your crappy lights or cheap fans aren't cutting it. Make sure all wiring is out of the moisture and safely done. the amount of things you will plug in before you are done will surprise you... Good luck, and safe growing GROWBOX69