My First Build - thoughts?

[draxlin]

Hello ALL!

I have been lurking for awhile and figured I would finally introduce myself. Over the past weeks I’ve been scouring the net and various forums to absorb as much info as possible. Like many people, I’m tired of paying $$$ for good quality smoke. Around here I pay $300 a zip, which last me anywhere between 3-4 weeks. So I decided to undertake my first grow-box build!

This is my first grow-box ever. I hope that with the research I have done this will work for my needs. I’m posting here in hopes of getting feedback, tips or anything else useful. I’m not providing a “material list” for this build; because I have been to the hardware store more times than I care to count! However, I will try to answer any questions anyone has.

At this point the build is 90% complete, but I haven’t taken any pictures of it yet. I have been actively updating my design though and it is fairly accurate to the component itself. I will provide a few screenshots of the design plans to give you a better idea of the build itself. Obviously I will add a few pictures of the grow-box itself, but that will likely be a couple days.

(again build is 90% complete and I will upload actual pictures in a few days)



Lighting: I’ve decided to go with both CFL and T5 light sources throughout.

Clone Chamber Dimensions & Lighting (7000 lumens):
• 13”(width) x 23”(depth) x 20”(tall)

• 1 x 125watt - Hydrofarm
• (bulbs: 125 watt, veg bulb)

Mother Chamber Dimensions & Lighting (10000 lumens): (planning to bonsai mothers)
• 13”(width) x 23”(depth) x 19”(tall)

• T5 Grow Light (2ft 4Lamps)
• (bulbs: 4 @ 6500k)

Flower Chamber & Lighting (32000 lumens):
• 29”(width) x 23”(depth) x 43”(tall)

• 1 x - HydroFarm Hood
• 200 watt bulb
• 2 x T5 HO Grow Light (2FT 8Lamps)
• (bulbs: 12 @ 3000K, 4 @ 6500k)

Ventilation / Scrubber:
I am working off an idea from another user Bulénath here, using a Panasonic FV-11VQ5 WhisperCeiling 110 CFM .

Also, I started putting the lighting in the flowering chamber last night. I'm hoping to get all the lighting and ventilation in place this weekend. Once I get those items in place I will add some actual pictures of the build.​

 

[Granger2]

Draxlin,
Looks like your research has paid off. BTW, get used to being a regular at the hardware store. It never ends.

A couple of things that I would change: 1-for cloning you've got WAY more light than needed. Cuttings root better in low light. Use 1 fluorescent tube. I bought a 4 tube 2' T-5 fixture, that I now run only 1 tube in for rooting, and I put a layer of white paper towel on top of the dome. This is over a std. 11x22 nursery tray w/ tall dome in a 2x2 nursery.

2- You can buy a 4" centrifugal fan for about what you'd pay for the fan you've shown. Much more are flow. The fan you listed will not not move air well with static pressure. A centrifugal will. If it proves to be too much, you can speed control it down. With ventilation always use more than you think is needed. If sound is a big issue, then never mind.

These are lessons I learned the hard way. Good luck. -granger

 

[gloryoskie]

I like it. You may want to shorten the height of
the clone area to allow more height for mums.

Looking forward to the pics of your cab full of
healthy cannabis.

Great first post!

 

[draxlin]

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything these past few days. I had been basically double posting my build to another 420forum. In trying to get as much input as possible. It seems that these forums are more active, so I will be posting here from now on.

A few updates... Since my post...

Now to try and clarify my thoughts a bit. The "Cloning Chamber" should probably be called a cloning/veg chamber. Since my setup isn't big enough to flower multiple plants per grow. It will be used first for cloning and then for the first couple weeks of veg. My plan is to take cuttings from my mother plants, clone them with a homemade bubble cloner, transplant to soil and veg for a couple weeks. This will be done so I can reduce the amount of down time between grows. I was originally thinking that I would SCROG two plants at once in my flower chamber, but I've since decided to only grow one.

I've been struggling with my choices on lighting this week, mostly because I underestimated the hanging depth of the equipment. With the lights installed they really seemed to be cramping the available "growth height" of the flowering chamber.

As I mentioned I'm planning this cabinet as a SCROG setup, but even so the current lights took over 1/2 the flowering chamber. So the new plan is to use the 8 bulb T5'S in both the clone & mother chambers. Giving an available 192 watts to each chamber. The T5 fixtures allow me to turn on either 4 or 8 bulbs at once. I believe I will only be wanting to run 2 bulbs during the clone stage and then go to all 8 once they get transferred to soil. I will make 4 clones each time and use the best for the main grow.

So that means I'm doing away with my Hydrofarm fixtures. I was leaning towards the LED route when I first thought of this build and decided to bite the bullet anyway and placed my order for a 200watt COB Led Panel. Hopefully have it in a week or so.

 

[draxlin]

A few pics, snapped tonight