Alright, first off thanks for all of the advice!

I know I know, I said I wanted to go cheap and then I throw the 1000w HPS out there! I've made several half assed attempts at growing before, nothing too serious, just throw some plants in the closet with a few lights a fan and add water. For the most part everything worked except the lights, so really what I meant by wanting to go cheap, was go as cheap as possible on everything but the really important stuff. In my limited experience the lighting, and for this setup the ventilation, seem to be the more important things in terms of getting the cabinet set up.

I've had a hard time finding a cabinet that will be big enough for what I want to do, so after hours and hours of looking online I think I found something that will suit my needs. I found some steel beam shelving systems that I can kinda custom build to the size I want, with or without shelves, and then I'll just take plywood to enclose the whole thing into a cabinet.

So I'm on my next step, figuring out what sizes I want to go for for the veg/clone and flowering cabinets.

After taking several things into consideration and reading some replies, I'm thinking about this 600w HPS for the flowering chamber and throwing in the extra $40 for a digital ballast: 600 HPS EconoCool Grow Light System | BGH
I really don't want to have to spend so much on a light, so if anyone has an idea for cheaper lighting with the same output I would love you forever. :thumbsup:

and a 6-inch Fantech In-Line Duct Fan - 256 CFM (is this too much? not enough?)

Thanks turtle420 for the suggestions!

The fan would pull air from both the cabinets and out through a scrubber (I think I might make this one http://boards.cannabis.com/growroom-...on-filter.html)
I need the scrubber for the stanky yeah, I'm in an apartment so trying everything to keep it my own little secret!

The space I have to work with is approx. 7' high, 2' deep, and 6' wide.

For the flowering I was thinking about a 5' tall cabinet (I can go for 6' if needed), 2' deep and 3-4' wide, the two cabinets will go side-by-side, with the veg/clone cab being about 3-4' tall, and 2'x2' square.

I'm thinking I'll just go with flouro's for the veg chamber for now, any recommendations for the size I'm going for?

I know I had more questions but I can't think of them now, I think it's time to go get :stoned:

Oh oh, I almost forgot, I'm going to go with soil... water hates me, really really hates me, and I can see hydro turning into a huge mess if not worse

I'll make a diagram of what I've got in mind so far.