New Grower 1st time super novice need help with set up

[beantown_bud]

Hi I have never done this before and I am building a box it is 22 inches deep, 3ft long, and 4ft tall. I am completing the last wall and top but I am confused about the air circ. I have a 160cfm fan venting into attic and using a carbon filter. I want to use the passive air exchange (I think that's what it's called) my question is how big should the opening be tword the bottom for the air to come in?

Thxs in advance

 

[The Squid]

Hey brother. Welcome! Cool little grow. You're right with that fan you could actually have a smaller or less cfm so that is plenty. Passive is perfect I say. And you'll have plenty of negative pressure for that. I know two things you could do:
>Run another duct from the outside room, going near the bottom of the inside of your tent or at least running near the bottom the same size as your exhaust. Some say intake should be bigger than exhaust, either will work though. As long as it is sealed up good you'll have enough pressure pulling fresh air in from whatever room your box is in. This also cuts out light leaks from the vent.

>Or you could have a longer vent along the back bottom of your box. These are already in pretty much all grow tents you could buy, this method works fine. It does obviously let a little light out of the back so depending on exactly how covert you need to be could cause a problem.

You'll need a small fan circulating air around inside your tent as well. This also simulates wind and builds strength for your babies. Hope I helped you out. Rock on.

 

[beantown_bud]

Hi squid... I'm a sista actually the name would b confusing. Thxs for the welcome I've been lurking and learning for a lil while. I am using wood to construct the box and I am using a grow tent that came with all the gear I purchased from a friend to line the interior (the tent was way too large for my space). The duct for the fan is 4inch the tent has one of those flaps you were talking about and that's where I was going to cut the wood but the hole is like a ft n a half long bout 3in tall has a screen n everything. I can cut that out or there is also a place where I could do another 4inch hole like the fan but I would have to get something to cover it. Will the longer one already in the tent wall work?

I just got a small 7in fan to put inside, my purchase also included 2 150w hps, 4blue cfl and 1 T5 blue spectrum lights I think and 3 orange like cfl, this seems way too excessive for my needs what would you recommend I use?
I got the pots today 3 3gal I have fflw to start the seeds and I also have ffof and was going to mix them 50/50 in the 3gal pots. Do you think this will b alright? I also have additives like worm castings, bat guano, and steamed bone meal (I had read about these additives saying they were good now to fig. out how to use them or if I even should).
I will prob have more questions as I expect my beans this week so I am in the home stretch of box building. I am so excited and looking forward to learning and sharing the experience.

 

[Bikini Fettuccine]

Hey Beantown, I have a box similar to your except instead of 3' it is only 2' long. If you want I can post a pic of what I did, my cousin has the same box as me except his intake is different, he made a port thing, kinda like on a speaker box and it works good, also a little light trap. I just have a 4 inch passive intake, I made it 4 inches in case I ever need to change the way my box is set up. Let me know if you want me to post a pic..

 

[beantown_bud]

Hey Bikini, thxs for the reply if you could post a pic that would b great. I just dont want to cut the hole n it b wrong. My dad always said measure twice cut once : )
what kind of light do you have set up? How many plants do u have in there at once?
Thanks again for the response your help is very appriciated.

 

[Bikini Fettuccine]

No Problem, just trying to do what everyone else here at AFN has done for me. I have a Blackstar 240. I think it would work great for your box as well.

The first is of my fan, similar to yours. The second is the intake I made, it does what it needs to, I also use a 6" fan inside my box that is not in the picture. The last is of my light and the inline fan. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[iLuvIndica]

Im confused and lost on your setup pics would be awesome but we all kno thats not a must for some help, someone should help you with that soon what I can tell you is that you can use them but HPS and the oragne cfls are used mostly 4 flower Get up as many blue spectrum lighting as possible if not accesbile use the orange. The rule of thumb generally is too use blue spec 1-2 weeks into flower then switch to flower bulbs aka hps, "orange" lighting. You really want the "red" spec for bloom which you have HPS is bomb for packing weight. Autos strech like crazy the first weeks into flower they are still vegging so thats why some leave the blue in longer to help with that growth spurt. LW is just that light make sure you water slowly as to make sure the water is absorbed all the way down the pot. I have personal exp with LW i found that after the first time i used it i killed the bottom 4 inches of my roots by not letting the water soak thoroughly. My pots dry out fast what i did this time around is mix water into the LW before i potted up seemed to help with waterings down the road bc the soil soaked it up instead of running to the sides. My OF went bad on me so I didnt get a chance to mix a batch for my seedlings but I wanted to try was mix 1 part OF to 4 parts LW i was gonna use a partycup 1 cup to 4 cups to see if that helped. I noticed that with LW if you dont give them a feeding after the first set of leaves come in they are hungry so i thoguht a little OF would help that. Basically its a soiless medium used for hydro. Dont use those additives like worm castings guano or bone meal unless you have time to wait. When mixing a soil with that stuff it needs time to sit somewhere the mix would be too hot for anything to survive in it. If you want to make a good soil theres some reicpes on here using that stuff plus organic teas can be made i get the link after i post this since ive rambled on long enough. Thats another set of probs and procedures you would have to learn and siince its your first grow you should start of as simple as possible.

 

[iLuvIndica]

see i took to long LOLOLOL

 

[Bikini Fettuccine]

Hey Beantown, I was replying while you replied about the rest of your setup, so i missed that. Your setup looks good. Get you a grow log going once you get started, I wanna check out your grow and see how it does. I wish I would have made my box bigger, I just have limited space right now. I can still fit a few plants in my box, I will make a veg box next time I start.

 

[iLuvIndica]

You could use the HPS start to finish with the Cfls and t5s as side lighting I wouldnt know you would work that out though. If your using a t5 setup cant u just switch out the lights with the HPS easy without the need of two boxs just saying make it simple.