pre-grow nearly done, questions mounting

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So my box is now together and painted a real solid flat white. Been vegging some bagseed for fun under about 180watts of cfls while I wait for northern lights to get here from gipsy nirvana (ordered last night, already shipped according to them). The box is 36" tall, 18" deep, 24" wide. It's made of ply-wood, 1" thick, good solid ply wood from home depo. Basically a rectangular box with one end open. I have all the tools I need to make intake/exhaust ports. For now I just have a peice of white vinyl functioning as a door with a big 10" fan on the bottom (cut holes for it) and a 4" on top for exhaust.

Carbon filter will be added when smell gets bad, I want to enjoy it first - I'll wow you all with my handy-work when the time comes cause I've got ideas a-brewin in that department.

Originally I was planning on doing this with simply blue CFLs for veg and orange/red for flower but the wires and mess of fixtures is driving me crazy.

I cut a deal with a dude on ebay, $70.00 for a 150 HPS ballast, lamp, fixture, socket.. whatever - the whole shmageggy. I know it can be done for less by rigging it up yourself. He says it will work with a metal halide also, just not perfectly.. So I'm gonna snag one of those bulbs also and use it to bolster veg growth.


Is this gonna burn my house down , being in a wooden box after-all? With 10 CFLs 25-45 watts each in the box right now and my 10" intake and 4" exhaust It sits between 85-88 (closet door closed) and 80-85 (closet door open) If I turn the intake fan off it tops off around 95-98 degrees. My logic is that 350-400 watts of CFLs is probably more heat than a 150 HPS and 1 or 2 supplemental CFLs; due to the amount of empty space it fills with wires and sockets, extra bulbs..anger.. However I have no basis in reality for that hypothesis and it's an alarmingly crucial question :eek: Also, I have a window directly adjacent to the closet with an unlimited supply of high altitude clean and bitter cold mountain-air.

-The peice of vinyl is kinda cool / versatile as a door but it cost 2 bucks and I'm not attatched to it =p

-I may move it OUT of the closet, but then the issue of a door becomes a problem: Light at night. Could use a layer of black vinyl on the outside, but then I Definitley have to have like a 100 fans to cool this hps if I seal the front off like that? (Wont be a problem in 12/12, the box can stand free in the room if it has to)

-I pre-mixed the seedling/veg soil in 4 4" pots: 2 parts organic seedling top soil (mostly peat), 2 parts perlite, 1 part vermiculite, dolomite lime too when I find it maybe a teeny bit of empsom salt? Sound good to you guys?
My toy seedlings are in JUST the top soil I mentioned a second ago, seriously inhibiting growth, I think.

-I have a few jiffy pots, is there a better medium for freshly germinated seeds that I should consider before planting them in the medium above?

So hook it up with some responses, for the sake of my apartment not being burned down. I posted a pic of the HPS in question, may be familiar to many of you.. The HPS heat/fire issue question is the most pressing to me, I'm about to order it

Thanks
 

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