Grow#4- I'm ready for some real gear. Help?

[midnight_toker]

I have a closet space I'm putting a tent in. The tent will be 2ftx3ftx5ft. It perfectly fits 3 of those extra large rectangular cat litter buckets and I'm growing autos . Anyhow, I need to order a light, a fan and a carbon scrubber.

On lights- I'm thinking 400w will be overkill for an hps setup- too much heat? If it is dimmable, will that also reduce the heat? I am thinking the dimmable light is great if I can use it at a lower intensity if I need to, but if not, then a 250w might be best.

On fans- If I have a carbon filter on my outake fan, can I also pull that air from my light reflector hood? ( is a cooltube better over a hood with flanges for exhausting it?) So, basically have my light connected to my exhaust which goes out then through my carbon scrubber? or, are they in the wrong order? or, do I need a separate fan/scrubber for my light?

 

[Sol]

i have a space similar to yours, and i don't find 400 overkill at all. You will have an easier time keeping cool with the 250 but if your like me it won't be long till you think' i shoulda got the 400' As long as you have a decent fan or whatever for ventilation cooling the 400 isnt much more than the 250 so why not! In fact my space is a wee bit smaller than yours, i have a few pc fans for intake,and a 100 cfm bathroom fan for exaust and as long as it around 80 outside, i can cool it without even using my 6" inline fan.
So, in short i think you should seriously consider the 400 for your space. I've even caught myself thinking i could have went 600 but then it might be overkill.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Having a 250 will be just on the edge of what you need, but while the 400 is more than you need it isn't too much. just make sure that you set up the space so that you have cool fresh air coming in all of the time and warmer, stale air exuasting. Being in a closet is easy enough to work with, but you have to decide if you want to expel the air within your house(for that you will definitely need good carbon filtration), or expel it out of the house, which creates a bit of a problem with it creating a vacume effect within the house(and still needs to be filtered for smell) During the hot times of the year you can pull air from within the house into the growspace and out of the space through the light(vented hood or cooltube, both work well in small space), and out of the house by cutting a hole in the ceiling of the closet and attaching your flex tubing or exaust fan to hole going into the attic space.(make sure that the attic spacee is vented to the outside world. You will want to place a good inline fan on the exaust side of the vent system so that it pulls air through the light and creates negative pressure on the room. There are some good carbon filters that connect to the light fixture or you can build your own(look in the DIY thread). You will also want to make a way for fresh air to get into the growroom without letting in light(during flower you want no light getting to plant during dark period). Pulling air from your house will require you to have some way for outside air to get back in so that you don't create a vacume that blows dust in every time you open your front door. If you have a central air conditioning system, you could make some small openings in the floor around the inside air exchanger unit, that will pull air into the house from beneath the house and into the air exchanger where it can be cooled. If your house sits on concrete pad that could be a problem and you may have to open a window somewhere in the house. The cooltubes work really good but the hoods do as well. I prefer the cooltubes as I have both and find the vented hoods a bit cumbersome to deal with whenever replacing bulbs, cleaning glass, or just having to get around them.

 

[midnight_toker]

I will be venting into a room...no windows anywhere nearby, but with the scrubber, it should be fine. It gets hot though. Right now it is 89 in the closet with the door open, florescents and a fan to pull hot air out/circulate the air. Yikes.

I'm researching LED lights now too. Since I'm growing autos and they don't get too big, an LED might fit the bill nicely for heat and would penetrate the canopy. So many contrasting opinions to sort through though, lol.

 

[midnight_toker]

Usually, I have windows open in my house (apartment in a busy downtown area, no basement, no attic, no outside ventilation easily accessible to the grow room). I'm hoping a good enough fan and scrubber will keep things in check.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would really rethink the LEDs--if they were doing the job, there would be tons of people using them, but there aren't. While they do not get hot, they also do not penetrate the canopy much at all. I have never seen a grow done entirely with LEDs that impressed me at all. I do not trust those grows done by people trying to sell LEDs. T5s will do you a better job IMO.
and are far far cheaper.

You cannot use the same fan to pull hot air out/circulate the air--these are two very different jobs and you need very different kinds of fans. You need some kind of centrifuge fan for exhaust and an oscillating fan for air movement. And I will say this again--ventilation is for much more than temperature control. Plants need a continual supply of fresh air all the time the lights are on for proper photosynthesis. IMO, exchanging the air in your space once a minute should be a minimum. Regardless of heat, you are going to have to bring fresh cool cold air in from somewhere and exhaust hot co2 depleted air somewhere else.

 

[BlueNose]

I'd say 400w is the only choice. You need a good exhaust fan anyway so you might as well have it pull double duty and cool a bigger light since a good fan will more than do the trick(*assuming ambient air is within acceptable limits). My old grow area was one side of a standard bedroom closet, slightly larger than yours. I had a 1000w reflector hanging from the shelf and it wasn't bad.*This is not a promotion to use a reflector vs. cooltube. Never used a cooltube.

 

[midnight_toker]

So, basically I need to go with my original thoughts, but add an additional fan for air movement (I planned on having one in the tent) going out of the tent so new air is moving in.

 

[midnight_toker]

ooooh, wait, reverse that- an additional fan pulling air into the tent and then the carbon scrubber/fan combo pulling the hot, smelly air out. Is this correct?

 

[Hushpuppy]

If your exaust fan is strong enough, you will not need an intake fan. Exausting air from the top of the room(tent) will pull in air from the bottom openings(passive intake). This will create negative pressure on the room an ensure that all air(AND SMELLS) exit through the filter only. If you put an extra fan on the intake and it creates any positive pressure within the room, smell is going to escape from any openings other than the filter and not get scrubbed. A good exaust fan and carbon filter will quickly pay for themselves.

 

[Locked]

If your exaust fan is strong enough, you will not need an intake fan. Exausting air from the top of the room(tent) will pull in air from the bottom openings(passive intake). This will create negative pressure on the room an ensure that all air(AND SMELLS) exit through the filter only. If you put an extra fan on the intake and it creates any positive pressure within the room, smell is going to escape from any openings other than the filter and not get scrubbed. A good exaust fan and carbon filter will quickly pay for themselves.

:yeahthat:

I use a 6 inch inline fan (450ish cfm) to pull the air from my tent through my cool tube. This let's the fan do 3 jobs:

1. Keeps the 600w light cool.
2. Removes the hot CO2 depleted air.
3. Creates negative pressure forcing cool CO2 rich air in the passive intakes along the bottom of the tent. Negative pressure allows me to not need a carbon filter most times. I just vent the hot stinky air out a window.

Jmo

 

[7greeneyes]

My fav setup has always been thus: 3x40watt old Boeing office light retro'd w/ blues (I believe they're called grolux lamps) for starts and seedlings for 24 hrs. on 400watt w/ MH Conversion lamps for "teen" growth (from 6" -2'), then on to my 1kw hps for 12/12 until thc goodness (bloom).

p.s. I have a passive intake vent from mny floor and an outgoing (venting) fan to push outside seeing that I don't have one of those cool "cooltubes". Old fashioned open parabolic for me..., :rofl:

 

[midnight_toker]

awesome, thanks. It's nice to not have to cough up moola for the extra fan