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Advice on Dual 250 Cabinet
- Thread starter Cobra420
- Start date
Haha, anyways, this is what i have at the moment.
Each of the bottom 2 chambers are 23"w x 19.75"d x 47.5"h and the top chamber is 47"w x 19.75"d x 20"h. I've also reinforced the back with a piece of plywood.
My idea for the cab, goes like this
I'm thinking about putting a 250w hps into each of the bottom chambers which puts me around 83 watts per square foot in each. I'd like to put 3-2' 2 lamp T5's uptop for cloning and mother plants. I was opting to go with a cool tube in each chamber, but I'd like to keep the lights oriented in the correct direction. So i was thinking about having a 120mm AC fan blowing on each bulb towards the 8"x8" Darkroom Louver in the top of each cab to help disipate heat.
The cabinet is also in my room so it needs to be fairly stealth so the least amount of holes that i have to cut into it the better. At the moment, i was going to cut 1 hols in the back of each chamber and put an 8"x8" Darkroom Louver into each. Then at the top of each chamber, put an 8"x8" Darkroom Louver connecting each bottom chamber to the top chamber and then the last hole being where the carbon filter and fan will connect.
I figured there will be 644w total of lighting for me to cool. Going by the ventilation 101 thread (excellent thread by the way) i figured i would need around 203CFM to keep the cabinet 10* above ambient. If i went with a 6" Vortex and sped it down to 50%, that should be around 224CFM correct? Would that be able to keep the temps in this cabinet low enough for me to grow something? Or would i be better off getting the 8" Vortex and dropping it to 50%?
I tried to make my Paint drawing sort of to scale but that was interesting. I have drawn this up on graph paper to scale and it seems like I can get everything to fit with some room to spare, just wondering if It will be enough ventilation... Also if it matters, i am going to have to exhaust the cab into my room aswell. Are the lights going to warm my room up considerably?? I should be able to control the ambient temps in the room if need be.
Any comments or ideas about my cabinet plans are more than welcome.
Thank you,
Cobra
Each of the bottom 2 chambers are 23"w x 19.75"d x 47.5"h and the top chamber is 47"w x 19.75"d x 20"h. I've also reinforced the back with a piece of plywood.
My idea for the cab, goes like this
I'm thinking about putting a 250w hps into each of the bottom chambers which puts me around 83 watts per square foot in each. I'd like to put 3-2' 2 lamp T5's uptop for cloning and mother plants. I was opting to go with a cool tube in each chamber, but I'd like to keep the lights oriented in the correct direction. So i was thinking about having a 120mm AC fan blowing on each bulb towards the 8"x8" Darkroom Louver in the top of each cab to help disipate heat.
The cabinet is also in my room so it needs to be fairly stealth so the least amount of holes that i have to cut into it the better. At the moment, i was going to cut 1 hols in the back of each chamber and put an 8"x8" Darkroom Louver into each. Then at the top of each chamber, put an 8"x8" Darkroom Louver connecting each bottom chamber to the top chamber and then the last hole being where the carbon filter and fan will connect.
I figured there will be 644w total of lighting for me to cool. Going by the ventilation 101 thread (excellent thread by the way) i figured i would need around 203CFM to keep the cabinet 10* above ambient. If i went with a 6" Vortex and sped it down to 50%, that should be around 224CFM correct? Would that be able to keep the temps in this cabinet low enough for me to grow something? Or would i be better off getting the 8" Vortex and dropping it to 50%?
I tried to make my Paint drawing sort of to scale but that was interesting. I have drawn this up on graph paper to scale and it seems like I can get everything to fit with some room to spare, just wondering if It will be enough ventilation... Also if it matters, i am going to have to exhaust the cab into my room aswell. Are the lights going to warm my room up considerably?? I should be able to control the ambient temps in the room if need be.
Any comments or ideas about my cabinet plans are more than welcome.
Thank you,
Cobra
ive got the same cab, it was used as my veg (top)/flower (bottom) cab, now I use it for just vegging.
*personally I would go hydro with it, less worry about heat
*get rid of the middle part since it would allow you more room that is crucial in a space like that (right now I have 8x2gl buckets at the bottom)
*if you really want to keep that middle piece you can just move it over to give yourself 1' of space on one side (for moms) and the other side for flower.
at the top I would leave that space above the 1' space for all your "mechanical/moving" parts (ie - fan/ strong enough fan can vent the whole thing; electrical/air movement will cool ballasts and cords)
*drop the top shelf to 1.1/2' (you'll have to build a traditional frame to support the top shelf but youll be able to hang your lights no problem)
*(don't know if you know of them but) harbourfreight has some dolly's that would fit under the cab for a descent price, two of them should be fine (or if its going to be stationary then the 2x4's would do the trick)
****BE WARNED**** the bottom of that thing has no support and is very flimsy in the sense that It wont be able to hold weight for too long and will begin to buckle, for that matter remember that the back is cardboard so you may have to invest ina sheet of plywood for overall rigidity, I used OSB or particleboard 3/4" flr mine. you can use MDF as well but seriously you need something to strengthen it. as far as the bottom you can get some 2x4's and make a frame for the bottom as well. it would be best to just buy all of your stock at the same time so you can do all the work at once
don't know what you want to do specifically but there really is a lot that can be done. the 400watt and 250 clubs/threads have countless configurations. the thread is flooded/crowded with responses so you can look at different things and then contact that specific grower to see what/how they did what they did.
ive seen some ppl make it really stealthy by putting storage containers at the top to house vent fans, air filters ballasts, other electronics so you get the idea. there really is a multitude of configurations.
the reason I say youshould go hydro off the bat is because I don't know where your going to put it and since its a closet you'll be easily tempted to go in and out of it, hydro donr properly would keep you from having to consistently checking on it. just check your water levels in about a week or so if not 2wks.
not only do I wish you luck but have fun with it. just don't go to high on your lighting; 250 to 300 should do you fine 400 your pushing it so your venting is going to have to be high rate and fluid (cooltube in that case).
*personally I would go hydro with it, less worry about heat
*get rid of the middle part since it would allow you more room that is crucial in a space like that (right now I have 8x2gl buckets at the bottom)
*if you really want to keep that middle piece you can just move it over to give yourself 1' of space on one side (for moms) and the other side for flower.
at the top I would leave that space above the 1' space for all your "mechanical/moving" parts (ie - fan/ strong enough fan can vent the whole thing; electrical/air movement will cool ballasts and cords)
*drop the top shelf to 1.1/2' (you'll have to build a traditional frame to support the top shelf but youll be able to hang your lights no problem)
*(don't know if you know of them but) harbourfreight has some dolly's that would fit under the cab for a descent price, two of them should be fine (or if its going to be stationary then the 2x4's would do the trick)
****BE WARNED**** the bottom of that thing has no support and is very flimsy in the sense that It wont be able to hold weight for too long and will begin to buckle, for that matter remember that the back is cardboard so you may have to invest ina sheet of plywood for overall rigidity, I used OSB or particleboard 3/4" flr mine. you can use MDF as well but seriously you need something to strengthen it. as far as the bottom you can get some 2x4's and make a frame for the bottom as well. it would be best to just buy all of your stock at the same time so you can do all the work at once
don't know what you want to do specifically but there really is a lot that can be done. the 400watt and 250 clubs/threads have countless configurations. the thread is flooded/crowded with responses so you can look at different things and then contact that specific grower to see what/how they did what they did.
ive seen some ppl make it really stealthy by putting storage containers at the top to house vent fans, air filters ballasts, other electronics so you get the idea. there really is a multitude of configurations.
the reason I say youshould go hydro off the bat is because I don't know where your going to put it and since its a closet you'll be easily tempted to go in and out of it, hydro donr properly would keep you from having to consistently checking on it. just check your water levels in about a week or so if not 2wks.
not only do I wish you luck but have fun with it. just don't go to high on your lighting; 250 to 300 should do you fine 400 your pushing it so your venting is going to have to be high rate and fluid (cooltube in that case).
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Thanks for the response Friend, i really appreciate the advice.
About the hydro, i would go that route, but i have a ton of homemade compost, leaf mould, worm castings and amendments to make my own organic soil. I've done an 18 gallon DWC and Bio Buckets in the past under my 600. The yeilds were fantastic, but out of all my grows, the soil grows, i feel, have been my favorite especially when i went organic.
In all honesty, i'd rather try to leave the cab the way it is as much as possible. I have put a piece of what looks like 1/2" plywood over the cardboard backing and it has made the stability of the cabinet much better. Thank you for the tips on the bottom of the cab. Looks like i may have to reinforce it a little more than the 2 kickplates that came with it.
The way i am thinking of growing, is either 4 (3 or 5 gallon bags/pots) in each side and tying them up and/or maybe even scrogging them. On the other hand, i've thought about running 12-16 1 gallon bags in each side and doing some sort of perpetual sog with clones, 24-32 total. Any comments on which of the 2 methods would be my best bet??
With what i'm thinking of doing, i am going to use a storage container or box on top of the cabinet to house the 6" Vortex. Maybe even put some sort of insulator in it to help with any noise.
I've read through the Mills Pride Club thread, The Cab thread, The 250 Users thread, Verdant Greens thread as well as searching through multiple threads and forums using the search feature and have gotten some excellent knowledge out of them all.
The cabinet is going to be in the wifey and i's room to the right end of our bed up against the wall, that way it is behind our rooms locked door (putting some nice locks in the cab aswell to keep it closed) So as mentioned earlier stealth is sort of a big priority. Traffic into our room is very low, but there is the occasional visitor and i'd like to keep this between the wife and i. When it comes to background noise, we have a Honeywell fan that we have blowing most of the time along with a fairly loud humidifier. I am wanting to run the lights mainly at night to help keep temps cooler and it would more than likely be a better time for me to check on things.
In the future, i'd like to use this cab as a veg cabinet for my 600's. I can veg a perfect 18"x18" screen in either side of this cab, that i can then flower in my other chambers as a mod scrog.
When you say 250 to 300 watts, are you saying per side of the cabinet or for the entire cabinet as a whole?? I'm pretty sure i have seen a few growers use a 250 in a cab the size of one of the bottom chambers, i'm just unsure if a 250 in each chamber as well as 144w of t5's up top would get cooled enough. If my math is correct, a 6" at half speed should be enough for just under 10* ambient as long as my intakes are correctly sized. I can work with that. In the ventilation 101 thread, it says dark room louvers cut the intake in half. So that means an 8"x8" dark room louver would be half of 64" so 32 square inches of intake? Should be more than enough intake for a 6" fan considering there will be 2 in each bottom chamber. 1 for intake and one for exhaust into the upper section.
Haven't really figured a way to work in a cool tube with the way my setup is going. I'd love to somehow run the lights in cooltubes and vent them together with their own fan while venting the cab with another fan. I feel that would be the most efficient way of doing things. Is it possible to cool this cabinet the way i have it drawn up with a 6" vortex fan on a speed controller with bare bulbs under reflectors?? Having a 120mm ac fan blowing on each bare bulb under a reflector? Maybe even put a glass shield under them if necessary? Any thought or comments are apprectiated.
TL;DR:
Going with homemade organic soil, thats what i prefer and i have an abundance of it.
Which would be better?? 8 (3 gallon or 5 gallon) bags, 4 scrogged or LST'd in each chamber or 24-36 (1 gallon) bags, 12-16 sogged in each chamber?
Got 2-23w" x 19.75l" x 47.5h" chambers connected side by side with a 47w" x 19.75l" x 20h" on top of them (pic in second post). A bare bulb 250w HPS with a reflector and a 120mm ac fan blowing on the bulb in each of the bottom chambers. 6-24w T5's in the top chamber. By my math, this setup should be able to be cooled by a 6" vortex preferably dialed down between full and half speed?? Does anyone have any ideas on whether this is possible considering it is bare bulbs under reflectors in a semi tight area?? Any advice is welcomed.
Thank you!
Cobra
About the hydro, i would go that route, but i have a ton of homemade compost, leaf mould, worm castings and amendments to make my own organic soil. I've done an 18 gallon DWC and Bio Buckets in the past under my 600. The yeilds were fantastic, but out of all my grows, the soil grows, i feel, have been my favorite especially when i went organic.
In all honesty, i'd rather try to leave the cab the way it is as much as possible. I have put a piece of what looks like 1/2" plywood over the cardboard backing and it has made the stability of the cabinet much better. Thank you for the tips on the bottom of the cab. Looks like i may have to reinforce it a little more than the 2 kickplates that came with it.
The way i am thinking of growing, is either 4 (3 or 5 gallon bags/pots) in each side and tying them up and/or maybe even scrogging them. On the other hand, i've thought about running 12-16 1 gallon bags in each side and doing some sort of perpetual sog with clones, 24-32 total. Any comments on which of the 2 methods would be my best bet??
With what i'm thinking of doing, i am going to use a storage container or box on top of the cabinet to house the 6" Vortex. Maybe even put some sort of insulator in it to help with any noise.
I've read through the Mills Pride Club thread, The Cab thread, The 250 Users thread, Verdant Greens thread as well as searching through multiple threads and forums using the search feature and have gotten some excellent knowledge out of them all.
The cabinet is going to be in the wifey and i's room to the right end of our bed up against the wall, that way it is behind our rooms locked door (putting some nice locks in the cab aswell to keep it closed) So as mentioned earlier stealth is sort of a big priority. Traffic into our room is very low, but there is the occasional visitor and i'd like to keep this between the wife and i. When it comes to background noise, we have a Honeywell fan that we have blowing most of the time along with a fairly loud humidifier. I am wanting to run the lights mainly at night to help keep temps cooler and it would more than likely be a better time for me to check on things.
In the future, i'd like to use this cab as a veg cabinet for my 600's. I can veg a perfect 18"x18" screen in either side of this cab, that i can then flower in my other chambers as a mod scrog.
When you say 250 to 300 watts, are you saying per side of the cabinet or for the entire cabinet as a whole?? I'm pretty sure i have seen a few growers use a 250 in a cab the size of one of the bottom chambers, i'm just unsure if a 250 in each chamber as well as 144w of t5's up top would get cooled enough. If my math is correct, a 6" at half speed should be enough for just under 10* ambient as long as my intakes are correctly sized. I can work with that. In the ventilation 101 thread, it says dark room louvers cut the intake in half. So that means an 8"x8" dark room louver would be half of 64" so 32 square inches of intake? Should be more than enough intake for a 6" fan considering there will be 2 in each bottom chamber. 1 for intake and one for exhaust into the upper section.
Haven't really figured a way to work in a cool tube with the way my setup is going. I'd love to somehow run the lights in cooltubes and vent them together with their own fan while venting the cab with another fan. I feel that would be the most efficient way of doing things. Is it possible to cool this cabinet the way i have it drawn up with a 6" vortex fan on a speed controller with bare bulbs under reflectors?? Having a 120mm ac fan blowing on each bare bulb under a reflector? Maybe even put a glass shield under them if necessary? Any thought or comments are apprectiated.
TL;DR:
Going with homemade organic soil, thats what i prefer and i have an abundance of it.
Which would be better?? 8 (3 gallon or 5 gallon) bags, 4 scrogged or LST'd in each chamber or 24-36 (1 gallon) bags, 12-16 sogged in each chamber?
Got 2-23w" x 19.75l" x 47.5h" chambers connected side by side with a 47w" x 19.75l" x 20h" on top of them (pic in second post). A bare bulb 250w HPS with a reflector and a 120mm ac fan blowing on the bulb in each of the bottom chambers. 6-24w T5's in the top chamber. By my math, this setup should be able to be cooled by a 6" vortex preferably dialed down between full and half speed?? Does anyone have any ideas on whether this is possible considering it is bare bulbs under reflectors in a semi tight area?? Any advice is welcomed.
Thank you!
Cobra
I just saw this thread.
I think your original idea of using dual 250s is actually a good idea. I would certainly put them in cool tubes or air cooled reflectors though. If you do that you could totally get by with a single 6" fan dialed down. But I wouldn't bother doing it with open reflectors.
Then you would want to make sure to grow scrog style. I probably wouldn't try to use the top space for vegging though, personally. I would use it as an equipment space, for ballasts, fan, carbon filter, that sort of thing.
It could be productive that way, too. You would need another cabinet for vegging, possibly, but with this one, if you ran both sides at the same time with comparable strains, you could easily yield 4 ounces or so under each 250.
Up top I would have a carbon filter suspended horizontally, connected to the 6" fan which blows out the back, then there would be a 6" hole in the ceiling of each grow chamber, where the ducting connected to the cool tubes comes up and enters this area. Then at the floor level of each grow chamber would be passive intakes. You could insulate the cabinet in strategic locations to deaden the sound somewhat, helping with stealth.
I think your original idea of using dual 250s is actually a good idea. I would certainly put them in cool tubes or air cooled reflectors though. If you do that you could totally get by with a single 6" fan dialed down. But I wouldn't bother doing it with open reflectors.
Then you would want to make sure to grow scrog style. I probably wouldn't try to use the top space for vegging though, personally. I would use it as an equipment space, for ballasts, fan, carbon filter, that sort of thing.
It could be productive that way, too. You would need another cabinet for vegging, possibly, but with this one, if you ran both sides at the same time with comparable strains, you could easily yield 4 ounces or so under each 250.
Up top I would have a carbon filter suspended horizontally, connected to the 6" fan which blows out the back, then there would be a 6" hole in the ceiling of each grow chamber, where the ducting connected to the cool tubes comes up and enters this area. Then at the floor level of each grow chamber would be passive intakes. You could insulate the cabinet in strategic locations to deaden the sound somewhat, helping with stealth.
IMHO 2 250's will be too much heat, unless you use cool tubes.
check my sig for my STEALTH fishtank cabinet. a bigger cab that yours. i ran 2 150's and had air scrubbing/ozone chamber built in mine.
when i first built it, i had the lights and ballasts in air cooled hoods.
what i found was the two hung vertically with 2 PC fans exhausting the grow chamber was suffficient...
check it out...
check my sig for my STEALTH fishtank cabinet. a bigger cab that yours. i ran 2 150's and had air scrubbing/ozone chamber built in mine.
when i first built it, i had the lights and ballasts in air cooled hoods.
what i found was the two hung vertically with 2 PC fans exhausting the grow chamber was suffficient...
check it out...
im gonna post some pics of what I did to my cab at the various stages I did them in
THE BOTTOM SECTION: MOMS AND CLONE GROWTH
THE BOTTOM SECTION: MOMS AND CLONE GROWTH
heres and old pic of it where I had my moms and bubblecloner where I let the rooted cuts get some size on them before I put them to flower. down here I was able to keep at least 6x moms in 1gl bags OR 5x moms in 3gl bags (the 3gl I rolled down half way because I didn't want them getting too big down there)
THE BOTTOM SECTION: MOMS AND CLONE GROWTH
heres and old pic of it where I had my moms and bubblecloner where I let the rooted cuts get some size on them before I put them to flower. down here I was able to keep at least 6x moms in 1gl bags OR 5x moms in 3gl bags (the 3gl I rolled down half way because I didn't want them getting too big down there)
TOP SECTION,: FRESH CUTS and ROOTED CUTS
TOP SECTION,: FRESH CUTS and ROOTED CUTS
these are from when I was doing organic soil at the top of the cab
the right side:
left side:
lol, and if your wondering whether or not that lil cloning trick worked heres the proof:
these are from my first grow, when I had the 400HPS at the bottom for my SSH grow:
TOP SECTION,: FRESH CUTS and ROOTED CUTS
these are from when I was doing organic soil at the top of the cab
the right side:
left side:
lol, and if your wondering whether or not that lil cloning trick worked heres the proof:
these are from my first grow, when I had the 400HPS at the bottom for my SSH grow:
yo, that is slick, I really dig that setup!
MPD, i've been sketching up ideas for this cab for quite awhile now trying to make this thing work lol. Finally decided it was time to get somewhere with this and ask for some advice, so i posted up on the forums. Any reason you feel stealth would be an issue?? I thought a 6" dialed down would be fairly quite. Hopefully the white noise i have in the room aswell should be enough to drown it out. If cool tubes would make this work, I'll do it. If they are to be used, I would like to try and cool the lights seperatley from the cab if possible. I feel if i can do that, i can use smaller fans all around, which in return, helps with the stealth. Thank you for the response, it is appreciated.
Hush, In my original plan, when put on paper, i have enough room for all of the cabinets equipment (minus the exhaust fan), 3 - 2' 2 tube t5's on the ceiling and space for mothers/clones in the top section. But, hearing heat may be an issue, I'm unsure how well that would work now lol. I want to do all my vegging in the bottom cabinets. The main reason for all of this is to contain everything i needed to grow in one cabinet. If i were to cooltube both lights and duct one side up into the upper chamber using a 120mm fan, you think the exhaust fan of the cab would be able to keep the top chamber cool enough to run mothers and clones in it?? If not, think if i can get the 250's in cool tubes and vented seperatley, i'd be able to get away with the mother/clone area up top?? If i go with cooltubes and i can get them vented seperatley, i feel i could drop down to a 4" vortex to exhaust the cabinet. If that is the case, i can fit the fan and scrubber in the cab as well which would be great. Thank you for the response, it is appreciated as well.
GP73LPC, i love the fishtank cabinet!! So are you saying that it maybe possible to use these lights vertical instead?? I've read through a few vert grows but haven't really considered it. I do seem to remember seeing people using fairly large lights in smaller areas though. Actually, i think i seen someone using 2 - 250's hung vertically without cooltubes in a cab very close to the size of one of my cabinets bottom chambers. I wonder if going vert is the way to go? May need to read up on this and see what it's all about. Thank you for your response, it is appreciated too.
Friend, awesome set up! Lovely roots on the clones too! Do you happen to have any pics of the cabinet with all the chambers in view?? Any more info on the ssh grow? It looks like you are using soil from what i see in a possible sog?? Pot sizes, plant count, ventilation used?? What kind of yield did you get off of that. Those buds look fantastic! Thanks for the pics, it too is appreciated.
I want to use bonsai moms in the upper chamber when i figure out a way to get this cab going. I've thought of doing a sog in each but am torn between that and scrog. Maybe when i get this running, i'll try both.
The wifey suggested i experiment some. Use one side of the cab as a vert grow and the other side as a horizontal grow when i get things going. Then try different training techniques under each side to see what works the best for this setup. Any thought on this??
Also, anyone think if i were to use a glass shield under a bare bulb and reflector with the 120mm ac fan blowing on the bulb that this could work? I seem to remember seeing a few growers due that to help with cooling.
Going to do some more reading and see how to get this cab started! Thank you again for all the advice everyone! It is very much appreciated!
Cobra
Hush, In my original plan, when put on paper, i have enough room for all of the cabinets equipment (minus the exhaust fan), 3 - 2' 2 tube t5's on the ceiling and space for mothers/clones in the top section. But, hearing heat may be an issue, I'm unsure how well that would work now lol. I want to do all my vegging in the bottom cabinets. The main reason for all of this is to contain everything i needed to grow in one cabinet. If i were to cooltube both lights and duct one side up into the upper chamber using a 120mm fan, you think the exhaust fan of the cab would be able to keep the top chamber cool enough to run mothers and clones in it?? If not, think if i can get the 250's in cool tubes and vented seperatley, i'd be able to get away with the mother/clone area up top?? If i go with cooltubes and i can get them vented seperatley, i feel i could drop down to a 4" vortex to exhaust the cabinet. If that is the case, i can fit the fan and scrubber in the cab as well which would be great. Thank you for the response, it is appreciated as well.
GP73LPC, i love the fishtank cabinet!! So are you saying that it maybe possible to use these lights vertical instead?? I've read through a few vert grows but haven't really considered it. I do seem to remember seeing people using fairly large lights in smaller areas though. Actually, i think i seen someone using 2 - 250's hung vertically without cooltubes in a cab very close to the size of one of my cabinets bottom chambers. I wonder if going vert is the way to go? May need to read up on this and see what it's all about. Thank you for your response, it is appreciated too.
Friend, awesome set up! Lovely roots on the clones too! Do you happen to have any pics of the cabinet with all the chambers in view?? Any more info on the ssh grow? It looks like you are using soil from what i see in a possible sog?? Pot sizes, plant count, ventilation used?? What kind of yield did you get off of that. Those buds look fantastic! Thanks for the pics, it too is appreciated.
I want to use bonsai moms in the upper chamber when i figure out a way to get this cab going. I've thought of doing a sog in each but am torn between that and scrog. Maybe when i get this running, i'll try both.
The wifey suggested i experiment some. Use one side of the cab as a vert grow and the other side as a horizontal grow when i get things going. Then try different training techniques under each side to see what works the best for this setup. Any thought on this??
Also, anyone think if i were to use a glass shield under a bare bulb and reflector with the 120mm ac fan blowing on the bulb that this could work? I seem to remember seeing a few growers due that to help with cooling.
Going to do some more reading and see how to get this cab started! Thank you again for all the advice everyone! It is very much appreciated!
Cobra
all i was saying is i eventually removed all that bullshit you see in my fishtank cab until all i had was two vert bulbs, passive intake and 2 DC powered fans to exhaust. that worked for me although temps ran a little warmer than ideal, it will still very doable.
i started with an intake fan and 2 exhaust fans. i had an intake and exhaust fan on each 150 hood. so 7 PC fans initially, but reduced to just two in the end, with open vertically hung bulbs (ballasts located outside of the grow chamber).
my idea was not to go vert since i was scrogging, but to remove as much hardware and unnecessary bullshit from my setup.
i am still concerned about the heat that 2 250's will create, but if you have enough air exchange you can probably pull it off. based on me exhaust fans CFM i was exchanging the air inside my cab several times a min. it still ran a little warm.
i just looked at your drawing a little closer and i have a couple of concerns for you.
1. the mother clone chamber is gonna be very, very hot with 2 250 HPS ballasts hanging out a few inches away. i believe i would remote those outside the cab if possible or divide the upper chamber so a ballasts chamber is the last chamber to exhaust.
2. the louvers between the veg and flower chambers will not prevent light leaks to you flowering chamber. unless you wrote something i overlooked, the drawing shows not method of preventing light from leaking to the flower chamber.
keep up planning. the better time you put in now the less tweaking later
i started with an intake fan and 2 exhaust fans. i had an intake and exhaust fan on each 150 hood. so 7 PC fans initially, but reduced to just two in the end, with open vertically hung bulbs (ballasts located outside of the grow chamber).
my idea was not to go vert since i was scrogging, but to remove as much hardware and unnecessary bullshit from my setup.
i am still concerned about the heat that 2 250's will create, but if you have enough air exchange you can probably pull it off. based on me exhaust fans CFM i was exchanging the air inside my cab several times a min. it still ran a little warm.
i just looked at your drawing a little closer and i have a couple of concerns for you.
1. the mother clone chamber is gonna be very, very hot with 2 250 HPS ballasts hanging out a few inches away. i believe i would remote those outside the cab if possible or divide the upper chamber so a ballasts chamber is the last chamber to exhaust.
2. the louvers between the veg and flower chambers will not prevent light leaks to you flowering chamber. unless you wrote something i overlooked, the drawing shows not method of preventing light from leaking to the flower chamber.
keep up planning. the better time you put in now the less tweaking later
all i was saying is i eventually removed all that bullshit you see in my fishtank cab until all i had was two vert bulbs, passive intake and 2 DC powered fans to exhaust. that worked for me although temps ran a little warmer than ideal, it will still very doable.
i started with an intake fan and 2 exhaust fans. i had an intake and exhaust fan on each 150 hood. so 7 PC fans initially, but reduced to just two in the end, with open vertically hung bulbs (ballasts located outside of the grow chamber).
my idea was not to go vert since i was scrogging, but to remove as much hardware and unnecessary bullshit from my setup.
i am still concerned about the heat that 2 250's will create, but if you have enough air exchange you can probably pull it off. based on me exhaust fans CFM i was exchanging the air inside my cab several times a min. it still ran a little warm.
i just looked at your drawing a little closer and i have a couple of concerns for you.
1. the mother clone chamber is gonna be very, very hot with 2 250 HPS ballasts hanging out a few inches away. i believe i would remote those outside the cab if possible or divide the upper chamber so a ballasts chamber is the last chamber to exhaust.
2. the louvers between the veg and flower chambers will not prevent light leaks to you flowering chamber. unless you wrote something i overlooked, the drawing shows not method of preventing light from leaking to the flower chamber.
keep up planning. the better time you put in now the less tweaking later
have to agree with all these points. specifically on the issue of heat. you have to remember, the more you confine heat the faster it will build and wood holds heat very well (tis why I had to get rid of my cab and just the open section of the garage, just waiting for temps to warm up a bit before I start my next run)
when it comes to these cabs, as far as the structure itself, the less you have the better. IMO what you could do is cut it in half. a foot and a half on top and four and a half feet at the bottom.
you have 4' of top length so I would take a foot maybe foot and a half of that and put a divider up to use for all your electronics/filter or fan/ and other stuff (easiest thing to use is that middle piece for the bottom that splits it in half. you can cut that and still have the white coating so it works perfect)
my cab/cabs are/were in my garage so stealth wasn't too much of an issue. ive had cops here, the fire dept, inspectors, friends, family and the garage never comes into question since there really is no need for them to be in there.
*** yeah it was organic soil, ive got a thread/diary about it its what I started out with for years so my undertaking hydro is failry new for me but ive still got my soil so was thinking about using it along side my hydro grow (whole big ass 55gl bag full of it already mixed so definitely gonna use that, tol dmy wife no way in hell im getting rid of it by using it in here garden, her thumb is still a lil turquoise, still no where near green yet)
***I had 7 plants in 3gl grow bags that I had rolled down so I could only use half the bag, I didn't want those damned sativas turning into monsters on me as you know sativas can
***ventilation was 4" pc fan, one at the top and one at the bottom. the inlets were passive with the doors having spaces (like I said, garage no real need for concern, I thought about light leaks but once I covered the glass panels on the door I was even better off)
***lol, no sog, just a shit load of plants for no reason!
as far as using an ac fan to cool, you could but I wouldn't do it since, even though its going to be in your room out of sight, that's still a lil attention you wouldn't even want ppl to happen to catch a glimpse of to be honest.
(. . . thinking . . .) ok follow me on this. . .
what you could do is get a piece of MDF or even hard/stiff cardboard and cut a piece to fit two ventilation spots. then you could get the face plate from a dual window fan. you can take the face of the dual fan off; place the cardboard/mdf cutout to fit the face plate; tape it up, attach the cardboard to the face plate best you can (screws, glue/adhesives, tape or all 3 if you can) and mount it in a window. you can have one vent tube going into the bottom of the cab and the other one for inlet and one at the top for out take . .. yeah it takes some figuring but it would alleviate having to do too much ducting, cutting, various fans. just try to vent the entire cab at once as opposed to by section. that's what I would do differently if I saw need to
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Thank you for the replies GP73LPC and Friend.
After some thinking and more reading on the forums, i'm starting to wonder if i'd be better off using a 150w hps in each side instead of the 250's. I've been going through the 150w HPS Club/Resource thread and i have to admit, for my space, 150's sound like my best bet. I'd have 50w per square foot in each cab and that should work great considering a few growers in that thread are using a 150w for larger and smaller flowering areas than i and pulling more than enough yields. Having two of these running should give us an abundance.
I would like to clone and keep mothers up top if that is possible though. If i go the 150w route, i plan on keeping the ballasts outside of the cabinet, probably on top in a storage container or something. In my original plans, i had the 250 ballasts located inside the cab because i had read that they ran pretty cool since they were digital. Was thinking the ballasts in the cab would be stealthier. I'd rather put any unnecessary heat generators out side of the cab though. That should really help keep temps lower in there. If i were to use a 150w in each cab and 3 - 2' 2 lamp T5's up top i should be able to keep this cabinet within 5 degrees of ambient with a 6" vortex dialed down. That would be awesome! When i get the ventilation lightproof between cabs with enough intake, do you think i'd be able to use the top for clones and mothers?
When it comes to the dark room louvers, i was under the impression that the square 8"x8" and larger ones were light tight. All of the threads i have read about them seem to say so atleast. I have read that the circular louvers leak light though. Any experience with the square ones??
Any thoughts on the new cabinet setup? Advice and comments are appreciated. Thank you!
Cobra
After some thinking and more reading on the forums, i'm starting to wonder if i'd be better off using a 150w hps in each side instead of the 250's. I've been going through the 150w HPS Club/Resource thread and i have to admit, for my space, 150's sound like my best bet. I'd have 50w per square foot in each cab and that should work great considering a few growers in that thread are using a 150w for larger and smaller flowering areas than i and pulling more than enough yields. Having two of these running should give us an abundance.
I would like to clone and keep mothers up top if that is possible though. If i go the 150w route, i plan on keeping the ballasts outside of the cabinet, probably on top in a storage container or something. In my original plans, i had the 250 ballasts located inside the cab because i had read that they ran pretty cool since they were digital. Was thinking the ballasts in the cab would be stealthier. I'd rather put any unnecessary heat generators out side of the cab though. That should really help keep temps lower in there. If i were to use a 150w in each cab and 3 - 2' 2 lamp T5's up top i should be able to keep this cabinet within 5 degrees of ambient with a 6" vortex dialed down. That would be awesome! When i get the ventilation lightproof between cabs with enough intake, do you think i'd be able to use the top for clones and mothers?
When it comes to the dark room louvers, i was under the impression that the square 8"x8" and larger ones were light tight. All of the threads i have read about them seem to say so atleast. I have read that the circular louvers leak light though. Any experience with the square ones??
Any thoughts on the new cabinet setup? Advice and comments are appreciated. Thank you!
Cobra
cobra,
i think going with 2 150's is a wise idea...
on the subject of the louvers, my bad. i didn't realize the louvers were in fact a light trap.
since they are a light trap you should be good. i did read that some people thought they reduced air flow too much, but i don't have any experience with them.
i thought they were simply a single level of louvers, but now i see i misunderstood...
best of luck.
i think going with 2 150's is a wise idea...
on the subject of the louvers, my bad. i didn't realize the louvers were in fact a light trap.
since they are a light trap you should be good. i did read that some people thought they reduced air flow too much, but i don't have any experience with them.
i thought they were simply a single level of louvers, but now i see i misunderstood...
best of luck.
Thank for the input GP73LPC.
I went ahead and went with the dual 150s for now. Going to have 2 8"x8" darkroom louvers with filters in the back for intake per side and 2 8"x8" louvers up top per side to connect into the cloning area. I'm hoping that should be enough to clear the heat out of the cab with minimal strain on the fan.
After some more reading, i'm starting to like the idea of possibly using LED's in the future. They seem pretty good for a stealthy setup like i'm going for. I've been reading through the LED threads but am curious about some things. Having dual cabs that are 23"x19" a piece, would i be better off using the largest led unit i could find to fit my space or would that be too much? I've found fairly large units that would fit in there great. Just unsure if it would be worth it. For instance, an 864w led i've seen would fit in one side with plenty of room to spare. With it being led's would that be too much lighting or even heat in that small of a space?
I've been reading through threads but haven't really seen too much on sizing the led unit to the grow room space. It seems some people are going under the 50w per square foot rule and getting great results. Would going higher than 50w per square foot be worth it or should i shoot for lower? Thank you for the responses.
Cobra
I went ahead and went with the dual 150s for now. Going to have 2 8"x8" darkroom louvers with filters in the back for intake per side and 2 8"x8" louvers up top per side to connect into the cloning area. I'm hoping that should be enough to clear the heat out of the cab with minimal strain on the fan.
After some more reading, i'm starting to like the idea of possibly using LED's in the future. They seem pretty good for a stealthy setup like i'm going for. I've been reading through the LED threads but am curious about some things. Having dual cabs that are 23"x19" a piece, would i be better off using the largest led unit i could find to fit my space or would that be too much? I've found fairly large units that would fit in there great. Just unsure if it would be worth it. For instance, an 864w led i've seen would fit in one side with plenty of room to spare. With it being led's would that be too much lighting or even heat in that small of a space?
I've been reading through threads but haven't really seen too much on sizing the led unit to the grow room space. It seems some people are going under the 50w per square foot rule and getting great results. Would going higher than 50w per square foot be worth it or should i shoot for lower? Thank you for the responses.
Cobra
