Hi all, I'm a long time reader and now first time poster! I am converting my dresser(4' tall by 2.5' wide by 1.5 deep) and have made a diagram of how I think I should do it. Feel free to tell me if you think there is a better way to set up the compartments. So my question is should i just make half inch inlet holes near the bottom of the dresser where I put those arrows? Or should there be a fan infront? I need to create negative pressure because I want this thing smell proof. Also is my carbon filter design ideal? I know its better if it pulls air than has it pushed so should I have a fan on the outside or just before the carbon filter? This thing isn't really big enough to have the two grow rooms side by side or ideal veg room on bottom then flower room then utilities on top but 4 feet just doesnt cut it. Any help would be appreciated because I wanna start putting this together I'm very excited. BTW I connected the dressers drawers and made a swinging door. This thing will be so baddass and stealth if its possible with the carbon filter inside somehow!
Looks alright. You want a lot of intake space. How many intake holes do you plan to make? If you look at the ventilation thread, there's a formula, usually intakes is 2X exhaust size. Most use a fan to pull from the scrubber, as opposed to pushing into it.
I like your thinking, but you have to be realistic about your growspace. With 3' of headroom, you're looking at 1' for pots and 1' for lights. That leaves you with 1' plants growing into your light. Also, 1' of veg space is tight. Even if you use t-5's you've got MAYBE 2 weeks of growth max. PC fans... will not support a carbon filter no matter what anybody tells you... trust me on that. Duct boosters will not support a filter either, I don't care what anybody tells you. The only thing that will support a carbon scrubber is a high-velocity fan, no exceptions. And if you want it to be quiet you will pay a premium. Anything short of that and you might as well use CFLs and Ona (if stealth is your only option). Check out the growbox in my sig, it's the same size as yours (in cubic ft)
Thanks guys! Well I'm an indica guy so lets assume my plants grow 2.5 times as much once I flower max. Would this be a better setup? Either way my air comes from flower box to veg then to exhaust. Would I just make holes from the flower area to the veg area or make the hole to the outside on the left side of the veg box? Not Sure your post is very helpful(no I'm saying it is helpful!), so if I get a fan like you say for exhaust would I just need one and set it past the filter to pull air out? How many more mini fans should I put in the case if I do this, and where? Or are the air intake holes all I need? I want to assure I'm getting negative pressure of course or the whole operation is out BAM! Also I'm thinking 6 inlet holes total OBK...intake should be double size you say?. Wait your grow box is bad ass but mine is 4 feet tall total yours is much bigger. I'm thinking because of this I just might have to put filter on outside or just top right corner so I can halve like 2.5 feet for flower area and 1.5 for veg. It's a squeeze but better than nothing. It's nice though because I made a swinging door with the fronts of the drawers so It totally still looks like a dresser, its gonna be so stealth if I can fit everything inside!(But if its better to put filter on out right side I can)
My latest one I think it is good. Sorry to be so compulsive. Would a Phresh or Can filter(smallest model) be good enough for this size box? And is putting the filter on the inside unrealistic, or totally something people do? I can't find pics of another grow box with everything inside like this..
If you use a t-5 to light your veg area you might get away with pc fans to vent it, no filter in veg isn't bad IME. For your flower area, you can certainly mount your fan and filter on the outside of the box to open it up. I use one 13" fan in my box to circulate the air, and my rule of thumb for ventilation is this... if your fan pulls 100cfm, take half that (50) and that's the area in square inches you need to open up for passive ventilation. If you use say, 4" holes (~12.5 sq inches) you would need 4 holes. If you use 6" holes (~28 sq inches) you would need 2. That will allow your fan to operate at best efficiency while still maintaining negative pressure. You can use less, but it might increase temps. Well, the interior dimensions on my box are 26"x26"x4', but the base and casters add another 7" to the height. It's still 16 cubic ft of air to vent though, lol. That sounds like a nice growbox you're putting together, can't wait to see the finished product. You might be looking at less than 16 cubic ft now that you mention it. Yea, like I said, if you want to open up more space in your box you can install your ventilation outside the grow. I tried to do a split-level growbox but I just ended up using a shelf, lol. Check out these carbon filters, they're compact and re-usable (washable). I don't know how good they work but they're small enough to mount inside small boxes like ours. Deau Passe Charcoal Fiber Filters
Yeah I definitely wanna post pics. I'll admit now I'm an outdoor grower aso this is my first indoor grow. Iv'e done tons of research and can look up anything you name though. Am I wrong in thinking the airflow will come through the flower box then into the veg box and THEN out the exhaust and filter? Or are you saying they should have separate airflows? I probably will have small fans in each section and on the lights, but as far as the main exhaust fan(pulling through a carbon filter and to the outside) doesn't it certainly need to be a high velocity fan? My box is 11 cubic feet BTW. Question, so because your veg rooms lighting isn't separated from the flower room how do you grow both at the same time? Or does the light pattern below not effect it?
There are ways to evenly ventilate 2 light-sealed chambers with one fan, but it's not something that I've ever tried to do so I can't really recommend one design over another. Only problem I see is if the intakes aren't balanced right between the two chambers then one will get hotter than the other. The temp of your chamber is directly related to the temp of your intakes. Let's say the air going into your flower box is 70f, the flower box heats up to say, 80f. If you try to use that 80f air to cool your veg area it will get too hot. If you use a Y-splitter for your ducting and pull on both chambers with one fan, then both chambers need passive intakes and you have to balance them (hotter chamber should be given more intake area than the cooler one). I have 2 separate boxes but I've done several builds, always looking to improve on my design. I wanted to do the same thing you're doing (I like my boxes to be multi-purpose) but I wasn't comfortable with the logistics of it. (I'm not a trial-and-error guy, I like to get it right the first time) I still wanted to take advantage of the vertical height so I settled for a clone/seedling shelf. (which is useful if you have dedicated grow areas)
Thats cool, yeah I feel like I'm tight on space even with all the equipment on the outside. I'm thinking to have each area separated completely and make little DIY carbon filters for both. This way I can have passive intakes on the left and the carbon filters to the right. It makes the logistics easier and since I'm new to this it's gonna be hard to balance the heat and airflow. I think this is what i have to do, what do you think? This way I have enough space but what are the best lights that dont take up alot of space? I want my lights as close to the ceiling as possible to give my plants all the room.
One of my biggest failures was venting my flwr cab into my veg cab and then venting that out the window. The heat wasn't too bad as i run with my cab doors open however if anything happens in flowering cab (powdery mildew in my case) you have infected the entire grow.and it happens fast.Seperate the vent systems for your cabs and i think you'll be good on that account. You still have no wiggle room at all thouugh
Thanks for the input. Yeah I am certainly doing it like my previous photo, gives me the most room and best venting. What size lights am I looking at for areas these size? I'm thinking T5 for veg but for the flower room i'm lost. Once I decide on lights I can calculate what fans I need.
^in a space that small, I'd use either CFL, LED, or T-5. LED lighting is expensive for the good ones, I'm told that the cheap ones aren't worth squat. They run cooler than HID's, and you want a 2 or 3 watt chipset. Never have to replace bulbs. Use the search function on these boards to find out what brands experienced growers are recommending, I've never used one. T-5's are easy to cool, they're low-profile, and they have bulbs for both flowering and vegging. The downside is the price compared to output. A 2' (4) bulb rig is only 100w. Great for vegging but seriously underpowered for flowering when the plants can really use the energy (that's why HID's are great for flowering). Good thing about T-5's is the bulbs last a lot longer than CFL and HID. CFL's are cheaper than dirt (literally), are easy to cool, can be used for both stages of growth, but they look like shit and require some DIY if you want the most bang for your buck. There's a pic in my first blog of a 16 bulb array I wired up a few years back. Here's the skinny... With HID's, you'll harvest double what you would flowering with the same wattage in flourescents (generally... experience plays a role) but they require powerful fans. Flourescents have a lower yield but are easier to cool. However, weaker fans cannot support a carbon filter AND maintain temps. (rare is the homemade carbon filter that is cost effective, better off with an Ona block). A stealth setup should be quiet and odor free... it can be done with HPS and a high-velocity fan, filter, and silencer but it won't be cheap.... or it can be done with flourescents, pc fans, and Ona. That pretty much sums up my experience/knowledge with lighting and ventilation, if anybody can add to or correct it....?
I decided I'm just going to do one room. So my cubic feet is 13. I am going to get a can 2600 and have an inline fan pulling through it and out the right side top. Anyone know a good really quiet inline fan to match my can 2600(84 CFM)? I am thinking 250 watt HID's(good brand) or do you think I should do more or less? I need lights I can grow from seed to flower with just moving up and down maybe.. I am only separating the top layer of the cabinet for the filter and fan and controls so its about 3' tall space for growing. It's better than nothing. I know its a small cabinet but I want to go with a carbon filter and high velocity silent inline fan no matter what.(safety factors) even If its sticking out the side, that's not a problem. Besides I am certainly not growing with CFL's so I need a High velocity fan anywho. Or can I get away with a badass 120cfm pc fan and a diy carbon filter, along with more fans in the case?
If you use a 150 you can pull 3 ounces of dried bud. Did you see this build? ...http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-roo...-diy-er-trying-learn-how-do-right-[pics].html <those are some badass fans, bet they would cool a 150 but must be a pain to filter and light-proof. Soler & Palau make quiet high-velocity fans, I think they go down to 100 cfm... check google shopping for the cheapest prices. You can get a small duct muffler for it too, bet it would run pretty quiet.
Hiya notsosure about those S&P fans. I just got and installed the 4'' s&p silent series inline. cost $143 plus tax and shipping $170 !! At first it ran kinda quiet compared to my 10 yr old Vortex. As a load test i ran it continuous for almost two days. After that it wasn't loud but not quiet either. You must wire the pwr cord yrself another $15. mine does 140 or 200cfm. Called the rep and discuused it for 30min including my holding phone over it so he could hear. I run 200cfm mode. It does do the job as the cab runs reasonably cool but as for volume i can't really rep it after using the 4'' unit. Probally using a 6''-8'' with a speed controller is the way to go if i had to do it again and had the money for new everything. It does look good and mounts really easy...made to install mount first then drop fan into mounts...real convinient
Well before I seen your posts I already ordered this fan https://www.hvacquick.com/products/...ine-Air-Booster-Fans/SP-TD-Series-Inline-Fans If you got the silent one and its not that quiet than I hope this isn't too loud. its a great price and I heard this is like the quietest band. Notsure do you think I can afford to do 250watt lights or is that just plain too much? Iv'e finalized my grow area at 3' tall by 2.6 wide by 1.6 deep.
My box is 7f above intake temps with a 250w and 160 cfm fan. With a carbon filter I'd probably be running 10f above. Which fan did you order? 200 cfm + carbon filter + 250w should work. DrMengle, do you use a muffler with it?
no ii don't use a muffler. The real problem is i sleep right above the fan as my rig is under my loft bed. The rep told me it is what it is for how i'm using it. I think probally i expected too much
I got the 100 so its only 101cfm. Following calculations that should be good and I figured a carbon filter wont slow it doen too much. Should I cancel it quick and change fir there 5 inch?
The 4'' fits 5'' ducting is what they mean but the fan isn't bigger. check with the rep but i'm pretty sure thats right.