Grow Tent Reviews Wanted

[Icemud]

Great Idea on this thread...

Here's mine..

I have the Hydro Hut Silver Edition 2x4 tent and so far I absolutely love it.

I bought it new in the box and so far am almost completing my 2nd grow in it.

The tent took a total of about 10 minutes to set up, was very easy to put together, and has an all metal frame with great top crossbars, seem to hold quite a bit of weight, (2 carbon scrubbers, 1 cool tube, 1 air cooled hood, and 2 fans)...lol... I really put her to the test...

There are plenty of vent's on this tent, 3x 6" holes on each side, and 1 6" hole in the back, and 1 6" hole on the top, along with separate utility plug hole (really nice feature)

The tent has 3, screened vents that can be opened on the lower sides, and back of the tent to allow air intake, and can be sealed up during dark hours to prevent light leaks...

The tent itself is very heavy duty, thick canvas outside (black with blue zippers) and the inside is lined with hammered mylar....

The bottom of the tent has a removable, waterproof shell that makes for very nice cleaning between cycles, as well as prevent's your floor getting ruined from overflow... works great

Light leaks on this tent are minimal, with the exception of a few pinhole leaks on the stitching, the tent is virtually lightproof..I even got inside and had a buddy close me in...couldnt even see my hand in front of my face

Overall this is an excellent tent...my only complaint is the stitching used on the zippers could have been done better, It has come loose in 3 different places which required me to sit there and sew it back up...not a big deal, but for a virtually new tent...kind of a letdown....

I like this tent so much, I am trying to find another just like it...


user ratings:

quality 10/10

light tight 10/10 (a few small pin holes in stitching)

assembly 10/10

frame 10/10

venting/ports 10/10

zippers/canvas 7/10

price 8/10

 

[ilikebike]

i bought a 4'x2'x5' GRN Elements Grow tent on ebay for 75$ shipped. Well worth the money. the thing seems pretty sturdy its supporting (3) 4' florescent lights right now. Was fairly easy to assemble came with a flood tray and like 6 spots to plug in ventilation and run wires. the vent holes have retractable cords so you can tighten them around ducting or close them off to light. zipper is pretty durable so is the material. Great deal!

 

[Tricks]

I had the 3x3 silver edition hydro hut. 3x3x6-1/2 . Great tent. Really strong. I could hang off it and i weight about 160. Now, i didn't want to bounce or do pull ups, but i could hang off the support bars using 2 hands w/o feet touching the ground. I think i found one pin hole. Be careful pulling the tent over its steel skeleton. This tent literally took me 5-10 min to set up. Watch the video first . Its all Letter labeled for easy assembly. I was going to get the jardin 3x3 tent, i should have, its a little bit shorter. But i loved this tent. Its really nice, it has a pull our water spill tray also and velcro straps for whatever you want. More vent holes then i could use and nice strong thick fabric. I think i got mine for like $220 shipped from greeners.

I'm looking at the Silver Edition myself, unsure on which size I need, but I'm glad to hear they are good tents. I'm thinking of running two smaller tents maybe 4X4 one for veg and one for bloom, with 400w MH for Veg and 600W HPS for flower, or I have a small closet in the same room I could use for veg, but by the time I pay for a door and then line it with mylar, it may be just a cheep to buy that extra tent...thoughts?

 

[Bassman59]

I would suggest taking a real good looky at Secret Jardin tents. The II series is even heavier material than before. But what I like is the side doors are nice big ass doors. And they are less expensive than Hydro Hut. Really light tight on mine. I'm probably going to expand and buy either 4x8 or 5x5 to add to my 4x4. The one thing I would like to see is more wiring outlets. It has 2, but 3-4 would be nice to allow for different room positions.

 

[corners]

I'm looking at the Silver Edition myself, unsure on which size I need, but I'm glad to hear they are good tents. I'm thinking of running two smaller tents maybe 4X4 one for veg and one for bloom, with 400w MH for Veg and 600W HPS for flower, or I have a small closet in the same room I could use for veg, but by the time I pay for a door and then line it with mylar, it may be just a cheep to buy that extra tent...thoughts?

Having 2 tents is defintly a big plus. Make it easier for you to isolate plants if you have too, and get a good perpetual even. Also makes it pretty easy to plop a tent and light in any friends room real quick if need be.

Personally, i liked the silver edition hydro hut better. They are a little taller, and just look great. You will know what i mean once you have it set up. If you do go the jardin route, make sure its the darkroom pro II version. Supposed to be thicker cloth.

Only thing i dont like about the jardin is the material used for the tent frame. I wouldn't have known the difference though if i had gotten the jardin first. I think the think steel frame on the silver edition hydro huts is superior to the jardin. Its nice knowing your tent wont rock with a light in it and a filter on it, and whatever else is hanging out of it.

All in all they are the best tent makers in the business imo. If you can afford a little extra get the Silver Edition Hydro Hut over the Secret Jardin Darkroom Pro II

 

[Tricks]

Thanks Bassman and corners, I think I'll go with the Silver because I like the looks and the place I'm dealing with locally sells them. The other two things I'm concerned about is the Electric safety and footprint. I'm living in a 50+ yr old house and will have the tents in a spare bedroom, I plan on using a 44 for veg in one tent and a 600 in the other for bloom, plus filters fans etc, I'm hoping this won't put out a heat footprint, I have central air and heat. The other thing is running off of just the wall out lets, I read to not use more than 2 600 on one outlet, so I should be good with the 6-4 combo....any ideas?

 

[ilikebike]

I ordered a LightHouse Hydro 5x5x7 Grow tent on ebay from a store called 'gotham products' really good customer service, fast shipping, and the tent was only $170 shipped and it is really high quality, the canvas is thick and heavy, the zippers are like zippers you would find on a military duffel bag or something, very durable material i think this tent will take alot of wear and tear before it actually shows it.

 

[Tricks]

Hey Icemud, this is tricks, and I'm new to the site, I can't send a PM yet so I'm hoping you see this here. I'm looking at the same tent you have or a SE 4X4 I was wondering what size lamps do you use, and what kind of vent? do you blow air in over the lights and suck out the hot air thru the carbon filter? if so any problems with heat? also do I have to run the duct work from the filter outside or into the attic? I'm not really sure what I have to do with that end, I hate to cut holes in my walls LOL
PS I'll be running a 2 tent set-up with a 400 in one and a 600HID in the other...thanks

 

[Bassman59]

If stealth & heat is an issue, might want to think about going LED

 

[Bassman59]

I ordered a LightHouse Hydro 5x5x7 Grow tent on ebay from a store called 'gotham products' really good customer service, fast shipping, and the tent was only $170 shipped and it is really high quality, the canvas is thick and heavy, the zippers are like zippers you would find on a military duffel bag or something, very durable material i think this tent will take alot of wear and tear before it actually shows it.

Looks like a very nice tent. I googled them and found a couple vids describing them. 6" reflective water tray is nice. One more roof support pole than Secret Jardin. 3 3" air intakes on bottom are nice. Looks very lightproof. And comes with a couple adjustable light hanging straps. And all for less $$ than SJ.

I may have to see if I can find one to look at up close for my 2nd tent.

 

[Casa Verde]

Here some good info :
https://www.hbmodular.net/choose-your-shape
Homepage - Secret Jardin

If you ask me the mammoth and int. series are one of the best .

Example of the mammoth:
This one i stole from a dutch grower that had a grow journal on wietforum.nl

And not to forget my own tent ,that had his best moments after a year .

The Dark propas are the shitt 2!

 

[Casa Verde]

Edit :
The unbranded white tents have often plasticizers witch can screw up your crop .

 

[Icemud]

Hey Icemud, this is tricks, and I'm new to the site, I can't send a PM yet so I'm hoping you see this here. I'm looking at the same tent you have or a SE 4X4 I was wondering what size lamps do you use, and what kind of vent? do you blow air in over the lights and suck out the hot air thru the carbon filter? if so any problems with heat? also do I have to run the duct work from the filter outside or into the attic? I'm not really sure what I have to do with that end, I hate to cut holes in my walls LOL
PS I'll be running a 2 tent set-up with a 400 in one and a 600HID in the other...thanks

Hey Tricks, sorry I didn't see this post right away...welcome to 420magazine...its an awesome forum, with wonderful members...I hope you find a home here...anyways with that said...let me get to your questions.

I chose my tent size because it fit my room better, being more long than deep, but with this I also realized that to get proper light coverage with it being so long, a dual light setup was better. So I took it probably a little extreme for the size of the tent, but I am rockin' a 400w Ceramic Metal Halide, by Phillips, and a 600w Ushio Opti Red HPS.

If have the space, I would recommend a square shaped tent, just because it fits the light footprint of most air cooled hoods better than the long shaped tent that I have...then you could get away with 1x 600w HPS in a 4x4 tent..which will run you much cheaper in electricity than adding an additional bulb..

My venting I have 2 fans running... fan #1 is controlled by a fan speed dial, so I can adjust the speed depending on need(temp). This fan is a 435cfm hydrofarm fan 6", which is just connected to a carbon scrubber inside my tent. This fan runs 24/7, usually at low to medium low speed, and the air sucks from my tent, up into the carbon scrubber, thru the fan and out the tent...

Fan #2 is a unknown 4" blower type fan, I dont know the cfm, but would say probably around the 150-250 range by guessing. This fan is hooked up to a timer that goes on only with my lights, and turns off about 15min. after the lights go off. On this fan the airflow goes from my tent, into the carbon scrubber, through my 2 HID lights, into the fan, and out an exhaust tube...

Overall temperature issues have only occured a few times in the dead of summer, I don't have AC, but have a natural ocean breeze that keeps the temps down pretty reasonable, so the need isnt there more then maybe 4x a year..When the temperature's do reach close to 84F then I usually will either dim my 600w down to 400w, or turn my fans up depending on the cycle. I also have a evaporative humidifier that I have on one of my intake duct lines that pumps cool moist air into the tent..

As far as running your ducting into the room. I do and it does heat up the room significantly... I'm running 1000w...So my solution was to put a box fan, the cheap 15$ ones, in my window blowing outwards. I routed my ducting thru a make shift "odor box" which just was there to help quiet the output, as well as I threw in an additional GAC carbon filter, some drier sheets and I was money... LOL. I routed both of my air output tubes coming from my fans, thru this "rubbermaid odor box" and added some additonal tubing outputting my air next to my window fan, so it directly gets sucked out...
I usually will place a new air freshener once a week in the ducting towards the end of flowering because things can still get pretty stinky, but now its under controll.

If you run the hot air into your room, just make sure that you have fresh cool air coming in somehow, and the hot air exiting...or you will just be heating the room, which will heat the tent...

I hopefully soon will be getting another tent, so I will be also addressing how to cool both, with what I have....I may be going LED in my veg tent, still undetermined, but only prices will tell...lol.

 

[corners]

Thanks Bassman and corners, I think I'll go with the Silver because I like the looks and the place I'm dealing with locally sells them. The other two things I'm concerned about is the Electric safety and footprint. I'm living in a 50+ yr old house and will have the tents in a spare bedroom, I plan on using a 44 for veg in one tent and a 600 in the other for bloom, plus filters fans etc, I'm hoping this won't put out a heat footprint, I have central air and heat. The other thing is running off of just the wall out lets, I read to not use more than 2 600 on one outlet, so I should be good with the 6-4 combo....any ideas?

Yeah, you should be good with what you have. And 400w for veg, 600w for bloom is perfect. You dont need a ton of light for veg any hoot.

 

[Tricks]

IceMud, thanks my brother! you have a hook up very close to what I'm going to do, in fact yours was my first pick, but I'm going to go with two tents, I figure I can set up the veg tent first, then I'll have a little time before I have to put out the money for the second tent, because the 1st grow will veg for awhile, this saves about half of the initial cost for awhile LOL Let me ask you, the fan that is the intake, does that air blow into the tent and then the carbon filter sucks it out? there is a reason I ask this, because I saw a nice set-up that had a fan sitting on a 5 gal bucket, the bottom of the bucket has holes and a makeshift filter, the fan sucks fresh air from the room into the grow tent, this helps cool and the c02 intake (if you have more air going out than coming in) I just wasn't sure with this hook-up if the air was sucked out by the filter?

 

[Tricks]

Yeah, you should be good with what you have. And 400w for veg, 600w for bloom is perfect. You dont need a ton of light for veg any hoot.

Thanks Corners! I thought that this set-up might work out well, thanks to this site and another I have learned a lot!

 

[Tricks]

If stealth & heat is an issue, might want to think about going LED

Hey Bassman, I thought about LED, but I just don't think they have came far enough and for sure outta my price range, but in a few years I want to give em a shot. I'm only running a 600 and a 400 the 6 will be carbon filtered and the reflector is heat cooled, I'm hoping with a 5X5 need I'll be good...because stealth is a must, I though this would be fine from the things I have read...ideas? Bass or anyone

 

[Bassman59]

I understand price being an issue.

LED's work. But you gotta pay to get the good ones. And you really gotta research a bit imo if you're not going with GS or Advanced which have been proven here at 420mag. For stealth, you can't beat LED. And if that is as big an issue as you are talking, you are losing all that stealth with 1k watts of hid.

Long term LED is less expensive than HID. But the upfront cost is down right painful!

 

[Tricks]

Bass man, not sure why 1000W would give up my stealth? from what I have read peoples bills go up about 30 bucks a month with something the size I'm looking at (I have part of the stuff already) I have also read that heat isn't much of an issue with an air cooled hood, and a carbon filter...also the carbon filer should take care of any oder from a 5X5 right? and if I'm not throwing out a lot of heat, I shouldn't have a heat sig right? at least I hope all this is right, any info would be great!!!

 

[Bassman59]

When it comes to stealth, the first thing I think of is aerial infrared. I seriously doubt filters and fans after a light stop that. I could be wrong.

LED is just tons cooler and much more stealthy.

Elect bills depend on what your utility charges per KWH. Example, 16 hrs per day avg x 30 days x 12c per kwh @ 1000w = $58 month. And that's just the light, not counting fans needed to cool the room/tent, AC, whatever.