Help me design my next grow cabinet!

Hey guys, moving to a new place in August and after not growing for a year I'm looking to get back into the game! I plan to keep it small and stealthy, I will stick to what I know with a 12/12 from seed or autoflower SOG. I want to get as many 1 cola plants in there as possible, really get a pot in every square CM. I've grown in kind of botched systems before but this time I want to build a really nice cab I can use for years to come.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Cabinet:
Thinking of getting something like this, I will try and get something local at the time though. Dimensions are (W) 73cm (D) 45cm (H) 72cm. This will give me space for 12x 3 litre pots.

Ventilation:

4 Inch fan system with carbon filter, like this

Light:

This is where I'm unsure. I found a cheap t5 unit on the bay here but I'm pretty sure this will not give me enough light for 12 little plants even with the 4 tube unit. I was thinking of supplementing it with some 125w Cfls or possibly a home made 70w hps unit. Alternatively I was thinking of getting a 250w Hps in an open reflector or maybe even a 400w in a cooltube but im not sure if this will give me lots of heat issues further down the line as it's such a small space.


Grow Specifics:

Planning on growing 12/12 from seed or autoflowers (which ever you guys think will complement the SOG style most). Planting in square 3L pots using biobizz lightmix and biobizz nutes.

What do you guys reckon?

Cheers, toke on

First off id go for a tent instead of a cabinet.

They already have holes for ducting and you can get them pretty cheap. ~$75

After that id suggest a very indica strain or, like you said, autos for a single cola.

As for light go for the 250 or the 400 (not in the cab) and make sure no matter which one you get you get a cooltube.

Itll save you alot and be worth it in the long run.

Nutes seem fine, any will work if you know how to use them.


Other than that i can only recommend using 3L airpots because they reduce root circling and help your plants get more air through the roots.

Good luck with your grow!

budbro18 said:

First off id go for a tent instead of a cabinet.

They already have holes for ducting and you can get them pretty cheap. ~$75

After that id suggest a very indica strain or, like you said, autos for a single cola.

As for light go for the 250 or the 400 (not in the cab) and make sure no matter which one you get you get a cooltube.

Itll save you alot and be worth it in the long run.

Nutes seem fine, any will work if you know how to use them.


Other than that i can only recommend using 3L airpots because they reduce root circling and help your plants get more air through the roots.

Good luck with your grow!

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the reply.

For stealth reason I'm pretty committed to keeping it in a cabinet, a tent is just to obvious to have lying around as a fair few people will be coming through my place (mostly women with any luck ;]) so I really want to seal it up tight with some draft protector in the door and panel gaps with a nice lock on the front.

So would a 400w cooltube be overkill in this scenario? What about the 250w in an open reflector or a cooltube? One is literally double the price of the other but I don't mind splashing out to make this unit usable for years to come.

yeah a 400w would be pretty hard to keep cool, youd have to reveal your stealth-ness with the size fan youd need to cool it.

Similar to the 250 watt even with a cooltube. thats always the hard thing about going stealth with HID. The fans needed to cool it are usually too loud or too big to conceal.

You dont have a closet you can hide a tent in? or go for a slightly bigger cabinet because the size of the one youre looking at would have a hard time fitting everything you want in it.

Id get some cfls or a bigger cabinet if you plan to do HID

at best youd be able to use something like this but youd still have heat issues i believe.

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-FLORALUX-150w-HPS-Mini-Grow-Light.asp#