Alright, i am going to begin my new grow set up here very soon. The closet isn't cutting it anymore for my picky self. I realize there are posts on this subject but the more stuff I read the more confused I seem to get. I found a cabinet that is probably (im going from memory here) 6 square feet, 6 feet high. I have a 400 watt HPS lamp. Now, my main plan with this box is going to be the ventilation system. I can grow some nice plants but I suck at these tecnhical things! My construction worker buddy is gonna help me with this process. Should I invest in an air-cooled hood as opposed to my current basic 400 watt setup? Would, say, 250 cfm dayton blowers on opposite ends of the box do well for ventilation? In addition to my "hurricane" fan which I already use. If I could only get this ventilation thing down totally correct, I know my plants would grow so much faster than they currently do. What would be some suggestions on a ventilation system? Would it be wise to mount a window air-conditioner on a side of this cabinet? It is drivin me mad, all I wanna do is keep on growing and i want the best grow system I can get. I can say that the ambient temps in my room are between 75-80 degrees farenheit. I Have thought about running a dryer hose from the air vent on the floor, up into the cabinet, through a 6 inch hole, but I dont know if that would allow smell to escape to the outside of my house. I tried that before for a short while and it didnt seem to do that. Oh yeah, I will continue the SOG method that I have been using. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Whats your humidity running about? with those fans and those lights, should be around 55 percent you might get 60.
Youre right, usually runs about 55-65%, it is variable between those. And I saw this cabinet again, I would say it is actually 8 square feet. Damnit, I need to write those specs down so I can remember them. I know it is 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep, give or take a couple inches.
If you make a cooltube that pulls the heat straight off of the HPS lamp, you'll get tons more cooling power from your fans than if you only have it ventilating the room. You also don't need an intake and exhaust fan, just make sure there's an inlet for air and blow it out. As long as the air can move into your space freely, you don't need an intake fan. Good luck -------Dom
thanks for the reply. Can I get a cooler tube at the grow store? I need to get a new 400watt bulb anyway, and i have seen/heard of the ones that run cooler, not sure if thats the one you are talkin about or not. OK, so, I just got an 8" inline duct fan and an 8" pipe for exhaust, should i put this exhause just above the light, so I can get ventilation and cooler air? I had planned on putting an intake on the side of the box, down towards the bottom. Man the more I do this stuff the more it is confusing me. Everything is set up now except for the ventilation. So, my plan is for an intake, an exhaust that goes just above the lamp,which will vent out into the top section of the wardrobe/box. Any modifications I need, please advise me! Once these modifications are made, it is on again, but with better setup and more CONTROL!
Here's a couple shots of my cooltube setup. It's a Pyrex Bake-A-Round I bought on Ebay for $20 delivered to my door. As you can see, it pulls all the heat off of the lamp without compromising light output allowing me to have a 1000w lamp in a relatively small space.
Nice! Is that similar to an air-cooled hood? I thought about getting one of those but I dont think I will need one now. My friend and I just installed an 8" 500cfm exhaust fan right over the HPS. The air goes up into that and out into the upper portion of the closet/box. The intake hasnt been installed yet, but the oscilating fan standing in there seems to be helping out quite a bit as well, it is about the same height as where the bulb is, so those 2 things seem to be really cooling things off. The true test will be later, when the plants wake up and get moved in to their new home. We'll probably continue this work for the next day or so. I just cut 5 master kush clones and 2 northern lights (i think) clones, and my blueberry x sensi star seeds that i got from a breeder friend have all sprouted, so its on! Any other commentary is welcome, i wish i had a pic but i dont have those kind of computer things, and this thing is old. Thankee
Yeah, it's like a cooled hood only it costs $20.00 instead of $200.00... lol. It uses less power because I can use a smaller fan (mine's a 250 cfm elicent inline fan). Are you planning on having all those girls in there at the same time? That seems like a lot of plants for a 400w lamp... but best of luck to you! I wish you could post pics of your setup; I've always done better with pictures... maybe that's why I have an illustrated Kama Sutra lol -------Dom (Edited by Domin8rix at 2:46 pm on Aug. 30, 2005)
Well, a couple of the clones I am giving to my friend for helping me so much with the construction of this box, plus he is beginning to learn how to grow, I have had some experience, so it is a nice trade. I am not exactly sure how many clones I will get to stick in this new setup, if they all grew like my master kush clones, which is straight up with hardly any side branching, i could pack in quite a few. But I have no idea how the BBxSS grows yet, the NL I have grows like little christmas trees and takes up a little more space. I will just grow out the BBxSS, sex them, take clones, and see which one is best. The mothers are at my buddys house now, you see, I had all these different areas in my place for different stages of growing, at one time it was up to 34 plants at different stages of growth. One day, a bunch of cops were close to my house, i started shaking terribly, thinking i was finished, but alas, nothing happend. But that day I figured I was way in over my head, so I have cut down drastically. Gotta love good ole' American paranoia! Thank you Domin8trix for your assistance, greatly appreciated.
Wow... sounds like you've got a bit of experience eh? Why are you taking advice from a n00b like me? lol... I feel all weed cultivation savvy . I don't have any paranoia issues... nobody but me and GK know about my grow, there's no odor and my power bills are too low to attract attention, the grow's in the basement in a room with no exterior walls so there's no heat signature... I'm set. Good luck w/ your grow, if there's anything I can help with I'll try! Grow on!!! -------Dom
I dont consider myself an expert at all, but i do have some experience with the all the aspects of growing, except for breeding, but i am just not good with the technical kind of stuff that indoor growing requires. I know what it likes, i just suck at building stuff and working with electricity, my construction buddy helps me a lot with that stuff. just got new seeds today from a buddy and ordered from seeds direct..right on!
