Storage space help

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smokeh

Well-Known Member
some of u might of read my last post about, basicly starting out growing.

i have just been lookin @ the B&Q website to see if theres anything suitable.

i found this, http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9796508&fh_view_size=6&fh_start_index=138&fh_eds=?&fh_sort_order=1&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories<{10099}/categories<{8960086}/specificationsProductType=Storage&fh_refview=lister&ts=1210841204452&isSearch=false

first off, im not sure on this. it looks decent but i was thinkin about some stuff maybe people could help me with.

1) i think the dimensions of the thing will be good enough all the way through until harvest

2) would i have to drill / cut more holes in the side so the lights can hang down and be adjustable in height?

3) i would have to drill / cut a hole for the extract fan. where is the best place to do this, at the top of the unit?

4) where will i have to lead the extract fan to? i mean, im not too sure what im installing this fan for - cooling or smell, or both? and would i just have to route it outside the window somehow?

is there any1 that has pics or guide on how they set there storage? also, do i really need reflectors over the top of my CFL's?
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
Lets do an analogy....

Say you are driving dow the road really fast and you open your window...

The air sort of blows in the car but not really.

However, open the passenger window as well and you really start getting some air into the car. That is what you are doing.

Scientifically you can only put so much atmosphere in a given space and you have to let some out to allow for new air. This is a simple model and does not take into accout compressed atmospheres.

So, you let air out so you can take air in.

That being said it is also to allow for the release of heat. The smell is just a side effect of the plants and must be dealt with as well sometimes.
 
S

smokeh

Well-Known Member
so....... what would u recommend? i have no idea of how to setup a box.

how should i setup the lights and fan? the fan doesnt have to lead anywhere because its just letting air out (wont the smell come with it?) to allow new air to flow in?
 
sTOKEd

sTOKEd

Well-Known Member
You could definitely grow in that cabinet - plenty of people grow in smaller spaces than that.

You'd need to flower pretty early though because you plants will literally double (sometimes more) in height as soon as you start flowering (switch the light cycle to 12/12).

Being made of plastic, a HPS light would be out of the question due to heat, so you'd need to go with Compact Fluorescents (CFLs).

I would mount the lights at the top of the cabinet horizontally and just move the plants rather than the light, as they grow (ie. stick the plants on phone books or something and remove a phone book at a time as necessary, keeping the plants 2-3" from the light at all times). I'd also have 1 CFL mounted each side of the cabinet for side lighting - you need lighting on the whole plant, not just the top.

For any grow you need fresh air coming in and hot air being extracted. In a box this size a hi-CFM 120mm PC fan mounted either at the top or the back of the cabinet (up the top - hot air rises) would easily vent enough air. These can be easily wired up to a cell phone charger.

For the intake (fresh air), just cut a hole in the front of the cabinet (diagonally opposite the exhaust) - no need for a fan - the exhaust fan will pull fresh air through the hole. Cover the hole with black panty-hose or a PC fan filter - this will stop light leaking in during the time when your lights are off.

Lastly, line the cabinet with some sort of reflective material - mylar emergency blanket are cheap and work well, or 'panda film' from a hydro shop is pretty cheap and really good - a couple of meters would be enough to line that and cost you less than $10.

The only other thing you'd need in there would be another fan (preferably one that oscillates) inside the cabinet, blowing air onto the plants to help them plants strengthen their stems and it'd help cool the lights a bit (not usually a huge problem with CFLs)..

You'd get 2 nice plants side-by-side in that cabinet, which should be enough for around 1.5oz if done right.

I think that covers it..




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S

smokeh

Well-Known Member
thanks, thats great. thats the info i was lookin for. i cant believe i didnt think of the phone book thing. i was thinkin about how to put the lights on a moveable vertical system or something, lol wtf. always trying to out do it.

i understand about the hole in the front for the intake but then wouldnt there be a hole in there. smell would leak out and you'd be able to see inside.

also, not good at wiring. u mean to just buy a cheap CPU fan, cut a old(not in use) phone charger cable an wire it to that? id prolly have to read about that b4 i electrocute myself
 
Celestial

Celestial

Well-Known Member
Hey smokeh, totally second what the person above said about cfls - I'm growing in a space only slightly larger and my biggest problem has been heat. That box looks like it could get pretty hot being plastic/metal. Here's a link for a cupboard I bought a while back (not for growing) roughly the same size - might be easier to keep the temps down/drill holes etc - if you want something bigger, Ikea has some pretty cheap wardrobes and I've always thought some of the kids ones would make a nice size growbox. You could vent outdoors if you're sure you've got the odour dealt with but otherwise just vent indoors and open a window from time to time if air is getting nasty (I normally keep a look out for windy days when wind direction is blowing inwards and it clears air out in no time).

&#034;Baltic&#034; 2-door cabinet - Littlewoods
 
sTOKEd

sTOKEd

Well-Known Member
Ah, the smell yes lol. well, you can make your own carbon filter and attach it to the back of your exhaust fan - this will filter the air coming out of your cabinet and providing the thing is reasonably air tight you'll have no smell.

There's plenty of threads on this and other forums (sorry I'm too lazy to look it up for you) on how to make one yourself, but if $ isn't too tight I'd just buy one - much easier. Below is a link to a cheap carbon filter called an "Odor Sok".

Odor Sok 4"x12" 190CFM Carbon Air Filter odorsok vent - eBay (item 370015141799 end time May-17-08 10:21:14 PDT)

And no the smell wouldn't leak out the hole because the back pressure of the exhaust fan would be pulling fresh air in through that intake hole - so no air would come out - it would all pass out the exhaust and through the carbon filter.

With the PC fan, all you do is get a phone charger (or any wall adaptor as long as its output voltage is equal to or less than the fan's!) and cut off the connector, do the same with the fan and join the wires (to the correct corresponding colours of course).

Hope that clears it up :)

If you're not after big harvest and more-so in it for a personal stash and a bit of fun then do it - that cab will work..do they have one slightly bigger?
 
S

smokeh

Well-Known Member
thanks both.

suppose i will stay away from plastic/metal an get me a wood one. ill have to have a look round Ikea an places.

i think what im gonna do b4 i go and buy everything is just list the stuff i need and draw it up (i work on CAD at work) with the vent holes an stuff.

thanks for the help, everything seems to be coming together an getting abit clearer now.
 
BongJuice

BongJuice

Well-Known Member
Well I looked at that cabinet that you want to get and coverted the dimensions to inches so I can understand it better, (Yea, I'm American and yes were half ass backwards to the rest of the world :mrgreen: ).

So basically it's about a 2 foot 6 inch X 2 foot 6 inch cabinet that's about 16 inches deep. Looking at the picture, it looks much bigger.

I also converted the price to U.S. dollars. I came up with about $98 dollars for it.

In my opinion the price seems outrageous for such a small cabinet. I can build the same thing out of oak for about $30

But yea, it would be a neat little cabinet for seedlings and cuttings.
 
S

smokeh

Well-Known Member
BongJuice said:
In my opinion the price seems outrageous for such a small cabinet. I can build the same thing out of oak for about $30.
Click to expand...
yer but i cba to make it myself. i dont have the motivation to do DIY, building things etc lol.

gonna see if i can find anythin lying round the house 1st, if not then will just buy a cheap wood one. i only want to grow 2 - 3 plants as this is my 1st grow and ill probably mess something up anyway so might as well be on a smaller scale :p
 
Celestial

Celestial

Well-Known Member
smokeh, do you have PM enabled? I tried to reply to your msg but couldn't. Anyway, nice to meet another UK person, good luck with getting your grow on and feel free to keep in touch (not sure if I'll be able to help a whole lot as I'm a first-timer indoorer but I could certainly commiserate with you over almost any problem that you should run into as I've certainly faced many to date!). As far as the seeds go, if your confidence level isn't high then I would go for something cheap to start with , just to get a bit of experience - I can tell you that it makes it hurt that much more when you kill your plant and the seed cost a bomb!
 
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