250 HPS Closet/TV Cabinet Grow Room. Tell me what you think...

hey guys.. this is my first post and my first grow... so ill take any advice i can get. I just built this grow space. my light is a 250 watt HPS with a ballast built it. The light is sitting on a wooden shelve, the one that my VCR used to sit on...except I cut out a hole for all the light to shine through. I also just found a glass pane of good thickness and slide it inbetween the wooden shelve and the light. the temp in the grow room is 75 and humidity is around 32%. my plants have been above soil for a week now maybe a couple days more. I also just put in a humidifer to up the humidity. the only air circulation is a medium sized fan that pushes air through the back of the tv closet.

Dimensions:
20 inches in height from bottom - to the bottom of the top shelve (light rest on top of it)
3 feet wide
16 inches deep

Questions:
Air circulation enough?
Glass inbetween light and shelve okay?
size of room okay?
lack of mylar or white walls?

anyways thanks for looking and any thoughts would be awesome

Looks like a clean setup, the light can be a lot closer to the plants though. Air circ should be alright as long as the fan stays on. Glass is good and helps deflect heat, you could look up how to relocate the internal ballast to reduce heat even more and allow the light to get closer to the plants for quicker bigger growth. That grow area is probably best for two plants in a Screen of Green type configuration since height will probably be a big concern, you can find it in the GrowFAQ link at the top, the light isn't suited to lots of plants or a wide area (covers a 2x2 foot area nicely). Reflectors are always a plus whether it's white walls or mylar (look for the mylar wrapping paper at the dollar store).

Barrel Of Green

5oz from 250watt hps............need i say more

is it a problem that the back of the cabinet is basically open because the tv used to poke out the back of the closet? Should I try and cover it up with a thin wood? I am worried if i do that the temp will rise too high

perlite in the soil perlite got a constant PH of about 7 perfect for cannabis. get your nutrents right. remember you need total darkness for flowering 12/12

You are in over your head. A 250w light in a TV cabinet? Get a REALLY good fan like this one...

Hydroempire, Organic Hydroponic Nutrients, Indoor Grow Lights and Supplies - Elicent 6" Fan - 309 CFM [AFE6-309] - $214.95

You are going to have to seal up the cabinet pretty tight to make sure it's ABSOLUTELY dark during the dark cycle for flowering. That means a ton of heat.

I have a 250w setup in a closet and I use that ^^^^^^^ fan and it cools pretty efficiently. I coupled it with one of these carbon filters...

Hydroempire, Organic Hydroponic Nutrients, Indoor Grow Lights and Supplies - Can 33 Charcoal Filter - 200 CFM [AACOCAN33] - $194.95

There is a 300CFM Carbon filter called the Can-66 that is a little larger than this Can-33.

Those two combined do a very good job of ventillation and odor removal. With the ballast built into the 250w HPS you will definitely need it.

Good luck, you should be able to yield pretty well off a 250, but make sure you have all the right tools to help you along the way. This is a long process, growing, flowering, harvesting, drying, curing, and finally smoking. The better your equipment the better your outcome (generally) so you have to realize you could easily double your yield for 4 months time by spending a few extra bones or going it a little different approach.

yo
laserbrn... do you think all that is needed? with the glass under the light my temp as stayed steady at 77 or so degrees.. maybe once i close up the back that will change

I think im goign to get a thick piece of card board or maybe a thin piece of wood and attach it to the back..

I moved down the light now so it is only a foot away from my tallest plant.

also the front doors of the cabinet are far from air tight or light tight.. will that be a problem? the plants can't receive any other light from other regular lamps?



ill post some more pics in a little while so you guys can see how my plants and grow room are coming.

also to thewidowman... i used miraclegro soil .. im not sure what the mixture of that is... my brother was telling me i should go to a gardening store and ask them for their best mixture... is the miracle gro good enough? i was thinking when i transplant them into bigger pots... which i think should be soon, no? ... that i could change the soil.

When you close up the back of the cabinet you'll see what I mean. 77 degrees right now with the back open and a fan that can probably change the air 5 times/min. without a problem. Close it up and your air doesn't move anymore. It get's pretty hot pretty fast and you don't want to go over 85 for prolonged periods. You might get away with less, but then you have the odor problem.

I'm guessing that you are attempting to be pretty stealth and the odor will be a dead giveaway about 4-5 weeks into flowering.

There are definitely cheaper solutions, but this setup works tits and I just think everyone should use it. I'm a stubborn SOB, but every other setup I've seen has ventilation and odor problems. I just simply don't.

good luck with that.... i guess the BOG is too advanced for you guys and your 250watts. but then again you prolly be happy with your 1/4oz a plant instead of 1.2oz. but hey, what do i know about getting the most effeciency out of a light? 30,000 lumens a couple inches away is still pretty close to 30,000 lumens, at a foot away you got, what? 15,000, 20 at best. you might as well grow with a couple cfl's.... because your not USING your HID effeciently. imo, happy growing

4 parts miracle grow 1 part perlite

Cover the back up with a thin peice of wood with 2 or 3 computer fans taking the air out and maybe another few to bring air in. and i think it should be ok wire the computer fans in parralell to an old cell phone charger or a DC adaptor that runs @ 12V with at least 500 mw.
i dont think u will have to many heat problems if u do that and they are nice and quiet too unlike some fans that might be oversized for ur setup, i gather u are trying to have the setup blend into your surroundings by putting it into a tv cabinet? why draw attention to it with high RPM high noise fans? computer fans are fine as long as u keep that glass between the lamp and the main enclousure. also u could make a light baffel of some sort to stop light getting in and also stop it drawing attention to the setup when the light is off in the room that the cabinet is in.

i grew 3 small plants in an old P.A storage box that used to have amps and audio mixers in it once, using a 150W metal halide and some CFL's. the setup was in a built in closet and i cut a small hole the size of the fan in the wall for the fan to exhaust the heat out of so that the closet didnt get hot inside and end up bringing in warm air in the intake fans in the end. i grew 3 crops in that setup in 10 months and my church going folk parents were none the wiser the whole time!

Cover the back up with a thin peice of wood with 2 or 3 computer fans taking the air out and maybe another few to bring air in. and i think it should be ok wire the computer fans in parralell to an old cell phone charger or a DC adaptor that runs @ 12V with at least 500 mw.
i dont think u will have to many heat problems if u do that and they are nice and quiet too unlike some fans that might be oversized for ur setup, i gather u are trying to have the setup blend into your surroundings by putting it into a tv cabinet? why draw attention to it with high RPM high noise fans? computer fans are fine as long as u keep that glass between the lamp and the main enclousure. also u could make a light baffel of some sort to stop light getting in and also stop it drawing attention to the setup when the light is off in the room that the cabinet is in.

i grew 3 small plants in an old P.A storage box that used to have amps and audio mixers in it once, using a 150W metal halide and some CFL's. the setup was in a built in closet and i cut a small hole the size of the fan in the wall for the fan to exhaust the heat out of so that the closet didnt get hot inside and end up bringing in warm air in the intake fans in the end. i grew 3 crops in that setup in 10 months and my church going folk parents were none the wiser the whole time!

the widowman said:

4 parts miracle grow 1 part perlite

Click to expand...

what!? one of those is a fertalizer and the other is a potting medium!!
so u think he should mix his perlite with mirical grow granuels for his potting medium ? thats a recipie for disaster dude i cant imagine how quickly that would burn the shit out of the roots system! within minutes id imagine actually and btw mirical grow is only good in low tempreture setups as it burns the crap out of the leaves unless u raise the height of your HID lamp to about 2 feet off the tops of the plants!. and no if dont matter if its within the right EC and PH ranges! it is not a hydroponic specific fertilizer aquasol is better suited to hydroponics if u have to use a cheap ass fertilizer also manutec fruit and citrus is better again if u are going to do it on the cheap.

Morbid: he means miracle grow potting soil not granuels or nutes or whatever you were thinking.... anyway im about to update you guys on my grow box

my friend and i did a lot of work to it over the last two days

1) add mylar balloon (all i could find)
2) drilled in a back into the tv with a fan hole exhausting everything
3) added a exhaust system that is a little broke ass but works well
4) bought the tools (perlite, pots etc) to transplant but I'm not sure if they are ready???
5) the leaves are a little droppy but im not worried but tell me what you think.
6) temp is steady at 79!
7) also... so everyone knows... this is not a stealth box at all... it can be as obvious and loud as i want basically.

ill post pics in the next post

Welcome Hazesj.

I noticed that you have what looks like 3 1/2 feet between the plants and your light.

I am thinking 18" would probably do them alot better.
You should get the plants as close as possible to the lights without burning the plants.

This will make the nodes much closer and in turn less strectching/

Good luck
Happy growing

here are some photos of my new grow room attached... check it out tell me whatcha thinkin

right now there is exactly a foot inbetween my plants and the light.. i had lowered it about six inches more before but the leaves were wilting

Coolness

Since you have them that close you can place books or something under each to level them out.

This will allow you to have more uniformity.

You should be thinking of transplanting here in the next few weeks.

I was thinking now to transplant.. the pots are only four inches and i can see roots when i look at the drain hole..