Closet with tent setup and feedback/ideas for heat

sixspeedv

sixspeedv

New Member
Hello All, Im working to build out my future grow tent. Im in a non legal state and hopefully next year it will go full recreational. In prep for this once legal im still looking to keep this grow behind doors and not just visible in my office. The below items are what I have spec'd out and would place in my closet. Im looking to run 1-3 plants max. I used to grow in a c13 cabinet about 10 years ago with a 400 watter and could never manage temps but had a few successful runs.

Tent - MILLIARD 36" x 20" x 63"
Light - Apollo 400 Watt MH/HPS with cooltube
Exhaust - VenTech Exhaust Blower Fan with Carbon Filter and Variable Speed Controller, 440 CFM, 6
Fan - 8 inch clip fan

I would connect ducting from filter to cooltube and exhaust out of the tent directly into my attic to remove heat from the tent completely. Ambient temps in my office/closet are around 79-81 degrees right now during summer (110 degrees outside). Tent flaps would be open at the bottom to allow fresh air in.

Im thinking my temps will still be too high seeing that my ambient temps are already a bit warm. With that said i plan to dial the ballast down to 50% or 75% to get into a manageable range. I want to run HIDs but maybe for this smaller space and my dry hot environment LED could be a suitable option?

Any thoughts or feedback greatly appreciated. I have plenty of time to tune this setup once i get everything in the mail just have not ordered light.
 
Below you will see my current t5 setup. 8 bulb 2 foot T5HO. Currently from 6 inches away we see 86-88 degree temps. I used the bucket to grow lettuce kratky style. Was a fun experiment and ran only 4 bulbs and temps were 79-84 degrees. This is without any exhausting of the hot air and only the fan blowing across and closet door being open to allow fresh air conditioned room air in. This fixture would prob be my veg light in my tent as well.


IMG_55896.JPG
 
I believe CO2 would allow you to run with higher temps, maybe look into it. LED would help you bring temps down versus HID, but I am not sold on the affordable ready made LED solutions that are out at this time.
 
Here was what i have dialed my lighting options down to. Any comments/feedback/suggestions would be great. I do believe heat is only really going to be an issue during our summer months but for space reasons as well LED panels will save me 4-5 inches in height. Here is an overhead view of what im considering. Option B would be the coolest but least amount of light but pretty good coverage. Option D which is not pictured is just 1 600 watt (280 actual) led panel. option A I think would create a lot of heat as well just not sure if more than HID. All will be exhausted out of tent as well. the little circles are the fans lol.

tent_lighting_options.jpg
 
High Sixspeedv

By ambient temps do you mean in the closet with no exhaust from it? You mentioned A/C so if you get the fan blowing into the attic does that mean that the tent will be drawing in cooled air from the A/C? If so then the tent heat should be manageable with the better airflow that you'll have with that exhaust fan. Even with the charcoal filter a 400CFM fan should be able to exchange the air in that tent every minute.

Running a bulb under it's rated wattage with those dimmers gives a different spectrum and from what I've heard shortens the life of most bulbs dramatically. I run old magnetics and have a 400W EYE Hortilux I've been using for 14 years. It's spectrum is probably is out of whack too but it vegs plants just fine still.

One concern is how warm is the tub going to get? I made a ghetto chiller out of water cooler, a fountain pump and about 15' of 3/8 tubing. Now my problem is is getting the cooler timer just right so it's not too cool in the tub. Just checked it an hour ago and it's down to 60F again so more 15 min off times are needed. I'd like it to be 66 - 68.

L8r
 
OldMed - Ill actually be growing in soil, i wont touch dwc without a chiller especially with these temps. For my lettuce grow the water stayed at constant 79 degrees so not happening lol. When i said A/C i was referring to my homes central A/C that keeps my office ambient temps at around 78-81 depending on time of day. Drops down to 77 at night with the sun down. I have also heard the dimming of the bulbs changes the lighting and decreases lifespan thanks for bringing that up.

Appreciate the input OldMed you are helping push me back towards HID.
 
Fluoros are fine for vegging Sixspeed but for really decent bud growth HID is best by far. LEDs from all the different grows I've seen are kind of in the middle for flowering.

My grow room is down in the basement. More of big crawl space that's a big concrete box with a cold room in the one end. All my air is drawn from the larger basement area and even now after a pretty warm summer the basement is only 64F so getting cooler air is easy for me. Still, the grow room is 80F with the lights on and the tub would get too warm without the chiller.

Soil or soilless is for sure the best way to get some green in that closet for you I'd say. I don't do all that well in dirt but find soilless pretty easy with good hydro nutes.

L8r
 
I would take a look at some of the MARS HYDRO LED grow journals around here and make your own judgements about what a cheap LED can produce. You might be surprised, you might be appalled. I would have to say that for heat and height LED seems like it may be an only option for your grow. And if you read around I am not big on LED.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Hopefully grabbing a used LG 8000 BTU portable AC off of craigslist today for 50 bucks which will get me to where i can manage heat during the summer. Dude is selling all his grow gear and 50 bucks for a portable AC is hard to pass up on.
 
Welp guy tried to screw me on that portable AC. I knew the price was too good to be true. Compressor wouldn't turn on after i told him i wouldn't buy it unless he tested it right in front of me.
 
Cheating bastards like that will give Craig's List a bad name. :)

Want to read funny/racist crap go to the Rants and Raves for Vegas or Alaska on Craigs. Troll cities, both of them. Hard to believe people can be so ugly in their heads.

L8r
 
I used to spend way too much time reading the rants and raves parts of CL. Classic stuff in there, also very scary too.
 
OttawaGreen said:
I will say inexpensive led is way too go too. Mars 2 is great bang for buck. So is the eshine I use, but they stopped sponsoring 420mag so send business to Mars 2
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Ottawa - I checked out your setup and journal - very nice! With my height restrictions and temp issues im leaning towards led. I learned the other day for HPS in a rectangle tent i need to position it a different way and the length of cooltube wont fit so its pretty much just LED at this point or no cooltube and battle temps.
 
I was thinking of going with the cheaper mars lights, using 2 mars 2 400s never crossed my mind. That would be solid. Sara actually recommended a reflector but I want better coverage near the sides with the 2 or 3 panel setup as i need maximize every inch I have
 
4pcs Reflector 48x3w will be ok. The coverage of one Reflector 48x3w is 2.2'x2.2' at the height of 2'. During flower, the coverage will be less. :circle-of-love:4pcs smaller Reflector 48x3w will help to cover better near the sides and ensure better light distribution. :circle-of-love:
 

Similar threads

hightimes4evr
From Tent to Closet Setup - Feedback please :)
Replies
1
Views
3K
hightimes4evr
hightimes4evr
D
Grow Tent/ Ducting Setup
Replies
3
Views
4K
Vapedogg223
Vapedogg223
A
2 x 300 Watt LED Grow Tent In Closet - Heat Issues
Replies
5
Views
3K
FloridaSunset
F
Paranoid
Confined closet space, 250w hps = heat?
Replies
7
Views
23K
gunjababy
G
G
Help with heat: 5x6x7 Basement Grow
Replies
6
Views
4K
FrankFoster
FrankFoster
Back
Top Bottom