Box build Ideas...

[ApolloGuru]

How's everyone doing tonight??

I will be building a flower box and a veg box soon. I have some ideas but I need some constructive criticism. I will be growing SCROG method and will be grown in soil and100% organic...

Flower box-
It will be 3'Wx3'Dx5'T. It will be equipped with a 600 watt HPS powered by a Lumatek E-ballast. The bulb will be housed in a super sun 2 reflector. There will be 4 passive intakes near the bottom of the box. The box will hold 4 plants with 1.5 square foot of space each plant.

Veg box-
It will be 3'x3'x4'. There will be a 400 watt MH powered by a lumatek E-ballast, also housed in a super sun 2 reflector. It will have 4 passive intakes near the bottom.

The walls of both boxes will be covered with mylar.

The exhaust/cooling is where I am a little confused. I want to pull the air from the boxes through the reflectors. My purpose in doing this is replenishing the air in the boxes all the while cooling the light at the same time. I want to do this with one fan and one scrubber for both boxes. What size fan and scrubber do you folks believe I will need to do this effectively?

Also, would is be ok to have the scrubber in the same room as the boxes? The room is 10'x12'.

Thanks in advance!!

Apollo

 

[ApolloGuru]

There will also be a Vaportek in the room just for peace of mind... And maybe one in the living room, haha...

 

[ApolloGuru]

Anyone??

 

[ApolloGuru]

Come on guys... Give me some advice here......

 

[Guest]

It's Thanksgiving weekend in the US. Not much action here so be patient.

I iahve my grow tent in a 9x11 bedroom. Scrubber is in the grow tent and pull air through it but not my light. I exhaust into same room. Not had any temp or smell problems. However, every grow is different.

You have 81 cubic feet(both grow boxes combined) you need to be changing air in, say, 3 times a minute. So you need a blower that will "output" a minimum of 250 cubic ft/min (81ft3 x 3 times a minute= 243) Make sense? And that is 250ft3/min "loaded" meaning the blower must be capable of 250ft3/minute with all the ducting and scrubber hooked up.

You need to be aware that there are fans and blowers out there that can output 250ft3/minute but not against a load. These computer fans and in line air duct booster fans will not work for your application--2 grow boxes and a 1000 watts of light. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

You can do it with one good blower. I would suggest you design your air pathways with the fewest turns and adapters possible. Keep ducting lengths as short and straight/direct as possible. Adapters, twists and turns in the duct make for more air resistance...making your blower work harder. More noise too if that is a consideration for you. Think of where you will have room for your blower. Also where you're going to exhaust to...if not in the same room.

You should check the Stanley Blower thread. Read through it. I'm sure it will do the job for you. If you don't have the skills or wherewithall to modify a Stanley (it isnt hard), then you will need a Vortex type inline blower, or a squirrel cage type Dayton blower. I use a Dayton 465 for my grow and 400W light. It's really more than I need but I'd rather have more and not need it, than have not enuf and need it. It's almost always better to have more blower than you need unless noise is a concern. I use a Dayton because I live in an apartment, and noise is a factor for me. Vortex blowers are too noisy for my situation, but they are good blowers. You'll see most grows your size probably use Vortex.

Hang in there. I'm sure you'll get some responses after the holiday.

Good luck with it!

MT

 

[ApolloGuru]

Hey thanks MT!!

I have actually been looking at the Dayton 465 and was wondering how loud it REALLY is?? Yous aid you live in an apartment so it must be fairly quiet. I live in my own house but I still want it to be fairly quiet incase I have company over or anything like that...

 

[Guest]

Hey thanks MT!!

I have actually been looking at the Dayton 465 and was wondering how loud it REALLY is?? Yous aid you live in an apartment so it must be fairly quiet. I live in my own house but I still want it to be fairly quiet incase I have company over or anything like that...

Here's some pictures of my setup...not that it is in any way similar to what you plan...just shows you my Dayton 465 exhaust blower. I have another smaller, 95CFM blower to push fresh air into my grow tent....as well as what air comes in passively from the 465 pulling thru the scrubber in the tent.

As for how loud is it "REALLY"? Well "loud" is somewhat subjective but I'll say this. You see how my 465 just sits on a chair, on a folded blanket to dampen vibration. It exhausts just like you see...right into the room with no muffler or anything on the output port. When I'm in my other bedroom with botdooors partly open, , I can barely hear them(both blowers run 24/7) running. You can make the 465 quieter still by muffling it with a "trash can" type muffler. I think there are a couple threads on making mufflers like that. If you get a 465, make sure you get adapter brackets for both input and output ports. You realy need them for a good connecton to ducting. The exhaust side adapter you may not need, but get it just in case.

MT

 

[ApolloGuru]

Sweet, thanks MT... I looked at the Stanley thread and I might give that a try...

How much room do you guys think I should have between the screen and the lights?? I was thinking 2 feet of space to adjust the light up and down if need be..

I saw a grow on OG a long time ago where the guy trained the plants like crazy. He trained them to where the plants would be completely flush with the screen so when it flowered it would just be a screen of bud... . It was literally just bud growing on the screen...

 

[gromer]

3x3x5 I hate to say it but is too small for a 600.I mean its totally possible but youll have one hell of a time cooling that puppy in the summer.I had a 3x3x7 with a 400 and had to run 3 outake fans plus an ac in the room the box was in just to keep it in the mid 80s in the summer which is doable but not optimal.Do you have space issues can you do a bigger room.Is all the equiptment purchased?Would you settle on a smaller wattage light?

 

[ApolloGuru]

If the room is vented properly I believe the temps should be fine.... I had a buddy with an aircooled 600 and I could get my hand pretty close without it being too hot...

During the summer where I live, the hottest it will ever get is 80... Average days are between 65-75...

 

[ApolloGuru]

Anymore input on my box ideas???

 

[ShroomDr]

if your building a a box, i recomend against a screen. You cant move the plant once it grows though the screen, especially if the screen is attached to the inside of the box.

LST training and scrog are the same concept (keep all the growth tips at the same level).

i use 14G wire. Its solid copper wire, wrapped in plastic insulation, $.24/ft at H0meDep0t.

Its it easily bent to shape, but strong enough to hold its structure.

My first grow was a cabinet scrog, then i moved to paper clips and string, because i couldnt get to the back of the cabinet with the screen. Next was dental floss, velcro tape, and metal office clips :Mcgyver: Insulated copper wire is the best ive found so far.

 

[ApolloGuru]

Each plant would have its own screen with a frame built from PVC....

 

[ShroomDr]

ok... do you think a bunch of different screens is going to be easier to work with and around, than something less bulky...

 

[doobieman2259]

ApolloGuru any photos?

 

[ApolloGuru]

ok... do you think a bunch of different screens is going to be easier to work with and around, than something less bulky...

There will only be 4 plants, so 4 separate screens will be very easy...

 

[ShroomDr]

Look, you can spend $25-$50 and 4-6 hours building screens made out of pvc, figuring out how to mount them to the container (if you cut 90degree elbows with a hack saw, you can choose any mounting angle you want), waiting for the plants to reach the screen, and all the other disavantages ive already mentioned...

Or, you can save yourself some time.

 

[ApolloGuru]

I'm not trying to argue.... I'm just trying to be as efficient and utilize all the area in a box as possible..

I will have a veg bow and a flower box. While plants are flowering in the flower box, the next run will be trained vegged in the veg box so by the time the plants that are flowering are done, the ones in the veg box are ready to go into flower... No time lost.

Its not hard to mount the screen to the container... Each screen frame will be a cube of PVC of however size it needs to be. The bottom of the cube will have a 1/4" of plywood attached to it and the pot will sit on that. There will be 4 little blocks attached to the plywood around the pot so it won't move...

I like projects and this is a fun one for me...

oh and the pots will be 4 gal pots... and I have diced to build the box 6' tall instead of 5'...

Peace...