Metal Storage Cabinet grow cabinet?

311grower

Well-Known Member
Hey all its my first time here, and my first grow with "good" lights, i just got this.....
And I want to set up a stealth grow room in one of these....


It has an upper shelf and a large open bottom cavity.


any one have plans for something like this? I am going to grow in soil.
 

Seedlessone

Well-Known Member
For starters you are gonna need and air cooled hood/tube and some sort of fans. i.e squirrel, centrigual (good) to vent that sucker.
 

solid shadow

Well-Known Member
I just built something similar to this...

You're gonna need some way to cut a few holes into your cabinet and a few fans, one for fresh air intake, one for exhaust, and maybe a few smaller ones to make sure there's good airflow in the cabinet (good airflow will help prevent certain foliar diseases as well as strengthening plant stalks). Of course, if you're "stealth" growing you'll need some sort of scrubber to remove cannabis odors from the exhaust, such as an inline activated carbon filter or some other odor eliminator like ONA. (My cabinet is still waiting on fans, unfortunately.)

That light setup you have is nice - I'm enjoying bringing up my own garden with flouros and cfl's but I still get jealous when I see other growers' HID rigs - but it's gonna put out an awful lot of heat in that small space, which is another reason why good airflow is going to be essential to your setup. You're making too much of an investment on these plants to just let them cook. I'm not growing anything significant at the moment, and won't be doing so until such time as I've installed a proper intake/exhaust system, as I'm not a real big fan of dead plants. Gardening like this definately teaches one the values of patience and planning, I've come to learn.

I dunno what the standard price of "panda" plastic is where you live, but here it's about one dollar per foot, and each foot folds out into a one foot by ten foot piece of pvc sheeting that's white on one side, black on the other. With a tape measure and some simple arithmatic you can figure out about how much panda plastic you'll need to cover the entire inside of your cabinet. I know it would be far easier and cheaper to just spray the inside with flat white spray paint; I've chosen panda plastic over paint and have used it in my cabinets for a few reasons - 1) no nasty paint smell and chemicals getting into the air in my apartment, 2) when applied properly in the bottom portion of the cabinet, plastic can be a hedge against any water spilling from a container and leaking out of the cabinet and onto the floor, 3) I dunno what the official word is on this, but I personally see better results when lining my grow boxes/rooms with panda plastic as opposed to white paint. This is my personal opinion based on my own experience and is by no means rooted in any fact that I'm aware of. Of course, if you can afford it, line the inside with mylar to get the most out of your lights.

Growing in soil will alleviate the need for pumps, resivoirs, hoses, etc. that would normally make up a hydroponic system (unless, of course, you're using an automatic watering system), giving you more room to work with inside.

The top portion of these types of cabinets are great as a vegetative/cloning chamber - mount a couple 24" flouresents up top, or a few high-wattage CFL's. It will be important for you to come up with some way of keeping your veg/clone photoperiod (18 hours of light, six hours of darkness) from interfering with the photoperiod in your flowering chamber (12 hours light, 12 hours dark). Maybe use some more panda plastic, or wood or whatever, to enclose the veg chamber and block that additional six hours of light from hitting your beautiful flowering babies, thereby screwing up your flowering cycle.

Come to think of it, where are you going to put your cabinet? The temperature outside the cabinet is going to affect the temperature inside, so an attic or closet is probably right out, as these areas tend to get warmer than open areas, or lower areas of a house. A basement would be ideal but I don't know what your situation is in this respect.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say I can't wait to see pics of before, during, and after, not only with the construction of your growbox but of the crop as well :mrgreen:
 

Firsttimer

Active Member
I am growing in a a storage closet like you are, but mine is made of plastic. It was not easy to cut the holes for the vents, but if you buy a medal one you better be ready for some real work. I got mine at Home Depot for about $100. I also use a 400hps in that space, and you will really need to have good air flow.
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
I am thinking of changing my set up. I have a dresser unit that measures 3' high X 3' Wide, and about 16 inchese deep, that I was contemplating growing scrog in rather than use the metal storage cabinet.

I plan on putting this unit in the basement, and I also plan on fitting it with 2 120VAC 4" fans for vents(one @ the bottom for intake one @ the top for exhaust), now the only thing I need to figure out is the filter system, I don't think I can afford an active scrubber system at this point....

Anymore help please sent it my way!!!

Thanks for the heads up.





* Note, All posts on this website ARE ficticious, and I do not smoke, or endorse growing marijunana. That being said, this message will self destruct in 5 minutes.
 

Firsttimer

Active Member
So for odor control try the Ona Block. It works great through veg. For flower I got a ozone generator for $135 at bghydro.com. This will take care of your odor problems. Hope this helps.
 

xenu

Active Member
That cabinet with those lights reminds me of the old Betty Crocker E Z Bake Oven, but I think yours will make a better cake

I think you'd do just as well with two 175 Watt halide and HPS in there. With the reduced heat you could do the top shelf as a clone space
 

Natanis

Active Member
Check out the cabinets at sunlightsheds.com
They build what you're going to do and sell them for big $$$ but they work and include everything.
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all your help guys!! I contrstructed a 1/2 assed cooling hood last night, as I got my light in yesterday!!!

So I took a simple peice of metal sheeting from the home depot, and bent it in a square. leaving tabs to slide in a peice of polycarbonate instead of glass.

I haven't put any vents in it yet, my question is.....

with a 400 watt MH & HPS do I want to have intake and exhaust on the light, or just an exhaust? I figure if I have an exhaust on the light, an intake in the bottom of the cabinet, and another exhaust on the top, i should be good to go....


what do you all think??

Can't wait to start growin my Jamaican Babies!!!!(Jamaican Lambsbread seeds brought home from our last vacation!)
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
anymore info for me??


I have also just ordered some mylar sheeting to put in my cabinet, as I said before I am not new to growing, but this is the first time I am using HPS/MH set-up so I am concearned about utilizing the equipment to its fullest, and reaping a great harvest so I no longer have to worry about it or the money for it. I am aiming at being self sufficient from the point of my first harvest then on out. So if anyone here has ANY tips for me PLEASE share them...

I am growing Jamaican Lambsbread from seeds brought back from Jamaica, with a 400 watt MH/HPS light system, in a Metal Storage cabinet that is about 5 ft high by 2 1/2 feet across and about 2 feet deep. the Mylar sheeting should be here friday.:peace:
 

potroast

Uses the Rollitup profile
Lambsbread is a pure Sativa. 5 foot tall shed? seedlings will outgrow that shed quickly.

HTH :mrgreen:
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
Its not finished yet, i don't have any intake or exhaust for it yet. as of right now it is a sheet metal box that the light fights in, with a peice of polycarbonate plexiglass. I am going to fit it with an intake on one end and and exhaust on the other, I don't have any pics of it right now, and unfortuantely I have to go to a wake, so I won't be able to get pictures of it until later tonight or tomorrow.....
 

splifman

Well-Known Member
you know, the place that you bought your light from sells a cool tube for like $80. That might be easier and well worth the money.
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
Ive got the hood fitted with 2 4" inline duct fans for cooling(one exhaust one intake) It should be done my the end of the day.
 

311grower

Well-Known Member
Not done yet, but the fans are attached to the hood. I just have to cut the hole in the back of the cabinet and attach the flex tubing. what do you think?

Even with no tubing connected it seems to be venting properly-cold air in one , hot air out the other.....

 

311grower

Well-Known Member
the fans were the most expensive thing, the were $25 a peice, the sheet metal was $8 a few rivets,high temp duct tape $6, then the cords to run the fans were about $5, then the peice of polycarbonate pexi-glass was around $ 8 all in all around $85 or so, but it seems to work really well. I probably could have bought a premade one for cheap or around the same price, but I like to tinker :-D

I figure once I put the 2 mil mylar sheeting in there, and cut int the exhaust and in take holes, I will be good to go.....
 

splifman

Well-Known Member
I probably could have bought a premade one for cheap or around the same price, but I like to tinker :-D
Dude, not true. You counted the two fans in your budget and those would not have come with any coolable reflector that you would have bought. So you came out way ahead. Where did you get those fans? cheap as hell. I need to get one.

I was gonna suggest that you put mylar in the hood, in my last post, but I wasn't sure if it would be too close to the bulb and be a fire hazard. Not sure though; what do you think?
 
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