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hi, would like to help a friend attempt their first grow. i have never grown before but have been doing tons of research for some time now- could anyone with experience in stealth closet grows take a look at these plans and let me know if they are worth investing the time and money in or if there is anything that should be changed or whatnot...
thanks much
Hey S&D,
that looks pretty much ok, just a couple of things. it looks like you've got 2 seperate air intake/outake systems, one for the light and one for the cab? You can probably get away with one, just hook it up so that it sucks air from outside the cab, through the light and back outside the cab, you can put your filter on either after the fan outside the cab or inside the cab before the light.
You've not got a lot of height to play with so you'll have to look into some techniques for keeping your plants short, Topping, LST etc.
Good luck!
Get a ballast that will take both Halide and Sodium bulbs, unless you plan on having a seperate veg area.
Scrog may be your answer for such a small area.
i was actually at the grow store yesterday. i wanted to buy a 400 watt hps with a ballast that would also support halide bulbs- i was talking to the man at the store and he showed me a 400 watt light and said it had two spectrums and was good for both veg and flowering but i cant remember what kind of light it was- ill try and find out today... any thoughts on what it could be and if it is worth it?
Yeah i know them as dual spectrum bulbs, there's probably a few companies that make them, hortilux is popping into my head for some reason but that might just be a random thought i had thats got nothing to do with lights at all, i'm pretty baked lol i had one a couple years ago and it did a pretty good job from what i can remember, it's probably better to have seperate bulbs as they're specifically designed for either veg or flower rather than one that can do both but won't be perfect at either. JMO
thanks for the help hudson- so you really think i wont need another vent/exhaust? if i do put it in anyway could it hurt? i also might have to make the box smaller because 36inches wide might be to big for my space now that i am sizing things up..
I run a 400W hortilux with added blue but use it only for flowering. To much hydro for me to veg under when T5's give me decent results.
What type of fan and CFM for ventilation?
Passive intake's or active (cpu fan)
i just picked up a squirrel cage fan today for exhaust- i think it is 190 cfm.. what kind of a fan should i get for an intake? and i had to reduce the size of the cabinet down to 42" tall and 24"x24"
ok so here is what i got:
1 lumatek/250w ballast
1 daystar 4"ac Reflecto
1 HPS 250 watt bulb (28,500 lumens)
1 MH 250 watt bulb (21,000 lumens)
1 active air 180cfm squirrel cage
i still need an intake fan and mind you i am trying to fit all of this in a 42"Hx24"Wx24"D any comments, suggestions?
I'm not sure you're gonna NEED an intake fan, if you're dead set on active intake make sure it's a little less powerful than your exhaust. Personally i'd get your setup together and do a test run with passive intake and see what temps i get, if it's running hot then i'd add another fan.
I don't think you need an intake fan.
Cut intake holes about 3" in diameter.
Use an oscilating fan or desk fan inside the box to keep the air circulating.
ha the guy at the grow store said the same thing but i refused to believe him haa- ill take ur guys' word for it.. how many cfms should the oscilating fans be? does it matter? i have already cut one intake hole- about a 3inch by 3inch square- would i need more then that?
i really want to make sure my first grow goes smooth
thanks again for all the help guys
The cfm of the oscilating fan doesn't matter, it's only gotta help the exhaust, just evens the temps and prevents any hot spots that might occur without one and provide a little breeze to help with stem strengthening.
My intake is the same size as my exhaust and for most of the time thats enough, however, if it gets very hot i open up another vent that allows more air circulation and drops temps a couple of degrees. So it's better to have your passive intake twice the size of your exhaust for maximum air flow or two intakes the same size as your exhaust, ideally from opposite sides of the cab for more even air circulation.
With an extraction fan you want to move the volume of air in the box 5 times a minute.
190 CFM (cubic feet/minute) will suffice.
As for the passive intake, run 2 of the 3" holes that you have, one in each of the bottom corners. Just my suggestion..
thanks for the advice, so i already have one three inch hole in the bottom right corner, ill put another in the bottom left.. but in fact now that im thinking about it i might have to scrap this whole closet and redo it because the reflector i bought just fits and it does not have a socket so i have to buy a seperate socket and that might make it to big for the closet.. damn!