Closet grow box--CFL--Lowryder #2

Thanks again medi!

I'll have 4 intake holes (bottom sides of box)then 2 exhaust holes (top back side of box). The intake holes will have aluminum screening (will this be enough to keep smell from going out intake holes (if possible)). I may only use 2 computer fans and have 1 fan blowing inside ( 2 if needed). Both computer fans would be on the exhaust holes. At 110 CFM I'm hoping they'll be strong enough to get through the carbon filters without a problem. One exhaust fan will have ducting that wraps around the reflector and just sits sucking air around the bulb. The other exhaust will just have the fan sucking from the top.

I plan on doing this tonight so what do you think?!

My general recommendation would be to get an inline fan as these have a lot of power. You have some hi flow computer fans, but I dont know if they will work exactly.

If you are using a cool tube, try and get the fan blowing air through it, and venting out the top of your grow space. I'm concerned if it is sucking hot air this will eventually cause problems. If you can try it each way and measure temps for half an hour or so, if the exit air feels hot it wont be doing the fan any good.

If you have an open reflector the the venting will help reduce hot air around the bulb area.

As far as odour is concerned, you will need the fans on continuously to draw air through the grow area, or odour will start to come out the open lower vents. If you could use covers on the lower vents at night this may help, or some odour control spray.

You will have to experiment with this system, and find out what works for you with heat and odour, it's hard to guess how it will turn out, but keep an eye on temps inside and at the vents.

I've hrad you can use a respirator mask filter with computer fans, but you would need one for each exit fan.

Something as simple as a loose weave kitchen cloth over the lower vents will reduce odour, but not stop it, it will also reduce air flow.

Experiment and see what you get, odour shouldn't be too much of an issue until flowering starts.

Good shit Medi. Solid recommendation.

This sucks.....
I just noticed something messing around with the box and light. The reflector is way too big. I have snips but it will take me a while... any techniques out there I'm not aware of?

It seems I will have to take about 3 inches off each side. Not only that. but its too long to fit either way. So I'll have to shorten it by about 2 inches. Going to be a bitch.

Another alternative is not using the reflector but it's such a good one.

The reflector seems to have a thin layer of green or blue plastic on it. Should that be peeled off?

The green plastic is for protection from scratches, you can safely remove it.

Try bending the reflector around so that it will fit inside the grow space, you may still need to remove some length, watch out for sharp edges.

You can start your grow with the CFLs until you get your lighting sorted out, HPS makes a big difference in flowering, but a few days of CFLs at the start isn't a problem, and will cause fewer heat issues on the young plants.

Thanks again Medi. You da bomb.


I've decided to not use the reflector and use the emergecny blanket everywhere and dangle the bulb in the middle. I still have no cooling ideas other than 2 computer fans and a desk fan.

Ahhh Friday. What a wonderful day.

Thought I'd throw a couple pics of my box up. I put what was left of the emergency blanket on the door and put a pulley in to hold the HPS.

I put the 250 watt HPS in and turned it on for an hour with the door shut. The room temp was 72 F with a relative humidity of 49. In the box after an hour, it said 88 F with a relative humidity of 30. Keep in mind there are no computer fans for exhaust installed yet. I hope that will bring temps down. Also, once plants and water are present, I'm hoping the relative humidity will go up....

I need a way to attach CFLs to the side of the box for vegging to get the sides of the plants during flowering. Being able to move them would be a plus. I was thinking of attaching power strips to the beams on the sides of the box and having them come off there. Any ideas?

As you can see I need another emergency blanket to finish the top and bottom. Also, the last picture is of an intake I made on the bottom side with aluminum screening over it. There is another one just like it on the opposite side.

Computer fans are in the mail.

Looking good. I'm sure the fans will help. You may need something a little bigger, but thats what the testing stage is all about.

Also not sure if you have considered it, but you may want to build a cheapo reflector to aim all that lost light (the bright orange/yellow area hitting directly at the sides of the box next to the bulb) down towards the growing area where the plants will be.

Wouldn't be hard to make a reflector for that. You can use a semi rectangular piece of sheet metal and you'd cut a line up to the center, which you also cut out a little larger to make room for the socket than you just start sliding on end under the other to make a cone, than screw it together.

Thanks GG! That's a wonderful idea.

I'm not sure if I understand the setup you were talking about making...but I only read it 3x.

Thanks again!

Looking good, at a push you could use a large aluminum foil pie dish as a reflector.

Damn thats nice bro. I have a setup i just threw some seeds that germinated in. The box is only 4 feet tall at most so its not as tall as yours. But i was thinking about remaking a box to look like yours (maybe a little wider, like an armoire cabinet [sp?]). My big question is I will be using CFL Floodlights, i have plenty of them, but will the light be able to reach around the leaves of the plant once it gets taller? Or is that what the reflective stuff is for. And how well does that work?

In the space you have a cooltube and ducting wont fit the width you have is too small, for good results I'd personally reccomend a 150 watt envirolite cfl, 1x BLUE for veggin and 1X RED for flowering, you need a 4" intake cpu fan at the bottom, and a 4" outtake cpu at the top, you can run these on a transformer plug and choose the speed by the ajustable volt switch on the plug at 1st you only need 3 volts and as your 'girls' grow you can in crease the speed for more airflow, also if you wire the to fans together the push/pull will be equal also noise will be minimal, and if you need to cool the room on the intake glue gun a plastic cake bowl over the intake cpu fan cut a hole...or as i did use a lighter and melt a hole in the bottom side of the bowl, and attach a hose to the bowl, use a sealent to make sure the hose is airtight to the bowl then run the hose either to a window/vent or as i did block up my chimney with a board make a hose sized hole in the chimney board and use more sealent to fix it in place, this will create a cool fresh air intake .....all good, it will also help you control the heat of the room it should hover between 22 and 26 degrees C, soil could work well for you but a DIY DWC Hyroponic will make you so much happier with a huge yield increase again easy to do, use a 5litre plastic food storage container get a net pot draw round the net pot (top circumference) and cut a hole 2mm in from the circle you drew use a scalpel and take your time, the plastic cracks quite easilly, when done the pot should sit flush with the lid, now drill 2 pencil sized holes in the front of the lid for air pressure release and 1 in the back for an airline tube with a small fishtank diffuser attached run the airline to the top of the unit and place the pump with a non return valve in place (all availble from fish supply shops) then paint the hole food container black if you put a strip of celatape down the front once the paints dried you can peel away the celotape and you ll have a water level exposed, the reason for painting the container black is because the roots should receive minimal to no light to recreate earth, now part fill the net pot with hydroponic clay balls the balls hold air and once the pot is part submerged in water youll hear the balls crackling ... the air releaseing, then put a cube of rockwool in with the seed of choice in the hole, then add more hydroponic clay balls sothe balls are level with the rockwool, to begin with water should be an inch n a half away from the lid of the container, and no nuitrients needed, keep the pump and fans running but no light until the babies show the 1st 2 leaves, as they begin to grow use canna nuits, canna has a web site and you can get a grow guide on there to plants need an 18/6 light cycle in veg and 12/12 in flower good luck hope this helps ps your yield WILL BE BIG this setup works well