First Time - Hydro Cab

Hey guys,

I've been researching and stockpiling information for a few weeks now (thank you very much RIU) in preparation for SWIM's first attempt at a closet cab hydroponic endeavor. There are still have a few loose ends that need to be figured out though.

I really know nothing about circuitry, so there's this question. The closet has one outlet, is it safe for it to handle a 600w lamp, an air pump, an air purifier, and a decent sized fan, maybe two, and a PC power source?

First of all, here are some hopefully good enough illustrations to give you a better idea of what's in my head thus far.




(The air pump actually has 4 outlets, so each will be T'd off for 8 airstones, not 6)


Concerning temperature control, is it possible to get by just by directing a fan or two up through the light in hopes to help the hot air escape through the main carbon air filter exhaust? The cab's dimensions will be 80" x 24" x 50" for the record (opinions on this?) with one front door that spans the whole thing. I think SWIM will actually have two of those carbon air filters exhausting, using this DIY method with salvaged 4" computer fans and PC power source. I realize the prospect of a cooltube, which I know you can DIY pretty easily, but the box won't be able to exhaust outside of the closet, so it seems to me something like an air conditioning unit would be needed to pull cool air from to run by the lamp for the cooltube to work. But that's another plug into the same outlet, and doesn't an AC unit draw a lot of power?

Also, passive air intakes. How do? Should a vent just be created in the bottom or lower back of the cab? Or a few drilled holes? Hard to find information on this and it's not intuitive to me unfortunately.


Thanks for reading RIU, you guys are the best.

i like how unlike most ppl u look like uve put an appropriate amout of thought into this u need some extention cords or something
because like u said that will be way too much and u want to go ahead and buy a few surge protectars no need to have a house fire

I have a good surge protected power strip, and it is probably reasonable to run an extension cord from another outlet or two from outside the closet. Thanks for the input!

i just dont want u losing ur home and ur pot i understand how nice it can be to go to sleep in ur bed with a few joints or to chill on a couch with friends either way safety first always

Personally for air intake Ive never had an issue with drilling a couple holes and taping a furnace filter over top of it lol but im low budget

most are low budget sadly even me goes to cry lolz
but ive never had any problem with a few cfls and some aluminum foil and a good ph water and a grow formula with micro nutrients

Are you planning to use an hid light? If so, how big a wattage?

An hid light will turn your cab into an oven unless you vent directly through the light through a closed ducting system... preferably venting outside, but if not at least out to another room. Blowing the exhaust out to just the closet interior won't help cool it much. An air conditioner alone to combat the heat of the light without any kind of ducting vent blowing on the light itself would strain a small ac pretty good.

Alternatively, you can use lower heat emitting lights like LED's or fluoros. But mind, hid's grow the best weed.

First of all, thank you guys so much for the responses, I really appreciate your time and effort.

First of all SWIM is a college student living in an apartment, no structural changes or alterations can be made without SWIM getting boned.

Well SWIM wants to use a 600w HID of course, but I don't see how to get past the heat issue. I've done so many hours of research, and it pretty much comes down to the fact that the technology sucks, suppressed because of the purposes it's made for. If only Chameleon lighting systems had been around forever by now. I think it's near impossible for one to find the best available balance of available lumens, appropriate spectrum, heat output, noise output, energy efficiency, longevity, initial price, and the additional price of everything that goes along with the light you choose. I've seen videos on how to make use of industrial MH fixtures that are all over craigslist for only 30 bucks. Like should SWIM do that or get those humongous CFLs from Menards or should SWIM get an LED or blow 300+ on a Lumatek and Hortilux bulbs? It's really frustrating doing so much research and coming up empty-handed. I think it's just impossible to maintain a STEALTH cab with an HID unless there's access to another room or outside that you can exhaust to directly behind your cab or somewhere potentially inconspicuously close.

So, fuck. SWIM wants to grow with a 600w Lumatek Digital and Hortilux MH and HPS bulbs, but too bad the assholes from EYE have forced all vendors of their lamps to use an outrageous, fake, minimum price for their lamps. A lot of vendors have discontinued EYE lamps because of this, which is cool. But then what's the next best lamp? And then there's still the heat issue. There's just so much disinformation out there, and it's impossible to sift through to find the truth as an inexperienced first timer. This is not as intuitive a process as I had hoped.

Here's an even further extrapolated version of SWIM's layout, I'm asking for your help in figuring out a way to ventilate this cab. This venture is scheduled to begin in January, and the picture tells you the temperate climate in which SWIM lives. It will be mostly very cold for the duration of the project but the weather is also very erratic sometimes, with unusually hot days in early Spring. A super cold and harsh winter, a thaw, cold again, and then a very gradual thaw into summer, switching back and forth between hot and cold days, seems to be the usual order of things. So I'm thinking whenever SWIM can, SWIM can leave the closet door open as well as the window, and hope to circulate the hot air out of the closet and the cool air in. But this involves more risk of discovery, SWIM needs to figure out how to keep his door locked when he's gone. And there will most likely be times where this method will be too variable to maintain an at least somewhat constant temp., but it seems to be all there is.



[video=youtube;8_mD6_oFpc0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_mD6_oFpc0[/video]

Thank you all so much for reading! Peace brothers and sisters

SWIM is gonna DIY wherever he can, and I came up with this design for a reflector. Seems like the best design to me.



Straight shot for the hot air going straight up right away. I wonder why more systems aren't ventilated like this, I feel like the horizontal air flow with cool tubes makes everything take so much work instead of finding a way to vent the hot air up right away.