Ventilation for micro cab grow.

zachyweezer88

zachyweezer88

Active Member
Hey all,

So I'm now in the process of converting an old storage cabinet into a grow box. Here are the dimensions: 15.5in. deep, 30in. tall, and 23in. wide. I understand this is probably too small in the minds of many growers. But hey, I'm not expecting a huge yield. At least it's bigger than a PC box!

So, I did the math, and my little cab is just a hair over 6 cu. ft. (6.19). I think I'm going to have a passive intake, and I have a 120mm PC fan rated at 74 cfm on the way. I'll be growing with a 300 watt LED that has fans built into the system.

I know I still have a lot to learn, but it seems that this PC fan is going to suffice just fine considering how tiny my cab is. What is your opinion. How significantly do things change once a carbon scrubber is added. Thanks.
 
staygreener

staygreener

Well-Known Member
Unless I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I can't imagine a grow without a scrubber, but that's obviously just an opinion. Maybe you could get away with something like an air purifier, but why not just invest the time and not have to worry about smell during peak flowering? This is a subjective question only you can answer.

Find out how far under the plants your lights should be... I would not be surprised if it's 12" or more. Add in soil height, the light's physical depth/height, AND the 6-8 inches you'll need above your space (for self ventilation)... your grow space is like 6", 12" absolute maximum (8" from plant + 4" of soil height + 2" light depth + 4" above plant=18" out of 30").
 
Thefarmer12

Thefarmer12

Well-Known Member
I do much of my SOG runs in a mini can built out of this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/8206250?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227001321726&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=t&wl3=40876480832&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78767194232&veh=sem

In the back wall I cut out hole originally for a PC fan but it wasn't strong enough to cool a 150 watt HPS/300w LED. I ended up running ducting out of the hole (tightly sealed) and out through an inline fan and finally out through a filter. Have a smallish hole on bottom for intake via negative pressure. Both intake hole and exhaust hole are filtered with nylons which gets changed every run. Not ideal to push air through a filter but it works well and I use maybe half the fans power with a speed controller.

I can take pics and edit them into this post later.

Also if you run SOG you can fit many plants in small containers. Allows you to grow multiple strains as single colas. Can do 12/12 lighting from seed or veg a little. Otherwise you'll prob wanna grow 1/2 bigger plants in that space.
 
zachyweezer88

zachyweezer88

Active Member
Thefarmer12 said:
I do much of my SOG runs in a mini can built out of this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/8206250?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227001321726&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=t&wl3=40876480832&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78767194232&veh=sem

In the back wall I cut out hole originally for a PC fan but it wasn't strong enough to cool a 150 watt HPS/300w LED. I ended up running ducting out of the hole (tightly sealed) and out through an inline fan and finally out through a filter. Have a smallish hole on bottom for intake via negative pressure. Both intake hole and exhaust hole are filtered with nylons which gets changed every run. Not ideal to push air through a filter but it works well and I use maybe half the fans power with a speed controller.

I can take pics and edit them into this post later.

Also if you run SOG you can fit many plants in small containers. Allows you to grow multiple strains as single colas. Can do 12/12 lighting from seed or veg a little. Otherwise you'll prob wanna grow 1/2 bigger plants in that space.
Click to expand...
Awesome you should link that. I actually thought of purchasing that at Walmart!

I had to look up the SOG method you listed. I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to me, though, because I purchased an auto-flowering strain.

Anyway, what was the the cfm of your PC fan? I'd love to see pics, man. Thank you!
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
That cabinet is an awesome idea. I have a perfect space for it but it is also in a cabinet with my air compressor. Does anyone know if the noise from the compressor will adversely effect my plants?
 
zachyweezer88

zachyweezer88

Active Member
staygreener said:
Unless I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I can't imagine a grow without a scrubber, but that's obviously just an opinion. Maybe you could get away with something like an air purifier, but why not just invest the time and not have to worry about smell during peak flowering? This is a subjective question only you can answer.

Find out how far under the plants your lights should be... I would not be surprised if it's 12" or more. Add in soil height, the light's physical depth/height, AND the 6-8 inches you'll need above your space (for self ventilation)... your grow space is like 6", 12" absolute maximum (8" from plant + 4" of soil height + 2" light depth + 4" above plant=18" out of 30").
Click to expand...
Yes, but it can be done, right? I mean look at all the stealth PC grow boxes out there. It would be ideal to have something much larger, but this is pretty much as tall as I'm going to be able to accommodate and still remain relatively stealth.
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
Maybe you can constuct something similar to a cool tube. Then you can extract the bulk of the heat without stench involved.
 
staygreener

staygreener

Well-Known Member
zachyweezer88 said:
Yes, but it can be done, right? I mean look at all the stealth PC grow boxes out there. It would be ideal to have something much larger, but this is pretty much as tall as I'm going to be able to accommodate and still remain relatively stealth.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I totally get space constraints, my only concern (that can be remedied) is the strength of the light. I'm using 150w (90w draw) in 2'x2.5'x4'11" with decent results... couldn't imagine doing it with a bigger light (physical and intensity) in something over two feet shorter is all. If you're confident in it, I bet it'll produce something, I'd just recommend looking into a lower intensity light is all.
 
Thefarmer12

Thefarmer12

Well-Known Member
Here's an shot inside my cab. Exhaust goes through ducting in that hole as explained above. I'll have too look at the rating of the pc fan I was gonna use and my current inline, our cabs are similar size though so I'd recommend a good fan unless you're running cfls.

Exhaust
image.jpg

image.jpg

Not SOG'n yet but vegging and threw a few autos in there for the hell of it.


Lastly you can for sure SOG with an autoflower. Keep it in a smaller pot. I usually use 2L. Never any probs with root bound but I'm usually in hempy which is forgiving when roots are packed in.

Here's a last shot of my last round of SOG. I'd reccomend trying one day your can is perfect and can probably yeild better that way. SCROG would beat anything but that takes a little more effort.

image.jpg
 
zachyweezer88

zachyweezer88

Active Member
Thefarmer12 said:
Here's an shot inside my cab. Exhaust goes through ducting in that hole as explained above. I'll have too look at the rating of the pc fan I was gonna use and my current inline, our cabs are similar size though so I'd recommend a good fan unless you're running cfls.

Exhaust
View attachment 3540084

View attachment 3540085

Not SOG'n yet but vegging and threw a few autos in there for the hell of it.


Lastly you can for sure SOG with an autoflower. Keep it in a smaller pot. I usually use 2L. Never any probs with root bound but I'm usually in hempy which is forgiving when roots are packed in.

Here's a last shot of my last round of SOG. I'd reccomend trying one day your can is perfect and can probably yeild better that way. SCROG would beat anything but that takes a little more effort.

View attachment 3540087
Click to expand...
I love your little setup. It gives me hope that my small space can still produce a little bud! I might have to take a play from your book and keep my scrubber and fan outside the cab. Not too stealthy, but my carbon scrubber is going to be 9.5in in diameter. That's going to cut into my space quite a bit. I guess I could have all of that somehow attached to the side that'll be next to the wall of my closet and out of plain view. When you run ducting out the back of your cab and into a filter, do you need an extra fan at the hole you've drilled to help speed that hot air into the ducting? I hope that made sense. lol
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
That didn't make much sense to me, but you really only need one fan for ventilation. It works better to pull air through a filter than push it through but it's does work both ways. There is a fan at Lowe's for 50 bucks that will move enough air and be quiet. 1.5 sones and 70CFM, I can't get the link to load for some reason.
 
Thefarmer12

Thefarmer12

Well-Known Member
Sorry I should take a picture of the fan. That first pic of the hole is the beginning of ducting the inline fan is at other end of ducting outside of box pulling air out through the hole and the filter is at the end comnected to ducting. So air movement is hole/ducting-->inline-->filter and out.

Some use a fan for intake air but the negative pressure from the exhaust ( assuming your cab is sealed and there's an intake hole like in second picture) will pull in fresh air automatically.
 
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zachyweezer88

zachyweezer88

Active Member
Thefarmer12 said:
Sorry I should take a picture of the fan. That first pic of the hole is the beginning of ducting the inline fan is at other end of ducting outside of box pulling air out through the hole and the filter is at the end comnected to ducting. So air movement is hole/ducting-->inline-->filter and out.

Some use a fan for intake air but the negative pressure from the exhaust ( assuming your cab is sealed and there's an intake hole like in second picture) will pull in fresh air automatically.
Click to expand...
Thefarmer12 said:
Sorry I should take a picture of the fan. That first pic of the hole is the beginning of ducting the inline fan is at other end of ducting outside of box pulling air out through the hole and the filter is at the end comnected to ducting. So air movement is hole/ducting-->inline-->filter and out.

Some use a fan for intake air but the negative pressure from the exhaust ( assuming your cab is sealed and there's an intake hole like in second picture) will pull in fresh air automatically.
Click to expand...
Thanks, man. Do you mind snapping a picture of your ducting and how it's connected to the fan and filter? I'm just trying to get ideas, and your cab is very similar. It'd be a huge help.
 
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