Grow Room First Time Grower, Newbie and I have 4'x4'x2' deep box - Help

[Joe420]

Hey everyone..new to the site and to growing. I wanted to start with AFs bcuz of the size and supposely fast harvest times. Although it looks like 12 weeks no matter what.

I am limited on space, Im using a 4'x4' closet in an apt..soo cant go too big. After alot of readings...I had decided to forgo buying any kind of box, way over priced. I figured I can just as easy throw together 6 pc of wood with some screws and spend my money on better lights. I have about $300 budget for this..might be able to do more, I'll just have to start selling the gf! lol

So my first thought was to build a 4' high x 4' x 2' deep. Im not crazy about the 2', but any bigger than that, I wont be able to get into the closet, open the doors and do any work inside the box..I did 4' high to keep cost down on the wood, scrap pieces are 4x4's n 4x2's..I also felt like 4' would be high enuf with AFs..but others have said no.

I wanted to with a hydro system. Was looking at the Bins with 6 plants, but its been bugging me ever since. The plants need more space than that right?

Its been mentioned that I should also start with lesser plants.

Would the 3.5 or 5 gal DWC buckets work better than the 3 or 6 plant bin setup?

With only a 4'x4x'2' box ...is this consider a Micro Grow?

As far as lights, I had my eye on a iPower 400w Hps/MH with hood..but now im not sure if thats going to be too much light/heat in this box..

Should I go with CFL?

...and then theres the Ventilation. Totally not sure what to do here.
Looked at getting two 100cfm fans, one for the top n one for the bot.

Not sure how the carbin filters work, but I know I need it! lol

All the help I can get is appreitated..TY guys..

 

[Eekman]

Joe420,.

Welcome to AFN, I will re read this post to comment further, but I wanted to say hi and welcome, and dinner's about ready.

Anyways glad youi are here, and hope to see you around.

I'll be bahck,


Eek

 

[A4]

Hey Joe,
Welcome to AFN.
Let me see if I can help out a little bit and I am sure others will chime in as well.
1) Don't go hydro. Your space is too small, you will have a difficult time keeping your res cool, combine those with the learning curve of keeping pH and EC in check and it is a recipe for disaster.
2) I would suggest starting with soil or promix/sunshine mix. Preferably promix/sunshine. It is very user friendly, you won't have to worry about pH fluctuations(as much) and it is a lot less hassle learning. Plus, you will get a lot of help here with that medium. There are a few good hydro growers here but the questions go unanswered for days some times.
3) If you are in a closet, maybe consider not using any type of box. Just use the closet and paint it flat white. Much easier than trying to deal with a structure in a structure.
4) iPower makes very good, reasonably priced bulbs. I don't know much about their ballasts but I have used their bulbs and they work great.
5) Keep it simple, don't use both MH/HPS, if you are on a budget just go with HPS. It will veg the plant fine until you can get your budget up.
6) Ventilation, that is going to be a kicker in a closet. If you are in a house I would suggest doing what I did with my first indoor grow years ago. Put a fan in the ceiling pulling air into the attic and put a small A/C filter frame into the wall that is in a surrounding bedroom. That will let the cool air come in through the filter and the fan will pull the hot air that naturally goes up, out of the space into the attic.
7) For carbon filters, with a space that small you could do a re-circulation carbon filter setup where a fan just pulls air through the filter and dumps it back into the room. It will just continuously cycle the air in the closet and will work fine for a small area. You won't even need it on until late in the grow. Probably a week or two into flowering.

Hope that helps!

 

[Eekman]

I think you would be fine with CFL, as long as you have a good extraction system, but keep an eye on the heat. you should be the one who chooses how many plants. But think about the space each one will take up.The more plants, the more air circulation you will need as well.

Look around, other's have good methods.


Just something to think about. But jump in we will see what happens ay?


Eek

 

[Joe420]

After some more thinking, might just go with the closet space...4'x4'x7'high..

What kind of fans will I need for the space?

With 7' height..Looks like im back to 400w hps light.

 

[hank]

10" fan will be fine. you will want air being removed, 400w does not put off much heat so a min of 4" in duct fan or a 6" will work better.
I would go with a cool tube or a cool hood that pulls air from the tent to cool.

it will help keep the tent and bulb cool.