need some advice with my grow cabinet

okay so i have made a cabinet its about five feet tall but a foot and a half wide with adjustable shelve for germination and hight i lined the inside with aluminum foil to hopfully retain some heat i want to use this cabinet for eveything from germination to harvest is that possible and i dont know what lightage i should put in there i was thinkin about a one and a half foot flourescent do you agree.another thing is ventilation i have one fan that i plan on using for intake i hear you have to put it on the bottom true or not?my outake is on the way.any advise would be helpfull and is it wide anough???

hey Potalot,

I have a cabinet that is 22.5in x 22.5in. x 67.5in. tall. In there I grew one Trainwreck from start to finish with a 400w hps and a 15in. axial fan blowing on the plant. My temps were so high, however, that I could not close the door (plus the fan was too big to fit in the closet).

This time I kept the hps, and added a cooltube, a tube fan, a carbon filter, and a small computer fan, and I am able to keep my temps around 28-30C (81-85ish F) You can check out the the links in my sig, they have pics and more info...

For you, it depends on what you are really going for, and how much you want to spend... I can tell you that one fluorescent light is not enough to finish a grow with. You could use it for the first week, but after that you will need some additional flouro's and even some cfl's. The flouro's have a blue light, so they are good for veg. The cfl's come in 2 different types, one with blue and one with more orange (I think the ones with the lower numbers, 2700K-3500K are blue, and 6500K are the orange,. Get some of the more orange cfls in addition to a couple flouro's and that should get you started. good link:El Cheapo Guide to Lighting. The more light (in lumens and the correct color for veg/flowering) will give you better results.

Take down the tinfoil, as it doesn't do anything. Paint the inside of the closet FLAT white, it reflects much better than tinfoil and better than mylar also.

You want your intake opposite your exhaust, and people normally put their exhaust on the top and their intake on the bottom, but try to get them as opposite as you can (intake-bottom right far corner, exhaust-top left near corner).

The amount of lighting you can eventually get in there depends on your exhaust, and how you can maintain temps. If you have a good exhaust, a 400w hps is possible. Otherwise, stick to the cfl's as they dont't give off that much heat, and people seem to have had a lot of success with them around the boards. Check out some cfl grow logs and get a feel for how much light you think you can fit in that closet.

thank you very much i have decided sceince i know its big enough im getting two 400wat cfl's with two orange long flourescent for veg and flowering the inside of the cabinet is white already so i have taken the foil down i out the fans in the way you said and put an elctro thermometer in there i plan on growing one plant for personal use...for now only for now cause i smmoke about a 40 sack a day from friends plants and i plan on giving back but i have another question is there any way to tell if some replyed to your thread from your home page and not having to track it down because im new to this site i came from rollitup.com and left cause its nothing but ppl arguing who is better and im much happier here to be honest all info is very greatfull and thanx ill keep you posted on the plant thanx again

learn to use punctuation!

-shake

learn to use punctuation!

-shake

TWO 400W hps??? Sounds like a lot of light for that space... (I'm guessing its 18" x 18" x 60"?) If so, you will have a little challenge with the temps in that size closet with just one 400w hps.

Maybe you could get a 600w hps in there, if you have a cooltube for it with a strong fan, and a second fan for the main exhaust, an active intake, and/or an air-conditioner...

Just sounds like a lot of light and heat for that small space. My closet is 22.5" x 22.5" x 67.5", and the temps are on the higher end of the acceptable range. Just to be safe, buy a really good tube fan (maybe one with adjustable speeds) and just a 400w.

Go through this:http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...-progress.html Try to plan it all out first on paper, and then do the math with the ventilation, it worked pretty well for me.

Oh yeah, and you can subscribe to threads and you will be notified of new posts. The subscribe button is in the Additional Options when you reply to a thread.

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

Oh yeah, and you can subscribe to threads and you will be notified of new posts. The subscribe button is in the Additional Options when you reply to a thread.

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you can also set your options in "user cp" and make them subscribe automatically once you post in a thread.

-shake

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

TWO 400W hps??? Sounds like a lot of light for that space... (I'm guessing its 18" x 18" x 60"?) If so, you will have a little challenge with the temps in that size closet with just one 400w hps.

Maybe you could get a 600w hps in there, if you have a cooltube for it with a strong fan, and a second fan for the main exhaust, an active intake, and/or an air-conditioner...

Just sounds like a lot of light and heat for that small space. My closet is 22.5" x 22.5" x 67.5", and the temps are on the higher end of the acceptable range. Just to be safe, buy a really good tube fan (maybe one with adjustable speeds) and just a 400w.

Go through this:http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...-progress.html Try to plan it all out first on paper, and then do the math with the ventilation, it worked pretty well for me.

Oh yeah, and you can subscribe to threads and you will be notified of new posts. The subscribe button is in the Additional Options when you reply to a thread.

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thanx i put it together last night and with my plant and vetilation im maintianing an 88f temp.i down graded to a 200wat cfl and its working great and mt plane is green and smiling at me i appreciate all your help and will have pics when i start to veg

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Originally Posted by potalot17

thanx i put it together last night and with my plant and vetilation im maintianing an 88f temp.i down graded to a 200wat cfl and its working great and mt plane is green and smiling at me i appreciate all your help and will have pics when i start to veg

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you might want to get the temps down a bit more. once you get up around 90F photosynthesis comes to a grinding halt. my young plants box gets up to around 85 and they seem to be doing fine, but you don't want to go much over that. 78F is what's considered optimum.

-shake

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Originally Posted by headshake

learn to use punctuation!

-shake

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learn to shut up i asked for help not a mom

first off, i was trying to help you out. people don't want to decipher your heiroglyphics to try to answer your question. secondly, don't insult other members of the boards. this will only get you banned.

if you can't read or write you have no business growing bud!

-shake

Yeah, I agree with Shake.

--SS.

Wow, pretty rude, especially to someone in the forums who helps EVERYONE out and knows his stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

The cfl's come in 2 different types, one with blue and one with more orange (I think the ones with the lower numbers, 2700K-3500K are blue, and 6500K are the orange,.

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I screwed up... blue are higher K numbers and better for veg. Low numbers are better for flowering. My bad...