Will this work? If not what will?

****Warning****Extreme Noob****

Just needed to get that out of the way in case some of my questions are so stupid that they make you roll your eyes.

I'm getting ready to try my 1st cab and I am building it right into a small office that I am also getting ready to build as well.

I've been trying to figure out how to not put a hundred fans in and was hoping the newest idea would work.

The cab would be just under 8' tall, 4'wide and 3' deep. Flower space on top at 5' with a clone area on bottom at just under 2' with a space in the middle for ducting intake all the way from the bottom through the whole cabinet.

I was hoping 1 strong fan on top to pull everything through the air cooled hood, and an intake fan of smaller size on the bottom. I also want an oscillating on top though it seems it will have to be very small to fit. I'm going for extreme stealth due to kids in the house. They won't be allowed in the office, but I know how well kids listen sometimes.

At first I was set on the 600W HPS but I've been tossing around throwing a 1000W in there instead since I only want to buy this stuff once, besides the things that need to be replaced over time. Am I going for overkill? From what I read the 600W seems plenty. I'm always hearing "more light is better" but I don't want to spend the extra $$ for nothing. I also think the heat might be too much for a more silent fan and maybe I need smaller than 600W to keep things quiet? I only plan on 2 plants in the main growth chamber at a time.

I will have carbon filter on intake and exhaust and was thinking some fluorescent for the bottom clones to keep everything cooler down there?

Any help is appreciated as I'm trying to get this started right after the first of the year and my head is spinning from all the reading. I have zero actual experience in actual growing and I know reading only goes so far.

Thanks in advance

I think your pushing it if you want a quiet fan to pull that much. You can always get insulation for the fans to dampen the noise of the fans and airflow, have a look around in the hydrostores online or where ever.

You can get small clip on oscillating fans lots of people use them to get over that space issue.

Carbon filter on intake AND exhaust? Forget the intake filter and the intake fan. Open holes at the bottom and everything you suck out the top will be equally and naturally replaced by fresh air coming in through the bottom. The first question I have is where are you exhausting to? 1000w or even 600w is a lot of heat and a lot of humidity. You'll need to duct your exhaust into your attic. That's important!

Personnaly, I'd forget the clone and veg area. You can put a small t5 in a closet somewhere to start your babies, they don't need to take up valuable space in your cabinet. That will leave you plenty of room for an oscillating fan. 4'x3' = about 4 plants max.

The concept of perpetual growth only works well when you can start a new crop at least once a month. Otherwise, the cuttings you take during veg stage will be way too overgrown in 2 months when the flower room is finally available. Unless you can buy or get clones whenever you need them, you're better off starting with seeds. That way you start your seeds or take cuttings 3 weeks before the flower room opens up, and everything is timed perfectly. You can veg for 2 weeks in the flower room before you switch to 12/12.

Plus, Veg area and Flower area require two different lighting schedules. Putting them in the same cabinet means you'll have to completely light-seal the seperation, which makes proper ventilation difficult. I see that you've done a good job of that in your sketch, but height is a bigger concern than you're allowing.

Good advise: Don't bite off more than you can chew on your first grow.

Correct, thats 12 sq/ft you will need 600w to get the preferred 50w per sq/ft.

smokingrubber said:

Carbon filter on intake AND exhaust? Forget the intake filter and the intake fan. Open holes at the bottom and everything you suck out the top will be equally and naturally replaced by fresh air coming in through the bottom. The first question I have is where are you exhausting to? 1000w or even 600w is a lot of heat and a lot of humidity. You'll need to duct your exhaust into your attic. That's important!

Personnaly, I'd forget the clone and veg area. You can put a small t5 in a closet somewhere to start your babies, they don't need to take up valuable space in your cabinet. That will leave you plenty of room for an oscillating fan. 4'x3' = about 4 plants max.

The concept of perpetual growth only works well when you can start a new crop at least once a month. Otherwise, the cuttings you take during veg stage will be way too overgrown in 2 months when the flower room is finally available. Unless you can buy or get clones whenever you need them, you're better off starting with seeds. That way you start your seeds or take cuttings 3 weeks before the flower room opens up, and everything is timed perfectly. You can veg for 2 weeks in the flower room before you switch to 12/12.

Plus, Veg area and Flower area require two different lighting schedules. Putting them in the same cabinet means you'll have to completely light-seal the seperation, which makes proper ventilation difficult. I see that you've done a good job of that in your sketch, but height is a bigger concern than you're allowing.

Good advise: Don't bite off more than you can chew on your first grow.

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the replies

Smokingrubber I certainly don't want to "bite off more than I can chew". That's why I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing so I have less disasters once I get started. That being said, I just want to do this once (as far as the large purchases) and not figure out later that I need more of this or that. I will only have 2 plants so I could possibly use a smaller light (400-250) and I could make a tiny area on the bottom for clones cut during flower to add more to the top.

Going to the attic from the basement is not an option. I could run it out the back where the dryer used to vent since we had to re-route the dryer ducting to the garage after the ducting got torn up somehow. That scares me a bit since we live in a condo and people walk through there on occasion. I guess as long as the scrubber is kept in good shape I could vent out of that.

Something I keep hearing is not to have the intake fan, don't need it etc. If I don't need it that's great, but I don't want any odor coming out through the hole which is why the paranoia and the extra filter. If the fans were on 24/7 I could see how no odor would escape out the intake, but I thought the fans went off with the lights.

Thanks again and I hope that makes sense. Any thoughts would be very helpful

I leave my fans on all the time I just slow down the speed when lights are off. I personally would go with a 600w if I were you but that's just me. But if your like me where you only plan on buying something once and never having to again as well as always wanting the best things (i.e top line stuff) like I do then fuck it go with the 1000w but I'd imagine your going to need a bigger fan, bigger fan + more noise. Could you just vent through an adjacent wall somewhere and dump into another room? I also agree with the whole clone section and flower. Your gonna get overwhelmed and your going to have alot going on expecially for your first grow ( i apologize if it's not, im assuming) and having two seperate chmbers on top of each other as someone pointed out they have to be sealed from each other, and you going to have to figure out how to vent both. and it was also mentioned about the minimal space needed for clones. If i occassionaly clone It goes in the corner of the closet, a little container with a lid for my humidity and a couple t5's overtop. for me I've never noticed my plants stinking at this young of an age so that shouldn't be a problem... although thinking I did have some northern lights that STANK before even going into flowering, it was odd for me. idk just thinking out loud, hope you get it all squared away.

I will say i have noticed my room that i keep my tent in real stinky if I turn off the fans all together then it seeps out of my passive intakes on the bottom. but when it's on I got a nice airflow and it just sucks air in through the holes. I've found out for my setup that running my fan any less than like 40% causes smell to seep out. IDK what it would be for anyone else but just thought I'd mention that.

jwtruth35 said:

Thanks everyone for the replies

Smokingrubber I certainly don't want to "bite off more than I can chew". That's why I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing so I have less disasters once I get started. That being said, I just want to do this once (as far as the large purchases) and not figure out later that I need more of this or that. I will only have 2 plants so I could possibly use a smaller light (400-250) and I could make a tiny area on the bottom for clones cut during flower to add more to the top.

Going to the attic from the basement is not an option. I could run it out the back where the dryer used to vent since we had to re-route the dryer ducting to the garage after the ducting got torn up somehow. That scares me a bit since we live in a condo and people walk through there on occasion. I guess as long as the scrubber is kept in good shape I could vent out of that.

Something I keep hearing is not to have the intake fan, don't need it etc. If I don't need it that's great, but I don't want any odor coming out through the hole which is why the paranoia and the extra filter. If the fans were on 24/7 I could see how no odor would escape out the intake, but I thought the fans went off with the lights.

Thanks again and I hope that makes sense. Any thoughts would be very helpful

Click to expand...

I hear you about doing it once! I felt the same way. Unfortunelately that usually leads to buying more than you need... but oh well. Venting out the dryer duct is perfect. Just make SURE the exhaust filter is adequate and set up correctly. I recommend a Can-66, it will last you 3-4 years solid and, it will eliminate ALL SMELL!!!

"Clones cut during flower" ...? No, you can't take clones off plants that are already budding. That's where the timing of the whole system can get screwwy. If you take a cutting off a vegging plant just before it goes into flower ... it will take 3 weeks for the clone to get solid roots (without clone machine), then you'll still have to wait another 5 or 6 weeks before the flower room opens up. Then ... you'll have to put monsters into your flower room. That's bad because now the tops will be all scortched and the bottoms will never get any light. Total fail. Not to mention the fact that the space you've allocated for "clones" will be WAY too small to deal with the growing plants for 2 months.

That's why I said not to bite off more than you can chew. You need clones or seeds three weeks before the flower room is ready. Not before that!!!!! Trying to coordinate only one flower room and one veg room is tricky.

My advise: get a small T5 that you can hang in the bathroom or a closet. You'll need that and a covered tray. It's extremely easy to set that up anywhere and grow a few small babies from seed or cuttings. If you pop the seeds 3 weeks before they're needed then everything will work out perfectly. Plus, you'll only have that T5 on for 3 weeks out of every 10 week cycle. And don't worry, it doesn't smell.

smokingrubber said:

I hear you about doing it once! I felt the same way. Unfortunelately that usually leads to buying more than you need... but oh well. Venting out the dryer duct is perfect. Just make SURE the exhaust filter is adequate and set up correctly. I recommend a Can-66, it will last you 3-4 years solid and, it will eliminate ALL SMELL!!!

"Clones cut during flower" ...? No, you can't take clones off plants that are already budding. That's where the timing of the whole system can get screwwy. If you take a cutting off a vegging plant just before it goes into flower ... it will take 3 weeks for the clone to get solid roots (without clone machine), then you'll still have to wait another 5 or 6 weeks before the flower room opens up. Then ... you'll have to put monsters into your flower room. That's bad because now the tops will be all scortched and the bottoms will never get any light. Total fail. Not to mention the fact that the space you've allocated for "clones" will be WAY too small to deal with the growing plants for 2 months.

That's why I said not to bite off more than you can chew. You need clones or seeds three weeks before the flower room is ready. Not before that!!!!! Trying to coordinate only one flower room and one veg room is tricky.

My advise: get a small T5 that you can hang in the bathroom or a closet. You'll need that and a covered tray. It's extremely easy to set that up anywhere and grow a few small babies from seed or cuttings. If you pop the seeds 3 weeks before they're needed then everything will work out perfectly. Plus, you'll only have that T5 on for 3 weeks out of every 10 week cycle. And don't worry, it doesn't smell.

Click to expand...

What are your thoughts on re-vegging the same plants after harvest? It sounds like the whole perpetual harvest thing isn't going to work for me unless I build another separate cab for it. I like the small t5 idea and my main concern is I don't want to be constantly buying mail order seeds due to price and paranoia.

Another thing I wondered is if I started some clones and they grew like wildfire before I was ready, could I take cuttings off the young plants to manage the problem of them getting too big. Time wasted isn't a big concern for me. I'm more interested in staying self sufficient.

If these are stupid questions I apologize.