Time to try! Need your advice!

Hey everyone!

I've been searching awhile, trying to understand all aspects of growing in a cabinet! "What is the best solution for _____" <- lots of these on Google! Interestingly, a lot of the answers pointed to this forum! Thought I'd join and run what I'd cobbled together by some folks smarter than I.

I plan to write code to automate the whole rig using an Arduino and some C++ muscle. Specifically, pH and soil moisture management.

Here's the parts list I cobbled together, wanted to see if you guys could shoot it down. It's going to be indoors, in a home with central air, so "scent" management is important. My wife will also kill me if it looks like a plywood box with shit dangling out of it, so I'm trying to use a wife-approved cab. Here goes.

• The cab is a 24 x 24 x 80 IKEA kitchen cabinet. I know that it's particle board, but it looks nice, and I'm hopeful that the melamine foil is enough to keep it from dying in a high humidity environment. Might this work? https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/sektion-high-cabinet-with-shelves-2-doors-brown-tingsryd-black-s79360301/
• I'd section the cab into 3 parts, top for air management and computer electronics, middle for grow, bottom for water tanks (connected to the computer & pumps). I figured I'd line the middle cab with Mylar, which seems to have good reflective and fire retardant properties. https://www.amazon.ca/VIVOSUN-Horticulture-Highly-Reflective-Mylar/dp/B018VI77QW/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=adhesive+mirror+roll&qid=1586489107&sr=8-17
• At the top of the grow cab, would be a 1000W LED. These can get insanely expensive it seems! But I want the cost savings on electricity, and lamps seem to be a top source of heat / frustration. This guy here, got some decent reviews. Works? https://www.amazon.ca/Roleadro-Galaxyhydro-Indoor-Lights-Spectrum/dp/B00PH1MQV8?th=1
• In the section above the grow area, would be a AcInfinity T4 fan to draw air from the main cab. https://www.acinfinity.com/component-cooling/inline-duct-fan-systems/cloudline-t4-quiet-inline-duct-fan-system-with-temperature-and-humidity-controller-4-inch/
• The air would push through 2 inline charcoal filters before leaving the cab. Hopefully this would keep particulates and smell way down.
• At the bottom of the grow cab, I'd position an HKS automotive mushroom filter to filter what becomes a passive intake.
• Bottom of the cab will contain 3 solution buckets with corrective pH solutions that I can code to pump into a mix tank before getting pumped into individual plants.

I figured I'd need some kind of seal inside the grow section, I imagined something like this might work well:

What do you guys think of a setup such as this? Any weak spots?

Thanks for sharing any related experiences!

I kinda did similar...but big box of 4 seperate boxes @ 24" x 48" x 40" each...all managed by an Arduino...hydro though so just temp humid sensors a few relays and pumps etc.
The only thing I'd say to start would be the light...your making a 24" x 24" box so thats 4 sq feet...@ ~30Watts/ft your light only needs to be ~120 watts (true draw) for that space...if using quality LED light.

Cool! Two parts I'm not to sure of, are the best way to humidify, and wondering if the mylar would act as a vapor barrier. I saw this stuff too, which seems to be a better insulant:

I did have one question on how one would "manually" manage pH. For example, if a strain needs a pH of 6.4. Do you just measure the water's pH until it is at 6.4, and keep watering with that? Or does it "build up" in the soil, where it can get more acid than the water's level itself? Hope that Made sense...

I got ur back I have a similar cabinet I've started at my home click on my name and check out my posts ull like what I've got going on

It does look similar! Very cool!

Hi mate. I wouldn't worry about chipboard getting damp, itll be a few years down the line if you do have problems. Make sure the mylar is stuck on good, and use aluminium tape to tape up gaps and edges, that will be a semi effective vapour barrier (like you said) , but if you've applied glue to the entire surface rather than small dots or patches then there won't be a gap for moisture to form.

You're way over on you led power needs, 1000w is way too much, 200w is more than enough.

Carbon filter setup, good idea on doubling them up, however I've not seen any designed to be daisy chained. I reckon you'd have to diy some kind of enclosure to be able to series them (assuming you're going for series rather than parallel).

Everything else seems spot on. You might want to experiment to see where light leaks out of though. Also maybe run some thick adhesive around all joints in cupboard to improve its structural longevity.