This will be my first legitimate grow with sufficient lighting/nutrients/seeds etc. I built a box out of 2X2's and I am going to nail boards onto the frame to me the box airtight...The boards will be (hopefully) perfectly lined with mylar. I'm thinking of using 1 exhaust fan (with a drier sheet in front of it), One fan inside the tent to oscillate over the plants and 1 Febreze true air carbon filter to clean and de-odorize the smell inside the tent. I also will put an ONA Block inside the box as well as in the closet near the exhaust...There can't be any smell I just bought a complete grow kit from HTG Supply It includes a 400 watt HPs with a MH conversion bulb Fox Farm Ocean Forrest Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom nutes AN overdrive a humidity/temperature detector I will be growing 1 Utopia Haze with the 4 way LST/topping followed by scrog. I will also be growing 1 LA Woman and 1 Sour Cream (no topping no nothing) WUDDYA'LL THINK??? I'm excited for this grow and any feedback is greatly appreciated
i have learned that it is easier to use a tent to grow in, because you can easily take down and move or hide if need be. i think its easier to clean also
I like the build. If you have not purchased mylar do not waste your time. Get Koolseal or some other kind of elastomeric roofing compound. It is great. Waterproof, uv resistant, easier to clean, no wrinkles, almost as reflective as mylar, applies with a paint roller and basically makes your box a rubber room. If you seal all the joints with elastomeric caulk (dynaflex 230 or the like) and paint a couple coats of elasto roofing compound floor to ceiling you will have a water/air tight box (if you can get your door to seal nicely) I advise against the dryersheet usage. Ona works, but only as a backup. When you are deep into the flowering you will wish you had sprung for a carbon filter. CAN makes a nice filter and they ARE not that expensive. If you want no odor, get one. Use your ona as a backup once you hit later in flowering (save it till then). I keep hearing about these febreeze units. I had a true air a long time ago and it was unscented, just a carbon filter for filthy indoor smokers smokers (me, well i used to, now it is outdoors for me.). What I am wondering is if Febreeze bought true air and it is the same design, or are they teamed up with febreeze and making scented units?/??? If it is the latter, I advise against that as well. Ad no scents to your grow (ona and ozium are fine) or your weed will taste like it. Get an ozium mister (or just a couple cans of it in the automotive department at walmart (with the car air fresheners) and keep them by the entrance of the grow box. One spray when opening, and a couple after closing it. What kind of fan are you using?
Ya I see those febreeze units at most retail superstores. I was thinking about throwing one in my grow box. Its basically just a little carbon filter with a mini blower that plugs into the wall. I use ONA at the moment in my micro grow box. I also have a little scrubber on my exhaust fan. (2 layers of carbon cloth universal filter replacement cut and taped into place) Works for me. I have hear alot of good things about the ONA bucket breezers that use soil moist crystals, ona, 5 gal bucket, and a fan mounted on the top. They got a huge thread for it somewhere on here. I see you are going to use a 400 watt hps. This requires serious ventilation. You will need to get at least a 4 inch duct blower fan. (about 150) If you are venting into the outside room it can raise the entire rooms temp. High tems = shit potency. Make sure you take ventilation very seriously using a light like that in a little room like that. I also see you intend on growing in soil. IMO with that size you should do a shallow water culture hydro, with CFL lighting. You will get faster and better yeilds and you can manage heat and smell without a huge blower and all that shit, plus save huge on power.
Thanks for the great advice guys. Don Piano, I think Febreze bought out Hamilton Breeze. The TrueAir carbon filter that I have is unscented. I'm planning on putting it inside the grow box The ventilation fan I think is just going to be a circular honeywell fan that I glue into the box. The closet gets cold in the winter so I'm hoping that that will keep the temperatures down. Do you not think it will?
Do not skimp on your fan. Spend a hundo and get a good one, your plants will thank you. I recommend a dayton blower in a 4", or a vortex style inline blower. plantlightinghydroponics.com has the CAP valuline 6" 435cfm fan for under $100, I own one and it is great + 5 year warranty. I have 2 of the honeywells that you speak of, one to cool my 2 ballasts, and the other to blow heat off of my oil filled heater to control cold night temps.
I can give you that answer, but.... CFM is not the only thing that makes a fan a good fan. What makes a good fan is the ability to stand up to static pressure. Fans that can not handle static pressure are; Duct booster fans (no matter the cfm rating are pretty well useless, but do work for a handful of other things besides grow box cooling), PC fans, fans designed to blow air around in a room, and others of the like. Good fans, even with ratings lower than your standard duct booster will move more air. Example: a 113cfm dayton blower will move much more air than a 6" duct booster fan rated at 265cfm. The difference is their ability to withstand static pressure. Free air movement will be better with the duct fan, but add any ducting, a grow box, or a carbon filter and the cfm rating drops like a rock with the duct fan. A good number cfm number is 1/3 to the same FT3 of your box. Your number is around 40ft3 so...... Valueline 4 Inch 171 CFM Centrifugal Inline Fan - Plantlighting Hydroponics I recommend this fan with a speed controller and a CAN9000 carbon filter.
Hey I just found a great solution (partial solution) to the heat issue. Have you guys heard of CMH's? They are called Ceramic metal halide bulbs and they are the future of growing. The spectrum produces more blue than a MH and more red than an HPS. It also produces LESS HEAT. I'm thinking of selling my HPS and MH conversion bulbs which I haven't touched and buying this MasterColor Ceramic Metal Halide - 400 Watt Horizontal What do you guys think? Does anyone have any experience with a CMH?
I just swapped over from a 400w MH conversion bulb to a Mastercolor CMH yesterday. The CMH bulb is noticeably cooler than the conversion bulb was. It's also brighter and it should last longer. I took pics before and after the switch - same camera, same settings, same angle. The conversion bulb shot is on the left and the CMH on the right. I think the conversion bulb pic looks 'greenish' while the CMH looks more 'natural', FWIW.
Thanks. Let me know how it goes. Do you think its worth it for me to sell my other two bulbs to buy 1 mastercolor CMH. Another big question for anybody to answer: Will my 400 watt HTG Supply Magnetic ballast be able to handle the 400 watt CMH??
I can't advise you on whether you should replace your mh and hps bulbs with a cmh. My conversion bulb was going south and it needed to be replaced. I guess I'm not convinced on the use of a cmh for flowering. I'll be switching to a 600w hps when that time comes. There are some threads around here and elsewhere on growers who use cmh all the way with success though. Wow, I can answer another one of your questions! Yes, I am running my cmh off of a 400w HTG Supply hps magnetic ballast.
Haha. What are the odds? Thanks for the great advice though. I think I'll just stick with what I have for now and if one of the bulbs goes, I'll buy a CMH. Oh yeah. Here's why i was originally interested in the CMH though. Does it really produce less heat than the standard MH or HPS bulbs?
Yeah, cool. If you've got two good bulbs now, you're good to go. The cmh is a LOT cooler than the mh conversion bulb. I don't know about regular mh bulbs or hps bulbs though. Keep an eye out at advancedtechlighting.com. They often have the mastercolors on sale for $43.