Hello all,
I am planning on a Stealth wardrobe grow...
MY FIRST

(space, smell, heat and noise are all an issue)

my space is 150cm high by 100cm wide and 55 cm deep

inside will be painted white

I plan on using a 300watt dual spectrum cfl with reflector
and then rougly 100watt of small energy savers for sides of plant

I am also planning to use a bathroom extractor fan for intake but im not sure what fan will be suitable for extraction to exchange the amount of air in that space or if it will cope with the amount heat of lights, can anyone give me some advice..? (+ an odour sock or something for smell?)

Will be using 1-2 clip on oscilatings fans for circulation

Planning to use a heavy yielding strain such as big bud, 5 female seeds vegged at 3-4 weeks depending on space!

Will be using an all mix grow from local hydro shop for medium, and hesi starter kit for nutes.

An approximate figure...

£70 lights/reflector
£100 intake, extraction, circulation, filter, ducting
£30 seeds
£100 pots/nutes/medium

All help/comments/critisisms greatyl appreciated

Save yourself some cash on the nutes and stick to normal multi purpose compost, biobiz and rootgrow/plant magic granules, and rather spend the extra cash on proper extraction + cf and a 250w hid instead of the cfl - you should have enough head room and with an aircooled reflector the heat shouldnt be a problem - i have a 400w in a slightly larger space and there is such a difference veging and flowering between cfl and hid lights.

Take a peek at the various 250w hid grow diaries and compare them to the 250+w cfl ones and you'll see the extra 100 quid now will make a huge difference later on.

i really think that a 250w hps will be too hot in the space I have... which is why i opted for cfl, Ive been studying the bonsai micro grow and that guy gets 6oz off 125w blue cfl and a 125 red cfl.. .7g per watt

My flower is drobe 60cm wide x 50 cm deep x 190 cm height and with adequate extraction i have a 400w in there - i do have an aircooled reflector which made a huge difference. I realise i have 40cm height on your drobe but am currently not actually using the extra head room and have the pots raised up at least a foot.

and whats your greatest yield with that 400?

I have not done a single grow using the whole space and have spaced out a number of plants (time wise) - the largest yielding one was about 4-4 1/2 oz in a 10litre pot, i will be trying a scrog attempt with a 30litre pot and hope to start training the plant for that in a few weeks time and start 12/12 at the end of the month so will be able to give a complete grows yield for a 400w in my limited space - i dont think light is my problem i get over 70w / sq ft its more the actual floor space i have to fit the pots in which will limit my results - the 400w was originally bought for a 1m2 bud box and i would have probably got a 250w for the drobe.

From most posts on the site re cfl vs hid and if you have the space + extraction it is the way to go.

You are incorrect in your assumption about the HPS being too hot, compared to CFL.

Firstly, you need to understand that in any form of lighting, electricity is converted to 2 main components, which are heat and light. Since HPS lights put out more light than the equivalent wattage of cfl, there is less electrical energy left that is being converted to heat, therefore 250 watts of HPS will heat up your space less than 250w of cfl.

The main reason people think HPS are hotter is that the majority of their heat is radiated, rather than convected, which makes a "hot spot" in the area immediately surrounding the bulb. They feel hotter up close, but overall your space will be cooler than it would be with cfls.

Added to this is the fact that cfl ballasts are built in to the bulb, which makes even more heat. With an HPS, the ballast can be located outside the grow area.

The only thing cfls are good for is areas with very limited height, since the plants can be placed closer to the bulb, because the heat is spreat out more, and convention ensures that the heat they produce mainly goes upwards rather than outwards.

The bottom line is that 250w of CFL will make your space hotter than 250w of HPS, and 400 watts of cfl, like you are planning, will be even worse, and will give a similar amount of light to the 250, for the sake of more electric and overall heat.

I must therefore echo highgrower's advice. Get a 250 HPS, and if cost is a factor, save the money that you would have spent on nutes and posh soil, and instead get a bag of multipurpose compost, and a litre each of biobizz grow and bloom. For the soil, nutes and pots, you shouldn't have to spend more than about 40 quid, possibly only 30. If you can pick up a cheap HPS, you could even spend the remaining money on a cooltube, which will make heat even less of an issue.

Sorry for the post length mate, but I hope this helps.


EDIT:
Just noticed this part of your post:


Don't buy an odorsok, they are crap and do not work. Spend the money on a proper CF instead. I am in the process of building a drobe which sounds very similar to yours, since I lost the use of my previous space and had to scale back. I am on a mega-budget, but i recently sorted out my entire extraction quite cheaply, and it seems to do the job just fine.

I bought a 100mm "vents VK" fan from fleabay, and also a 100mm "prima klima" carbon filter. Together they cost less than 60 quid. Additionally, i bought 5m of ducting and some jubilee clips for just over 10 quid, so my entire extraction cost about 70 quid in total. I had my doubts about the fan before I ordered it, as it was so cheap compared to the ruck or rvk fans, but it does a fantastic job of moving air. My only complaint is that it is noisy as fuck, but that can easily be sorted before I put the drobe into use.

I'm not saying that you should go as cheap as this, as money spent on extraction and odor control is money well spent, but i'm happy with this setup, considering what I had available to spend, and I reckon it will do the job just fine.


Again, sorry for the essay, but since my drobe size is pretty similar to yours I thought this would help.

haha your lengthy essays are very useful to me, ok so now im thinking get a 400w hps with cool tube, and maybe a 150m fan/filter, with a bathroom fan as intake,this should piss the job? I can get the height up of the grow up to 200cm if needed.

I dont understand though, if you get a cool tube, were do you put the carbon filter? at the end of your extraction?

In order to save space i have my cf outside of the drobe and am pushing air through it rather than pulling, i would avoid the cool tube as the reflector is crap and go for one of the other air cooled lights. As Nocturnal says getting the extraction sorted is pretty much the most important thing to get right - i would probably stick with a 250w hid over a 400w one as u can get the plants that little bit closer to it without burning and if you are limited height wise you can gain an extra few inches - but if you extraction is good then the extra lumen wont go a miss.

It is very easy to cut costs when you are setting up a small grow but it is most important that you spend money on the basics or you will end up rebuying and wasting time on poor crops. Get yourself a ruck with a proper cf and a 250w hps hobby package and then spend some time reading up on drobe design for help on light proofing and passive intakes. If you get the basics right you will be rewarded with good healthy crops even with basic multipurpose compost and £5 bottle of fishmix.

Great post on cfl vs hps on heat Nocturnal. You should be on wikipedia!