My Stealth PC Grow Box Sketch: Feedback Needed

[CrazyDevola]

Hi guys,

I am planning a micro grow box made out of an old PC case. Here are some sketches i made.

I am not interested in a big yield, this is more like an exciting lil project for me. If I can just get one bud out of it, i'm satisfied

As you can see, the PC case is super tiny
15,748 x 15,15 x 6,92 in

1. I am planning to do a small carbon filter (not in the sketch)
2. What kind of light would you recommend? A single bulb or several that I should switch for veg/flowering?
3. The fans are standard PC fans driven by a mobile charger. Are 2 enough? One for in and one for out flow.
4. The construction in the second image is a fan with a light trap built into a box.

I was reading Tokensmokes posts here and got inspired Tokensmoke10's DIY PC Grow

Would appreciate any pointers.

 

[SweeetExide]

Hey CrazyDevola

I'm fascinated by these micro grows and I'd highly recommend an Activated Carbon filter !

As for lighting there are a few options, CFL & LED being most popular for budget/efficiency
2-4 13w or 26w cfls or the electricity bill friendly LEDS will suffice, however a bigger case will support a foot long 125w cfl like tokensmoke10's case. I'd use a 2:1 soft white to daylight ratio, 2 2700k bulbs and 1 5000k bulb for flowering as the veg needs blue light wavelength for foliage and flowering needs red light wavelength for flower production.

The fans will depend on your micro climate. Depending on how restrictive those light traps are, how thick your carbon filter is and how much air the fans actually move. Hard question to answer but i'd say 3, 2 exhaust 1 intake.

P.s. great sketches and light traps, might steal these for a pc build I'm currently doing for a friend!

 

[lootznbootz]

Man unfortunately my old phone is broken so I lost slot of my pictures. But in my not so rookie journal I built one just like your design.
I still have it just no room for it really.

I used CFLs and it got pretty warm in there I was also using a bathroom exhaust fan and it was more than enough but it still got hot.

Also your going to have to do some serious lst to get a plant to flower In there which is totally possible as you know just a heads up on what to be reading up on before you start.

I used mine just for starting seedlings and clones

I never tried them in such a small area but those little led household bulbs with the tops cut off put out a lot of light!
In my clu journal I started the beast I'm growing now under them the give off a lot of light and almost no heat while doing a stand-up job growing plants.

Hope I was of some help.

 

[CookieMan]

Nice plan overall. I would suggest using some led cobs. Go the diy route to make them fit best in your space. If you can get a clone, do that and then train them to grow like flat vines. Read up on light addict's flux technique. Use the search for flux. Even from seed they will be small enough if you do a good flux. Also try to use a long narrow tray. One plant should be goood.

Subbed, good luck and good buds.

 

[JPinkman]

Subbed. I know someday down the road Ill try soemthing just like this. Looks like a lot of fun. Have you considered a COB LED or a few cheapie household ones? Seems to me the household LEDs put out even less heat then CFLs?

 

[burdok420]

Hey bud, I also considered this before purchasing my Mini-Tent.

I know I'm not the first to do it but maybe have small led panels on the side of the case instead of on top? Sounds weird but let me explain:

You get an auto that grows small. When it grows top it early so it has time to veg out the stress.
So think about looking at the top of the plant from above. You have a plant throwing branches out to all 4 sides. What you want to do is remove the branches that point towards the light panels on the side of the case. So instead of growing the plant vertically, you're growing it horizontal.
This means you'll have a plant that looks a bit weird but you'll have max light penetration on all of your buds.

Just an idea I floated about in my head!

 

[The Happy One]

Hehe....
I built one, and used DWC. I scrapped the idea after not being able to remove enough heat building up inside the case. This said, with everything going on in there, and creating blackout air vents (so you couldn't see light from outside), it was a pretty cool incognito setup. Now as far as producing enough bud? I'll just scratch my head and sit back, wish you luck and enjoy the show!
Mind you, this was before LED technology like the Samsung LM301'S, so using something like that, and growing only one plant, you just might pull it off.
Consider me subscribed!

 

[BigDannel]

Hi guys,

I am planning a micro grow box made out of an old PC case. Here are some sketches i made.

I am not interested in a big yield, this is more like an exciting lil project for me. If I can just get one bud out of it, i'm satisfied

As you can see, the PC case is super tiny
15,748 x 15,15 x 6,92 in

1. I am planning to do a small carbon filter (not in the sketch)
2. What kind of light would you recommend? A single bulb or several that I should switch for veg/flowering?
3. The fans are standard PC fans driven by a mobile charger. Are 2 enough? One for in and one for out flow.
4. The construction in the second image is a fan with a light trap built into a box.

I was reading Tokensmokes posts here and got inspired Tokensmoke10's DIY PC Grow

Would appreciate any pointers.

Looks good, my only suggestion would be to mount power strip outside of the case for more room and slightly less heat. Then run the wires out of the case to the strip. If you have to use that light, it looks good. If you can afford to get a flat LED panel, you'll save even more room and put off less heat. Maybe consider a scrog net to help manage the small space most efficiently.