boulderbuds

I just wanted to say how well set up this site seems to be and how awesome it is to have all this info readily available. Also from what i have been reading, the incidinces of ridiculing and slandering others are kept to a minimum which is much different than other forums ive been associated with. Very cool thing we have here.
That being said, i am new to the site. Have been reading pretty extensively, and am a longtime smoker who is ready to grow. I want to say as much stuff about my setup and stuff as possible and hopefully you guys can throw some questions back at me that i possibly haven't thought of.
so here goes, sorry this post got longer than i anticipated:
I live in colder, drier environment but summers are hot. my indoor temps generally stay around 72-75. i already have my cfls, beans in the mail, blueprint plans for everything, and partial construction of my flower box completed. I plan on having 2 separate Indoor cabins (1 veg, 1 flower)

Veg cabin is in bottom two drawers of a dresser. 2.5'W x 1.5'D x 2' H
walls all painted flat white. Lights attach to surges hanging from third drawer. i have 10- 23 watt CFLs 1600 lumens/per scattered across cieling of box. Pretty evenly spread, tried to mimic long tube fluorescent coverage with more intense? spiral CFLs. (Don't know if thats entirely true or not, dont want to start a debate already. talikng in surface coverage area if anyone wants to correct me- intensity over surface). anyway- veg cabin is pretty much done. havent put any fan in yet. Suggestions? I was thinking something small along the back wall of the cab, maybe a computer fan. Theres a soild inch of space along the entire back wall of the dresser that extends past the vegging area. kind of abarrier to make sure the drawers don't hit the back. I'm thinking a fan pointed up into that area would ventilate adequately enough for the small area. Figure i wont need a full on intake/outtake system for veg box.Thoughts?
flower box-
big cabin is going to be a walk- in box. 3' x 6' x 6'.there will be a door latch on the side kind of like a submarine door, raised off the ground, that you have to duck into to get thru. except made out of drywall. i will only be using half of that 3' x 3' or maybe even 3' x 2' for my flowering area. The actual flowering area of the room will be cut off with a moveable flap which will hang from cieling. In place simply to segregate the light more intensely to that side of the box.
Havent bought my big light yet but am planning a basic 400 W HPS as a mainlight and maybe a handful of 23 watt cfls for other spectrum strategically placed.(Saw this awesome octopus like surge protector at local hydro store, that had arms each like 18 inches long that you could arrange in any form and they would stay put . looked perfect for getting some low light in the right places, pricey though . . $25 for one. Pricey , but a probability)
Extra area in cabin will be used to store products, watering tools, etc. Will also put a good circulation fan in dark(non flowering) section of box , aimed about base level of the plants. i already put together a ducting exhaust system to suck air from the area near where the HPS will be set up. I only have a 60 cfm fan, but i plan to run it constantly.That will be pushing through a homemade activated carbon filter. If the 60 cfm duct fan isnt pushing enough air thru, i plan on either: going to an active intake system as well, or simply pointing another fan straight into that summbitch until i reach adequate temp. Dont expect a huge problem with temp since the extra space of the cabin will suck excess heat away from plants anyway. And inside the cabin i plan on having the air moving around all over the place, including a fan specifically pointed at the HPS.
soil and nutrients-
plan on using the fox farms ocean forest soil, with some perlite, and worm castings. Soil is the main thing i havent decided 100% on. open to suggestions but not super interested in soils people swear on, cuz different stuff works for different situations. but i plan on fox farms soil, and also the fox farms big bloom ,tiger bloom, grow big system for my nutrients.
ill get into all that later but my main interests now are any suggestions and or recommendations for me to change in my general setup. Or are there any flaws that stick out right away that i need to recognize. I dont plan on starting the grow for another 4 weeks, so anything i can catch at this point i think will be beneficial in the long run. Sorry i know this post is long. thanks for reading and thanks for any input guys.

AVC

Hey there boulderbuds, welcome to GC! first off, youre setup seems pretty good from the getgo. will you have pics up of your setup? perhaps a journal

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JTShakes

Hmmm. I'm thinking if it will be an enclosed box, you might want some exchange of fresh air, perhaps a computer case fan thats 50-80cfm for an exhaust. That with a passive intake should be adequate. It would also help keep temps under control. CFLs put off more heat than you'd expect, and in that small of an area it can cause problems if you don't ventilate.

I'm gonna say almost for sure that the 60cfm fan you plan on using is not going to do a very good job for you, especially with a carbon filter attached. You have to think that duct and a carbon filter will increase resistance, and any fan will lose some of its umph.

Another rule of thumb I like to go by is: try to exchange the air in your immediate grow area once every minute. Right now, you're looking at a 60cfm fan, so add a carbon filter and (I'll be generous) were looking @ 50cfm. Your actual grow space is ~3'x3'x6' or 54cf, so thats cutting it close. Not only that, but you mentioned that you'd be circulating the air in the rest of the cab as well, and that area is 3'x6'x'6 or 108cf. So 50cfms of fresh air wont cut it.

Check out THIS THREAD it's more along the lines of what you'd want to use. They still sell em at conglomo-mart (they're made by Lasko and they're gray and black now, but trust me. same thing.)...Cheap enough to afford and it's an easy DIY mod to hook up the carbon filter. http://www.laskoproducts.com/fans/model_4904.html

I <3 FoxFarm I contribute their products to my first-time-grow success.

Feel free to check out any of the links in my thread to see what I've done. I'm not saying I'm a know it all by any means, it just might help spark some ideas.

PHEW! So is this one!
You betcha! This is what the forum is for!

boulderbuds

thanks for the welcome. stoners are so much nicer than drunks. . .
as for the blower fan idea, i have given that some thought, just seems a little mcuh for my area. i will definately keep that as a backup plan. if my fan isnt sufficient, I was thinking also of simply adding another duct fan which would boost from 60 to about 180. (or at least thats what its rating said), stand alone 60 cfm, combined into a system can boost up to 180cfm. Do people avoid the duct fans simply because of the noise they create? or is the overall need for air movement more than a standard duct fan can create?
By no means am i vetoing the stanley blower idea, just think the extra duct fan(if needed) would look a lot cleaner and be out of the way and would be much less work than going the blower route. But, i could definatelt be wrong.
i am not super concerned with noise issues due to the fact that i normally have multiple fans running in my house anyway which will probably drown out any residual noise. plus the company (friends) i have over would never even bother asking. smell is of my concern however. is a simple homemade carbon filter really gonna get rid of that stank?Especially in late flowering? jsut never used one and am skeptical i guess.
also another question in regards to my flower box out vent- if i point a 150cfm circulation fan (honeywell) into the open end of the 4" duct from say about 12 inches away, do you think that could boost the outward air flow sufficiently? instead of going the blower route?
thanks guys/gals- time for a fat bonghit

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH what a country

Freakshow68

I will second that, Welcome to the Garden,. You've received some excellent advice, my new friend. For more, you need to read, read, read. Check out every grow journal you can find. Read the GrowFAQ. Then read more journals.
It does sound like you've been hanging with the wrong crowds, drunks instead of stoners. I think you'll find the intellectual stoners here in the Garden entertaining and most enlightening.

grow on

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