Armoire 300w Stealth Grow Cabinet

So I have been working on this new cabinet for growing in my Apartment. I should have took some Pics before I tore the cabinet apart, so everyone could have seen how much I already did. I bought an Armoire off craigslist for $45. It was a great deal. When I picked it up the guy said "damn it my wife sold this for only $45" He was right because every other one I saw like this was about $150. It is made out of solid hard wood and its pretty big. I removed the shelves from the upper and lower section. I sealed the doors in the front using metal brackets and liquid nails from the inside. I left the lower doors free for checking the fluid level of my power grower. I also painted the inside of the Cab with flat white primer. I lined the bottom with a water proof liner. I made and installed two 150w HPS in a homemade cool tube. I was having trouble with my temps so I went to the hydro store and picked up a 170cfm 4" centrifugal fan and I also installed a carbon filter. Here are some pics. let me know what you think. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make it better please feel free to let me know.

Looks really good I would like to see some activity in there soon!

So after a huge fucking fiasco I got my cabinet put back together. No Matter what I did I couldnt seem to get the temp under 83 with the door sealed shut (its fine with the door off). So I went to the hydro store and talked to the guy about it. He said that by replacing my two 150w HPS with one 400w HPS with a ducted hood I would be able to get my temps down easier. So I bought the deluxe model Sunsystems 400w HPS with the Ballast, Reflector, and Bulb it was about $300. Holy shit was that guy wrong! My temps went from a reasonable 83 up to 90 I was obviously very upset about it and the next day I packed it all back up and drove back to the hydro store. I was expecting a typical All Sales Are Final type answer but the guy was really cool about it and said he would give me store credit for everything but the bulb. I guess once the bulb has been ignited its yours to keep. With my store credit I picked up some Mylar and two 150w bulbs designed for growing (mine were from Home Depot and had been used for a while) among some other things.

Ok so the changes seen below are...

Installed new Sungrow 150w bulbs

Put mylar on the walls

Moved my two ballast's from under grow cab to on top in a metal box

I put each ballast on separate timers and set them to turn off for 15 min for every two hours running and alternated them, after one turns back on the other will turn off in 45min and so on. This is helping with the temps, when one turns off the cab quickly cools down to about 80 then slowly climbs back to 83 when both are on Felt like an idiot for not thinking of this before (got real blazed and started brain storming ). I end up with 9hrs of 300w light and a total of 3hrs of 150w for the flowering cycle. This should be good enough for what I will be trying to accomplish.

Put a fan in the cab to circulate the air and help cool things down.

Im having some problems with light leaks. It is only on the rear panel door that I made. I already have some weather stripping material up between the door and the cab but the door seems to bow out in the middle and allows light out/in. I have been thinking of replacing the solid wood door with a door made of fabric or tarp material. Something that is flexible and I was going to use Velcro to keep it closed. Any recommendations as to what kind of material to use? Was gonna layer pieces of tarp together and glue them until I came up with a sturdy light proof material.

Hey Big Bud - Great set up - very tight! I started ripping apart an old dresser today. When I get some picks, I'll put em up. What are you planning to use for a medium? I can't wait to see your results - do you have a strain in mind?

I definitely would think adding some weatherstripping would work for the light leaks. Regarding the temerature, I see that you have an exhaust setup for cooling the lights, but is there any air intake and exhausting for the cabinet air itself? I didn't see any from the pics.

G'Luck!

Drake S said:

I definitely would think adding some weatherstripping would work for the light leaks. Regarding the temerature, I see that you have an exhaust setup for cooling the lights, but is there any air intake and exhausting for the cabinet air itself? I didn't see any from the pics.

G'Luck!

Click to expand...

I have a 4" passive intake down in the bottom right corner it pulls air in from under the cabinet where it is cool and have the exhaust setup to pull air through the carbon scrubber and across the lights before being blown out. so when the cabinet is closed up the fan creates a low pressure inside and the air is pulled up through the passive intake in an attempt to equalize the pressure. I was thinking of cutting a small 4" hole in the wall right behind the cabinet and exhausting into the closet on the other side of the wall. I would have to repair it before moving out but it should help out with my temps. I dont exactly know yet, im gonna take my time with this I want it to be perfect before I start. That will make the difference between being successful or not. definitely dont want to get busted by the landlord. even though he looks blazed all the time might end up just wanting some.

tycobb48 said:

Hey Big Bud - Great set up - very tight! I started ripping apart an old dresser today. When I get some picks, I'll put em up. What are you planning to use for a medium? I can't wait to see your results - do you have a strain in mind?

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah I always wanted to build one of these stealth Cabs and I think mine is turning out pretty good. I will be using hydrotron as my medium. You can see in those pics that I have a General Hydroponics Powergrower drip system. Used that on my first 3 grows and it worked great! I would definitely recommend it to new growers. very easy to setup and use. down fall is that its pretty bulky and only designed for growing one at a time. not really a great idea for people trying to make alot of cash growing in a small area. I have 1 White Widow feminized seed left from my last grow. I really hope it sprouts and grow with out any problems because I wasnt planning on buying seeds on this round. Kinda taking a big gamble on the 1 seed but I think it will be ok.

OK so I made some adjustments and added a few things since the last time I posted. I have added another fan and my homemade SCROG screen. You will see a one gallon bottle cut in half in the picture. Thats my homemade humidity dome. I just mist the inside of it like twice a day and it works good for my one little seedling. I have cut a hole in the wall and im venting the hot air into the closet on the other side. Looks pretty good from the inside of the closet. I have finally started my white widow feminised seed. I started germinating Saturday afternoon and already have my shell popped. Nothing but up from here. I threw in another picture of the front of it because I'm impressed how inconspicuous it looks. Gave myself a pat on the back for this one.

I thank my seed is handicapped It has been in the same state since it popped up over a day ago. Where there should be the 2 starter leaves there is only one and it looks malformed

Nice setup, whats the depth of that wardrobe? I'm considering getting one but all the ones I've seen are rather narrow, 57cms being the widest :\.

spliffmeupscotty said:

Nice setup, whats the depth of that wardrobe? I'm considering getting one but all the ones I've seen are rather narrow, 57cms being the widest :\.

Click to expand...

I dont know about centimeters but this one is about 24 inches deep by 36 inches wide by 48 inches tall. I sealed the front door shut and access everything from the back of the cabinet. The small doors on the bottom I left free to open so I can check the nutrient level. Unfortunately My one and only hope for a plant appears to be a dud! Not sure what im gonna do now

Nice job on this cabinet bro. Awesome work, and way to get the kinks worked out before you started. +rep sns

smoke n strum said:

Nice job on this cabinet bro. Awesome work, and way to get the kinks worked out before you started. +rep sns

Click to expand...

Thanks Man! I am very proud of my cabinet. I put a lot of effort into it. I thought more people would like it but you are the only one I have received any Rep from. I learned from my mistakes on my first couple of grows and decided to get everything right before starting this one. Now if I could only convince my stupid little seedling to get its ass in gear then maybe ill be able to show something for all my hard work.

Damn It! My little girl didnt make it. Gonna have to order some new seeds and wait forever for them to show up. Any ideas on what Kind is a good pick? I would love to grow a strong indica but i dont want it to smell really strong when growing. I have a small carbon filter but dont know what its capable of yet. This is the first carbon filter i have owned.

Any strain you want to smoke is a good seed to order! Nice cabinet, I'm going to be making one next month for a mother/propagation/vegetative growth machine. Found a cabinet I desperately want from ollies, and if not that one there's one for 50$ at walmart. I'm not all that worried about the cheapness of the material used, rather than the fact that it grows vegetative plants. I think using HPS in a cab would cause too much heat. Heck at first my 3'x3'x6.5' tent was overheating till I got my ventilation hooked up properly. Though your timer idea was probably one of the most brilliant things I've ever heard of, so my point is pretty null and void.

+rep for an awesome build and patience

Dig it. Always nice to get a deal on Craigslist.

JeLLY

u need a truck to bring one of these home so im out xD

MrDank007 said:

Dig it. Always nice to get a deal on Craigslist.

Click to expand...

lol ya and not get ripped off. pretty much stay away from anything with moving parts on CL or it will have a brick inside

NewClosetGrower said:

+rep for an awesome build and patience

Click to expand...

Yeah, Its a good thing im patient because I have to wait for my buddy to help me out with a clone from Texas. I didnt think it was possible but he has found a way to ship clones in the mail and he has been successful so far. I am going out there for work next week and will talk to him about it. Dont want to let his secret out but it sounds awesome.

anonymuss said:

JeLLY

u need a truck to bring one of these home so im out xD

Click to expand...

You live a little far away from me I actually thought that It would be a good idea to build and sell these things but not sure how to advertise it. I dont really have the time anyway. Wouldnt it be cool to be able to sell these to everyone and then we could all live free of the stress of worrying about the police beating down the door.