Help me design my CFl stealth Cabinet! Any advice is appreciated

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sow217

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I plan on building a 4 foot tallx4 foot widex 1 1/2 foot deep cabinet or converting a dresser into my first cfl grow box.

Im super excited but wanted to get some advice first. I wanna be able to put in probably around 5-10 plants and I am looking to be able to get about 1/4 lb every harvest.

I am wondering how many watts of cfls i would need to pull this goal off or if maybe i should buy some envirolites instead(as i have heard good things about these). I wanna use cfls or envirolites because they put off less heat or else i would use hps lights. I figure with cfls or envirolites i will have to worry about ventilation less and wont have to worry about cooling my cab as much. but who knows maybe im wrong. Thats why I am asking for your advice.

I will be using foxfarm ocean forest soil. I have some NLxskunk, Blue Cheese, and Himalayan Gold seeds layin around i will use and im not sure what size pots i should use. Or maybe i thought i would try some short autoflowering strains like lowryder or AK47 and do a sog method with more plants.

I plan on buying a 300 cfm fan and charcoal filter to mount inside to control odor.
I also need this to be stealth and seal off all light so i will use weatherstripping foam and panda film that i have laying around.

The main solution i need is the lighting. I need to figure out what lighting i should use to obtain my goal of a 1/4 lb.

Any advice will be appreciated and i will begin to look on craigslist for a dressor or armoire.
 
hacksore007

hacksore007

Active Member
The more light the better. Try to get as many cfls as you can afford. I have a 69w cfl and it grows 2 plants great, it does have a parabolic reflector though.
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
hacksore007 said:
The more light the better. Try to get as many cfls as you can afford. I have a 69w cfl and it grows 2 plants great, it does have a parabolic reflector though.
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Thanks for your reply. Any other ideas?

Also Ive heard you need the 6400k spectrum for vegging and the 2700k spectrum for flowering. is that true? or would a mixture of both work well too??
 
Quickee

Quickee

Well-Known Member
well you dont HAVE too..but its over all the best..mixing the too will help replicate the sun more
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
I chose to mix them up, I have 3 x 23watt 6500K, and 3 x 23watt 2700K in my little styrofoam growbox. Seems to be working so far lol. The theory is that 6500K is more in the blue end and helps veg better, and the 2700K is for budding because it's more in the red/orange end of the spectrum - great for budding, like HPS for example. The real answer to your question is to use your judgement - Use as much light as is necessary, but better to have extra than not enough.
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
Fractus said:
I chose to mix them up, I have 3 x 23watt 6500K, and 3 x 23watt 2700K in my little styrofoam growbox. Seems to be working so far lol. The theory is that 6500K is more in the blue end and helps veg better, and the 2700K is for budding because it's more in the red/orange end of the spectrum - great for budding, like HPS for example. The real answer to your question is to use your judgement - Use as much light as is necessary, but better to have extra than not enough.
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any one have any suggestions as to what wattage bulbs i should use? and how many?

any light set up suggestion would help. I am either going to hang the lights sepearately and locate close to bud sites, or buy the things that plug directly into outlets and hang the lights connected to a power strip, maybe get those y splitters and have two lights on each. does anyone know what they are called so i dont sound like an idiot when i arrive at lowes or home depot?

how many watts do you think i need to have in order to obtain a 1/4 lb + each harvest?
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Your harvest is going to depend on everything - your soil, nutes, ventilation, temperature, humidity, watering routines - not just your lights, so all you can really do is attempt to replicate sunlight approx. 10000 lumens), and then research how to cover all the other factors properly. You can produce that much light with 6 x 26watt CFL's, but since your box is a bit bigger you may want more than that. The nice thing about CFL's is they don't get too hot, keep good airflow in your box and you can have those bulbs an inch away from your plants without hurting them.

And if you ask for a light socket Y-splitter I'm sure they will understand what you are looking for. Cheers
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
Fractus said:
Your harvest is going to depend on everything - your soil, nutes, ventilation, temperature, humidity, watering routines - not just your lights, so all you can really do is attempt to replicate sunlight approx. 10000 lumens), and then research how to cover all the other factors properly. You can produce that much light with 6 x 26watt CFL's, but since your box is a bit bigger you may want more than that. The nice thing about CFL's is they don't get too hot, keep good airflow in your box and you can have those bulbs an inch away from your plants without hurting them.

And if you ask for a light socket Y-splitter I'm sure they will understand what you are looking for. Cheers
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How many lumens does each 26 watt cfl contain. Im guessing it will say it on the box too. Thats not the 2300k thing is it?
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
No, Lumens is how bright it is, 1 lumen is the amount of light one candle projects onto one square foot of surface, one foot away. Each one of those 26ers puts out 1600 lumens, usually. The "K" stands for Kelvins. It's what part of the light/colour spectrum it's emitting. 6500K is more in the blue range, and your lower values (e.g. 2700K) is more in the red/orange range.
 
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itsalways420

Active Member
Home Depot has a 300 watt CFL, its huge, andit puts out over 4000 lumens, its awesome, if you use 1 of those, and a HO blue and red, it would be fine I think.
 
Shredder111

Shredder111

Well-Known Member
For 3 plants, I would recommend 1000 watts of CFL light. You don't need 15 plants when you can grow a few large ones. Your yield will be the same.
 
Shredder111

Shredder111

Well-Known Member
Personally, if I were doing a CFL grow, I would buy six or seven of those 300 watters and hook up 4 above my plants and the rest at the sides while at the same time utilizing reflective film and a CO2/ fresh air system. That would give me hella bud.
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
I think he means the 69watt that would be equivalent to 300watts incandescent, he almost lost me on it too haha. Unless there is actually a 300-watter, that would be intense and probably cost a fortune.
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
Fractus said:
I think he means the 69watt that would be equivalent to 300watts incandescent, he almost lost me on it too haha. Unless there is actually a 300-watter, that would be intense and probably cost a fortune.
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Im beginning to wonder if i should just get a 250 watt hps or a 400 hps and just get a cool tube and exhaust fans.

I feel like I would want to get 8 of the 69 watt cfls. Hopefully they will be cooler and give me just as much yield as a 400 watt hps would. I am thinking 4 69 watt 2700k and 4 69 watt 6400k. what do you think?
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
That sounds like a ton of light for your dimensions dude. 4 x 69w has gotta be upwards of 10000 lumens... HPS seems to have really great results too though. It's really up to you. I'm sure that CFL setup would work wonders for you though.
 
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