Fan for small Budbox

Hey all. I just bought myself a Small Budbox and have no idea what fans I will need that are at a decent price. This is my first grow attempt and I am not too ambitious ... just a couple of plants to start. Also, how are the new CFLs doing for flowing ... saw some warm ones on enviro-gro-lites site, but am I correct in assuming they are not the greatest?

ok.. you can get away with using a bathroom fan hooked to the side of it.. they usually come with plugs on them, so install is a no brainer..

CFL works alright for flowering, if you have enough of them and you can keep it cool.. intake holes on one side of the box and a bathroom fan on the other will keep it plenty cool..

I have seen some people get phat ass buds using CFL.. I mean, real nice... If you are a grower on a real tight budget and you only want a few, than that would be the way to go... HPS is the best, but do some searching and you will find that CFL will give you impressive results..

there is guy on here named Humboldt, or something like that.. search for "100% CFL grow" or something to that effect, and you will see the amazing results he got, on a budget, with CFL..

fans are about $20-30 from home depot
holes in the box are free.. haha
CFL's on eBay are DIRT cheap.. 12 26w CFL's for $12+shipping... around $30 (at retail stores they can be anywhere from $5-15 EACH!!)
timer is 5-10 bucks
get something reflective to put on the inside walls of the box (ie mylar, inside-out potato chip bags, gift wrapping paper with a mylar or reflective surface..)

you can do this real cheap and get good results... just make sure you use half decent soil and some food too...

Hey thanks you two! Probably will try CFLs at first, as that site was selling 250W cool and warm lights with a sturdy reflector. If I sink like a ship will switch to a proper light.

Will be on the look out for bathroom fans then I guess. Anyone with some more great suggestions or a pic of what I should be thinking of?

welcome to the site, spub69!

ventilation is very important. in order to determine which CFM-rating you need, take the cubic feet of your grow area (width x length x height) and then multiply that by three. That means the ideal fan can exhaust your entire grow area at least three times a minute.

So in a 2 x 2 x 4 room you have 16 cubic feet. multiply that by 3 to get 48. So a fan with a CFM rating of 48 would be ideal.

A couple of notes --
you will need an air intake hole that should be a bit larger than the exhaust otherwise you'll create a vacuum in your grow room (that's bad).

the air that is exhausted can get quite pungent so you should plan for odor control before it becomes a problem.

hmmm sounds like i need a filter ... is that possible to get rid of the smell?? very small flats so don't want it to be a problem or get noticed.

just do some searching for DIY filters.. they are very easy to make and cheap...

here is the type of fan you should be looking for
Clever 90 cfm Bathroom Fan & Super Silent - (eBay item 160185232525 end time Nov-30-07 09:02:59 PST)

but those are VERY expensive.... you can get a similar one that will flow anywhere from 50-80 CFM of air... for like 20-30 bucks

if you are renting, make sure your grow area is secured from pest control, landlords, etc...

you will need something to eliminate the odor. For a small grow, an odor sock (you can search for it) should be fine. nongreenthumb uses one of those ona odor balls (with ozone - not just the ona gel) and is very happy with the results. you can try masking the odor with candles, scents, etc.. but i wouldn't waste my time. three plants can easily make a 3 story house reek of marijuana so be warned. i don't want to scare you but you should know that they do get stinky (in a good way).

check the FAQs for odor control ideas and some DIY projects.
i use both ozone and a carbon filter but mine is not stealthy.

i was thinking of a Inlet/Outlet - 100mm, Airflow - 227m3/hr for my exhaust fan. See below for what I was thinking of buying. Comes with the carbon filter. Going all the way with odor control as dont want any arresting smells.

100mm Inline Fan and Carbon Filter Air Filtration Kit on eBay, also Hydroponics, Plants Seeds Bulbs, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 08-Dec-07 17:21:43 GMT)

So, do I need an intake fan or, will the intake vent built into the budbox be oaky?

Fans will be hooked to timer when lights are on.

That looks like what you'll need though i did not do any metric to feet conversion to be certain. as long as the fan can exhaust your entire grow area three times a minute you should be fine for ventilation.

for a small grow area, passive intake holes are fine so an intake fan is unnecessary. the intake holes should be larger than your exhaust and multiple intake holes are better than one large one. For example: if you have a 6" exhaust - four 2" holes would be just about perfect. you should also have an oscillating fan blowing gently on the plants though (this helps improve stem strength and more importantly - aids in air flow).

yeah i think it is okat it does 227m3/hour or 132 ft3/min ... rough 19ft3, multiplied by 3 that is 57ft3 ... so the fan does double. is that an issue??

if i put an intake fan in, i can use an air sock that distributes the air evenly. i am just wondering if this might be more a wind tunnel for my plants.

dude... you are making this waaaayyy to hard and expensive for yourself... over 80 euro for a fan (that you could buy for $30) thats too powerful for your little tent and has a tube that you could buy twice as long and trim to size (that you could buy for $10)

Im telling you... bathroom fan and $10 tube and duct tape... you could make that same thing for a fraction of the price...

and no intake fan... just holes...

yeah i think you are so right. laughs ... getting carried away. pipe dreams. it is about the DIY. cheers for the wake up call i think i needed it.

true enough. though it's good to know the ideal before you decide on the real.

hey! I think i may have made up a sound bite!