Indoor Grow Box Set-up

[Malsor]

Here is a quick layout on my ideal grow box. Im going to build a custom cabinet type grow box. As you can see in the photo its 3'x3'x7' and I plan to use a 4" exhaust inline duct fan with a carbon scrubber, im not sure what size intake vent hole yet, 400w HPS lighting, 2 CFL side lights, and a circulating fan for strengthing stems and in case I need to cool down the temp a bit. Any ideas on what I should add or change? Any suggestions on how many plants I can fit easily?

Malsor Reviewed by Malsor on 06-19-2010. Indoor Grow Box Set-up Here is a quick layout on my ideal grow box. Im going to build a custom cabinet type grow box. As you can see in the photo its 3'x3'x7' and I plan to use a 4" exhaust inline duct fan with a carbon scrubber, im not sure what size intake vent hole yet, 400w HPS lighting, 2 CFL side lights, and a circulating fan for strengthing stems and in case I need to cool down the temp a bit. Any ideas on what I should add or change? Any suggestions on how many plants I can fit easily? Rating: 5

[drudown11]

if its possible, get your ballast out of the growbox. The ballast almost generates more heat than the bulb, and in small growing spaces heat is an issue. I just have a feeling your gunna have a problem keeping plants short enough so that they wont get burned. You only have 3 ft ceiling and that 400watter needs to be about 2 feet away from tops.

Its probably still gunna get hot as fuck with that light on, run a test run with no plants in there and check the temperatures . Its better to deal with a heat issue when before it kills or stress's your plants.

[TheChameleon]

Hello, You may want to rethink your vent size 4" may be enough for cfl's but not enough for a ballast and hps...

[Malsor]

if its possible, get your ballast out of the growbox. The ballast almost generates more heat than the bulb, and in small growing spaces heat is an issue. I just have a feeling your gunna have a problem keeping plants short enough so that they wont get burned. You only have 3 ft ceiling and that 400watter needs to be about 2 feet away from tops.

Its probably still gunna get hot as fuck with that light on, run a test run with no plants in there and check the temperatures . Its better to deal with a heat issue when before it kills or stress's your plants.

my grow box is 7' tall so height is not a problem, what are some ideas with the light ballast placement with my grow box?

Hello, You may want to rethink your vent size 4" may be enough for cfl's but not enough for a ballast and hps...

yea I was thinking about the vent size. Im thinking something more like a 8" exhaust vent and as for the intake vent Im not sure yet.

[Malsor]

do you think a 600w hps will generate too much heat for my grow box (3'x3'x7' WxLxH) with a 6" vent air cooled reflector and 6" exhaust fan with the carbon scurbber? I was thinking of going with 400w hps but I would rather go with 600w if it wont give me problems. What do I need to change in order to make a 600w hps and 2 side cfl lights work with my grow box without the extra heat? I will exhaust everything out a window.

[khyberkitsune]

Wow that's going to be a TON of heat in the box. Yes, get the ballast outside of the box. Beef up your cooling, if you're going HID you should stick with the 400w, get a cooltube for that bad boy, put it in the center, hanging vertically. 8 plants, one per square foot, on the outsides. You won't even need the side CFL lighting with that configuration. 600w would not be necessary. Try using MH for this, if you can, since they're more often used in a vertical orientation. This method will get you far more yield than you would by using an overhead horizontally-oriented/reflector light setup of the same wattage.

You could also try LED, but that's only if you've got the setup cash. Two 120 or 150w panels would do the same thing, and with the way those work, this can give you an option of making two tiers in your cabinet, and doubling your plant amount, and giving you tons more options in your preferred method (you could run a mom/clone/veg cabinet down below and flower up top, for example.)

Different approaches will yield different results. Just tossing in some ideas.

[Malsor]

Wow that's going to be a TON of heat in the box. Yes, get the ballast outside of the box. Beef up your cooling, if you're going HID you should stick with the 400w, get a cooltube for that bad boy, put it in the center, hanging vertically. 8 plants, one per square foot, on the outsides. You won't even need the side CFL lighting with that configuration. 600w would not be necessary. Try using MH for this, if you can, since they're more often used in a vertical orientation. This method will get you far more yield than you would by using an overhead horizontally-oriented/reflector light setup of the same wattage.

You could also try LED, but that's only if you've got the setup cash. Two 120 or 150w panels would do the same thing, and with the way those work, this can give you an option of making two tiers in your cabinet, and doubling your plant amount, and giving you tons more options in your preferred method (you could run a mom/clone/veg cabinet down below and flower up top, for example.)

Different approaches will yield different results. Just tossing in some ideas.

great info, im still confused about the vent holes. What size exhaust vent and what size vent for passive intake? Im going to be using a inline duct fan, not sure what size yet.

[khyberkitsune]

great info, im still confused about the vent holes. What size exhaust vent and what size vent for passive intake? Im going to be using a inline duct fan, not sure what size yet.

If you do the cool tube method, 6 inch inline fan with 6 inch ducting, you'll need that much to accommodate the bulb. If you chose to go with a reflector instead of the cooltube, you'll need a 4 inch inline centrifugal fan minimum, with a three inch air hole. And yes you'll still need the circulation fan. If you go LED, you only need a couple of computer fans for intake and exhaust, use a couple 120mm for exhaust and a couple 80mm for the circulation/plant airflow/intake.

[Malsor]

If you do the cool tube method, 6 inch inline fan with 6 inch ducting, you'll need that much to accommodate the bulb. If you chose to go with a reflector instead of the cooltube, you'll need a 4 inch inline centrifugal fan minimum, with a three inch air hole. And yes you'll still need the circulation fan. If you go LED, you only need a couple of computer fans for intake and exhaust, use a couple 120mm for exhaust and a couple 80mm for the circulation/plant airflow/intake.

alright, I'm going to start my research on LED lighting but what are the benefits of using LED over HID?

[Malsor]

I've done a bit research on LED lighting and I'm not interested in using that method. I'm going to stick with HID. Im thinking of getting a air cooled hood. I was reading that the cool tube decreases some light and the reflector gets too hot so why not have both in one?