Anti's MicroStealth Cab Design (Dr. Bud Method)

[evolve2c]

DESIGN! BUILD! GROW!
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This thread describes the design, construction and initial harvest of a STEALTH MICRO CABINET utilizing 125w of CFL per sq. ft.

In the following pages you will find pictures and detailed descriptions of the whole process, including the build of the cab, parts list, price tags and grow in progress.

This cabinet can be built according to the exact specs that I used, following detailed pictures through the whole thing, for about $500. This $500 covers everything from tools to parts to soil to nutes. Everything but your seeds, for $500 or less. Many items may already be in your home.

Directly beneath this edit is the first version of the design. The first version was modified based on the discussion on the first several pages. That modification process led to the creation of three different virtual prototypes, each building on the last. As a result there is a significant difference between the final cab and the one you see below. The third (hence "3000") virtual design actual got built and is currently drying its first harvest!

As of this edit, the first plants have been harvested and the buds are drying. The plants themselves are reverting back to veg and there's a batch of clones getting ready to go in!
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Ok. Welcome to the beginning phase of my stealth cab design!

I am posting the work in progress in order to get critiques from the community. I welcome your comments and insights.

Please understand from the get go that I have based the room sizes, heights and wattage on Dr. Bud.

I have deviated from him in that instead of achieving my wattage with (5) 42 watt CFLs as he would, I have elected to use (8) 27 watt CFLs instead. (approximately same wattage/lumens).

Additionally, I have attempted to make use of space I originally intended just as a heat buffer between mother/flower cabs, by converting it into a drying cab. The beauty of this design is:

If it works, I'll be able to grow, clone, flower and dry all in one 4'x2'x3' space!

Notice the airflow diagram on picture 2. Room Temp air comes in bottom, rises up (through drying buds) to vents on top of cabs, which then channel air back down the light-traps to 9" up in the two growing chambers. (Planning on using 8" pots and they're on a 1" shelf, so 9" will be right at soil level.) Air is then extracted through (5) 1" holes mounted above lights.

The pics pretty much say it all. I made this in Google SketchUp 7 (freeware) and I have to say, awesome program guys! Nice job!

Anyway... on with the show:

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The next picture is an attempt at explaining the ventilation setup.

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Notice above... the bottoms of the cabs are on arms so the shelves pull out for easy access to your ladies for watering, maintenance, or just re-arranging.

I intend to run this as a Dr. Bud style SOG so the ability to get to those rear plants easily seems worth the added expense of the drawer slides ($15 a pair at home depot for the 100 lbs. variety.)

Here's a side view:

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The bottom:

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Back Side:

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Here's the flowering room so you can get an idea of things. Pretend that the plants on the right are bigger and near ready to harvest. Plants on left are newly rooted clones:

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The base is framed 2x4s. The rest is 1/2" plywood (or whatever you please). I'm thinking the total cost on this thing will be less than $300, lights, fan & etc. included.

Love to hear your thoughts. This will be my first serious attempt at building an NGB style stealth cab.

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ANTI - I have to say I am impressed with ur setup, very innovative, efficient, and ECONOMIC!!! I am interested in starting a cfl grow of my own. I have been researching cfl setups for a week or two and yours seems top notch for sure. I am debating between the 27w cfl's and the 42w cfl's, i will probably have more than one flower room to try this out in, so thinking about experimenting with both(seperately). What should determine my decision; heat? size of box? strain?
Also, you had said you've elected to use (8) 27w cfls instead of the 6. Of those 8, How many 6500k cfls and how many 2700k cfls?

 

[5th]

Congrats Anti,

I've learned much from your well presented thread, and am glad I took hours upon hours to read it all. Your detailed pictures and explanations made it a truly fantastic read. Many thanks of course to the contributors here in your post also.
I can't wait to see what your next generation cab will look like.

5th

 

[GanjaGardnr3000]

Wow! this setup is off the chain as far as micro grows go man you've taken it to another level. Good job anti and keep pumping out the nugs and the ingenuity.

 

[Anti]

What should determine my decision; heat? size of box? strain?

All of those.

From what I've read, indoor cannabis cultivation works best in the 80-85 degree range, and up to the low 90's if you are also adding CO2.

Also, you had said you've elected to use (8) 27w cfls instead of the 6. Of those 8, How many 6500k cfls and how many 2700k cfls?

You must've only read the first page or so. I ended up going with (6) 42w cfls.

Currently, there are (4) 2700k and (2) 6500k for flowering and (4) 6500k and (2) 2700k for flowering.

On my first run through the box, however, it was all 2700k in both sides as that was all I had available.

In the future I would probably do (5) 6500k and (1) 2700k in veg and (5) 2700k with (1) 6500k in flower.

 

[pufferfish]

Ok. So I had them out yesterday for their watering. Camera came back so I got some pics to share with you (and for posterity.)

Left Chamber​

Right Chamber​

Young Ladies Toweling Off After Their Swim​

I decided to take pictures of my three current favorites. Favoritism is based on:

#1 Appearance
#2 Aroma
#3 Size

So.... in third place we have....

Magical Mystery Plant #6
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Our runner up....

Magical Mystery Plant #3
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And finally, we have my precious AK47:

Serious Seeds AK47

AK47 - Day 72 (41 of 12/12) Last pic is detail of bud​

I bought a 60x to 100x hand-held magnifier from Radio Shack but it's a piece of crap. I'm planning to return it and then just bite the bullet and buy one of those $40 bionicle eyeclops USB hand-held magnifier. That way I can just snap pictures to my PC and drop them into photoshop. Less squinting.

I'm truly indebted to RedGreenery concerning the separate fans/glass partitions for the lights. I'm reading all kinds of horror stories of temps in the 90s and higher with people using far less wattage than I'm pushing (~250w per side!). My cabs sit in the high 60's during lights out and in the mid 70's during 'daytime'. All of the suggestions that changed this cabinet's design seem to be working out in a big way, as I hope these pictures can attest.

I misted all of the plants on at least a daily basis with water + 4 drops of super thrive per gallon of water, ph'd at 6-6.5 until the first hints of bud development. Since then, they've been watered about every three days and left alone between feedings with no foliar spraying. I take the doors off daily to make sure nobody has grown into the glass, but otherwise I leave them alone.

Harvest is just around the corner now and is finally starting to look like a reality. I'm psyched! Stay tuned for more!

Your thoughts, insights and experience are always appreciated!

what up anti...how do you get your plants to grow into one cola..and thick growth from top all the way down

 

[Anti]

what up anti...how do you get your plants to grow into one cola..and thick growth from top all the way down

It has a lot to do with container size. The containers I used on my first run were 1/4 gallon half & half containers. (32 oz) The containers I use now are anywhere between 18-32 oz. Once you get up to the half gallon size you start getting little bushes. When you stick with the 32oz size, you get (mostly) a single main stem with a few small side branches.

 

[thenomad]

Amazing write up you have here! Very informative, extremely well done.

Great job bud, you just taught a bunch of people how to do this in a pretty short format. I'm going to show a couple people who could really benefit from this and see if they'll post their results, because you've made it too simple for them not to do it. I will personally harass them until they do

 

[growfr]

Anti:
Hell of a great design bro I used a lot of your ideas combined with the basics from the good doctor. Unfortunately I had to move & break down my grow a few months ago. I ran bagseed, NL & California Orange bud.
Now I am mentoring an apprentice.
After re-reading your entire thread and searching the web... I have one question.
What does NGB stand for when referring to a grow cab?

 

[sub]

Anti:
Hell of a great design bro I used a lot of your ideas combined with the basics from the good doctor. Unfortunately I had to move & break down my grow a few months ago. I ran bagseed, NL & California Orange bud.
Now I am mentoring an apprentice.
After re-reading your entire thread and searching the web... I have one question.
What does NGB stand for when referring to a grow cab?

Was a dude on Overgrow named New Ganja Boy, the thread is saved here

 

[growfr]

Brilliant / just like we say "Dr Bud Style"
Well, I'm going to coin the term DBS for plantlet SOG.

 

[sbucks168]

My cab questions

My cab questions

So I've never posted but you've inspired me. I once threw some seeds in a planter just to see what would happen. They started growing! But of course I got scared and had no idea what to do.

So after spending WAY too much money on the bud, I've decided to build a cab myself.

Some issues though:

a) I have a small space. Here are the dimensions

Whole cab: 30" tall x 30" wide x 20" deep.
Mom and Flower: 22.5" tall x 10.5" wide x 20" deep (1.4583 sqft base)
Drying: 20 1/2" tall x 6 3/4" wide x 20" deep

b) Lights: I have four lights in each but they are 3860 lumens. So that makes 10,587.42 lumens/sqft.

c) This is also going in a closet but I usually have the door open all the time but the door to my room closed when I'm not home.

So questions.....

1) Since this is going in my closet, I need to make sure air can circulate nicely. Should I put some square fans in the back pannel where I have those holes at the top of the back pannel?

2) Do kitty litter carbon filters work well enough? I have a cat so I know it works wonders on her pee and poop.

3) Is that TOO much lumens/sqft?

4) Is the whole thing too small anyway? Mine is about 30% smaller than your's. (That's based on the Mom/Flower room's volume. I scaled the whole cab down from the original width and height but not the depth. If I read it correctly, the rooms are 11" deep in your's but mine are 20".)

Thanks for any input. :-D

PS: Can anyone point me to a great post about growing? I have a few about cloning, bonsai mom's, and topping. Anything else I can read would be great.

PPS: I already bought Miracle Gro: Moisture Control. What else should I get?

EDIT: The cab is going on castors too so it will be elevated and moveable.

 

[MrSterling]

.

 

[lbezphil2005]

Outstanding work, all of you!! I'd have a problem with restrictions like that, i like some meat on my potatoes (not saying the buds don't look good, i just like a little more to them is all!)) Peace!!

 

[Anti]

Some issues though:

a) I have a small space. Here are the dimensions

Whole cab: 30" tall x 30" wide x 20" deep.
Mom and Flower: 22.5" tall x 10.5" wide x 20" deep (1.4583 sqft base)
Drying: 20 1/2" tall x 6 3/4" wide x 20" deep

b) Lights: I have four lights in each but they are 3860 lumens. So that makes 10,587.42 lumens/sqft.

c) This is also going in a closet but I usually have the door open all the time but the door to my room closed when I'm not home.

So questions.....

1) Since this is going in my closet, I need to make sure air can circulate nicely. Should I put some square fans in the back pannel where I have those holes at the top of the back pannel?

How much space do you have behind the box in your closet? Is the box going to be flush with the wall or will there be a gap of a few inches? If there are sufficient gaps in the closet, you should be able to do as you are discussing... HOWEVER...

where is all the air you exhaust going to go once it leaves the cabinet? How will it get out of the closet? My cabinet is in a 10'x12' (or so) room with a window. My cabinet is on the wall with the window and I open it when the weather is appropriate.

Your closet will likely need a vent hole. Can you cut a hole to your attic from your closet? You want all the hot air in your cab to leave the cab... but not hang around in the space AROUND the cab, because that will heat up your INTAKE air... which is no bueno.

2) Do kitty litter carbon filters work well enough? I have a cat so I know it works wonders on her pee and poop.

Don't know. I'm using aquarium carbon pellets that sell for about $10 per 1/2 gallon at PetCo and Walmart and such. I know some people have built DIY carbon scrubbers with carbon filters, but I haven't done so myself.

3) Is that TOO much lumens/sqft?

Nah. 10,000 lumens per square foot is noon-day sun. I wouldn't bother going bigger, though. If temps end up being an issue you could lose a bulb without it hurting you much. I remember knna saying that 7500/ft.^2 is about the optimal you can use without CO^2.

So if you can keep temps under control, I say roll with it. Keep in mind that lumens are only a semi-useful "tool of thumb" for us and don't mean much to the plants. Also that ten 100w bulbs would not have the same intensity as one 1000w bulb would. But for our purposes, you should be good. Concentrate on keeping as much of your plants within 6" of at least one of your light sources as possible.

4) Is the whole thing too small anyway? Mine is about 30% smaller than your's. (That's based on the Mom/Flower room's volume. I scaled the whole cab down from the original width and height but not the depth. If I read it correctly, the rooms are 11" deep in your's but mine are 20".)

My rooms are 17"x17" = 2.01 sq ft. They're also approximately 23" from floor to glass.

With your cab being shorter, you're going to want to grow lots of tiny plants or SCROG.

Thanks for any input. :-D

You're welcome!

PS: Can anyone point me to a great post about growing? I have a few about cloning, bonsai mom's, and topping. Anything else I can read would be great.

Go to a section heading that you're interested in learning. for instance, lighting....

Go to the lighting subforum (under growroom design I believe) and it will show you a list of recent posts with stickies at the top. If you click the header above the # of replies column, it will sort the messages by number of replies. The ones with tons and tons of responses tend to be good places to learn all facts and opinions and myths and debunked myths in one session.

You have to read it with an open mind and learn to spot the voices of wisdom among the trash, BS and opinions. As you continue to read every single post, your knowledge about a particular subject will start to fill in and you'll soon develop your own opinions and assumptions on the subject. Then you can test your assumptions to see if there's any truth to them. (Many people skip this last step.)

PPS: I already bought Miracle Gro: Moisture Control. What else should I get?

With miracle gro you're not going to need much (if any) added nutes. Watch your plants and spend some hours reading posts in the infirmary section and don't give your plants anything but water until they ask for it.

I have switched into BioBizz Light Mix (which is like pro mix with no ferts added) and I add a bag of chunky perlite to that based on several threads on the subject.

I water every other day and my plants are growing larger and healthier than they ever did for me in miracle gro. They are also greener longer and the buds are fatter and denser.

(This may be attributable to other factors than soil change. I've also switched nutes. Currently using Gen. Hydro Flora Nova Bloom but will be switching to "pure" lucas formula when it runs out. (Flora Nova is basically lucas formula in one bottle rather than 2, but some complain of consistency between bottles so I figure I'll mix it myself just to be safe.)

EDIT: The cab is going on casters too so it will be elevated and moveable.

Buy heavy duty casters. The cheapo casters I originally bought were overwhelmed by the mass of the cab when full and two failed, cutting large chunks in my floor before I realized it had happened.

Now I have the 4" monster casters that are said to handle 200+ lbs each. No more issues in a year or more.

 

[Anti]

Anti, some friends pointed me towards your thread, and I'm in the middle of constructing my own cab right now. The only thing I don't seem to have seen in your thread is what your carbon filter ended up looking like in the box. Would you mind posting a picture sometime?

Last two pics are the cab with the empty space where carbon scrubber WILL go... and a pic with scrubber in place.

 

[Anti]

Outstanding work, all of you!! I'd have a problem with restrictions like that, i like some meat on my potatoes (not saying the buds don't look good, i just like a little more to them is all!)) Peace!!

If I owned a home I would have a completely different setup. Since I am stuck in an apartment with limited space and no ability to make modifications to the space, I grow in a cabinet.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Everglow]

Hello there Mr. Anti and all the members here in icmag. I've been lurking in the forums for 4 months now and I've decided to grow myself. btw this is my first post and i'm a newbie in growing so please bear with my questions.

Do you think that this stealth cab will work for a first time grower like me?
Is soil only the medium you can use in this cab?

I would be grateful if experienced growers like you can help me. thanks and more power to you all.

 

[Anti]

Do you think that this stealth cab will work for a first time grower like me?

I was a first time grower when I built it. I recommend you build some kind of frame or use metal L brackets to reinforce the cabinet if you decide to build it.

Also, if you aren't afraid of ordering lights online, I would build it using PLL bulbs instead of CFL. (More bang for about the same buck.)

Is soil only the medium you can use in this cab?

No. You could use anything you wanted. I started with soil, now I use Light Mix (peat/sphagnum/perlite) with added Perlite.

Good luck! If you have any questions, you're in the right place. There are lots of helpful, friendly people who know tons about growing on this site.

 

[Everglow]

Thanks for answering. follow-up questions:

Should I start with bagseeds first or just go and order AK47(people say it is easy to grow) seeds?

Is nutes necessary or should I just use ph monitored water for first time growing?

 

[Anti]

Should I start with bagseeds first or just go and order AK47(people say it is easy to grow) seeds?

Well.. I ordered AK47 because it was supposed to be super potent and easy to grow. I started my grow with bagseeds AND ak... maybe I got really lucky, but the bagseeds grew just as easily as the AK (but didn't taste as good nor were they as potent).

I would start with bagseeds just to make sure you don't ruin your expensive seeds with a rookie error. Much better to realize you've just killed your free bagseeds than that you've just killed your expensive goodies.

Once you feel like you've got a handle on things, pop your AK seeds.

Is nutes necessary or should I just use ph monitored water for first time growing?

Depends on what you're growing with. If you grow in a soil that already has ferts in it... (like Miracle Gro) then you probably won't need to add nutes.

If you grow in coco which usually has 0% nutes in it, you're going to need to add nutes.

Do a search on "lucas formula" or "kiss method" to learn some easy (and effective) nute regimens.

You won't want to feed your seedlings until they've shed their cotyldon and grown their first sets of real leaves. Reading threads in the infirmary section will give you a good idea of when to start feeding and how to spot nute deficiencies.

PHing your water (after adding whatever you add) is always a good idea.