need some help planning out my cabinet

[Joey Roastbeef]

I have an old Mill's Pride cabinet that i want to put to use. at the moment i would like to use the sea of green method using soil. i have a 400w hps and a 250w MH. I don't think i will use the 250w MH due to alot of heat coming from but bulbs. so i'm thinking of using CFL for the vegging. There are 3 main concerns that i have that i hope the more experience here could help me out with. I should point out the size of the interior space of the cab:5'4" tall x 23" deep x 28.5" wide my plan is to have the flowering chamber 3' high, and the veg 2'4"

1. i cannot have anything hanging out of the cab. like light boxes, carbon scrubbers, etc. but it has to obiviously be light proof, and noise kept to a min.

2. i want to seperate it into 2 chambers ( veg & flower ). i know usually there is a third, with all the electronic ( timer, ballast etc..) i'm not sure if i should put the flower chamber on top since most of the heat will come from here. and since ballast and exhaust fan woul be in the upper portion on a shelf. i figure it might be best to put the flower chamber up top. the exhaust will be in the upper corner blowing the heat out from the bulb, and ballast. but if all the electronics timer, ballast, and exhaust fan are there they will take up prime head space for the flowering plants. plus i would lose some floor space do to using a hole in floor of the flower chamber to pull air from the veg chamber below to be exhausted by the exhaust.
now let switch it - flower chamber on the bottom and veg chamber on top with all the electronics stored on a self in the upper portion of the cabinet. along with the exhaust fan. as i wouldn't need all of the head room for clones and vegging plants. i would think that any holes in the floor to draw air from the chamber below to be exhausted would not interfer with need floor space. not this is were my 3rd concern comes in.

3. what would be the ideal number and size holes to be able to draw enough air to keep the lower flower chamber cool while running a 400w hps? I was planning on buying a panasonic whisper fan for the exhaust.

Please post suggestions, experiences, thoughts, and post pics if you have a similar set-up.

Thank you for your reply in advance.

 

[Woall]

hey what kind of whisper fan are you gonna use? I'm gonna be using the lowest level whisper ceiling fan for my micro cab. I think it will exhaust through a 4 inch hole so I'm thinking two equal sized holes on the bottom will be good for intake.

 

[Joey Roastbeef]

~ Woall ~ Thanks for the repley. I'm looking at the 110cfm model.
i was reading about the two equal size holes for the intake on one of the intake threads. i found it as a link in someone's sig and wished i remembered to save it.
but my question was what size holes would i need in the divider? which is the ceiling of the flower chamber and the floor of the veg chamber. since i will be drawing the air from the flower chamber below into the veg and out the upper portion of the veg chamber. would the same 2 hole allow enough to be vented and keep the 400w cooled?
I tried to make a drawing in ms paint and it came out horrible. I'll have to try again.

 

[Jnugg]

I have an old Mill's Pride cabinet that i want to put to use. at the moment i would like to use the sea of green method using soil. i have a 400w hps and a 250w MH. I don't think i will use the 250w MH due to alot of heat coming from but bulbs. so i'm thinking of using CFL for the vegging. There are 3 main concerns that i have that i hope the more experience here could help me out with. I should point out the size of the interior space of the cab:5'4" tall x 23" deep x 28.5" wide my plan is to have the flowering chamber 3' high, and the veg 2'4"

1. i cannot have anything hanging out of the cab. like light boxes, carbon scrubbers, etc. but it has to obiviously be light proof, and noise kept to a min.

2. i want to seperate it into 2 chambers ( veg & flower ). i know usually there is a third, with all the electronic ( timer, ballast etc..) i'm not sure if i should put the flower chamber on top since most of the heat will come from here. and since ballast and exhaust fan woul be in the upper portion on a shelf. i figure it might be best to put the flower chamber up top. the exhaust will be in the upper corner blowing the heat out from the bulb, and ballast. but if all the electronics timer, ballast, and exhaust fan are there they will take up prime head space for the flowering plants. plus i would lose some floor space do to using a hole in floor of the flower chamber to pull air from the veg chamber below to be exhausted by the exhaust.
now let switch it - flower chamber on the bottom and veg chamber on top with all the electronics stored on a self in the upper portion of the cabinet. along with the exhaust fan. as i wouldn't need all of the head room for clones and vegging plants. i would think that any holes in the floor to draw air from the chamber below to be exhausted would not interfer with need floor space. not this is were my 3rd concern comes in.

3. what would be the ideal number and size holes to be able to draw enough air to keep the lower flower chamber cool while running a 400w hps? I was planning on buying a panasonic whisper fan for the exhaust.

Please post suggestions, experiences, thoughts, and post pics if you have a similar set-up.

Thank you for your reply in advance.

From what I understand you have the Mills Pride C22 (originally a C13)....

This should be just over 6' tall as I am 6' tall and I have an original MP C13 (2' x 2.5') and I could get inside it and stand straight up with the doors shut.

I would use some good CFL's or three to four 2' dual bulb fluorescents or 2 65w CFLs or better yet a nice 2' 8 bulb T5 setup (the T5 will give you best results IMO).You'll want to use 23w or more CFL bulbs that have atleat 1600 or more initial lumens.

Veggetative cannabis wants anwhere from 2500-5000 lumens per square foot.You can get away with 10-14 bulbs.I would probably go the route of standard T12 or T8 Fluoro tubes or T5's for the best results.


I would make the veg/mom/clone area as short as possible.Try and keep only 1-3 moms at a time and make sure to bonsai them.This will leave you with enough room for a tray of clones and a tray of clones vegging for 1-2 weeks.

I would make this half of the cab about 2' tall and keep it at the bottom and exhuast using some small computer/axial fans.You'll also want to get an extra board of mdf and make a light trap door on the inside of the cab so that when your flowering plants are in their dark cycle you can still open the cab and work on your mom's and clones.I would put this light trap door in front of the flowering chamber (MAKE SURE IT IS LIGHTPROOF).

As for the flowering section,that should measure around 4-4.5' tall.

As a general rule of thumb allow 12 inches for the containers the plants will be in and 12" for the reflector and 6"-12" for the space between the lamp and the plant canopy/tops.This woould leave you with 1-1.5 feet of grow actual plant height.But wait,we need to use an exhuast fan to cool the light and replenish the flowering section with cool frsh air.I would recomend a 4" 172cfm inline centrifugal to a 6" 449cfm inline centrifugal (vortex,can fan,eco plus,elicent,hurricane etc.).

If you use a cool tube over a standard A/C hood you'll gain a little space back (say maybe 1.5-2' for plant height).

Get an appropriate sized circular saw (4 1/4" for 4" fan/ducting and 6 1/4" for 6" fan/ducting) to cut a hole near the top at the back of the cab or at the top of the cab (top of cab is my fav).If placing the hole at the top of the cab one of the back corners is best bet,same with if near the top on the back wall.Use 1-2 8' x 8" darkroom louvers for passive intake(s).

I see you are concerned about having anything outside the cab...don't worry.You can easily place the fan and ducting in the hole you cut,then build a small box out of 3/4" thick MDF and cut the appropriate size hole at the top for so the fan can exhuast....this not only puts the fan out of view but also silences the actual noise from the fan,to quiet the sound of the air wooshing in the ducting you will want to use some insulated ducting or some insulated ducting that is bigger in diameter than the fan ie;4" fan gets 6" insulated duct,6" fan gets 8" insulated duct.

When all done you can still place a carboard box ontop of the cab and fan box (make sure one side of the box,the one that faces the back of the cab,is cut off to allow for airflow) and add a carbon scrubber and nothing will be visible,it will just look like you put some boxes up top for storage.

To me in a C13 or C22 for a dual stage setup I'd think you'd be better off with a 250w HPS but if your ambient temps are low enough (65-70F) or you have enough exhuast fan power to keep the grow temps at 70-78F you can do a 400w.


I was actually thinking of doing this with my C13 but I don't think I could handle the heat unless I went cooltube or beef up my exhuast system.

With a 400w HPS you should harvest atleast 224g to make a 0.5g per watt ratio.Anything less and you need to fine tune you grow space or re plan or get some better genetics.

I would use 6" square pots for the freshly rooted/vegged clones and send them directly into flower at 4-6" tall.You should be able to fit atleast 16-20 square 6" plastic pots or you can use some plastic 2l soda bottles.

With that setup I would look at a return between 4oz. - 10oz. every 60 days or 2oz. - 5oz. every 30 days depending on how many plants you do and a guestimate of 7-14g per plant or 1-2oz. every square foot every 2 weeks.


Start with your seeds and grow them out.Take 2-4 cuttings and root them making sure to label each cutting to it's parent/donor plant ie;we have five plants total and we want to take clones from each plant so we start with plant A and it gets labeled as Plant A,therefore the clones from Plant A would be labled 1a,2a,3a,and 4a...Plant B's cuttings would be labeled 1b,2b,3b,and 4b and so on.

Now,in that small a space you may not be able to start from seed,take clones and let the parent plants flower out so what you will need to do is take some extra cuttings from each parent/donor plant (properly labeled).Take the rooted clones (1A,2A,3A,4A....1B,2B,3B,4B etc. etc.) and flower them out.....any males should be culled along with any week females (be sure you discard any extra cuttings you took for future moms from the culled males and weak females so your left with only strong plants.When all clones have finished flowering,properly dry and cure them.Smoke some and find the plants with the best/only traits you desire....these plants will be your mom(s).

Bonsai the moms and take new cuttings as needed.

What I would do is add 4-8 clones (in 6" sq pots or soda bottles) every 2 weeks (if using an 8 week strain) therefore you harvest something every 2 weeks.


GL with the grow!

 

[Joey Roastbeef]

Jnugg ~ Thanks for that well thought out reply at 4:20 none the less. funny thing is your the one who has the link for the ventilation i read last night, that i was talking about in my other post. lol
i was really hoping to use one exhaust fan to vent both chambers. but i am considering your suggestions. i guess it would be easier to maintian temps by each chamber having it's own intake and exhaust.
i need to free up some time and get some more work on this cab.

please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks

 

[Raisy Daisy]

I can't find these mills cabs with prices anywhere.. anyone got a link?

 

[Joey Roastbeef]

I can't find these mills cabs with prices anywhere.. anyone got a link?

they are no longer made from what i understand. home de pot does carry another brand, but i'm not sure the sizes are the same.
i bought this one about 8-9 years ago, and the project never happen, life did. so i'm dusting her off