Stealth Armoire: I need some advice please +rep

Ok RIU, I have made my descent into the dark part of the force... INDOOR GARDENING! I've had a few seasons outdoor, but I'm giving this a shot. I picked up an armoire, pronounced(arm-war). I am going to install a 6" fan, 400watt MH/HPS cooltube, and a carbon filter(DIY).

What concerns me is this: Dimensoins are as follows- 35" width
23.5" depth
5'6" height
Any of you guys run 400? what size cfm fan do i need to get a hold of?
Does my "blueprint" look OK? IF you guys would do it different tell me. I like to get things right ANY, i repeat ANY advise or ideas are encouraged that's what brethren are for. FYI the "red box" is my proposed carbon filter, I didn't want to smash an unreadable label in there on paint. Everything else seems identifiable to me but if not let me know and I'll fix it.

16 views and nobody has any good advice at all? c'mon guys I know somebody out there thinks this is shitty, cool, or needs work.

Your drawing looks like the set up to go with.I dont know the exact size but i would get 195 cfm and up.Mine works good and i used to use a 400 in a closet a little smaller than 3x3x5.

Not shitty, im not a seasoned grower but I think you might still have problems with heat...you will also probably want a small fan circulating inside as well.

That bottom compartment you can also use for a Veg cabinet if you put some CFLs there and you can have a prepared veg cycle going ready for when you want to grow you rnext set of plants, and you can throw them in there when the large plants get close and put them on that 12/12 cycle

GJ with this setup i think you can pull it off

GL on your future growing with this thing too, great idea!

Thanks guys. I will make sure to be above 195cfm and up. Krokaine, I thought the same about the bottom compartment, but I may just knock that middle piece out and make it a bigger cab. I have something else I may use for vegging plants. With the small fan circulating air in there do I need another passive intake and exhaust?

Yes if you plan on using a cooltube.The cooltube will have its own exhaust with duct in- tube- duct out- fan.So have a cpu fan or a 4in to bring air and take out air at the top.
Or you can leave one side of the tube open exhausting the whole room.

Here is what I would do. Get some five gallon buckets, two of them. put them in the cabnit and circle the bottom with a sharpie when they are centerd next to eachother. Then drill a hole on the line. Cut out the circles with a jig saw so the buckets will drop right in the holes! that will give you the extra space to grow! Oh and get some catch trays from Home depot so water doesn't just drain on the wood. Get strong ones cus I bought cheap ass ones and they cracked and leaked. If you are really worried about height of the plants try your hand at LST there is a shitload of helpfull advice on that method in here.

I would at the least paint the inside with a flat white paint. I think it is about 70% reflective. If you want more reflection than that you can google what should I put on my grow room walls and there is a shitload of different options. But Flat white is cheap and easy. Your growroom is 3ftX 2ft X 5.5ft. round about. So you are dealing with 33 cubic feet. So if you get an enclosed hood " and I would highly suggest that" they recomend 1 to 2 times every five min of air exchange. But I have a 400 cfm fan on my grow room that is a tad bit bigger than yours and I went cheap and bought an open hood so I am constantly fighting heat. If you get a 195 CFM fan you will be exchanging your air in that room at 5.9 times a min so that will be more than enough and like I said get an enclosed hood! You should be more than fine with that fan. You also have to keep in mind if you put a filter on that shit it will slow it down a little but not much.

If you want to check out my grow it is below in my signature. I am a bit of a noob but I am 2 weeks into flowering and kicking ass! Hope this helps brotha! GL and grow big or go the fuck home! LOL

Howard Stern said:

If you get a 195 CFM fan you will be exchanging your air in that room at 5.9 times a min so that will be more than enough and like I said get an enclosed hood! You should be more than fine with that fan. You also have to keep in mind if you put a filter on that shit it will slow it down a little but not much.

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Whoa, So I have a serious noob question. How do these fans exchange air 5.9 times a minute? Do I need a separate timer to have it manually set to that configuration? Or do these fans just do it automatically? I apologize if this question offends any hard-core people that knew everything about anything when they slid out of the womb, but I am new to this indoor stuff. Thanks man and I did check your grow and it looks sexy in there +rep

Ok here it is, If you get a fan that moves 195 Cubic Feet a Minute that is what CFM is and your grow room is 33 cubic feet then 195 devided by 33 is 5.90. So it will exchange your air in that room 5.9 times a minute. Don't worry about the Noob questions as long as you give enough info the guys here will give you the advice.

The only suggestion I can think of is: 400 watt HPS might be too powerful. The box is only about 5 and half feet. Your in between sized, but in space that is nice and compact like yours, you might be able to get a 250 watt and cover the grow space with enough lumens. Plus lower watts can be place closer to the plants. I have space similar to yours and use 105 watt cfl. Four of those lined up together are equal to 250 watt HPS, and they produce a third of the heat. My cfl's kick out 7000 lumens per bulb and they are HID replacement type (they are strong). I can see my grow log if you want to check it out. It going to be all about the right light. Question to ask is how hot will my room get? And how much distance do I need between my light and the plants I'm going to grow. As stated, you could lst and that would take care of the height problem. But heat is not friend in such a tight box.

Howard Stern said:

Ok here it is, If you get a fan that moves 195 Cubic Feet a Minute that is what CFM is and your grow room is 33 cubic feet then 195 devided by 33 is 5.90. So it will exchange your air in that room 5.9 times a minute. Don't worry about the Noob questions as long as you give enough info the guys here will give you the advice.

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That clears the water a bit thanks. Now I do have another question... What do you think is the best 195cfm fan to put in this box? I see some that are the "squirrel cage" style and there are also those white vortex style fans. Which is better for what I'm going for?(stealth)

That is up to you bro, why so quiet? I was just wondering how big of a "stealth" you are looking for. I built my first grow room but I didn't give a shit about stealth, I am legal and my wife is cool with it. So I can't advise you on fans.

Well, I guess that was a vague question. Answer me this; When your grow-room door is shut can you hear your fan running from the other side of the door? If so is it loud enough that it's annoying? Thanks howard, you lucky legal bastard you!

What about something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Vortex-Centrifugal-Fan-449-cfm/dp/B001JKYTLG
I like that b/c my cooltube is 19" long, so this fan will be another 10". Leaving me just enough room to squeeze in that carbon filter I'm using. Remember, my width is only 35" in the growing space. I am making my own carbon filter to fit, that is one thing I do know how to do.

hybridbuds said:

What about something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Vortex-Centrifugal-Fan-449-cfm/dp/B001JKYTLG
I like that b/c my cooltube is 19" long, so this fan will be another 10". Leaving me just enough room to squeeze in that carbon filter I'm using. Remember, my width is only 35" in the growing space. I am making my own carbon filter to fit, that is one thing I do know how to do.

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I got my fan off e-bay for 99 dollars. It is in my garage and as soon as I open my door to my garage I can hear it. I doubt you can get a silent fan for 164 bucks. But if they say it is quiet then it is up to you. Are you a kid that doesn't want your parents finding out? Or do you have roomates that you don't want them to find out what you are doing? Oh and the DIY carbon filters work like shit when you use a 400 cfm fan! trust me I tried to go cheap and make one but it lasted about a day then went to shit on me. Like I said I am legal so I just said fuck it and vented out of my garage and if the neighbors call the cops they can both fuck off! You will have to cut those holes in the bottom bro. My girls are still stretching and I may run out of room, I veged for 35 days so if I were you I would start out at 21 days veg and see what you come up with. Also stick with one strain/seed from the same seedbank untill you learn how to grow that one then move on.

Yo the cabinet is perfect bro, no worries. FYI you will have heat issues though with the 400watt HID, you will need a intake fan for sure. I do think the 449 cfm vortex fan will be a bit much though installed in your cabinet, but what you need to realize is that the temperature inside your cabinet will be 5-8 degrees higher than the ambient temperature in you room. Where are you venting the heat out to? If though the attic, you may consider putting the fan up there along with the carbon filter. My 3rd grow that I'm in the process of completing has to be as STEALTH as possible, so I know how it is. Now as you stated sound maybe an issue, you may want to try adding this stuff from homepot(insulator and reflective) comes on a roll and the cost is a bit much@ $26.00 for the small one. I also use light louvers 8x8(2) to help with the intake, along with a 4" duct Fan. The exhaust will a 4" Vortex that will be installed in my attic. I will show a few pics of mine shortly.

Howard Stern said:

Are you a kid that doesn't want your parents finding out? Or do you have roomates that you don't want them to find out what you are doing? Oh and the DIY carbon filters work like shit when you use a 400 cfm fan! trust me I tried to go cheap and make one but it lasted about a day then went to shit on me.

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Nah, I just like things quiet. I hate it when anything hums, TV's, fans, etc... So what happened that made the DIY carbon filter suck? Thanks bro I'd keep reppin' ya if I could

I hope that will help you out a little. I can only say take your time and do a lot of research.

hybridbuds said:

Nah, I just like things quiet. I hate it when anything hums, TV's, fans, etc... So what happened that made the DIY carbon filter suck? Thanks bro I'd keep reppin' ya if I could

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I have a 400 CFM fan, I think it was too much air movement for the home made carbon filter. If I really want to I will go spend the 200.00 on a good one! To tell you the truth I am legal so if my neighbors smell it they can fuck themselves! LOL dimesak has a bad ass stealth grow room!