grow cabinet design

[vancleef256]

i need help fixing the light leaks i have no ideas how and what to do to make this better and not kill the seedling like in my 35 gallon rubbermaid

this is my first grow so i need any help i can get hers the pics of it soon

 

[vancleef256]

outside

inside

 

[green_grow]

i dont see an intake or exhaust, and the fan looks like it will be blocking light from reaching the plant below it.

for the light leaks, i would try screwing (or glueing) some small pieces of wood (maybe 1/2" x 1") behind the doors (along the sides, top, bottom, and up the middle), then, you can place some stick-on type of weatherstripping on them. it will take a bit of messing around.

 

[FRANKENBLUNT420]

you may want to reconfigure your lights, those seedlings are gonna be really stretchy, even with the fan on them.

those light leaks are serious man!!! only thing i can suggest is yo have to make something like whats on a door, to stop it in one direction. i cant think of the name right now, but its the framing that is on the inside of a door frame that stops it from just swinging back and forth.

you may need to cut some a piece of 1x1 and maybe glue it on, or if you can screw it on to make it more secure. sorry if everything i suggest is kinda DIY but thats just how i do things.

OR maybe you can get some Styrofoam and cut some one inch strips and glue it to the sides where the light is leaking. it honestly looks like those doors weren't even made for that cabinet. just think of anything thick and padded that you could put where the doors stop. like does it have those magnets that the doors connect to, to keep the doors closed?

if i think of anything else, i will let you know

 

[vancleef256]

i was thinking about puting wholes in the back the size of the fans to mount one blowing in and one blowing out with a scrubber

 

[vancleef256]

yah that could work

 

[FRANKENBLUNT420]

i was thinking about puting wholes in the back the size of the fans to mount one blowing in and one blowing out with a scrubber

nah man, you dont have to have two fans (in and out) with such a small space. teh one outtake fan should do. if the bottom of the cab is flat/on the ground then just drill some holes about 1/4" or 1/2" from where the bottom of the cab meets the back.

if youve got some space at the bottom, then go ahead, flip it over and drill some holes from the bottom so the air can come str8 from the bottom right up under the leaves which is where you want that fresh air to go anyway.

the air exchange on that space will be faster than you taking a breath ! maybe 3" computer fan with a carbon scrubber made out of a tupperware bowl and you should be ok.

i just think of a situation like yours with this mentality: the smaller the space the smaller the utilities necessary. oh yeah, i meant to ask, are you using this for veg, flower,clones,moms, seedlings, or what?

 

[vancleef256]

yah not to sound like a idiot i dont know much about the cycles if any one has a link so i know what to do when they do for veg, flower,clones,moms, seedlings

i just have some plant my friend started for me outside that are like 4 inchs high that im gonna grow


BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED HELP WITH THE LIGHT LEAKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i tried blocking it with wood it didnt work like i wanted it to i need some more ideas

 

[vancleef256]

help me !!!!

 

[swampy_nz]

If you cant fix the light leaks maybe you can get some panda film(white on one side ,black on the other)to cover the front while your lights are on?

If you are going to grow a plant in your box thoses lights aint gunna cut it.Your plant will strentch for the light,with wide spaced nodes,which you don't want.Putting a few more lights in or adding some flouro tubes will help.
As far as your light cycles go,it goes like this.

vegative:18/6 is a good ratio(18 hrs on,6 hrs off)
flowering :12/12 is needed(12 hrs on,12 hrs off)

Since your plant is already 4 inches high,and you don't have much height to play with,i would switch straight to 12/12.don't let any light in during the night cycle tho,it will stop your plants from flowering.

 

[icough2getoff]

There have been a few good suggestions so far. If you've tried the suggestion of putting pieces of wood attached along the inside, it's not going to work unless you use some kind of weather stripping. I put the stripping on a piece of wood and another strip on the door running next to each other, so it's double weather stripping. Even that requires some kind of force to hold your doors shut against the weather stripping. A large enough exhaust fan will do this by creating negative pressure. I use electromagnetic locks but that's more expensive and a slight pain in the ass.

I think the suggestion of using panda film may be a good option. I've heard of people using panda film and strips of velcro. Some use zippers, but I'm not sure how lightproof the zippers are. Whatever you pick it will still probably take lots of tinkering with, but with enough tinkering you'll get it right.

Heres my clone/mother dresser which has a different door but you can see what I mean by double weather stripping in the last pic

 

[MrInterested]

put a wooden frame around the inside of the cabinet, make it very close from the door, paint the outer side black, should stop the leaks. (edit: ok, you tried that...

if you still have leaks:
Get some velcro strips and glue one side to the wooden frame, then get some thick black plastic, as well as white and cut it to size. Glue the plastic sheets together so that it's white on one side, black on the other (or spraypaint one side of a plastic sheet). Now glue the other side of the velcro to the plastic you can completely seal off the grow cabinet, totally light-proof .

I'm going to use this method on my cab, going to have both vegetative and flowering parts in a single wardrobe, but I'll isolate the flowering space with velcro and plastic so I can easily open the doors and work on the veg. cab without affecting flowering.

 

[brookie]

Put some small trim (shoe molding about 25cents a foot at the depot) about 1 inch inset from the door all the way around the inside of the cab. You can screw or nail it. Now caulk the edge on the inside of the trim. Now cut a peice of 1/8 inch thick backing the size of the opening behind the doors. The fan sucking air out the cabinet will suck this up tight against the trim and you have no light leaks my friend.