My First Ever DIY Grow Box

[cilohahdduB]

So here I am. Finally, after more than a month of planning, searching, buying, building, spending over US$200, with all the joy and frustration that came along with it, I finally built a grow box of my own!!! This was no easy task, since I built everything from scratch excluding the lights, ballasts, and fans. But everything else I basically painstakingly siliconed/screwed/hammered/sawed together. But I must say, the joy of looking at the finished product is just euphoric. Knowing that you built it from scratch, makes it feel all the more victorious. But anyways, here are the details of my new grow box. I have numbered them from 1 to 18 which tallies with the pictures. (I would like to apologize for the bad photography, I was just too lazy to take good pictures with a good camera, so bear with me!)

Front view of my grow box. Entire measurements are L 37" xB 29" x H 41". On the left(bigger section) is the flowering chamber which measures L 25" x B 29" x H 41". On the bottom right is the veg chamber which measures L 12" x B 29" x H 31". On the top right is a small compartment where I can keep anything from sprays to fertz. See those pipes in there? We'll get to that later.

This is a very bad picture of the left side (adjacent to front of flowering chamber door) of the box. See those 3 little holes? Those are my passive intake holes for my flower chamber which is connected to a pipe, once the exhaust fan is turned on, you can place a piece of paper on the hole(s) and it'll stick to the hole. That's pretty much one reason why I think the circulation is good enough.

Another bad picture!!! Lol. This is the right side now. Again 3 passive intake holes for the veg chamber, paper thing works too.

This is the back of the box, just showing you guys the wiring...I'm not quite sure why though...Hmm...Haha, anyway, on the top right you can see my fingers, which means...ANOTHER BAD PHOTO!!!

This is the top view of the box.

 

[cilohahdduB]

This over here, is my squirrel cage exhaust fan, this is what they use to extract chemical fumes in labs. One of the more pricier object for the whole grow box but I think it was worth it. Very powerful, something like 250 cfm? The white object taped up are my ballasts for my lights. The exhaust blows the air out onto the ballasts to keep it cooler as well.

Just a picture of the hinges I use for my grow box, I have four altogether, top and bottom for both chamber doors.

This are the locks I installed on the grow chamber doors. They proved to be tricky since I had to saw, drill, and file a hole to fit these locks in. But I want that extra security in case some moron decides to have a peek, lol.

This is the top of the veg chamber I was talking about earlier, where I keep my fertz and stuff. The two pipes are my exhaust pipes. One comes from the flowering chamber and the other from the veg chamber. They both lead to a small area similar to what you see only its completely enclosed like a box with only a hole at the top where the exhaust fan pulls out the air from. I have two other exhaust pipes leading from the flowering and veg chamber that go directly to the exhaust box so you don't see it here.

This is just the front view of my veg chamber. The stool you see there is to prop seedlings higher to the lights. I am currently using 4 30w floro tubes in my veg chamber. I have installed the lights so unassembly is relatively easy in case I decide to change my lighting system here.

These 3 pipes are my passive intake for my veg chamber, totally light proof. The fan just sitting there is for extra circulation or to produce a breeze for the stems to grow stronger!

 

[cilohahdduB]

These are my exhaust pipes in my veg chamber. One of the lights seems dimmer huh? I shall need to get that fixed.

This is the main view of my flowering chamber. I intend to incorporate a SOG or ScrOG method once cloning has taken place. Once I've saved up enough money, I am taking off the floro lights and replacing it with a 250w HPS. It currently is 2 30w floro tubes and 2 50w bulbs.

This is my intake for my flowering room.

My exhaust for my flowering chamber.

This black rubber tubing is what they use in fridges I think, to keep it air tight. Another reason I use it is to keep the light out as well, with this tube it keeps all the light inside with no chance of coming out. That's Malibu in the background, yum yum, lol.

This is the hole where I place my exhaust fan on. It sucks out the air from the chamber I talked about earlier where the exhaust pipes lead to. The fan fits nicely into the hole.

 

[cilohahdduB]

And this over here, is Pepsi, my High Gold Ball Python. Any comments/suggestions/criticism(good or bad) on the grow box is much welcome. I would like to know if there is anything I can improve on. Thanks for listening guys!!! Now I just need to grow some!!!

 

[pussum]

Wow, it looks a lot bigger in those inside pics. Good job though.

 

[g-13]

nice grow box and snake

 

[cilohahdduB]

Thanks pussum and G-13, I appreciate it.

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Everything is looking great my friend. What are your temps when lights are on and doors are closed?

 

[Nelson Mutz]

Looks like a very well thought out design!! Good luck on your cultivation!

Nelson

 

[TURKEYNECK]

Looks like a plumber built it. haha That should do just fine. If you deside to build a carbon filter you could use the top right chamber and splice into the pvc. MJ can get pretty stinky....Lets see that thing in action.

 

[cilohahdduB]

Temperatures go from 70 to 80 degrees. I turn the AC on and it helps out with the temperatures.

 

[Bubby]

Now just lay an aquarium on top, and you've got a nice 'decoration'.

Couple questions..
Where do you find the clips for the fluorescents tubes?
Is your squirrel cage fan noticeably loud? And does it allow any light leak when it's installed/running?
Also, do you know your lumens per square foot? If your fluorescents have electronic ballasts, you could overdrive them, but it looks like you have room if you need more.
Going to start a journal for us?

 

[cilohahdduB]

Well Bubby, I bought the lights from a factory, so they had that together with the lighting fixtures, but I suppose any hardware store would sell them, you can try asking??? ANd anyway, my squirrel cage fan is loud, not VERY loud, sounds just like a normal fan, and I built the box so no light would leak since all the exhaust is linked up via tubes from flowering and veg chamber to a small box at the back right. And I'm definitely gonna start a journal! Lol, just gotta wait for em seeds to germinate!!!

 

[MJ20]

Very nice