Stealth Box With CFLs

Hey RIU!,
I've been a long time lurker and now I'm gonna start my own thread for my new stealth box I'm making. It's been a while since I last grew but lets see how it goes!
All I got to show you guys right now is the designs for my new box. I'll be building the actual thing hopefully next weekend. I'm just waiting on a couple of parts to be delivered.
I'm running a little short on time right now so I'll make a more detailed post later tonight. Hope you guys like my design!

Gemini:
Are you planning to use the Sam's Club steel cabinet? You might be interested in a similar cabinet grow that's been going on now for a bout six months at Grasscity.com. No need to reinvent the wheel. What you have planned looks very doable. Just be very careful with ventilation, temperature and humidity. The gentleman I'd like you to see lost a lot of his crop to blossom rot which is usually do to excessive humidity and temperature. These are common problems when growing in a confined, enclosed space. Good luck. HSA

HSA,
The box I'm going to use is the sterilite cabinet in the pics I posted. And I know all to well about temperatures. My last box I made was always in the high 80s mid 90s and that was due to poor construction.
For this new box I'm going to have 2 133.6cfm PC fans for ventilation and 2 63.7cfm fans for intake. The fans I had in my old box were all the same and were only 40cfm. So hopefully the added cfms will help keep
the temps down.

Okay now for a more detailed explanation for what I'm doing.

Materials:
-Sterilite Cabinet (-3 105W 6500K cfl's (veg)
-3 105W 2700K cfl's (flower)
-2 133.6cfm pc fan (exhaust)
-2 63.7cfm pc fan (intake)
-2 power strips, 1 for lights, and 1 for fan adapter and light timer
-an adjustable shelf
-4 air pots (first time growing with these)
-emergency blanket for reflective inside
-2 carbon filters on the exhaust fans (wolfmanzen DIY carbon filters)
-and a few other little things that will be used for construction
-1 digital hygrometer

Once I get the last few things I need I'll start posting pics of the construction. Hopefully that'll be next weekend.
So my plan with this box is to grow 2 plants at a time, clone them and put 2 clones in my pc grow case to veg until the other 2 are done flowering. That's the plan anyway.

Hey Guys
I was thinking about my lights and was wondering if 3 105W cfls will be enough for 2 plants. I've done a little math and I'll have roughly 3720 lumens per sqr foot.
Is that enough lumens for two plants or do I need more?

Just enough lumens. One thing i would suggest is an adjustable power supply for at least one of the fans. It gives you some control over temps.
They're dirt cheap. I bought one years back that runs at 3,6,9 and 12v for about £6.

cues said:

Just enough lumens. One thing i would suggest is an adjustable power supply for at least one of the fans. It gives you some control over temps.
They're dirt cheap. I bought one years back that runs at 3,6,9 and 12v for about £6.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about getting a fan speed controller for the fans in case the stronger fans are to loud. But I want to see how the box runs for 24hrs before I buy one if needed.
Thanks for the tip though.

A normal fan speed controller won't be any good for 12V DC. A simple potentiometer should do the job.

nice design man.. good luck

lee harvey said:

nice design man.. good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks. I know all you RIU uppers like to see actual pictures and I promise they're coming. I'll post pics of my PC grow box that I'll be using as a veg/clone box later tonight.

Cant wait too see this in action good luck.

dumdedum said:

Cant wait too see this in action...

Click to expand...

You and me both

Here are some pictures of my PC grow case I made about 1.5yrs ago. I grew my first plant in this. It came out good.
Plus a bonus pic of my first plant.
I'll be using this case to veg my clones in once I get the bigger grow box built.

Starting this Friday or Saturday I'll post lots of pictures of my stealth cab being built. This is the down side of ordering things online. You gotta wait for them to be delivered.
Stay tuned for updates. I plan on at least 1 update/week when I get the grow going. I'll be growing bagseed. I'll start by germing 4 seeds cause I only have 4 pots. During veg I take a clone of each one
and hopefully get at least 1 female. I want to end up having two females flowering while I have two clones vegging.

Okay so I got my first real update for my build. I built the two carbon filters for my exhaust fans. They're Wolfman Zen DIY carbon filters.
Personally I thought they were the best carbon filter design for PC fans.
I also did some work on the actual grow cab, but not enough for pics. Tomorrow I'll have pics of the cab.

I finished building the box! Except for some minor adjustments and light proofing it's done. I would've had pics of the construction but my roommate needed the camera.
The lights are to heavy for the way I have them hooked up. Right now I have some wire holding them up. It'll work for now but I'll work on something a little better.
If you guys have any questions on what I did or how, just ask. I'll be happy to tell ya. I'll start germinating some seeds today and start posting the grow once they sprout.
Enjoy the pics.

Oh, and I've got the box running right now to see what the temps are. After about 2-3hrs the temps are staying at 82F. That's way better than 95F in my old box.

I started germinating a couple seeds on Saturday and today they finally started to crack open. These are some old bag seed I have been storing for long time. Anyway they should be planted within 1-2 days and then we can get the real show on the road. I can't wait to have my own homegrown again. It's been so long. Oh and if there's anyone else out there growing with airpots, what's the best way to water them? I noticed I had a lot of dry spots in the soil after watering. I did a test run with the airpots to see how they drained.

br0 but da light da light is escapenizing !! put some carboard inside or outside to blok da light otherwise nice box !!

I have been having some bad luck with these seeds. I can get them to germinate but they just won't take root. First seed I got to germ I put right into the main pot it was going to grow in. Never sprouted. Next two seeds I used the wet paper towel method. Once the root came out I put them in jiffy pellets. They also after a week didn't grow any roots. Today I made some really small pots, put some Fox Farm soil in them and just planted the seeds. I didn't
pre-soak em or germ them in the paper towel. I secured some plastic wrap over them to keep in humidity. Hopefully this will work.