Lighting/Ventilation Q for a cab grow

Hi all,

First post, already learned a lot from here. If I'm looking at a cabinet/armoire setup, probably somewhere around 2X3X6, does anyone have thoughts on the best choice for lighting?

My considerations are relative stealth (i live in an apartment building) and cost- I'd like to spend less than 600 on the whole project, but I want to invest in good lighting now, since that seems to be such an important component to any successful grow.

So far I'm thinking either a 400W MH/HPS, but I'm not sure what kind of cooling I would need for that in that space- would a cooling tube be a good investment? A heat shield? And if I purchased a cooling reflector and put in a fan, would i also want another fan going out (keep in mind I'm probabl gonna rig up my own carbon scrubber to control smell). It gets hot here in the summer, would it be possible to keep temps down enough?

Or would a better bet be to go w/ a digital ballast? How big is the difference in temp/noise? Would it allow me to cut back costs on other cooling options, or would I still need those in addition? Thanks a lot in advance!

I also have a little cabinet in my closet in my apartment. I use a 150 hps though since my cabinets only about a foot and half wide, five foot tall, and a foot and half deep. I cut two holes for ventilation, one on the bottom, and one on the top. I have a fan at the bottom blowing in toward the plants. My only problem is getting control of the smell cuz its in my closet and I would really love if it wouldnt stink up all of my clothes.
A 400 watter would prolly get it pretty hot in that tight space, cuz as it is my 150 wat does.

a 400w in that small a space should be fitted with glass and air-cooled reflector. and even then, that space may get too hot. either way, you should use a fan for cooling your light and a separate fan for your exhaust. I recommend the vortex-style fans but they can be loud. Some tricks I've heard (haven't tried) to reduce the noise is to mount them with rubber washers or from bungie cords to absorb the vibration.

The CFM (cubic feet/minute) rating of the fan is what you use to determine which one to buy. Your grow area is aprox. 36 cubic feet (length x width x height) - ideally you'd be able to exhaust your entire grow area three times every minute, so you multiply your grow space cubic feet (36) by three to get 108. So a fan with a CFM of 108 or above would more than adequately ventilate your grow area. You'll also want to put some passive air intake holes so you don't create a vacuum. it would also be desirable to squeeze an oscillating fan in there if you can.

don't forget to have a plan in place to deal with all the hot and soon to be stinky air coming out of the cabinet.

Thanks a lot for the responses, guys. I thought 400w might be pushing it, but got greedy. Would 250w make a decent difference, or is the choice really between HID and CFL's? Also, I take it no one is recommending digital to cut heat? Thanks again.

bkbkbk said:

Thanks a lot for the responses, guys. I thought 400w might be pushing it, but got greedy. Would 250w make a decent difference, or is the choice really between HID and CFL's? Also, I take it no one is recommending digital to cut heat? Thanks again.

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digital will only help with heat if you plan on keeping the ballast inside - to be honest, my magnetic ballast barely gets warm - but maybe i'm lucky.

How about a 2.5X2.5X6 grow room with a 400W hps air cooled should be able to grow 4 average sized palnts.