Small Grow Box Design, First Time Grow

E

EwokGremilin

Member
Hey everybody this is my first time posting, ive been wanting to grow for a while now and been reading different forums around the website. I was wondering what you guys think about the design.
  • Its gonna be 3' wide, 3' tall and 2' wide
  • Want to make it out of PVC lined with Panda plastic
    • I go college and want it to be portable just incase i change apartments, rent a house ect.
  • Holes in sides are gonna be computer fans
  • The bar that the lights are attached on is gonna be adjustable
    • Has a chain running through the light mount that connect to each of the top corners
    • Clip the Chains to Carabiner (those clips for rock climbing) in the corners
    • Can raise and lower lights by depending on which chain link i connect
That's about it, hope you like the design!

Lights.jpg
 
italianstallion24

italianstallion24

Member
well if you have two plants with cfls i would go somewhere around 150-200 actual watts of cfl's. and i have 120mm pc fans in my small box now and its not enough to keep it cool with my cfls in there. i have 6 cfls in my grow box. 36 inches tall 20 inches wide 16 inches deep. small space and the cfl create a huge heat issue for me. with both pc fans running i can get temps of 104 or more if its say 80 in my room. but if its cooler i can keep it around 80 or so in my box.

If i was you i would put two pc fans like that for exhaust and only one for intake..

what are you going to do about smell?
 
italianstallion24

italianstallion24

Member
Yea i would go with the passive intake and both fans for exhaust if i could change mine i would now. but oh well.. just more to improve for next grow!

And those filters will work if you have enough power from the pc fans going through them.. you want quite a bit of suction with them... and best way to mount them would be from the inside so that the fans suck through the filters and not push out of them... but if your like me and space is quite dear to you then you can just mmount it outside and find a way to cover it up... right now i hhave three micro plants inflower.. dont know sex yet but my gf says she can smell weed when she comes into my room... which is not good..

so i have a diy filter kinda like that.. three plugin odor eliminators and just now got a small 30 0z of Ona Pro Gel. im waiting for her to come home to see if she can smell it.

but you should upload some pics after you get it all set up man. would be nice to see the finished product
 
T

tacomuybueno

Active Member
EwokGremilin said:
I was thinking two 120mm fans would work.
How many lights would you suggest?
Click to expand...
Okay, your grow box is 3'x2' which is 6sq.ft. You need so many lumens per sq.ft. (2000min., 5000mid., and 7000-7500 or higher is optimal). The best cfl's I've seen at Lowe's, etc. are the 23w, 1600-1640 lumens each. So do the math on how many you want. My veg box is 2'x2' and I have 12 of them. Mix up the spectrum too if you want.
 
italianstallion24

italianstallion24

Member
tacomuybueno said:
Okay, your grow box is 3'x2' which is 6sq.ft. You need so many lumens per sq.ft. (2000min., 5000mid., and 7000-7500 or higher is optimal). The best cfl's I've seen at Lowe's, etc. are the 23w, 1600-1640 lumens each. So do the math on how many you want. My veg box is 2'x2' and I have 12 of them. Mix up the spectrum too if you want.
Click to expand...
do you have any pics of that? id like to see that.

Do you have any heat issues?
 
T

tacomuybueno

Active Member
italianstallion24 said:
do you have any pics of that? id like to see that.

Do you have any heat issues?
I just got this box done a couple days ago. I plan on hooking up my 4in. inline fan to it for the exhaust. Shouldn't have any heat issues. It is going to be getting cold here soon and it's easier(i think) to dial in perfect temps... I attached the bulbs to power strips and the power strips to a box fan cover. Just what I had around.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

italianstallion24

italianstallion24

Member
whats your box made out of? looks pretty decent set up man. i like the box fan thing to the lights... that way heat can easily rise to the top and get sucked out
 
T

tacomuybueno

Active Member
italianstallion24 said:
whats your box made out of? looks pretty decent set up man. i like the box fan thing to the lights... that way heat can easily rise to the top and get sucked out
Click to expand...
Thanks. I bought the thinnest ply at Lowe's for $14 and cut into 2' pieces. Took a 2x4 and made a base at bottom. Nailed ply at bottom only. The rest of wall and roof is duct taped on. Then took a $4 tarp and attached it with thumb tacks on top. The sides of tarp is velcro'd on for easy access. Just staple one side of Velcro to tarp and thumb tack the other side to the ply. I tried glues but it was a mess. My intake on the side is a milk jug with bottom cut off and then halved to create a cover so air gets through but not light(in case I want to use it for flowering. And the box fan cover fits perfect to so the lights aren't swaying like a mofo. And if I were you, and you are using yours for flower, I suggest a SOG or SCROG would be perfect for this setup. As cfl's don't penetrate that far and you will get the most yield that way.
 
giggywatts

giggywatts

Well-Known Member
i ran a 2'x2'x4' box with 415 to 425 watts of cfls, did use a lesser amount for the earlier start and added as i could. it was a 12/12 from seed grow, and was my learning curve, now i got to build a new place to grow in. by the way, as you start stacking them lights in there it will get hot.
 
T

tacomuybueno

Active Member
And if you decide to build a box like mine or similar, forget the panda plastic, mylar, etc. Save you some money and buy some FLAT white paint. If you ever need any help, just holler at me. I am no where near the smartest people in here, but I know a little and like to help people. Especially with some newb stuff.
 
E

EwokGremilin

Member
Yeah thanks guys for all the replys, ive been doing even more research what specifics im gonna put in.
@tacomuybueno I would opt to use the flat white paint, but im going to be building the frame out of pvc and the panda plastic is going to be my "walls"
@giggywatts[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] would you say that was enough light? [/FONT]
 
cyanarnofsky

cyanarnofsky

Active Member
My first grow I did was my freshman year at university, I used one of those tall wardrobe moving boxes the kind you can hang clothes in. Worked perfect for 4 little girls, used 80mm pc fans for ventilation, and is easy to explain when ppl ask I would always just turn it around so the "door" face the wall and ppl assumed it was storage. Had tons of ppl stand right next to it, even lean on it and never new. Had everything hooked to a Christmas light button was a big 2 in button to easily turn your lights on, mine was a panic button hidden in the corner right by the door. Would shut down all lights and fans if someone walked in, just kept it in my closet...wardrobe box next to clothes :p.
 
E

EwokGremilin

Member
Thats pretty sick! i really want to make a cabinet, but i dont want to hassle with it when i move next year. How did you rig your lights?
 
cyanarnofsky

cyanarnofsky

Active Member
I punched holes in the top of the box and ran string through the top, tied the other end to the bar that you hang clothes on in the closet, easy to hide the string with clothes hanging around the string. I even moved once with them in the box, taped the whole thing up so no one would bother with it and just threw it in the back of the uhaul lol. I just used 6 CFLs in the top and covered the entire inside of the box with paper I jacked from the local student print shop printer hah
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top