Hello everyone. I'm glad I found this "club". This will be my first grow in years. So i'm like a born again newbie! I want to grow strictly with cfl's. That being said, I know i'm in the right place. I have all the peices of my grow cabinet laying around, already cut, ready to construct. It's a 2.6'w x 2'd x 5'h constructed of plywood painted in white. I have a bunch of ideas on what to do with this little fella, and was hoping to get some cfl club input.

LIGHTING: I was origionally going to put 24 (23w) 100w equivalents in this box at different spots on the walls on y connectors. That would equal about 8,000 lumens per sq ft I've heard that going over 5-6k with cfl's doesn't really do all that much to yields. Is this true? If I only need 6k lumens per sq ft I would be more than happy only using 18 bulbs!

LIGHT SET UP: I've been looking through grow logs upon grow logs and have only seen folks hanging their cfl's any which way they can to to get them close. What I want to (am going to) do is get fasteners and place 6 bulbs on each side and 6 bulbs on the top connected to a chain that's connected to a peice of white wood that can be raised up and down. Then I got to thinking about heat and exhaust... I only have a 15 amp circuit to use that's shared with a sump pump (that actually kicks on a few times per day) so that many lights would cause an assload of heat in the box and I can't use one of those rediculasly awesome fans that turbo suck the life out of grow rooms. So I was going to install some 1/4 plexiglass on both sides that can be removed for bulb replacement and also put a peice of plexiglass on top of screws that are placed every few inches up the cabinet, so I can move the glass when the plants reach that height without the worry of the plants ever touching the bulbs.

VENTILLATION: This is where i'm pretty much lost. As I've said, I can't use a fan that tears threw amps like no mans business, so what fan type should I use? I want it to be sorta quiet, but also need it to remove all the heat. I'm thinking of puting a vent going from outside the box into a room that is about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house to pull air in. Then I was thinking of changing out frozen water bottles to put in front of the intake pipes to cool it down. I know this is all trial and error and nobody will have the same "surroundings" so all set ups will differ. I was just hoping someone has had a box with around 18-24 23w bulbs in about the same size box I have (will have) and could give me some ideas on how hot it will get in there. And if the methods I stated above would have any great effect on the heat.

I have 7 plants in week 1 of veg at 4k lumens per sq ft at the moment in a rubbermaid that is about 80f and 50-80 RH (goes up and down through out the day/night.) I think i've solved that RH problem with a bit of damp perlite and moist paper towels.
I would like to begin flowering these sometime next week, as It's a bagseed sativa.
I know I jumped the gun on starting seedlings, but i had different "grow room" plans that would have been done in 2 days, but the plans just didn't pan out.

I almost bought a 50cfm bathroom fan with 6 Sones today out of despair. That woulda sounded like a chainsaw!

I need to cut my holes for my exhaust before I put this box together.

Any help / advice / concerns / flames would be greatly appreciated!
~Thanks

Oh yeh, I'm groing in soil and I'm going to need a carbon filter and about 8ft of tub leading to the nearest vent outside. I will remove the vent come winter so it warms up this area a little bit. I planned on doing LST as I have no idea how big these things can get.

Whats up S.G. I dont know if you have a radio shack near you but they have computer fans that are almost 4" .These 4" computer fans are quiet and do a good job.There are two models, one is standard 110 and the other I think is 9volt or something. $20.00 is the price and you will need a cord or a 9volt adapter.I ran a powered inlet for awhile but I dont have it set up like that now.
Something in this might help The Knowledge Project~CONTEST!!!~Subject~Air Exchange Contest 1 Over


I didnt find the need for 25 bulbs in my cab...Its about the same size as yours and 6 bulbs and some tubes on the sides got me about 4 oz's off two plants.
Good luck with the grow

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How did you keep your plants so short and get that many huge cola's?? Did you have a filter with that little fan, or was the skunky smell explained to neighbors as your air freshener?

Thanks for the input, I totaly over thought my lumens I guess. The lumens per sq ft doesn't apply to cfls like it does with hid lights as ya get to put the cfl's right on the plants, from all directions. With all the bulbs I was gong to use I would have started a fire. I'm retouching my design a little bit. Going to make it into 2 compartments for veg and flower, and going with a 4" or 6" duct booster fan for ventillation and adding a homemade carbon filter for odor control.

I still have so many random ideas in my head, but i'm starting to narrow it down, so at least some progress is being made. Plants are about 4" tall now.... I need to get building!

Any other suggestions would be great!

Thanks

The only suggestions I can make is to put two fans in the top for exaust and do research on a shadow box for the inlet down low.When I made my cabinet,I used a forced intake to help grab the a/c.I think I do better with both fans up high exausting and a big inlet.No scrubber for me.I like a smelly house.
I think that one of the last posts in the link I posted has a shadow box for an inlet.Check it out Member" Noneonone "made it from cardboard but when you make your cabinet its something to design into the structure.You cant have major light leaks into your flower room.
My plants are short just because of the strain they are .Thick ,heavy Indie's. A mutant in every 5 seeds
.
Work hard on your vents... most important.Look up dark room vents and shadowboxs.

Good luck on your grow

Yea man when i 1st read u were gna use that many i was like, whoa!!

Im constructing my new cabinet for my 2nd grow attemt,, its about 2ft deep, 3ft wide an 4 1/2ft tall....
I planned on using a triple socket bathroom type strip light fixture with y adapter with 4 23w 2700k cfls and 2 68w 5500k cfl for flowering and maybe ill throw in these crappy 25w led panels for side lights,,, igot 2 red/blue mixed panels and 1 all red... Thay seem to be good for vegging so thats what ill do.. I also gta 50w led panel red white an blue it better than the others,, not gna use em all but jus tryan to find a healthy efficient mix that makes the plants happy...

Im sayin all this jus wondering what u an every body else thinks of the setup an the cfl mixture for the areaa with maybe 2-4 plants,,,
i think 18 is too many cfls tho forthat lil area,, lemme know what u think of mine,,, ima post up sum pictures soon, peace..