Help with tent setup - Newb with questions

[Beavis]

Hey guys, I am a greener than green newb here and have a few questions I wanted to lob at the board.

I'm thinking through my tent setup for an indoor grow of 2-4 plants. I'm thinking of starting with something like the Gorilla Grow tent 2 x 4 x 7. I'd like to run Budmaster COB LED's. My biggest questions and concerns are around heat in the tent.

I'm planning on starting off with a small tent. I live in the south where temps reach 100+ degrees and will be that will daily through early to mid September. During the day, the AC runs almost constantly from 2pm to 9pm daily this time of the year (does for everyone). I keep my AC on 75 during the day when I'm at work and typically sleep with it on 72 ish at night.

I'm worried about the heat temps in the tent as I really don't know how much heat will be generated. If my AC is at 75 during the day I'm not sure the air in the tent will be in the proper range. Will I need supplemental AC? Like a portable unit? Or will just pushing enough CFM's through the tent be enough to keep a tent of that size in the proper temperature range?

Second question: I might need an intake fan but how do you control the smell from escaping the intake when the fan is off?

Thanks a ton in advance...you guys and this site rock. Amazing family and willingness to help each other which is pretty darn rare in this crazy world we live in.

 

[JuanCarlos]

First off, not sure how big you want your plants to get, but I would only flower out two plants in a 2'x4' tent.

Heat is really going to depend on how many lights you are running there. First you have to establish that. I would run about 400 watts in that space since you are flowering in there. with that space and that wattage I would expect a temperature differential of about 8 degrees. Depending on who you ask you want to keep your grow somewhere between 75-85 degrees. So it looks like you would be on the hotter side. You could run your lights at night and take advantage of those cooler temperatures. One thing you can do to negate higher temperatures is to use CO2. If you used CO2 instead of adding cooling you would be just fine.

Forget about the intake fan, you are far from needing one.

 

[farside05]

I also live in the south. I have a 32"x32" tent and run 4 300 watt (140 actual draw each) Mars Hydro lights. I have a 27" tower fan circulating air and a carbon filter hooked to a 240 cfm fan for exhaust. My house AC is set at 74. I run my lights during the night (currently 8PM-8AM for bloom). My temps only increase by 4 degrees with lights on. The key for me was to make sure you have ducting from the exhaust fan that vents to outdoors. Before I did that (the tent is on a walk in closet) temps would build up in the closet and I would see 85 with lights on. So it made a big difference. I can get 4 plants in my tent but it is a little cramped. I do not have an intake fan, I just leave the flap open behind the tower fan. I don't have an odor issue even with the open flap since I have a good draw from the exhaust fan which runs 24/7.

 

[Beavis]

Great ideas guys. I think running at night is the solution. Since I come home at around 5pm and leave at 8.30am during those hours I have the AC a little lower say around 72-73. With a small tent I hope I can manage the heat.

farside05....how did you exhaust to the outside of your house? Is that closet wall an exterior wall and then you had to cut a hole through the exterior of your home?

 

[farside05]

My closet has an access door to some attic storage, which is ventalated to outside. I took the wooden door off and replaced it with a piece of drywall that was cut the same size as the door it replaced. Cut the hole in the new drywall panel for the 6" ductwork to pass through then taped it all in place. That way when I'm done, I just remove the drywall piece and screw the door and hinges back on. Didn't want to cut up my door you know.

I don't think you'll have a problem. Might take some engineering, but it can be done. A 4x2 tent is 8 sq/ft. My 32"x32" is only 7 sq/ft. I've managed in a smaller tent than you've proposed, and have quite a bit of light. I have faith you can pull it off.

PS - if you're just starting out, man those are some wicked expensive lights you are talking about. I'm a cheap ass, and to each their own, but personally I'd look at something more budget friendly. Total I've got $250 USD in my setup and prefer having several smaller lights to one big one. That way I can varry the height of each light to match the height of the plant under it. Plus I don't have to run but 1 light when they are seedlings, cutting down on heat and electricity. Just more food for thought.

 

[JuanCarlos]

Farside has some great information for you with a similar setup. Judging by his experience I think you will be rocking and rolling, especially running your lights at night. He is running over 75 watts per square foot with only a 4 degree temperature differential.

Farside mentioned your lighting choice. Mars Hydro makes a good budget light, but I would suggest looking at Timber Grow Lights DIY LED kits. You will have COBs just like the Budmaster, but you can save about $300 and have a top quality light that you can customize to your space.

 

[Beavis]

Man you both have offered lots of nuggets of excellent advice. Several things I didn't think of and some new ideas on the approach.

I've looked at the Mars and sure like the price but I read that they can heat up the tent more than some other LED companies. Given my situation I didn't think that'd be a good decision. I also read about the Timbers and visited their website but didn't even look at the DIY's to be honest. I need to go check those DIY's out.

Thanks yall. This is exactly what I needed.

 

[farside05]

I've looked at the Mars and sure like the price but I read that they can heat up the tent more than some other LED companies. Given my situation I didn't think that'd be a good decision.

I've only ever used one brand, so I can't give you any comparisons, but I would doubt that the temperature of one manufacturers 5w diode is any cooler than another. Now perhaps someone might say that the temperature of the fixture gets hotter based on the internal fan and/or heat sinks, then maybe I could buy that. In either case, the fans in the light fixtures are venting inside your tent, and unless you have a good way to get that heat out, your temps will climb regardless what brand you buy.

 

[Kriaze]

Hey guys, I am a greener than green newb here and have a few questions I wanted to lob at the board.

I'm thinking through my tent setup for an indoor grow of 2-4 plants. I'm thinking of starting with something like the Gorilla Grow tent 2 x 4 x 7. I'd like to run Budmaster COB LED's. My biggest questions and concerns are around heat in the tent.

I'm planning on starting off with a small tent. I live in the south where temps reach 100+ degrees and will be that will daily through early to mid September. During the day, the AC runs almost constantly from 2pm to 9pm daily this time of the year (does for everyone). I keep my AC on 75 during the day when I'm at work and typically sleep with it on 72 ish at night.

I'm worried about the heat temps in the tent as I really don't know how much heat will be generated. If my AC is at 75 during the day I'm not sure the air in the tent will be in the proper range. Will I need supplemental AC? Like a portable unit? Or will just pushing enough CFM's through the tent be enough to keep a tent of that size in the proper temperature range?

Second question: I might need an intake fan but how do you control the smell from escaping the intake when the fan is off?

Thanks a ton in advance...you guys and this site rock. Amazing family and willingness to help each other which is pretty darn rare in this crazy world we live in.

75F isn't so hot you'll be fine. If you find you get high temps run your lights at night and off during the day. As for the case of smell you can take that out on the exhaust by adding a carbon filter. I can't see any point in having one on the intake, just the exhaust mate

 

[JuanCarlos]

If you want to do it on a budget, I think Mars provides a good option. If you can spend the extra money up front, I think the Timber DIY LEDs are a great option. Mars uses different colored LEDs where the COBs are closer to actual sunlight. I believe COBs will be the way that we see LEDs go in the future.

 

[Kriaze]

bear in mind that if you can keep temps between 10f or so lights on and lights off you will get big colas, big

 

[Cultivator]

Its a very simple set up and easy to build and manage temps.

all you need is a carbonfilter and 6in extraction fan pulling 480m3 - 600m3 (you will have to do the conversion to cfm if you dont work in metric)

place you led in the tent and hang the carbon filter above or to the side of it, run a little duct from the filter out of the top or side vent on the tent and attch to the extraction fan. then add alittle more duct and preferable place the duct somewhere outside of the room where the tent is. Best option is a manifold going outside.

You do not want an intake fan, they are completly unnecessary in 99.9% of all grow rooms. The extraction fan will pull air through the tent giving fresh co2 to the plants and cooling the tent, assuming the temp outside of the tent is cooler than the inside.

Run the light at night when your temps are cooler. 85f is perfectly fine when running an LED for most strains. If your ambient temps are 72-75f I dont see any issue at all running 1 LED panel in that space.

I grow in different countries, some where its cold and wet and some where its hot and dry. I manage to run multiple hps bulbs in spaces that have outside temps of 40c (well over 100f) without using AC and running extraction method i describe above. Dont over think, it really is a simple set up.

 

[TimberGrowLights]

Man you both have offered lots of nuggets of excellent advice. Several things I didn't think of and some new ideas on the approach.

I've looked at the Mars and sure like the price but I read that they can heat up the tent more than some other LED companies. Given my situation I didn't think that'd be a good decision. I also read about the Timbers and visited their website but didn't even look at the DIY's to be honest. I need to go check those DIY's out.

Thanks yall. This is exactly what I needed.

Hi Beavis,

This is Dan with Timber Grow Lights. Thanks for checking out our kits. We use top of the line, top bin Cree CXB3590 COBs in all of our kits. They are all pre-wired and come equipped with fused power inlets, mounting hardware and all the optics necessary to bolt to a frame and plug in and go.

If you have any questions about your particular set up/coverage area, or our products in general, I would be happy to assist.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Dan

 

[Beavis]

Awesome, thanks for the info Dan! I might give you a buzz to understand what goes into putting together your DIY kits. If it's not too difficult of involved, I'd consider it but I don't want to turn it into some big science project. I'd rather pay more for a fully assembled, ready to go light.

Hi Beavis,

This is Dan with Timber Grow Lights. Thanks for checking out our kits. We use top of the line, top bin Cree CXB3590 COBs in all of our kits. They are all pre-wired and come equipped with fused power inlets, mounting hardware and all the optics necessary to bolt to a frame and plug in and go.

If you have any questions about your particular set up/coverage area, or our products in general, I would be happy to assist.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Dan

 

[JuanCarlos]

Putting together their kit consists of building some sort of frame, mounting the components to the frame, then using the supplied wiring and connecting it all together.

 

[TimberGrowLights]

Awesome, thanks for the info Dan! I might give you a buzz to understand what goes into putting together your DIY kits. If it's not too difficult of involved, I'd consider it but I don't want to turn it into some big science project. I'd rather pay more for a fully assembled, ready to go light.

Hi @Beavis.

No worries - we are about to launch our pre-built frames, but haven't gone live on the website yet. If this is something you are interested in (we can build the frame and mount them if you want) send me a PM or give me a call and I'd be happy to assist.

Have a good evening.

Regards,
Dan