Grow Tent Size - 4x2 or 3x3?

[bluter]

I'm assuming that it doesn't matter if I have a Mars tent and Vivosun equipment?

the plants won't care at all. i've never seen them go on strike over a tent.

My other option is a Vivosun tent at 4x4x6.7 that's actually cheaper than the Mars tent.

cheaper and taller have great appeal. cross shop the two and pay close attention to details. check the reviews carefully on both and compare features.

note @Absorber 's comments above.

IF I go w. the bigger 4x4 tent, but still only plan on 2 plants at a time, can I stick w. the 4 inch inline fan / carbon filter setup or would I have to upgrade to the 6 inch fan / filter?

it depends on the cfm that the extractor can remove. you want total air exchange every five minutes. pull the cfm rating off the fan and do the math.

 

[Absorber]

My other option is a Vivosun tent at 4x4x6.7 that's actually cheaper than the Mars tent. IF I go w. the bigger 4x4 tent, but still only plan on 2 plants at a time, can I stick w. the 4 inch inline fan / carbon filter setup or would I have to upgrade to the 6 inch fan / filter?

The fan will be fine you will like the room in a 4x4

note @Absorber 's comments above

I had the 2in1 4ft x 5ft the divider and poles were my main gripe the windows are tolerable. 4x4 will be ok wont have pole or divider issue

 

[Absorber]

I run 2 4x4 tents with 1 6inch inline fan that has a Y piece that goes from 6inch to two 4inch lines to each tent ,I also have two 4inch dampers/shutters i 3d printed that open and close as required so I can individually control each tent with the one fan and when the dampers are open the walls of both tents pull in so your 4inch inline fan should be ok so long as air can enter tent as you are extracting it .

 

[bluter]

most fans move more far more air than the volume of the tent. i normally calculate for the space the tent is in and not the tent itself.

it's actually easier if you are working with a closet or space with hard sides.

just look at the cfm rating on the fans bundled in 3x3 and 4x4 kits and simply get one in the same range or over. easy with no math involved.

 

[Absorber]

most fans move more far more air than the volume of the tent. i normally calculate for the space the tent is in and not the tent itself.

it's actually easier if you are working with a closet or space with hard sides.

just look at the cfm rating on the fans bundled in 3x3 and 4x4 kits and simply get one in the same range or over. easy with no math involved.

Im on stumps and have my fan and filter under the floor and air pulls into the room the tents are in from under the house where the air is cooler .

 

[tav]

i ended up getting a 2x2x4' grow tent as my 1 plant grows i could see why everyone says go bigger i'm thinking of
getting something bigger and more plants. and change the lights

 

[bluter]

Im on stumps and have my fan and filter under the floor and air pulls into the room the tents are in from under the house where the air is cooler .

not sure i'm picturing that. an extraction fan should never be placed under a grow area. you want it near the top of the space to evacuate the warmest and most moisture laden air.

these are the two standard recommended set ups. the line represents an external wall to outdoor. which is closest to yours ?

the first is preferable and is the classic set up. you don't see the second that often. i've run both set ups previous.

i've also run a lot of lung rooms which is a different idea altogether.

 

[Absorber]

not sure i'm picturing that. an extraction fan should never be placed under a grow area. you want it near the top of the space to evacuate the warmest and most moisture laden air.

these are the two standard recommended set ups. the line represents an external wall to outdoor. which is closest to yours ?

the first is preferable and is the classic set up. you don't see the second that often. i've run both set ups previous.

i've also run a lot of lung rooms which is a different idea altogether.

Its kinda like the second picture except the filter and fan are under the house floor ,the duct still runs to the top of the tents so the hot air is still extracted from the tent . It makes no difference to function the way i have it

 

[bluter]

Its kinda like the second picture except the filter and fan are under the house floor ,the duct still runs to the top of the tents so the hot air is still extracted from the tent . It makes no difference to function the way i have it

that will be stressing the fan. the further or lower the fan is from the source the harder it has to work and less efficient it is to move the same volume of air. it's ok to pull air from there, but i'd caution against placing the extractor there.

are you using the filter as a pull through or blow through ?

note that in all mfgr examples you find the fan will be placed high up on the grow area. you'll never seen one recommended below. there's a few reasons for that.

 

[greenmobster440]

First time I plugged in my 6" exhaust and zipped up the 4x4. I think it was trying to suck the mylar off the inside. Even on low setting. I found that to be a bit overkill. Now I use the same fan to vent two tents..4x8, 4x4. It's working fine so far. They suggest a 8" in a 4x8. I couldn't imagine the pressure that would produce...prob to much.

 

[Absorber]

that will be stressing the fan. the further or lower the fan is from the source the harder it has to work and less efficient it is to move the same volume of air. it's ok to pull air from there, but i'd caution against placing the extractor there.

are you using the filter as a pull through or blow through ?

note that in all mfgr examples you find the fan will be placed high up on the grow area. you'll never seen one recommended below. there's a few reasons for that.

It will be fine the way it is its not working hard

 

[bluter]

They suggest a 8" in a 4x8. I couldn't imagine the pressure that would produce...prob to much.

most mfgrs are guessing the tent will be in a larger room area by that size. they are guesstimating the extraction for an area 2 - 3 times the actual tent size for safety and stealth reasons.

It will be fine the way it is its not working hard

if you got enough fan it'll be ok.

my pops works as an electrical and hvac engineer and helped design a number of my rooms. we've built them for other folk as well.

we always place the extractor at the highest point we can either in or closest to the grow space we can manage. all of our spaces exhaust to outdoor. the larger the grow area the more crucial those become. we designed for stealth though, as we started pre-legal.

it's easier to get away with stuff in smaller grows if not worried about the neighbours. most 2 x 2 grows i wouldn't even worry about. i have seen 3x3 grows needing ventilation work that could be detected from the front sidewalk at the street level before entering the house.

by the time it's at a 4 x4 we recommend proper ventilation only dumping air external and paying attention to scrubbing.

 

[Absorber]

I have a vivosun 6 inch inline fan more than enough grunt for my set up .
Still illegal here to grow and I am pushed for room in the room the tents are in and I'm not a fan of having the carbon filter or fan in the grow tent that's valuable realestate

 

[bluter]

I have a vivosun 6 inch inline fan more than enough grunt for my set up .
Still illegal here to grow and I am pushed for room in the room the tents are in and I'm not a fan of having the carbon filter or fan in the grow tent that's valuable realestate

having grown in a crawl space previous i understand the need for real estate. in my current flower room we tucked the filter and fan way up behind duct work where no plant would reach.

can see it here when we were setting up.

i got 8 + feet of height i can work with though. that's a super luxury for most. it exhausts to outdoor. my fan is a 6 inch we reduced to 5 for the external vent.

the fan previously was used for a lung room so it's massive overkill, and it's not adjustable. i keep meaning to get a smaller one as it will suck the paint off a wall.

 

[SmokingWings]

Do not forget to measure the height to the ceiling in the room or growing area

Gotta remember about ceiling lights. A 6 foot tall tent should fit nicely into a room with a 7 foot ceiling until something comes up and the tent has to be moved to the other side of the room....only to find out that now the ceiling light is in the way.

 

[Chrondocious]

Would love a 4x4. The tent price is fine. It's the light, exhaust, etc that I can't afford for a tent that size!

Don't matter. Your light covers the same space regardless, so you just won't utilize the entire tent, until you can. You'll appreciate the room for fans or whatnot, and eventually you'll get the extra lights you need to maximize. Basically a light designed for a 2x2 footprint will do it in a 2x2 or a 4x4. Bigger is better. I'd go the biggest you can fit in your area.

 

[SamSmith]

First time I plugged in my 6" exhaust and zipped up the 4x4. I think it was trying to suck the mylar off the inside. Even on low setting. I found that to be a bit overkill. Now I use the same fan to vent two tents..4x8, 4x4. It's working fine so far. They suggest a 8" in a 4x8. I couldn't imagine the pressure that would produce...prob to much.

Most of us that run large exhaust fans use bracing on the side walls to keep the tent walls from collapsing inward and taking away from the grow space inside the tent. Some manufacturers sell these as high-cfm kits. I made mine out of 3D printed clips inserted into 3/4" PVC pipe. They clip on the vertical poles.

One issue to overcome with an exhaust fan is where the air is being drawn in. When everything is zipped up tight it is pulling air from anywhere it can often leading to dead space inside the tent that doesn't get fresh air. I run a 4" duct from the outside and lay it under the plants by the fabric pots. This decreases the vacuum on the side walls and with an open to air volume and it keeps a good supply of fresh air under the plants drafting up. The other reason that I do this is to prevent bud rot from too much humidity from accumulating under the canopy where there is evaporation occurring from the fabric pots.

 

[Chrondocious]

First time I plugged in my 6" exhaust and zipped up the 4x4. I think it was trying to suck the mylar off the inside. Even on low setting. I found that to be a bit overkill. Now I use the same fan to vent two tents..4x8, 4x4. It's working fine so far. They suggest a 8" in a 4x8. I couldn't imagine the pressure that would produce...prob to much.

I ran one fan for 3 tents for years. Made a PVC manifold for it. Works great. Really no need for the extreme amount of air exchange that the interwebs say. Just enough for negative pressure, as long as the temps are good. It was different when we ran cooled hoods. Needed to move that much air to keep it cool.

 

[greenmobster440]

Most of us that run large exhaust fans use bracing on the side walls to keep the tent walls from collapsing inward and taking away from the grow space inside the tent. Some manufacturers sell these as high-cfm kits. I made mine out of 3D printed clips inserted into 3/4" PVC pipe. They clip on the vertical poles.

One issue to overcome with an exhaust fan is where the air is being drawn in. When everything is zipped up tight it is pulling air from anywhere it can often leading to dead space inside the tent that doesn't get fresh air. I run a 4" duct from the outside and lay it under the plants by the fabric pots. This decreases the vacuum on the side walls and with an open to air volume and it keeps a good supply of fresh air under the plants drafting up. The other reason that I do this is to prevent bud rot from too much humidity from accumulating under the canopy where there is evaporation occurring from the fabric pots.

That a pretty cool idea Sam..I like it.

I hear ya on airflow. When I saw my tent suck in like that I freaked out a lil. Years ago I ran two 400hps. I used two 6" furnace booster type blowers to vent the lamps and the box. I had neg air flow without the vortex. I've been running with the 4" vent below. Using a small tin pipe bout a foot long sticking in the tent. Capped from outside with a angled vent blacked out. I can direct airflow intake direction pretty good so far. I'll Scrog this 4x4 I'm running at the moment. Airflow below is a must when things get bushy and compact. I usually have a fan below and above the canopy and clean out leaf below the screen as it thickens up. Eventually all bare under the screen. Ive recently found the Sip guys and I like what I'm reading and seeing. I've always bottom fed my girls so this sip method applies to me.

 

[greenmobster440]

I ran one fan for 3 tents for years. Made a PVC manifold for it. Works great. Really no need for the extreme amount of air exchange that the interwebs say. Just enough for negative pressure, as long as the temps are good. It was different when we ran cooled hoods. Needed to move that much air to keep it cool.

I like the idea of a PVC. I'm in a apt with a dining room full of tents. Ive gotta stay flexible with tent layout in a new location. Prob moving this spring to a two bedroom. I'd definitely get better airflow and maybe a little quieter with PVC.