Stealth Closet, ventilation questions

Ok, I started with trying to do a grow in my attic, but after posting the question here and thinking more about it, I decided to scrap that idea... Now I'm on to a stealth closet grow. I want to keep the closet doors closed at all times, unless I need to do stuff obviously. So I'm going to light proof the doors and need to figure out ventilation so nothing looks fishy. Here were my ideas... Getting panda plastic or whatever that stuff is called and putting it behind the closet doors, getting a zipper and making it so I can open and close the plastic like a door behind the real closet doors. This is to help block out all light from escaping the closet and increasing light reflectivity. Seem ok? Next up is ventilation... hot air out is easy, i punch a hole in the closet up to the attic, no biggie there. The issue is getting fresh air in... I want this to be stealth so I'm not just going to pop a hole at the base of the closet, that would look weird. My idea was to get a long duct hose and have it travel from the bottom of the closet, up through the attic, and make it looks like another AC vent in the room. I would put this vent on the opposite side of the room from where there is one already. Most rooms in this house actually have two ac vents per room except the room I'm in now so it would look normal. My only question is, the AC return unit is right outside of this room... If I have a fan constantly sucking air up and into the closet, will that cause any issue with that room getting hot? Or anything else? Here is a pic to help you guys understand more.



All the stuff in the picture is stuff that is there RIGHT now... so the ac vent is directly next to the closet, I would want to put another ac looking vent on the opposite side of the room and it would actually suck air in and dispense it at the base of the closet. No hoses to be seen anywhere unless closet doors were open. But again, will this cause any issues with air circulation in the room, heat, or the rest of the house if there is a vent constantly sucking and it being so close to the return unit.

Also, with the dimenstion of that closet, what could I fit in there? 2-3 plants? What kind of light would I need? a 400 or 600 watt MH/HPS? Or two 250 watt MH/HPS to spread the light more. All help is appreciated, I just have to keep this stealth. With the doors closed on the closet I want somebody to be able to walk in the room and have no clue anything is growing in the closet. With my last grow you KNEW because even with the doors closed there was BRIGHT light coming out of it with all my CFL's, lol.

Anybody? Not exactly what to search for to find answers...

passive intake oversize your exhaust air will be drawn in automatically no need for an intake(or a whole), you can never seal 100%.

You have the right idea..yes plasitic and make a door out of it with a zipper..make sure to get the thick plastic so u can have sterdy "door" and a vent hole..you really wont meed to worry bout "intake" only exaust..its really easy to cutba small X in the plastic..this way the ducting can squeeze thru plastic nice and snugg so you can now duct tape around it for leaks..you will onlynprobley need a 4 inch inline fan..4inch ducting..and a small 4 inch can filter to clean your air and clean the smell also

I run a bigg size room with no intake air..only.filter whats in there and works fine

So will the heat exiting be strong enough to pull in cool air as well? Thats my concern... with the lighting heating up that small closet i was concerned there would not be enough cool air coming in to keep it cool. I know I can't make it 100% leak proof but isn't there a point where you would need intake to counter balance the heat from the lights? Again, I'm just asking because I don't know, but I don't want to start up this project to just find out that I did need intake.

And I wouldn't be putting in duct through the plastic... the heat exiting will be through the roof to the attic... so the panda plastic door would be solid except a zipper, unless I'm forgetting something.

sudodaemon said:

So will the heat exiting be strong enough to pull in cool air as well? Thats my concern... with the lighting heating up that small closet i was concerned there would not be enough cool air coming in to keep it cool. I know I can't make it 100% leak proof but isn't there a point where you would need intake to counter balance the heat from the lights? Again, I'm just asking because I don't know, but I don't want to start up this project to just find out that I did need intake.

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not need to counter balance so long as the fan is strong it will pull the air out(the fresh air that comes in from the pull) as the lights heat it up, keep the air rising so venting into your attic is ideal.

I started with a small.sloset witj five plants and a 600.watt light with a plastic door..i ductuted thru plastic tho i get what ir sayin now..good idea exiting up.into attic. YESS the inline fan will pull really hard and push the hot air out of your light so it eill be cooled and definitely will also pull in fresh new air..you could do a 400 watt

just google passive intake

ok, so this project just got a little easier not having to worry about intake. How about lighting? should I do one 600 watt? a 400 watt?

with this many ?s, a 400w, since you have a basic idea but you have a ways to go

Yeah id go with a 400 watt and squeeze as many plants as you can in there with a small fan to blow thru the plants....and thats what this place is for is questions and answers so ask away in my opinion

I wld also not do normal big.sized plants in a closet..do a sea of green with more smaller 1 gal pots to get more nice looking nuggs and better yield

what kind of reflectors are you gonna use and what kind of filter?

this is how i would set it up based on the dimensions,

x2 400w one HPS one halide x2 160w mercury vapor(reptile bulbs) 6in centrifugal fan blowing(not a duct/axial fan) in to filter at highest point or really close to the bulbs(unless you have air cooled reflectors in which i i would connect the 2 duts with a Tee to the fan, fan still at a high point on room blowing into filter), filter in attic, 2 oscilating fans one on eachend, and what ever i need to grow

TenEmies said:

I wld also not do normal big.sized plants in a closet..do a sea of green with more smaller 1 gal pots to get more nice looking nuggs and better yield

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i agree yet i would go with 3 gal pots or something bigger than 1 gals as they will need a lot of attention, this is what i was doing till recently.

My last plant in this closet was Big Bud, it ended up growing to be 4ft tall and about 4 ft wide lol. Grew it with CFL's and got 4.7 Oz off of it. So I'm actively looking for seeds for a pure indica plant so I don't have to fight with the size again. I was thinking to start with the new setup I'd do two plants and practice something like a sea of green.

Also, this is a hydro grow... I was going to get another 10 gallon res like I have now.

Tell.me about it! I have 200 1 gals and water every two days! I pull around hlf oz per OG plants and little more for other strains..seems like he cld handle a small closet

You cld do more then two..your whole closet cld be a cannopy of tops..good luck friend!!