Grow Box and Lighting

[Dman1234]

Your going to need to consider what reflector will fit in the box, you are 24 inches wide so keep that in mind, also on the length, because of the ducting you will need space on each end and you are 36 long.

As for light proof intake I have a raised cabinet, on legs, i drilled several 2 inch holes in the bottom then added a sub floor in it raised up 3 inchs with offset holes, no light leaks in and very little to no light leaks out.

 

[EsC420PoT]

A space that is only 68" tall is not tall enough to have a lower and an upper section. So. I would stick with a 1 section space.

I think a 600 is overkill for a space that is only 6.33 sq ft. However if you think that you might want to go bigger in the near future, get a dimmable 600W and run it lower. There is a limit to the amount of light a plant can use. More light is only good yup to a certain point. And a 600W in a space that size is going to create massive amounts of heat that will be really hard to deal with. A 400W is still going to give you pleanty of light. If you get a 400W, I would get a 4" exhaust fan. If you go to the 600W, I would get a 6" exhaust fan.

Use the T5, not the CFLs as your primary light--it emits way more light per watt than the CFLs.

I also do not quite understand the hydro system you are talking about, either. Do you want to do drip or do you want to do DWC?

wait a minute... It's only 6.5 Sq.Ft?! I deeply apologies, i completely misunderstood the dimensions... I thought it was around 5 to 6 Ft. tall, with around 110-15 Sq.Ft... I may have skimmed or confused myself while reading your dimensions... But for only 6.5 sq ft. I completely agree, big time over kill...

Okay I think I'm getting myself confused with all the great information I'm receiving.

So to clarify what I want to accomplish here goes.

The grow box is 68" , 24 deep, 38 wide. I want to use 3 5 gallon pails and grow three large plants so that I have a larger yield for each grow. I've got to get away from paying for my weed.

I'm now on my second grow with the Bubbleponics system and though the first grow did not produce much I sure gained alot of experience about what not to do. This second grow is going great and I'll have much more weed this time. I like to use this outfit but wanted to add another setup so I can produce more and also to have a grow in veg state and flower state at the same time. Hence the idea of building a grow cabinet.

From my reading the idea of growing 3 larger plants in the DWC method sounds like something I can do and manage. I'll be putting this cabinet in a closet. I'll be able to vent it with an exhaust fan that will be vented into the crawl space of my home. I'm going to use the 400 w kit. I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this in particular what kind of reflector would be best and here's the site http://www.ebay.com/itm/400w-HPS-MH...omplete-400-watt-/271052327597#ht_13830wt_917

I'll add light proof vents at the bottom of the cabinet as well. Any thought on how to lightproof these vents would be appreciated.

I also will add another vent hole and duct for the light at the top of the cabinet for fresh air and cooling air drawn from my crawl space. Even during the summer the crawl space offers relatively cool air for cooling.

If anyone has had dealings with other companies for purchasing lights and such I'd also appreciate any recommendations.

Okay I think I've got this mapped out now. I was really glad to see recommendations on the lighting aspect of this. The 400 w light will be adequat for my needs and I feel more comfortable as far as heat is concerned.

I'm going to go change my lighting around to take advantage of the T5 fixture on my current grow.

My thanks to all who have responded to my quest. I hope there will be more advice coming as I work my way throught this. I'm sure other folks are reading this as well.

cruisor

The grow box is 68" , 24 deep, 38 wide.

See I completely thought you put (') not (").... ah my stoned mind... For some reason I thought your dimensions were way bigger... I figured they wornt ft. but for some reason got the calculations of a 3x4x6 room in FT. lol. SO sorry man i really didn't mean to cause confusion...
anyways, as for the grow cabinet and your bubbleponics, mind posting some pictures? In fact, picture of your whole setup? Would greatly help...
AS for your 2 rooms, thats what I thought you meant by 2 sections. I would firmly agree, as it cutts out a whole months time of vegg off of your growing time spand. Instead of 3-3.5 months, will take 2.5 with the same yields. Of course that is if you veg a month, no more no less.
As for your your plants, Due to your dimensions, I would honestly recommend putting only 1 instead of 3. When it comes to indoor, more plants, doesn't mean more bud. Theres times where I've gotten more bud off 3 plants in my 5x5 setup than I did when I had 12 in there.. As for the light traps I made some for my drying unit. Made completely out of card board, it will just confuse you if I explain it, so later on when I have more time Ill try to upload drawings or pics of what I did and how it works. Super cheap and very effective. It does however decrease your airflow a bit... As for recommendation of lighting and growing equip, the only products I've really messed with is hydro Farm. Otherwise "general Hydroponics" or random stuff off ebay and local stores lol. Ok, back to your light, if you put a 400 Watt, your getting about 55000 lumens. In the dimensions you have, your putting out about 9821.4 lumens per SQ FT. Which is WAY BIG! Its not that it's bad, it will grow very good and fast, but your height is what concerns me... especially with that many lumens within that space, its going to overgrow your box.. especially with 3 plants.. You will def. have to constantly LST and Scrog. Could you possibly show pictures of at least the box? I know you don't have all this set up yet, but pictures would really help.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

EsC, I made the same mistake at first and had a whole long thing written before I went back up and reread the post. Those of us that work with measurements just get used to things being expressed as L x W x H.

Although 2 spaces are nice, I do not think that a height of 68" gives you enough space to do that. I had a cabinet 90" that I was going to use for 2 spaces, but circumstances changed and I am using a 32" x 32" tent. However, I even worried about that not being tall enough.

There is a point that more light does nothing but increase heat. I have found that with my circumstances and the way I grow, I do not benefit much when my light gets over about 7500-8000 lumens per sq ft. Some people may have different results. But I have found that I get no better growth from a single 1000W in an 18 sq ft space than I do when using 2 600W.

Of course, one of the benefits of a digital dimmable ballast or a ballast that uses different wattage bulbs is that you can run at a lower wattage and then go up if you decide to go bigger.

 

[cruisor]

Hiya dman1234 and The Hemp Goddess and all who have worked on this project with me.

I took your advice dman12134!! After looking and reading all the advise proffered here from everyone and I just purchased the Mars Hydro Reflector LED Grow Light 144x3W. This seems to be a great solution to the heat problem I know is coming with the other lights. I do realize that I'll still have to take care of ventilation and heat removal but on the other hand I now won't have to worry about burning the house down. This is important!! I'm feeling that I'll get a good grow and the purchase of additional parts and pieces will be minimal. Now I can get focused on finishing my grow cabinet. I'd like to share pictures of this as I finish it. So in the next week or so I'll post a bunch of pictures of it and then share the first grow with everyone. This should be great fun.

Now that I've finally got a light source any additional suggestions would be appreciated. It seemed like the whole problem was centered around heat and now I can focus on ventilation. I saw some pictures of another guys cabinet and he used PVC elbows and a length of pipe that looked like it was about a foot long. He had at least 5 of these exiting the cabinet. He felt that this would not permit light to enter and provided the vents for fresh air to enter. Looked like a good idea to me.

Hope to hear more from everyone. This has been a great experience for me as I've not had the response from other places that I've asked questions. There is a lot of great experience here and I hope to be able to add to that one of these days. Will be fun to share a grow as well. I'll be able to learn lots of good technique!!

Thanks,

cruisor

 

[EsC420PoT]

See, the thing about that, is it's still possible for light to get threw to an extent, (depending on your set up and where it's located) I'm not sure if what that guy did was efficient, but it just seems like light would still get threw to me.. Heres what I did, I made it about a foot long, and attached a couple computer fans on it (which I wouldn't recommend... Attach an adequate air flow to it) I only did Computer fans, as this was just for a tiny drying unit, you'll want more for an actual set up, and with that said, (if you choose to copy this design) I'd probably ,make it around 2 ft. Whether you use this design or not, it will at least give you a good understanding and a good method to creating a light trap.

View attachment Light trap.JPG

 

[zem]

i agree with Esc420 about the light trap, with just one elbow and a ft long pipe, that light would still go through. one of the most challenging tasks for my growroom was to make it 100% light proof and i had to do something a bit similar to esc420's diagram. you have another good option that is to buy 4" black irrigation hoses if you can find it and just make several holes. these would block 100% of the light because the entire hose is curved and would allow easier airflow because there are no sharp angles. you would be surprised to see by how much a 90 degree elbow diminishes the airflow

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Make something similar to an S-trap or a P-trap that is used in plumbing. The p-trap design should contain the light, but if it doesn't, do an s-trap. Semi flexible ducting can be bent into the space you want and it will stay that way. This should effectively keep the light in. IMO, the box that esc has shown has too many baffles and the air flow will diminish significantly with that many 180 degree turns.

 

[cruisor]

I think I'll make a trip to HD today and see what they offer in the plumbing section. I also wanted to say I've finally finished the frame for my grow box and I painted it white of course. I also am using a shiny white wall board or panel. The covering looks like plastic and should reflect light like crazy. Will get some pictures today of it.

I have not decided on a door yet. I've seem some that looked like aluminum covered bubble pack material. Does anyone know the name of this stuff? I thought I might try velcro to keep the door in place and then just roll it up to take care of my girls. Any other ideas out there?

Thanks all for the great suggestions. I feel like this is going to be a super successful project. I sure have enjoyed it.

cruisor

 

[zem]

i have a 10ft 4" flexible duct and cant tell what length i should be cutting it to contain light, i was thinking, 1 ft, but not sure if that is enough. THG can you throw in your suggestion please?

 

[Kraven]

I'm using a 400 watt MH/HPS in a 39"x39" area ( ~9 sq ft.) and I get phenomenal results. And my combo ballast came with two bulbs for around $200. I have used hortilux bulbs and also the $28 ones and have seen no noticeable difference in crop quality. Just my two cents.

 

[cruisor]

Thanks for your thoughts Kravenhead. I've went ahead and committed to a Mars Hydro Reflector LED Grow Light 144x3W. I hate to part with that much money but this light will help quell my concerns with heat and power consumption. I like in a place where there are still DRY counties. Hard to believe I can't get a drink when we go out to eat! I do have to be careful as far as growing my own.

cruisor