550w scrog cabinet project plans

[Elephunk]

I'm going to be building myself a nice little cabinet from scratch and this is what I've come up with. A 42"H x 30" W x 20" D 550w scrog cabinet. I plan to use 4 100w MH bulbs + 1 150w HPS bulb for Veg. For flower it will be the reverse, 4 100w HPS bulbs + 1 150w MH bulb for flower. I figure this way there is some balance with the color spectrum and hopefully the plants respond well to it.

Edit: I will be using dual 250w HPS with UV-B and blue LED supplements

I also plan to have a very simple co2 system set up. It uses a 20oz paintball co2 bottle, an on/off valve (also a paintball item I had), and some hose. I will have to turn the co2 on/off manually, but that's all good. This whole co2 deal is more of just a little experiment to see if it will increase the yield.

Edit: The whole co2 idea is off the drawing board. Too dangerous for this application and it's simply not needed. Fresh air will do the trick nicely.

I'll be growing in organic soil for now I think. Unless I can find a really simple dwc system that is easy to build and works well. I don't know much about dwc's... Do they need a reservoir or is it all self contained? If it's easy enough I might try it out.

I'm going to just follow the tutorial on the pencil carbon scrubber. It looks really clean and it's small which is perfect. And I'm just going to use some computer fans to ventilate.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Any ideas on what I could improve would be appreciated. This is of course just a rough drawing of what I'm planning out. It's just about all there, but I know I'll have some design changes when I actually go to build it. But this is what I've come up with so far.

 

[Siddartha]

Wow, nice!

Maybe you could rotate the lights when you switch, 3 mh 2hps -> 2mh 3 hps -> 1mh 4hps to see what they like and how they respond to a gradual shift. I dunno, I'm thinking out loud. Sounds like a sweet idea, I don't know how much grow experience you have but it seems people always say try to master the space first then add CO2, but you could already be an awesome grower, lol, I'm a n00b.

 

[KushaNator]

The idea is great...BUT say your fans fail and it gets to be over a 100 degrees. You have a Co2 bottle in your box. That is a recipe for disaster, this means a big boom with the potential to send shrapnel throughout your room. Not only that you cannot just slow bleed the Co2 into your box with your hose. You have to get one of those fancy regulated ones that puff out Co2 at a constant healthy level for plants.

Just get your self some gatorade bottles, yeast, water, and of course good ole sugar. Cheaper and much more effective.

Another thing you have 500+ watts of lighting and 247 cfms sucking hot air out. You should always match your wattage with outtake. If not have a damn good fan that can suck air out.

Last but not least just get your self 2 250 watt hps. Cheaper than buy 4 100 watters and you do not really need the MH. 2 lights instead of 5 means less heat which is much more manageable. I run a 250 and I struggled with heat until I made major modifications and now my temps are constantly about 76-80 degrees.

The idea isn't bad it just seems kind of far fetched and you could make it easier on yourself.

Good luck and may your results look like this!

 

[Elephunk]

Thanks guys... And yes I have done grows before, but on a much larger scale. This was more of a personal deal. I wanted to make my own little cabinet so I could try out different strains that I've collected. And also just because I wanted a new little stoner project .

The deal with the co2... I was a bit worried about it too. I was planning on completely sealing off the lights from the rest of the chamber and making it air tight so no co2 could get in. But that is very true about the fans possibly going out. But again the co2 is more of just an after thought that I most likely won't even use. I just happen to have all the stuff lying around so I figured I'd include it in the diagram just as another idea. I'm more interested in first getting the cabinet really dialed in than worrying about all the other stuff.

So... The co2 thing is most likely just going to remain as an idea on the drawing board.

The lights are what I've really been thinking about. Yes the two 250w lights would be awesome, but I would also have to buy the ballasts to run them. With the 100 and 150w bulbs you don't need any ballasts. They are standard E26 socket size and will just screw right into the fixtures. No extra ballast costs needed. But at the same time they don't have the output of the 250w which is why I was thinking of using so many to give an even spread of light over the entire canopy.

The 100w HPS bulbs put out approximately 8550 lumens. The 150w HPS puts out approximately 14000 lumens. The 100w MH bulbs put out around 6800 lumens. And the 150w MH bulb puts out around 11300. Yeah, I know it sounds like wayyy overkill... But whatever, I want those buds to be rock hard and dense as all hell. But like you said, I will have to watch out for those temps. I'll just have to make adjustments once I have it up and running and see if I need more ventilation fans going.

I think I do want to keep it varied though with the different bulbs. I've never tried mixing bulbs. For my larger grows I usually use all HPS bulbs during flower. So I think for this cabinet I can do a little experimenting with the mixed bulbs during flower just to see how it affects the growth. Maybe the MH bulbs help add more resin or something or tighten up the buds even more. I personally have no clue as I've never bothered with MH bulbs.

Any other ideas you guys can think of that I haven't thought about? I think we just about covered it all. Need more thought on the ventilation. The co2 idea is dead. I've decided now that I won't even bother with it. And I think I am sticking with the amount of bulbs just because that way I don't have to buy the 250w ballasts. Just have to control those temps now.

sweet deal... if you guys have any ideas of your own on how this could be better improved, by all means post them up! Thanks for the help guys.

 

[tngreen]

design looks good but i think the lighting is way overkill. cooling that many bulbs will be tough. the 100w do need ballasts, not sure where you are getting that from. simply plugging it into the wall won't do anything. you can do that with cfls because they have the ballast built into the housing. 2 250w lights would be much easier to cool and give you equal light distribution on either side. aircooled lights would be a big help too.

 

[Guest]

Elephunk I think KushaNator and tngreen hit the nail right on the head too much bulbs and harder to cool and u can't run hps or mh without a ballast.I'll give u a idea on wat i would do for a cab that size is run 1 250w hps and 2 105w 6500k cfl to have a more full spectrum and get 84.1w psft and use the same ventilation as u have.

 

[Elephunk]

well shit... I didn't think you needed a ballast for a bulb that small. I thought once you hit the 250s you would need the ballasts, but I guess not. Then in that case the new design will most likely use dual 250w bulbs.

I mainly wanted that many bulbs just so I could blanket the entire canopy with an even mix of blue/red light. I was trying to get that blue light mixed in as even as possible with the red light to avoid that zig zag affect.

hmmm... ok

I think I'm going to try going with dual 250w HPS bulbs and I'll mount some blue LED strips up in there too just to give me that bit of nice blue light. What do you guys think of that? Should be a lot easier to cool now too.

edit: I really like your idea also pothead. That is definitely some food for thought on how to set this thing up as best as possible. That way I save money on 1 ballast... I'm still getting approximately 25000 lumens from that single bulb... And then couple that with two 105w 6500k CFLs. And it's a whole lot easier to control the temps this way too.

ughh...so many possibilities. My brain is going nuts trying to think of the best possible set up.

 

[FreezerBoy]

If you want the full color range, try the CMH. It's more blue than MH, AND it's more red than HPS. All in one bulb.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=72215

 

[KushaNator]

Any HID needs a ballast. The growth difference between MH and HPS is very small. But yes 250 watters...70 watters all need a ballast. I was just saying the two 250's will put out enough lumens per square foot to get your babies nice and thick. My 250 watter puts out 28000 with the advanced spectrum bulb I have. So you are averaging about 56000 lumens in your box. You should still consider the two 250 watters, no matter what 105 watts is a 105 watts it uses that much power. HID lights will give you more yield, just my two cents.

You have a great concept, I took me 3 modifications on my stealth box before I got it dialed in. Keep it up man I'm sure you will be harvesting nice yields in no time.

 

[Elephunk]

Thanks so much for everyone's help. As you could tell I would be totally screwed if I hadn't asked for input here.

I do think I will be using the dual 250w HPS in the end. The cfls would be nice to balance that spectrum out, but the efficiency isn't as good as just using the two 250w. I'm thinking if I really want that blue light in there I can use one of those blue LED grow lights or some led strips and put them in there. I know they do make UV LEDs also so that might be something for me to look into.

I did check up on those CMH bulbs. I wasn't too keen on the idea of not being able to use a digital ballast with those bulbs. Although they do probably have excellent spectrum balance I think I'm going to just stick with the HPS. Maybe when they've developed some more I'll give one a try.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice. It's given me a lot to think about and redesign. Couldn't have done it without your guys' help.

 

[Guest]

That's a lot of training. The only down-side to scrogging is that you have to spend a lot more time daily training and managing. The most ive ever done is a 150 watter so im interested to see how yours turns out. Good luck man!

 

[Elephunk]

Yes, lots of training indeed to fill out the screen. It's a good thing I absolutely LOVE growing cannabis. I have no problem spending time with the babies. It's really quite relaxing to me after a long day of work.

 

[KushaNator]

Training is half the battle, it is not that bad. Look I vegged for only 3 weeks and at about 12 inches I bent my lady over. If I would not have bent her over i would not have yielded as much.



This is my lady on about day 39 or so, just look at her. Only received about a week of lst. The simple bend over carefully does just fine.

 

[KushaNator]

By the way I like your openness to idea's. Good to see someone taking positive criticism on Icmag. PS like I said earlier good luck man!

I am high as shit...right now, so if your blazing to burn it man.

 

[FreezerBoy]

It's a good thing I absolutely LOVE growing cannabis. I have no problem spending time with the babies.

Man, that's the source of my problem. Being self employed means there's no one here to kick my butt back to work cept me. And I'd rather be playing in the garden.

 

[Elephunk]

By the way I like your openness to idea's. Good to see someone taking positive criticism on Icmag.

Yeah man, other people's input and criticism is important. I myself have never ran a true scrog where many others have. I don't have much experience with building these mini grow cabs where tons of you guys have already done so. So you guys are the most valuable information assets. You guys have the first hand experience, therefore I take your ideas and advice seriously.

I'm just trying to grow the best herb I possibly can for my personal stash and I'll pay attention to anyone who can help me do that.

you're a lucky dude freezer. I would love nothing more than to be able to hang out with the plants all day and tend to them. I think that's about as stress free as you can get.

 

[Siddartha]

Man, I can't wait to see this thing, phunk!!!

 

[Elephunk]

lol I can't either dude! It's killing me just sitting around waiting to build this thing. I have to gather all the funds I'm going to need. The biggest purchases being the 250w ballasts, sockets, and the cabinet... I already have mylar and the fans.

I think I'm going to poke around an IKEA near me and see what cabinets they might have. If there is one that fits the dimensions I want and it's cheap enough I'll get it. Otherwise... It's a trip to home depot and I'm building this thing from scratch.