Building a small 1.2sqft cab out of a fishtank stand

[chowdan]

Hey guys!


Bear with me I have smoked some so it may not make total sense.

Anyways i am in the process of converting my fish tank base into a small 1sft (there a bouts) cab.

The base does not have a top so i took the corner piece off of my ikea L shaped desk (it was unused). It makes this piece of furniture perfect because it makes it appear as a small corner stand. It also is missing a small section in the back. I plan on adding a swinging door so i can lock the unit closed and create an almost complete airtight seal.

For the door I plan on adding a “lip” to the whole door so that when it shuts, and is locked closed it will create a somewhat of a seal. The way I will seal it is just adding the little foam strips you can buy for door jams and placing them where that lip is. I also plan on being able to lock this thing so none of my girlfriends can accidentally open it.

I am unsure on what I will be doing for ventilation still. I have ideas but am always open to suggestions. This is a big concern as I can’t have any smell around the box since I am living in a studio apartment. But my current plans for venting this guy is to build a nice little box hanging off of the left side (looking at the hole) to house my fan and carbon scrubber. This housing will have to have some sort of air muffling to prevent a lot of noise (thinking egg cartons). I have an air pump running 24/7 for my other fish tanks so I can have a low hum and make it not so obvious. I was thinking of building my own scrubber such as this one. I found while on google

. I have been looking over blynx design though and was thinking I would pick up a very quiet bathroom fan(the one at HomeDepot was $13-$15 that I saw) and was thinking I could pop the grate that goes inside the bathroom and just cut a hole in the tank wall and mounting it that way. Then on the output side connect a diy scrubber.

I am planning to build a floor on the base to add a surface area the will allow air into the cab (will have 90deg elbows hanging through the floor base into the lower area. The walls of the cab I will add some slices into it to allow outside air in. The elbows will be pointed away from the air inlets so no light will be possible to see. Also the edges of the flooring will meet up flush to the walls of the cab. I am going to be using some fish tank silicone(maybe just a while caulking depending on price) to seal the floor base, the holes for the floor vents, and all other internal joints. This hopefully will take care of any possible light leak and also will create a nice sanitized environment. Also I will be caulking the outside where to “top” meets the fish tank base to help create an even better seal. I will also be getting some L brackets that people use to fasten bookshelf to walls. Hopefully this will create a secure but also removable top if need be.


For lighting I have got some y splitters and some socket to plug adapters. I have a multi tab laying around so I am going to stick 2x23w and 1x42wcfl. I plan on adding another 2x23w cfls to give this total of 134watts of CFLs power. The 23watt cfls are 2700k lights and will be used throughout the first grow. I still need to work on the exact mounting of the lights and such but for my photos I wanted to give an idea of what it will be like. I am still working on lighting and the way it should be mounted.
Open for suggestions on this as well.

So far that is all I can think of. I will be doing 99.9% of all the construction in the next coming weeks. Will take photos throughout the process and be posting on here for the world to seeJ. Since I live in a studio, things like drills, saws, and space is hard to come by.

 

[audioguy]

Looks rad, can't wait to see it get built out. With that small of a space you should be able to get away with pretty low CFMs from a fan, it'll depend on your carbon filter more than anything else. You also might want to think about heat shield for those lights.. I have a similar sized veg cab and it gets up to 85 degrees very easily with just 2 26w CFLs and a CPU fan for exhaust. When I eventually redo that cab I'm putting a plexi shield in for sure.

 

[Guest 279031]

Four 23w cfls and one 42w cfl in that little box? From having built several different grow boxes with CFLs (experimenting) over the last 6 months I feel confident that once you have the munchies from smoking, that cab will make a great oven. You will be able to cook hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and even toast marshmallows in that thing.

You can do as suggested (it works very well) and put plexiglass under the lights and it will be much easier to handle the heat. However, you then need two fans, two exhausts, and at least two intakes. One for the lights and one for the grow area.

I myself am about to switch out my 12 cfl's for 2 70w hps (2 different cabs). With an HPS, only the bulb goes inside the cab. The ballast stays outside, and that's where most of the heat comes from. So, if it were me, I would at least research and consider hanging a single 70w hps in there or figure out a bigger cab that can handle the heat better.

Check out the 70w HPS club here if you feel like that's an option.

 

[grouchy]

Or you could make a remote ballast cfl out of the 42w one and just stick the bulb in there. I just got 12g off of one 42w bulb rigged up that way.

 

[chowdan]

Hey guys thanks for all the replies. I have been trying to figure out what to do for venting. Ive got a 50cfm(I think, could be a 35cfm) bathroom fan that was $13 or so from HD.

so far my plan is to get off my lazy ass and rent a jigsaw. I plan on ripping this plywood I have to make a door. I the door will be nearly at the top of the cab so I plan on mounting the fan to the door. I will then have some ducting wrap around the side the door is hamging on so I can easily open it without many problems. I think when the fan is connectd to a scrubber, it wont be nearly as loud. That said if it is still too loud I will build a wooden crate around the fan which will be stuffed with shredded egg cartons. Thwart will help buffer any major sounds and would beabout as loud as my fishtank pumps (3 filter that hob, and one canister with 2 airpumps - all run 24/7).

I am thinking instead of cuttinh a square out of the door I will cut a fairly large hole for the fan to draw from. This hole will then.be covered with something like a prefilter (possibly the filters used in a chimney).

This plus a scrubber should effectively put enough strain on the fan to slow it down to a nice quiet sound aswell as remove and heat.

I think I will be starting with only 2 x 23watt and 1 x 42. Then as I get further in the grow, if I feel I need more I can add more and do so until heat or space does not allow me.

I will add more phtotos when I can of my door with some drawings to give an idea of what im talkking about

 

[GuerrillaDidgi]

a duct fan can be wired to an extension cord its mega easy and will pull enough air through to do a passive run

 

[chowdan]

Hey everyone sorry for this post. Its a little messy...i know, but i have to go and wanted to get this out before i forgot. Will be back to make edits.

I finally have some updates on the build. Sorry its been a longgg time since i've been on.

On unemployment and now have time to build(Not for long though)

So here is what i have done so far. Ran into some issues but hoping the public here on IC can help

I mounted the door and fan. The fan is a bathroom fan mounted onto the door. I cut a hole in the door to allow venting which will go into a carbon scrubber(thinking homemade one unless someone can show a scrubber for 50cfm's).

The lights have yet to be properly mounted. Thinking im gonig to mount them last/ due to the fact that i think i will wire an extension cord onto the fan which will also supply the lighting.

Have some question on the mounting of the fan.

So i only have one side mounted which is holding the fan in place. I need to figure out how to mount the fan on the opposite side(where the exhaust is) so that it will draw from the box and not the exhaust holes.

So my plan was to mount brackets below that will hold it, but since the screws i was using werent holding in, what would you all recommend?

Have a look at the photos and see what you all think:

 

[chowdan]

 

[chowdan]

 

[chowdan]

So apparently i can't edit posts. Didn't realize that otherwise i would have not posted.

Sorry for the jumbled posts.

So the issue i am running into is the fan is pulling away from the door on the exhaust side. This is giving me a problem because of the sole fact that the fan will not draw air through the cab, but rather just the outside environment (You can see this issue on the second last photo i posted).

Also when i push the fan flush to the door, the door is unable to open completely. THis is due to the exhaust hole. Not a big deal as the door can open enough that i'd be able to get in and work inside the box.

So what i have tried to do was mount a bracket on the door below the fan. Then i screwd the fan to the mounts(which had supports below them). The screws werent long enough and the wood is particle board so the thing just split in half. This was my original idea but so far it seems to have failed.

I am not sure what i will doo but im thinking if all else fails i might drill some holes into the door and fan frame, run a line through the holes and also through the fan and pull it tight(maybe ziptie it).

Once i figure out the fan issue i will be mounting some L-brackets onto the top to secure the top part to the cab.

I've siliconed the seams on the inside of the cab, but i am waiting to get this fan figured out and the top mounted before i silicone the top seam and the seam around the fan. Probably going to just use white caulking from HD.

I will also be spray painting the whole inside flat white. I started to spray as you can see but something came up right as i started and i had to leave.


Hope people are enjoying this build

 

[Guest 279031]

Try nuts and bolts rather than screws. Also, caulk or use Liquid Nails on the edges of the fan box right before seating it to the door to seal it up.

 

[Rouge]

So ya gonna put the fish tank back on top or what?

 

[Secrecy]

dude you could totally rock a 50w or 70w HPS cooltube vertical grow in there!

 

[chowdan]

dude you could totally rock a 50w or 70w HPS cooltube vertical grow in there!

I plan on picking both a 70w and a 50w up. I am going to be experimenting with HPS, LED, and Plasma(maybe) after i get a few grows under my belt. For now the CFLs were cheaper investment than HPS. I will be rigging my CFL - 23w on each corner of the box with the 42w sitting inbetween two of the lights, possibly the two closest to the door (design similar to Blynx micro setup).

So ya gonna put the fish tank back on top or what?

Fish tank will not be on top. Would love it to but common sense says electricity and water connect to each other very well. For this reason my tank will be sitting on top of the "table top". Also the heat from the cab might fuck with my water temps.

Try nuts and bolts rather than screws. Also, caulk or use Liquid Nails on the edges of the fan box right before seating it to the door to seal it up.

My main problem is figuring out a way to get the exhaust end mounted. The problem is the holes aren't pointed towards the door. This is the reason i mounted that piece on the opposite side. I wanted to do something similar to that on the exhaust side, but so far i have been unable to properly secure the wood to the door.

Any thoughts on this?



And i posted in the lighting forum last night but no one said anything.

Plasma lighting seems to be very.....new. I found this plasma light that connects to a e27 light socket(the standard kind we use). It cost 130$ for the bulb and is a 50watts.

Heres the link to it: Plasma light

 

[chowdan]

Well guys.

I am nearly done with the box. I figured out how to mount the back end of the fan. I noticed the fan had thes flaps that appeared to be made to fold out. So i screwed it down into the door through these flaps.

I still haven't painted the inside, but i mounted the light. I officially am now going to be running 3 x 23w(2700k), 2 x 23w(6500k), and one 42w(2700k), giving a total of 157 watts in the 1.2sqft. Currently i am seeing temps of 82degrees, which is about 7 degrees above room temps.

I am thinking since these temps are a bit above what i would consider good(75-80degrees), i will be doing a DIY CO2 generator. Something simiple and i have everything needed.
With all that said, i will continue on the box and what i need to do and what i have done.

I have mounted the fan fully to the door. i mounted a "lock" to keep the door closed which just is a little latch that goes into the underside of the table top sorta thing. I have also mounted the multi power tap to the underside of the table top and have conncected the lights.
I still need to figure out where to put my intake vents. I am thining placing some half inch holes on the back corner that is facing the wall and run some black tubing through the holes to block light leaks.
I also need to get some liquid nails or a dark silicione to seal up the outside of the box. I will be sealing the fans edges and holes in the fan case. I will also need to seal the seam that is between the table top and the cab. There is some light leak from that. I'll be sealing the inside of this seam and the outside of the seam.[\b]

I will also be getting some more L-brackets. I need 5 more so i can have two brackets on every side of the box, connected from the box to the table top. Right now i have electrical tape covering most of the seams around the fan to help create a seal. The reason i did this was because i wanted to figure out on average what the temps would be like to make sure the box would be successful.

 

[chowdan]

 

[Guest 279031]

If you start adding pvc pipes to those walls you're going to lose already scarce real estate in that thing. I would (and do) cut a square in the floor, making sure the hole sits off the floor at least a centimeter or so. This hole must be as large as possible while remaining 3 inches or so from each wall. Maybe 4 if you can swing it. Next make a false floor out of another piece of wood and four 1 inch legs. This false floor should leave a gap of no more than an inch around each edge.

Now you have a great intake without a bunch of pipes sticking out of the wall. In your case you cannot make the hole very large without light leaking so you may still have to add a couple of pipes on the walls, but I bet you could get at least 3/4 of your air requirement that way and save some space for the plants.

One other thing. Go on Ebay or your hydro store or wherever and check out the black insulated duct. It's much neater looking, it keeps the heat in better while it's moving it along, and it quiets the air flow slightly as well. I ran two systems side by side one using regular duct and the other using the insulated, and the naked duct was louder and hotter than the black.

Although that would be an upgrade to consider after you are up and running I suppose.

 

[Rouge]

Re I brought up the fish tank is that the fish water has been demonstrated to "supercharge" some folks grows, particular in veg... if ya growing organic. It seems like the nitrogen in fish waste is the kind that plants really luv.... like super fresh compost .... lol.

 

[chowdan]

Re I brought up the fish tank is that the fish water has been demonstrated to "supercharge" some folks grows, particular in veg... if ya growing organic. It seems like the nitrogen in fish waste is the kind that plants really luv.... like super fresh compost .... lol.

Yes fish tank water is high in nitro. I will be using it when my tank needs some water changes. But it won't be a main source