Foot locker grow box...thoughts and advice

Hi all, new to the forum and to growing so please be gentle with your comments I have recently gotten my green card and am going to attempt to grow my own. It still has to be stealth due to my living situation so here is what I came up with.
I am using a standard foot locker, inner measurements are 27in L x 12 in W x 15 in H. It will be standing on it end as seen in the photos. I have painted it flat white on the inside. I have a small hole drilled in the top for my temp/humidity gauge cord, which I will seal with spray foam when the time comes. Kind of hard to see in the pic but near the bottom right corner before the lid. Here is the inside also.

Sorry don't know how to get the pic turned correctly on here, but its standing up on it's end.
Here is my lighting for the moment. My thinking is to make a hole in the top that the cord will fit through so it can be raised or lowered as needed. That hole will be sealed also.

Sorry for the blur, not the best photographer in the world for sure!
Now, here is where the questions start coming in.
I have some old computer fans that I can use for ventilation. Where in the box should I put them? I was thinking on the back of the box. Also I have seen the carbon filters in here and wonder if a small one would work, as I will only be doing one plant at a time and plan to use a short variety.

That's it so far. Please tell me what you think and advise me.
Happy growing!
Wolfie46

Hey,
I would recommend exhausting at the top and having your intake kitty-corner, but at the bottom (hot air rises). I would also suggest a small fan inside stirring up the air to eliminate any pockets of stagnate air. As far as a carbon scrubber goes, get creative- all a carbon scrubber does is passes contaminated (smelly air) air through ( not around) activated carbon- which can be bought, or extracted from numerous sources. Hope this helps a little. Also, do your homework- this site is filled with info. I would check-out the "newbie" section and the "CFL" section.
BTW, most who are inclined to help are discouraged by the lack of ones effort to do their own research- with that being said, there are tons of good ideas and growers here. Welcome.

Ok so if I put the exhaust fan at the top back of the box and the intake at the bottom side, is that what you mean? I've read so much stuff I'm beyond confused LOL. I'm trying to figure out a better lighting system on the cheap. I want to try and stick with the CFL's since my power bill is already through the roof. I forgot to add that this is being done in a basement with concrete block walls and floor (with carpet on it). I'm looking at the temp in the box right now and it's 67 F with 31% humidity. I'm hoping the lights will warm it up somewhat. I'm not good at wiring so don't know if I could install light fixtures. I don't want to start a fire!
If I understand you correctly, if I made a carbon filter to put over the exhaust fan, I should be ok right?

If your bulb is a 2700K (red) it's fine for flowering, but you'll be needing to find some 6500K (blue) for veg to put in there.
Looks like a cool project...subbed

wolfie46 said:

Ok so if I put the exhaust fan at the top back of the box and the intake at the bottom side, is that what you mean? I've read so much stuff I'm beyond confused LOL. I'm trying to figure out a better lighting system on the cheap. I want to try and stick with the CFL's since my power bill is already through the roof. I forgot to add that this is being done in a basement with concrete block walls and floor (with carpet on it). I'm looking at the temp in the box right now and it's 67 F with 31% humidity. I'm hoping the lights will warm it up somewhat. I'm not good at wiring so don't know if I could install light fixtures. I don't want to start a fire!
If I understand you correctly, if I made a carbon filter to put over the exhaust fan, I should be ok right?

Click to expand...

- Fan placement sounds good
- Ideal temps are around 75, but you should be okay.
- Ideal humidity should be around 45 (55 in veg)
- Carbon scrubber sounds well placed
- The light receptacle should come with instructions and shouldn't be to difficult , however if you are uncomfortable seek help
- also, try to filter your intake - maybe with a green Brillo pad, or a small AC filter.
- Ideally, you want the exhaust fan to be stronger than the intake to ensure all the internal air goes through your carbon scrubber.
You might even be able to get by without an intake fan and just the exhaust.

Ok, in keeping with doing research before I ask silly questions, I looked through all the pages of the vocabulary/slang and could not find subbed. What does that mean? LOL And thanks for the advice on the bulb. I'm doing a little experiment right now to see how warm the box gets ( granted its not totally closed right now, don't want to cut holes before I need them) to see how warm it gets with the one bulb that I have at the moment.

"Subbed" Means that I've subscribed to this thread, so I can keep up to date through the stoney haze of RollItUp...
Like I say, look like a cool project. I wouldn't mind doing one myself

Moon, I've got the one bulb I have right now in the box and its up to 72F and that is with a gap cuz the door isn't totally shut. 29% humidity with that in there. Will do more research on raising it a bit. The two computer fans I have, the one I plan for exhaust is 12v DC .20 amps moves about 43 CFM. The other is 12v DC .08 amps and had planned to use that as intake. If those aren't strong enough, I can get stronger fans. As for lighting, not sure where I read it but saw an idea about putting surge protectors in box with the plug to outlet things. I was thinking possibly one on each side and one at the top of the box with 2 or 3 lights each to make sure it gets enough light all round, but that may be too much heat.

for me the funnest part is the trial and error, or experimenting. However, I would recommend having your outlets, or surge protector, outside of the box- but not totally necessary- just precautionary.

Well I kinda have to do this right the first time, only have the one foot locker and money is tight! My reasoning for putting the outlets/surge protector inside is that I can cut holes for the cords to fit through without damaging the locker too much. I'll do some serious thinking before I start cutting for sure!