CFL Stealth Cabinet 1st Grow

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
8 square feet is ideal for a 400 but you can get nice buds with more square footage. The best shape of your room depends a lot on your reflector and how it disperses the light. Mine is not quite square but reflects the light in a square pattern so 3X3 would be ideal for my light. I just changed my room setup and it's now 3X4 but I will be growing in a 3X3 space in the center for now and will eventually be using 28"X38" centered under the light.

The best thing you can do is get your light, hook it up and see what type of light pattern you get from the reflector. You can then use that info to decide how you want to proceed with your room. Just keep in mind that an "ideal" figure when working with HPS is 50w/square foot so 8 square feet. You don't have to stick by that figure, just use it as a guidline. There are many people that get great results with less watts per square foot and I'm sure you will to.
Great response man, great info. I think I will do exactly that, get the light, set it up and see where the light covers. I think I am going to order the 400w very soon. I will probably go with the initial design. So the room will be a little under 5 foot by a little under 2.5 foot with the hps. The second room will be same size with the 4 foot flouro's. If that happens that means I will have all the parts from the box left available. So maybe I will put some cfl support in the flower room.
 

Dezracer

Well-Known Member
The two plants I had in my room recently were taking up about 22"X36" of my grow space. If your reflector ends up looking like it will span 36-40" in any one direction you could go with 30"X40" and be right around the 8 square foot mark. You could have 6 decent sized plants, or four bigguns in that space as long as you have good ventilation. I say that because you'll notice, or may already have noticeed, when you water the plants the temp and humidity go up almost immediately and stay that way for a day or so. If you have good ventilation it minimizes this condition and keeps things from getting to a point where you run into trouble.

I kind of wish I had made my veg room longer so I could run 4' flouros but I didn't so...

Too bad you don't live where I do or I'd offer to come over and help ya build it. Construction is what I do and I love doing this type of stuff so I'd help anybody that wasn't a giant tool, haha. I've aleady made a little side money building a couple cabs for a couple kids that work at local dispensaries. I did a SCROG hydro cab, a regular free standing cab and a stealth cab made out of a nightstand so far.
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
The two plants I had in my room recently were taking up about 22"X36" of my grow space. If your reflector ends up looking like it will span 36-40" in any one direction you could go with 30"X40" and be right around the 8 square foot mark. You could have 6 decent sized plants, or four bigguns in that space as long as you have good ventilation. I say that because you'll notice, or may already have noticeed, when you water the plants the temp and humidity go up almost immediately and stay that way for a day or so. If you have good ventilation it minimizes this condition and keeps things from getting to a point where you run into trouble.

I kind of wish I had made my veg room longer so I could run 4' flouros but I didn't so...

Too bad you don't live where I do or I'd offer to come over and help ya build it. Construction is what I do and I love doing this type of stuff so I'd help anybody that wasn't a giant tool, haha. I've aleady made a little side money building a couple cabs for a couple kids that work at local dispensaries. I did a SCROG hydro cab, a regular free standing cab and a stealth cab made out of a nightstand so far.
Nice man! sounds like your a cab expert now. Im sure you know this but you should make the exhaust fan 2x as powerful as the intake, that one thing I messed up on mine. They are at the same speed and power. I need to fix that actually. Going to stack another fan in front of the exhaust fan. Especially because of the carbon filter providing resistance. With both fans being the same I could actually be getting positive pressure instead of negative.
I wish you lived closer as well. I have nobody to help me. The only person that knows is my brother in law and he helped me with the cab. He doesnt seem to want to help with the room though. Im in the midwest. To bad I cant just up and move to cali, get my MJ card and have someone to grow with, lol. I really really wish I had someone to grow with....I guess thats what RIU is for.
 

Dezracer

Well-Known Member
I only use passive intakes on the cabs I built and I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means. I'm just really good at cabinetry so I can make nice looking stuff that is built exceptionally well and has no light leaks.

A good exhaust fan and carbon filter with the fan speed controlled to not overrun the filter's capabilities is usually all you need since the fan pulling air out of the room creates negative pressure. If you have a big enough port for an intake there will always be plenty of cool air being drawn in to replace the hot air being drawn out by the exhaust fan.
 

chainseeker

Well-Known Member
I only use passive intakes on the cabs I built and I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means. I'm just really good at cabinetry so I can make nice looking stuff that is built exceptionally well and has no light leaks.

A good exhaust fan and carbon filter with the fan speed controlled to not overrun the filter's capabilities is usually all you need since the fan pulling air out of the room creates negative pressure. If you have a big enough port for an intake there will always be plenty of cool air being drawn in to replace the hot air being drawn out by the exhaust fan.

I completely agree passive intakes are best for cabs. I run 1-- 65 cfm exhaust fan with no circulation fan at all. My temps never get above 82 with 133w cfl's and 70w hps.
 

TalonToker

Well-Known Member
I read your other thread and one poster mentioned P def. When I looked at the pics the thought of P def crossed my mind as well, but there also looks like something more. I would suspect a ph issue. How bad is it? Are you adding enough ferts to the point that you think that the slow release nutes in the soil have been up? If so, then you could flush and then add a reg amount of ferts right away to make sure you have the right nute levels.
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
I read your other thread and one poster mentioned P def. When I looked at the pics the thought of P def crossed my mind as well, but there also looks like something more. I would suspect a ph issue. How bad is it? Are you adding enough ferts to the point that you think that the slow release nutes in the soil have been up? If so, then you could flush and then add a reg amount of ferts right away to make sure you have the right nute levels.
I fert every other watering. I guess it could be a build up...will flushing with distilled water regulate my PH?
 

Dezracer

Well-Known Member
Oh, on a bright note. I ordered a 400w HPS today and my brother in law is getting me a 400w MH
This guy...
I'm jealous now, you with your dual 400s, lol. Congrats man!
I guess this means you won't be using flouros for veg now, huh? You'll get more vigorous growth with the MH light for sure, right on.
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
This guy...
I'm jealous now, you with your dual 400s, lol. Congrats man!
I guess this means you won't be using flouros for veg now, huh? You'll get more vigorous growth with the MH light for sure, right on.
Thanks buddy.....might not help if I got nothing to grow...lol...gotta get these problems under control
Will I veg with it? Or will I use it in the flower room for massive dual spectrum buds? I guess we shall see. Prob veg with it cuz I might have a 175MH coming as well..studies show that 1:2 MH:HPS ratio = dank nugs..i guess..thats what I read at least
 

Dezracer

Well-Known Member
I've heard similar things. I have seen a grow where there is a 1000w HPS light and a 600w MH light that are mounted up end to end in cooltubes and dude gets crazy amounts of dense bud with that setup. He's been doing this a very long time and I'm sure that has a lot to do with his results but the lights can't hurt either. You got me thinkin', maybe I'll throw my 150 in the flower room with a MH bulb in it. hmmm...
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
Ok I got the PH drop tester from my Hydro Store.
Tap Water - 7
Flowering Plant - Soil 6-6.25 runoff just watered yesterday so I didnt test it
NL veging - Soil 6.25 runoff 7ish...The water runs through the FF ocean forest so fast it prob didnt get a chance to lower much

The issue goes unresolved so far...what you guys think...here is the link again to my sick plant post
https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/339867-fan-leaves-getting-black-spots.html
https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/339867-fan-leaves-getting-black-spots.html
 

TalonToker

Well-Known Member
I don't know, man. It does look like a bit of P def, regarless of what is causing it (ph, too much of another nute, etc.) You might try to folliar feed a light (25% strength) dose of flower fert to the leaves. You've got to somehow get that ph in the 6.6 to 6.9 range.
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
I don't know, man. It does look like a bit of P def, regarless of what is causing it (ph, too much of another nute, etc.) You might try to folliar feed a light (25% strength) dose of flower fert to the leaves. You've got to somehow get that ph in the 6.6 to 6.9 range.
Im working on the PH problem using water with just a pinch of baking soda. PH of this solution is 7.75ish. I gave it just a little 16oz maybe of this and I will give it a little each day. I just checked the ph of the again and it is around the same maybe a little higher like 6.25 or a little more instead of 6-6.25. I foliar fed the NL grow big at the recommended amount. I only did it to a portion of the plant to see how it reacts. I will go do the flowering plant but Im going to do it even a little less of the dosage then recommended.
 

Dezracer

Well-Known Member
Glad to hear you have come up with an initial plan of correction. There's a lot of trial and error that goes along with this stuff and sometimes all you can do is pick one thing to start trying and see what happens. Maybe you get it on the first shot, maybe not. The important thing is to only try one thing at a time and in small increments, like you said you are doing.

Good luck man. I hope you get it corrected easily.
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
Glad to hear you have come up with an initial plan of correction. There's a lot of trial and error that goes along with this stuff and sometimes all you can do is pick one thing to start trying and see what happens. Maybe you get it on the first shot, maybe not. The important thing is to only try one thing at a time and in small increments, like you said you are doing.

Good luck man. I hope you get it corrected easily.
Thanks man, I hope so too
 

SmokeyMcPotJK

Active Member
Pics from yesterday
Thats stick fly strips on top of the pot. They are non toxic I think its just some kinda mineral oil resin or something like that.
I havent seen any fungus gnats in a few days
Pic 3 you will see the infamous CLF burn, lol...when the main cola recovered from being super cropped it got burnt a bit...i got it ghetto lst'd now...you can see the blue ribbon hanging from the main cola...it has a keychain on the bottom that i hang more shit on as needed, lol
 

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