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So after setting up a leaky grow box (learned the hard way that enough darkness is as important as enough light and had a plant go herm that might not otherwise), I decided to invest in a better and more discreet arrangement. The result so far is an improvement, though I'll be making adjustments and posting them here.

The Chassis

Based on a project posted in another thread here by BrothaGreen, I chose a Sterilite brand tall resin utility cabinet for its dimensions, light weight, water resistance, and ease of cutting for any necessary modifications. The one I bought was on the short list and when it went on sale I went for it.

I assumed I'd need to cut ventilation and cord access holes in it, but during assembly I discovered that the twin walls were not solid, with some but not all of the structural channels leaking a little reflected light through alternating perforations. This actually became an advantage and I ended up only having to make one cut, a notch in the bottom for extension cords I threaded up through one large channel.

I got the hook sides of stick-on velcro squares and put them top and bottom over the light-leaking holes, and then covered the holes with rectangles cut from a sheet carbon prefilter (already have several for an air cleaner). This serves to screen out light seepage and allow airflow as well as making sure that air exchanged with the outside goes through deodorizing carbon.

(continued in next post)

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looks nice dude

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I decided on LED panels when I decided to go with a small-space grow box.

• only an inch deep by a foot square
• minimal heat output
• plants can be very close to bulbs
• low power consumption makes running on a small power backup feasible/affordable

After price hunting, I got three 14-watt GlowPanels and one 45-watt GlowPanel from a couple of different sources, totalling just under 300.00 shipped. The main grow chamber has the 45 at top and two of the 14's on either side (abt 245.00 for this area). The other 14-watt will be for vegging, either in the lower area of this cabinet or in a separate lidded tub. These are all the Sunshine Systems brand.

The heat generated by these lights is truly negligible, but the light they put out really surprised/blinded me. Not sure if just the 45-watt would be enough (it is described as being equivalent to a 250-watt HPS) but I feel certain that the 45 with the 14w twins are puh-lenty. And again, the heat is so low that I am only using a computer case-type fan to circulate air in the closet. Ventilation is passive, through the carbon-covered holes.

The case fan was purchased already modded to hook up to a usb port, and I got a small outlet multiplier with usb ports that it plugs into. Even on high, it's extremely quiet. It moves the leaves gently. This afternoon I opened the closet after being away for more than a day, and the air inside was just barely warmer than the air in the room. Plant seems very happy, more on that next post.

I did not paint or line the interior of the closet before hanging the lights as I needed to move the plant in pronto, and though there is a tiny bit of light seepage along the hinges and door edges which can be easily corrected, I hadn't anticipated that the walls themselves might not be sufficiently opaque. Frankly I don't think this will be an issue for the plants inside the box, but it sure detracts from the "discreet" goal of this project! When the lights are on it looks like we're harboring a secret government operation involving aliens, plutonium and Hello Kitty.

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yeah but damn led lights are still expensive as hell!

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This plant almost didn't make it out of seedling stage. It folded over its cotelydons and looked effectively dead for almost 2 weeks, then sprouted new life out of nowhere and started showing good characteristics; strong stems, compact-ish growth, nice leaves and smell... just a hottie. This plant has been with us through several major crises and therefore a lot of neglect and chaos, and yet has thrived. She showed female about a month ago but I had to keep her vegging while the box got together. I trained her several weeks ago, so she was like this when moved to the box. She's almost4 months old and only just now getting to flower, but I think she's going to shine.

Already she is showing more trichomes than the herm did at the end (we let it finish so we could have *something*--at least got some ok cannabutter out of it). She looks happier by the day, as she was cramped and overdue to start flowering in the old place. Leaves straighening out to soak up light, no gnats, etc. been feeding Open Sesame, Big Bloom and occasional humic acid for about 2 weeks now, getting ready for the move.

The first 2 pics were taken using the macro setting on the camera. The others 2 were taken through a photographer's loupe. There's a closeup version of each. I have two clones of this plant coming along.

Forgot to mention in the last post that when I opened the doors after more than 24 hours, not only was it barely warmer, it was also the first time I smelled the plant. So the carbon-covered perforations seem to be working.

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hey Maz,

yeah, they are defnitely not as cheap as CFLs but having had a mix of standard and larger CFLs up till now, I realized even they kick out enough heat that a closed spot would be a problem. I would have had to set up an active exhaust system, and invested in a reflector fixture, etc. I did find an inexpensive source for the higher-watt CFLs but also found them easy to break. And the ability to hook this up to a little power backup system was important, because we have a lot of outages here, many just a minute or five, but frequent... and that could really screw things up. Right now it's on a little UPS sized for a computer that will cover it for small blips like that, but I've found a way to build one cheaply with substantial capacity for longer outages (say, up to 2 or 3 hours).

Overall, I kept coming back to LED as I thought about what I wanted and needed from this, and I think it will be a good investment. Based on the heat factor and the response from this one plant over the last few days, I'm feeling good about it. I think this will be a reliable grow chamber for a long while yet.

On the down side, I can't afford to invest in quality seed much right now, but I've got the two clones from this up-and-comer and some seed we just found from the last good weed we got about a year ago. Maybe for christmas i will ask the merry fat guy for some feminized autoflowers :)

thanks for checking out my new closet!

Closet is awesome,nice lights,id line the inside with b+w to stop that leak.
Hope you have great results with your new setup.
Be interesting to watch,im in,popcorn ready!
All the best.

__________________
I might not change the world but ill spark the mind that does.2 Pac.

Hey, Hydro! Thanks for stopping in Yes, considered paint but if I can find the 2-sided paper that would be both better and faster.

The lights are kinda freaky. If you tinker around in the pink glow too long the rest of the world looks sea green when you pull your head back out.

The closet is big enough to take a small hydroponic setup like an Emily's Garden if the time comes to make that switch. Reading up on that these days. For fancy strains, it seems like it would be worth it.

stay tuned~

Okay, so I lined the walls with aluminum foil, not so much for reflectivity but for privacy and to prevent too much light from seeping through the walls. I considered black and white liner film and may still go that way but decided to try doing the inside of the veg box (same type of box as this but half as tall) with bonding primer and white paint, to keep the clutter down in the small space and the existing ventilation holes freed up, and it worked out pretty well (pics of that another time). When this plant is done I will probably treat the inside of this closet the same way before starting the next flower batch.

Temps have been manageable, the basement itself has been around 76-78 f., higher on hot days, and the inside of the box gets between 79-81. I often put an ice pack in the chamber (outside of the white bin, but where the fan blows over it) and that helps cool it down a bit extra at night and on scorchers. Since we are using this room more I may try to get a vent added to the AC ducts so the basement will be cooler in summer which will help.

The plant is at about 2 weeks of flowering and has been pretty happy BUT started stretching, which made me look at the lighting situation. The GlowPanel45, which on some pages is advertised as being a 45-watt light (makes sense with the name), actually seems to be a 28-watt light, based on some smallish print on the box and a product description on Amazon. Although the box is blinding inside, it just wasn't quite enough & was making the branches lankier than they have been. However flowering has not been arrested and after intense scrutiny I see no traces of Boy Joy, so I believe it is safe to say she is All Girl. I have ordered a different brand of panel that uses 50 watts so we'll see how that goes. Meanwhile I moved the third 14w GlowPanel from the veg chamber (where it was doing OK but not fantastic) and into the closet to boost the lumens and veeeeeery gently bent the tallest branch down a little at a very broad arc, then moved the shelf down a tad. Too soon to tell really but I think it's slowing down with the stretching already.

I took pics inside and outside the box so you can see the color and canopy. Very happy with progress so far.

Except that in a year, LED grow lights will be better and cheaper.

Focus on the candy...

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