how would you build it.

[southernlight]

i am about to build a grow box. i have looked at a lot of different designs but im not sure what i want to do.
my plans are to flower 25 plants (sea of green) at a time with 2-4 mothers in a veg cab along with clones for the next round of flowering. i was thinking about a 3' deep x 4' tall x 6' long cabinet with 3 compartments. this will be built in my garage to resemble the existing cabinets.

in the first compartment 1.5'w x 3'd x 4't i would have my ballast, ac unit, and electrical.
in the 2nd comp. 3.5'w x3'd x4't would be my flower room containing 400w hps, 25-30 plants, ex. fan w/ filter.
3rd comp. would be 2 levels both 1.5'w x 3'd x 2't containing mothers on one level and clones on the other.
ventilation would run from the mother/clone cab into the flower cab with cool tube and filter and out through electrical cab.
all compartments will have fresh air coming through the floor and ac unit will have exhaust system to keep it from cycling warm air into flower cab.
any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[AKDrifter]

That sounds very cool. I tell you what my cab set up was and maybe it will help some.

I set up one large flowering cab, the flowering chamber was 42wx32dx48 inside dimensions. The cab height was 56" outside. I mounted a Super sun II reflector and had a galaxy ballast running a 400w MH/HPS. The ballast was outside the cab, and the hood was vented from the hood to a 6" Vortex fan mounted on a can 33 filter about 6' away from the cab.

On the floor of the cab I centered a 20" central air filter, traced it and drilled a bunch of 2" holes with a hole saw for my fresh air intake. Installed a screen on the outside of the bottom and hot glued the air filter in place on the inside/floor of the cab, then made a drop in floor panel which sat on 1 1/2" spacer blocks above the air filter, which also acted like a light baffle, no leaks there. the box was resting on four 1 1/2" blocks to elevate it and allow air intake.

Inside the box was myar lined, floor flat white. 4 adjustable shelf supports were installed which allowed me to move the plant shelf down (3/4" plywood 2" smaller than inside dimensions for air flow) as the plants grew. The bottom of the reflector was right at 47 1/2" from the floor of the cab with 2" all the way around it for safety, and hung from above on a piece of pipe. I made a shelf 8 or so inches down from the top which I made the cut out for the light through so I could mount the light through the shelf, this seperated the top of the reflector and duct from the flower chamber, very clean inside.

The top of the box sat on a bead of foam tape to seal it and was hinged in the rear with a piano hinge so I could access the light/duct, and wires.

It worked awesome!! I had that thing bulging at the seams with bud. It was perfect for six topped plants flowered at about 10-12", but I always grew 8, no self controll. 2 gal perfect pots, FFOF soil and ff nutes. I kept the fan sucking at all times to keep the humidity just right and a small fan blowing inside to keep the leaves moving and provide good circulation of air in the cab.

I also had a mini virsion for seedlings/clones. which was just large enough for a 24" 4 bulb T5 fixture, same thing though. The adjustable shelf is the best way to go, that way you never fuck with you're light and you can move the plants down as they grow.

Maybe some of these ideas will help you.

good luck

 

[southernlight]

good thinking on the adjustable shelf.
did you run any type of ac unit?

 

[AKDrifter]

No AC for mine. I had that one in my garage and had to wait until fall winter to use it, summer temps were much too high. The temp was very managable with the vortex fan, but I had to wait until the outside air temps were in the 70s.

For a cab you will probably need to controll the temp in the room she sits in. You will need to keep the air flowing through the cab to regulate the humidity. I ran the cab with the fan and light on the same timer for a little bit and the moisture from the soil along with no air flow made the humidity inside the cab a no go, very wet in there. Once I set the fan up to run all the time that problem was solved.

 

[qbert]

AKDrifter, what did you use for adjustable shelf supports?

I'm actually building a 400w hps, 42"x32"x66" cab (plus another foot or so width for utils & drying) right now, and trying to decide between a movable shelf or movable light.


Also, southernlight, have you decided what size containers you'll be flowering in?

 

[AKDrifter]

qbert,

For the adjustable shelf I went to Home depot and got four of the 48" tracks and four of the 12" shelf supports, I ground off the little bump at the end of the shelf supports so the large shelf would lay flat.
The bump is only to hold a 12" board from sliding so it does not need to be there.

I put the two supports on the back wall about 14" from each corner then two in the front corners aimed towards the center of the cab to support the large shelf. I liked the idea of moving the shelf much better than messing with the light, and duct work.

The cab I took many ideas from was a guy on planet ganja Budbuddah, he had a few kick ass cabs. One 24x24x48 which he pulled great buds from, and a larger one along with mother cabs. I really wish I could find his builds again.

Mine worked great!!

 

[southernlight]

qbert- i think the pots i will be using are 1 gal. pots. i could be wrong, but if you have a suggestion i am open to it. my last grows my pots were too big for the plants i had going and this will be the first time that i am going to try the sog method.