First Grow - Northern Lights - LED - Gorilla Tent - 2016

[Enchanted1]

Hi All - I am new to this and kind of terrified - I have never done well with plants... That being said, I am trying!

So, for the Journal Guideline questions, I will try...

What strain is it? Indica (I believe).
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg. I have new girls from feminized seeds.
If in Veg... For how long? I have two girls going. One just went under the light today (30 July) and the first went under the light on the 26th.
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor Grow in a Gorilla 2'x4' Tent - in Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? I started them in Coco Grow discs - set in Fox Farms Ocean Soil
If soil... What size pot? Right now they are in their 3 ½ inch starter pots. I also have 1 Gallon grow bags and 5 Gallon Grow Bags to transfer them in when they are ready.
Size of light? 450W LED
Is it aircooled? Yes, but I think I have my biggest issue here. I have the tent vented with a carbon filter and an inline fan, ducted out of the closet and to a window. I have an 8" fan blowing into the tent from the bottom, and a 6" clip fan blowing across the canvas. The temps in the room / closet, without anything running was 82 to 86 degrees. When firing up the LED and closing up the tent, temps rose to 100 fast! This was AFTER I also purchased a 2200cfm evaporative cooler for the room! By leaving the tent open when the light is on, I have the temps back down to 82 to 86 degrees.
Temp of Room/cab? See answer above.
RH of Room/cab? Since adding the Evaporative Cooler, the RH has been from 55 to 74%
PH of media or res? Not too sure - I have been making sure the water / nuts are at 6.4 to 6.7 when mixed.
Any Pests ? No
How often are you watering? Two or three times a day (lightly), when soil feels a bit dry to touch. I'm still not real clear on how much, how often, and how to know when.
Type and strength of ferts used? When I bought the equipment, I also purchased a 'Go Box' of nutrients. I mixed these with distilled water when Northern 1 first showed her face.

OK - hopefully I answered all of that correctly. Any advise and guidance would be much appreciated! I will try to add some pictures..

 

[Croatsan]

Hi Enchanted

I'm also battling high temps, mine are in the 90+ range (33 celsius) and the only remedy is to leave the tent open during the day. But despite that, my plants are taking it well.

If you can angle your clip fan to blow from below and upwards into the lights that might take a bit of the heat away.

If I understood correctly, you have an active intake. IMO, that's not necessary. What is the size of your exhaust fan, the one attached to your carbon filter? I would go with a passive intake and a strong exhaust fan.

All the best.

 

[Enchanted1]

Hi Enchanted

I'm also battling high temps, mine are in the 90+ range (33 celsius) and the only remedy is to leave the tent open during the day. But despite that, my plants are taking it well.

If you can angle your clip fan to blow from below and upwards into the lights that might take a bit of the heat away.

If I understood correctly, you have an active intake. IMO, that's not necessary. What is the size of your exhaust fan, the one attached to your carbon filter? I would go with a passive intake and a strong exhaust fan.

All the best.

HI, Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure what you mean by active vs. passive intake?? My inline exhaust fan is a 4". I will give the 'pointing the clip fan up towards the lights' a try.

Thanks Again

 

[Croatsan]

You have an 8" fan blowing into the tent from the bottom. That's an active intake. A passive intake is just a hole at the bottom and a (preferably) centrifugal fan connected to a carbon filter, sucking the air out. That way you're creating a negative pressure, making sure no smell is getting out of the tent.

If you do have an active intake, make sure that the intake fan is smaller than the exhaust fan. If I understand correctly, that's not the case with your setup. Your intake fan is 8'' and your exhaust fan is 4''.

Besides, it's always a better option to have a centrifugal fan (blower) for your exhaust instead of a radial one. They are stronger and create higher pressure than the radial fans.

Axial Vs. Centrifugal Fans

All the best.

 

[Enchanted1]

Thanks for the explanation So you are saying I would be better off without the fan at the bottom blowing in. I will certainly give that a try. I added it because when I was first setting up and trying the equipment, turning everything on it raised the temps really fast inside the tent, thought that forcing some air in might help. I will go switch it off and see what the temps do. As it is I am still having to run with the doors of the tent open.

 

[Croatsan]

With or without the fan at the bottom, you do need a stronger exhaust fan. The bottom (intake) doesn't hurt as long as it's strength is lesser than the exhaust fan. Try placing the 8-incher at the top, and make it your exhaust fan. And, if you insist on the active intake, let the 4-incher take care of that.

The whole idea is to create negative pressure inside the tent. If you're blowing in twice as much air as you're extracting, you're creating positive pressure and the smell will leak out of the tent.

If you check out the setup in my sig, you'll notice I run 4x4 tent with 800W without an intake fan. But my exhaust fan is nearly twice the size and capacity that is necessary for my grow space. When i turn it up, the walls of my tent cave in visibly. That's what you're looking for.

Edit: Forgot to mention one additional benefit of more airflow, and that is - more CO2 We have (unfortunately), already reached 400ppm in the atmosphere. Double your air intake, and you're already at 800ppm with just a fraction of a cost of a CO2 setup which aims at 1500ppm.

All the best.

 

[Enchanted1]

Well I tried removing the fan at the bottom and the temp raised from 83 to 91 in just a matter of minutes My fan at the bottom is just a little house fan - Im not sure how I could even use it where the inline fan is. I am not really worried about smell or that the tent has to remain open, I guess, just seems like it was a huge waste of funds to buy the tent at this point - I might have been better off just using the closet. (my closet is about 3' wide and 20' long.

 

[Croatsan]

Some pictures of your setup would definitely help in visualizing... I don't think we're on the same page here. I'm talking about axial and centrifugal fans for intake and exhaust, not an ordinary house fan.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.