Stealth Box - Advice needed

Hello all - This is my first post here, so look forward to hearing from some of you.

A friend of mine is planning a stealth box grow and he is thinking of doing it 'properly' and so wants to invest approx £500! (I might be helping with that figure depending on what you guys think...)

It has to be as stealthy a grow as possible, due to his living conditons (He lives with his wife etc...) There just isnt room in his flat.

He is planning on buying a Large PC Case (Lian Li V2010A) which has internal dimensions of just 59cm(H) x 59cm(W) x 20cm(D).

He wants to grow 2 Snowryder auto-flowering dwarfs in 15cmx15cmx20cm(H) pots, under a 250w RED CFL with cut down reflector. He also wants to horizontally mount 2 x 30w BLue CFLs to the rear wall right under the main light, but out of the way. He plans to line it with mylar and use 1 x 120mm 100CFM fan for exhaust, 1 x 120mm 100CFM fan for intake and 1 x 120mm 100CFM fan inside the case for circulation. He plans to wire these fans into and triple light dimmer switch to control thier speeds indivually.

He will have approx 9-10 inches between the top of the pot and the surface of the 250w CFL and plans to mount the reflector directly to the top of the case and prop the pots up closer to the lights to keep the plants within an inch or so.

I want to know if the 250cfl will run really hot inside the case or not and if theres a better alternative light for this application, LED lights? 125W CFL?

I will post pics of it when he starts making it, if any of you are interested?

Thanks in advance too!

Is there anybody out the who knows if the 250w cfl will be too hot for this box?

this is just my opinon, but his plant can be trained for anything. I've had to do tiny stealth grows and some time that box can hit mid to high 90's. just learn to go, keep the box in a cool part of the house, keep the fans on, and if it starts getting real hot put a small glass of water in there. the water will slowly evaporate and the humidity will rise. as long as you don't see water droplets on the leaves, they will love it and learn to like the heat. mine always do in the end

Just from experience, it may be better to go with the black version of that case as it hides gaffer tape lightproofing much better than the aluminium case will. Look for Lian Li V2010B.
TBH I wouldn't use that case as lightproofing the front without it looking obvious would be near impossible. Cases with hinged doors are far superior for the task IMHO. Lian Li PC-A71B would be my choice. They have just been discontinued so be quick if you fancy one.
I think the planned lights are way too much, but heat is only a secondary problem. I bleach plants with 160w in an 18x8 case which is 0.99sq ft. My guess would be no more than 200w total in your 1.33sq ft or all the tops of your plants will turn white.
Mixing red and blue light for flowering seems to work well though, 10% blue seems to be enough to prevent leaves yellowing in early flowering.

I used araldite to fix a cut down reflector to the top like you mentioned and it works well. I just raise and lower each plant as needed.
If it works out ok I'd suggest you go for your own rig rather than splitting costs as a pc case will only keep 1 of you happy.

i'm in the same spot as your buddy (i smoke, my wife doesn't, she prolly wouldn't be too keen on the grow, but she does like the money we save - even if she doesn't know how it is saved)...i've had my stealth pc grow case (i converted it myself) next to my TV in the living room for about nine months now. Growing the whole time and no one, I mean no one, is the wiser. I had my mother stay with me for six weeks while two girls were finishing up flowering and my mom had no idea. i've had PCs connected to my TVs for years, so that's nothing new, but it's re-purposing is. i run lights on from midnight to noon...coolest part of the day for me as we run the air conditioning all night (it's very warm and muggy where I live). this helps to keep temps down by quite a bit, when i ran her from 6am to 6pm, heat was much worse, as air conditioning is turned up to 78F during the day.

Definitely go with smaller CFLs, just more of them. And I agree that that much light is not really needed for that small space. My current grow has four 26watters for two plants and they're doing alright. see pic below... peace

Thanks for all your help fellas,

I never thought that you could have too much light!! Just too much heat...

He's gonna think I'm crazy if I tell him to ditch the 250w for a 125w.

He wants 4 x 30w cfls for side lighting, it was 2 last time we spoke.


Has anyone got any photos of this 'bleaching' effect as my mate is gonna ask for 'proof' I know it...

too bad i wasn't at home...the bushier plant in my pics above over the last week to ten days has shown signs of bleaching. i noticed something was wrong but wasn't certain what to call it, the color of the leaves just went to light green, almost the same green as the lighter part of the "Why Toke Alone" add on this site (great body in that pic, BTW). i thought it was due to the stem being pinched by my LSTing...but now i think it may be over light as I had an additional two 23 watters in that case right over and beside the plant. wish I had a good pic of it, i'll take one when i get home and post it...wont be til later today tho

So is it just CFLs that cause bleaching, or is this a common problem with enclosed space growing?

I'm looking at 1x 150w cfl and 2 x 20 cfls now - I'm scared!!

What would be better in a 2' x 2' x 8inch space then???

1 x 200w CFL

or:

1 x 150W CFL and 2 x 20w cfls??

Decision decisions....

the 150W will prolly be way too hot for that small a space...there are test results around here somewhere that showed the heat release from 1 high wattage bulb compared to a number of smaller wattage bulbs combined, and the single bulb threw off much more heat. if you're looking at a total of 190W then you'd might be better served using somehting like 8 of the 23 or 26 watters for a few reasons:
1. less total heat
2. more flexibility with respect to bulb placement
3. more flexibility with respect to color temp distribution
4. easier, more affordable replacement should a bulb fail
5. more efficient in terms of electrical costs

just my two cents, good luck tho

Thanks for your input bud.

I am now looking into using 8 x cfls in the 2' x 2' x 8inch space.

Will this be enoung light output for reasonable growing power?

2 x 30w 2700k
2 x 20w 6400k
4 x 25w 2700k

I still think his 100cfm intake and exhaust fans could cool a 150w cfl and a couple 25w cfls...

He's ready to start ordering all the bits and pieces - we're just stuck on what light arrangment to go for now.

REALLY NEED SOME MORE INPUT! (sound like jonny 5)

Thanks again fellas,

B.

Or perhaps 10 x 25w cfls would better? Would I run the risk of bleaching though?

100cfm is quite a bit of air movement, and certainly is many times the square footage you have to grow in...it may just work with a single bulb heat wise, but you give up all the other benefits. anyone of the bulb specs you proposed would prolly work....i'll put in this way: in all the growing I've done, i've learned that the most important thing to do with this plant IS NOT PANIC. It's a weed, and it is quite durable.

just pick some lights based on your own ideas or others thrown at you, throw them in the case, plant a seed and watch what happens...learn from the first grow and then apply that learning on the next.

good luck

Youre right!

This is my first experience of a grow in such a small space with just cfls. I had a wardrobe many years ago with a 250w hps in there - that was a good setup.

I think me and my mate have finalised the plan now.

2 x 30w 2700k
2 x 20w 6400k
5 x 25w 2700k

I will post a thread in a week or so when its made and continue to update throughout the grow.

oh man...if i could only have a wardrobe with a 250W hps or higher...i'd be in heaven...good luck to you and your mate

Thanks man.

I just spoke to my mate - now hes on about using a dwc hydro system in there too!

I have very little experience with this system...

Can any one point to a good dwc tutorial?

taa.