grow tent users help please

[justanotherbozo]

2 stacked 400's barebulb vertical style and a good exhaust fan and you'd be killing it bro, frankly, with that 8" Vortex of mine you could do a 600HPS up top with a 400CMH below and you would be rocking some killer kola's!

...the Ceramic Metal Halide would work with any 400watt magnetic HPS ballast, a digital won't work in this case, ...i personally built my own from a kit but you can get one at a growshop for not much more than $100.00.

btw, the CMH would add some blue to the mix and it would increase trich production.

...note also in my pics above that i have some green plastic fencing around the walls of the tent and it's there to provide anchor points for me to pull back and attach any kola's that get too close to the light and i use pipe cleaners as tiedowns, ...my grobro uses a chickenwire cage around the bulb instead.

peace, bozo

 

[justanotherbozo]

Here's my Veg tent with an 8" Raptor .. :cigar:

...high bro, here's a shot of my veg tent with just a pair of 2 bulb shoplights that do the job pretty good ok, lol, ...i've got $20.00 per fixture so $40.00 bucks plus some scrap wood and 4x 40watt 4100Kelvin bulbs for a grand total of less than $50.00 for my veg lighting needs.

peace, bozo

 

[reloader]

Hell yeah....
Did i tell you guys how much i love this place? Bozo thats way more than i could of asked for and i appreciate it. Definitely assembling my own. Gonna go look at 2 400s maybe. Think thats ok for 4x4 or 5x5

You should be fine as long as you can cool it. I have (2) 600's & (2) 1000's in a 7x7 tent.

 

[Cort]

I used to take my best online prices, add in shipping then take that to my local brick and mortar store. Often times they would match, or come close enough to matching that it would be worth walking away with the item today vs 2 weeks for all parts to arrive.

WalFart sells 4 foot t8 shoplights for 10 bucks. Bang them around some and ask for a discount. Will readily give up to 50% off. I built one on bang and bash discount similar to Bozo's

My tent was 4x4 hydrohut silver with a 1k bulb/air cooled hood, scrubber and 6" fan. Retrospect, 5x5 and 8" fan would have been a better fit. You might think you want super small compact grow but the bug will bite and you will wish you had more room.

 

[Dulce]

Lots of good info given.
Here is my take:
If you are committed to using a 600w, get a 3x3. This will put you at 50w PSF. This is the minimum wattage needed psf to get good nug structure. At 4x4 you're only getting 37.5 watts PSF to the plants which sucks.
Also I would shop around and buy the tent @ a hydro shop. This way you can deal with them directly if there is a problem and/or there are warranty issues without to deal with all the packing and shipping.
As for everything else like reflectors, fans, ballast, etc., I would consider checking out craigslist. Tons of people are moving equipment there, some barely used, for super cheap. You could come in way under budget if you're smart and upgrade over time to better equip as you get better.
And if you get good at growing and decide you want to upgrade, you can always buy a bigger tent just to bloom in and keep your 3x3 as a kick ass veg tent.
Good luck

 

[burn4me]

@Pisces could you post a link on that tent? See if i can get a player price too. All great advice you guys. Ill be in basement with this tent anyone else in a basement with theirs? I have cleaned. But always scared of bugs and such getting in. How do yall take care of situation? Hepa filters are expensive

 

[burn4me]

I can run 2 400watt bulbs in this right? What type of ballast

 

[sixstring]

i would def go with a 5 x 5 if you have the space and it sounds like you do cause your in the basement. 2 400's would do great in that size and so would a 1000 or a 600 and a 400 .i like bozos idea on stacking a 6 over a 4 :)
but i run those dual cooltubes in the 48" and 60" size with 2x 600 in them and they stay nice and cool with a decent 6in fan like the vortex.might be kinda tight in a tent by the time you get the pipe hooked up to it.if i was going that route with tubes i would go 5 x 5 tent with a 48in cooltube on diag up top,corner to corner.it will give you better spread on a pair of bulbs.gl

 

[burn4me]

I never even thought about diagonal. Genius ... well im going to look even harder today and hopefully make some decisions

 

[justanotherbozo]

I can run 2 400watt bulbs in this right? What type of ballast

...so, if you run 2 lights, you'll need 2 ballast's, i suppose there may be a single ballast that will run 2 bulbs at once but if so i am unfamiliar with it.

i DO run 2x 600's off the same ballast but i use a flipbox so each bulb takes a 12 hour turn and the ballast itself run's 24/7.

it's also worth noting that if you go with a cooltube you WILL be sacrificing lumens and you will also need to regularly clean the glass or the lumen loss will increase over time, plus, with a cooltube that means you'll need 2 good quality exhaust fans, one for the cooltube and one for the scrubber AND you'll need to run ducting for the cooltube as well.

on the other hand, if you go barebulb and go with an oversized exhaust fan and speed controller hooked up to the scrubber you should have no problem keeping things cool and even though the single oversized fan may cost more than either fan you'd need with the cooltube, it will still be cheaper than the price of both of those fans you'd need to run the cooltube. ...that 8" Vortex S-line i linked to earlier in this thread would do the job nicely and all for under $200.00.

...you'd just have to make sure your nugs didn't fall into your lights and like i said earlier, there's a couple ways to deal with this.

peace, bozo

 

[Gamrstwin36]

Bare Bulb it, just run exhaust. Slap 6 babies in there and go off!! Tmb
Respect

 

[burn4me]

I really do like the results of bare bulb but im not gonna lie heat build up and RH is my concern. Thats a question i did ask. RH how do yall deal with raising and lowering it? Im in mid west so low in winter but high in summer not to mention ill be in a basement lol. So glad peeps are lending valuable time and info. I cant express how grateful i am

 

[Gamrstwin36]

I really do like the results of bare bulb but im not gonna lie heat build up and RH is my concern. Thats a question i did ask. RH how do yall deal with raising and lowering it? Im in mid west so low in winter but high in summer not to mention ill be in a basement lol. So glad peeps are lending valuable time and info. I cant express how grateful i am

Well being in high ass heat year round. Rh isn't a issue for me till winter time which i just get those closet buckets that suck moisture outta the air. To raise it, ghetto humidifier and boom. Heat actually isn't a issue with bare bulb. Put a fan directly under bulb and breeze. Ill see if i can find some link's that helped me.

 

[burn4me]

Well being in high ass heat year round. Rh isn't a issue for me till winter time which i just get those closet buckets that suck moisture outta the air. To raise it, ghetto humidifier and boom. Heat actually isn't a issue with bare bulb. Put a fan directly under bulb and breeze. Ill see if i can find some link's that helped me.

ever find them links? Lol
How do you guy deal with negative pressure? Should i buy a booster fan for intake and create a little positive pressure? Which is better? And if i ran vert bulb bare and keep fan high to deal with heat, won't that suck RH right out despite humidifier? That was my problem in veg room at first. Had to find sweet spot of fan to humidity ratio. Best i can get right now is 72-80 and 45%-55%. Right around those areas anyway. So im wondering how to deal with this.

I did choose 5x5 dark room. 1000 watts for light. 6" h.o. fan/filter. Still gotta deal with a few decisions. Decided against building one due to possible moving ing future when house is paid off. Thanks guys. Im sure ill have more questions.

 

[Gamrstwin36]

I grab a bunch of these, and they work GREAT. Get You a small adjustable fan put right underneath bulb blowing upwards. Your golden.
TMB
Respect

Ps. Negative pressure is your best friend brother. I'd rather have negative pressure than positive.

 

[burn4me]

Getting rid of humidity probably wont be an issue. Building up humidity i thought was going to be the problem due to overkill fan running to remove heat.

 

[shawnskush]

Im wondering if a tent vs a hand built structure built for break-down is the better route personally.

 

[burn4me]

Truthfully i wanted to build. Its cheaper. But a tent is smarter in the long run for me.

 

[Pisces]

Going bare bulb in a tent or any small area for that concern is counterproductive imvho.

Your wasting valuable space and light and definitely aren't going to get near the yield you can get by going with a nice air cooled hood with great reflection.

Believe me i tried going bare bulb in tents years ago…never again!

As far as my in & outtake goes, I've got inlines for both.
And Both are connected to speed controllers.

Since you went with a 1kw and a 5x5, you will definitely need an intake to keep things cool in there.

I house my intake fan just outside of the tent on top of two cinder blocks to elevate it so it's the same height as the intake sleeve on the tent. That way there's as least amount of bends in the ducting as possible.

I then run a small amount of ducting from this fan directly into the tent and lay it along the floor..

That way, all the cool air passes through the plants before getting warm and rising and eventually being sucked out and through the filter and out of the tent.

The constant exchange of fresh air is very important and with the help of speed controllers, it is easier to dial this in.

 

[Gamrstwin36]

Going bare bulb in a tent or any small area for that concern is counterproductive imvho.

Your wasting valuable space and light and definitely aren't going to get near the yield you can get by going with a nice air cooled hood with great reflection.

Believe me i tried going bare bulb in tents years ago…never again!

As far as my in & outtake goes, I've got inlines for both.
And Both are connected to speed controllers.

Since you went with a 1kw and a 5x5, you will definitely need an intake to keep things cool in there.

I house my intake fan just outside of the tent on top of two cinder blocks to elevate it so it's the same height as the intake sleeve on the tent. That way there's as least amount of bends in the ducting as possible.

I then run a small amount of ducting from this fan directly into the tent and lay it along the floor..

That way, all the cool air passes through the plants before getting warm and rising and eventually being sucked out and through the filter and out of the tent.

The constant exchange of fresh air is very important and with the help of speed controllers, it is easier to dial this in.

NEGATIVE. .. BARE BULB ALLOWS ALL your space light, doesn't waste lumens unlike hoods etc. Makes Temp control too easy. To each it's own, but those who dont run warehousing type environments. Most importantly, NO LARF, And no more sissyboy lollipop trimming! ! Can FULLY MAXIMIZE their space and strains EASILY with bare VERT.
Do the KNOWLEDGE on HEATH ROBINSON.
TMB
RESPECT