Growtent - size and other newbie questions

[deliants]

Hi!

I'm currently looking to set up my first grow as im sick and tired of paying top dollar for shit quality - this habit of mine is likely not to change and im just not able to spend all my money on buying my lifestyle anymore.

I smoke 1-2grams a day depending on daily activity and duties and im looking for a nice setup thats able to give me a yield of ~75grams a month and security measures like odor control is very important.

I have been looking at the Secret Jardin DR Twin90 tent, using the top room for cutlings with a 125w CFL while my girls downstairs bloom, this way i can get continuous grows without having to invest in a separate cutling room/tent - shouldnt this give me a growcycle of about 3.5months depending on strain?

What kind of ventilation should i go for to keep the noise levels and heat under control (noise is not a HUGE issue, but it shouldnt sound like a jumbojet is firing up in my basement either) - and what sized carbon filter should i go for to absolutley secure myself against odor?

I have been looking at a set from head-nature with following components;

Le Filtre Activated carbon filter 125mm - 400m³/h
LTI Exhaust 125mm - 355m³/h
GSE Speed Controller, min-max hysteresis


I already have a 400w lamp laying around, but im afraid it will make the heat uncontrollable as i dont think i can dismount the ballast; pic here
I also have no idea if its what i need for the yield im looking for


Toughts and experiences and very welcome

 

[GrowForIt]

Never heard of Le Filtre, I'd go with a phresh, phat, or can carbon filter and get it one size bigger then you need, don't go cheap here you can't put a price on your security. Be sure you take the carbon filter rated cfm and divide by 2 to get the single pass cfm if you are using it for exhausting instead of scrubbing.

That tent's rough dimensions are 3'x3'x7' so the tent is about 63 cu ft, I'd go with a 6" x 20" carbon filter and run the below fan on medium.

A can fan max fan 6 comes with a three position switch and is rated at 259 cfms on high, 180 cfms on medium, and 87 cfms on low pulling through a filter.

I'd also ditch that light and get yourself something with a remote ballast that is air cooled to help keep the heat down in the tent. If money is tight I'm sure you can find a cord and socket and turn that light into a remote ballast light, just not sure that this is a safest option for you.

150 grams every 60 days should be easy to get under a 400

Good luck

GFI

 

[deliants]

The fan i listed runs on a maximum of 208CFM, while the filter capacity is at about 235CFM - should this be sufficent to keep heat and odor under control or should i boost it up?

Here is what the inside of the ballast looks like, think i'll have to get someone with decent knowledge of electronics to have a look at it - atleast i will have to get more cord for it to work
Money is abit tight, but as i said security and growth quality is #1 priority

Dont have any experience with a scrubbing system so i was thinking of a pure exhaust system with passive intakes - this means my carbon filter capacity should be double the extraction fan?

Thanks!

 

[GrowForIt]

I can't really say if that will be enough to remove the heat and keep things where you want them to be, but I can clarify about the fan and filter.

Generally fans are rated at max unrestricted flow, that 208 cfm rating is what the fan will flow with no ducting or filter attached to it. When you add a filter and ducting to a fan it will increase resistance it has to overcome, adding a carbon filter will add about .50"WG (Inches of Water Guage = A unit of measuring pressure or pressure differential) and 25' of ducting will add about .25"WG.

For example, the 6" max fan I posted about earlier will flow 334 cfm's on high at 0"wg (unrestricted) but adding a carbon filter (.50"wg) to it drops it to 283 cfm's, and with a carbon filter and 25' of ducting (.75wg) we are down to 259 cfm. So we loose about 1/3 of the total cfm's by adding a carbon filter and 25' of ducting (not including loss for bends). So lets assume the manufacturer didn't overate the fan at 208 cfm, if we subtract 1/3 off that now that fan is only moving 140 cfm's running full speed. You would be exhausting the entire air contents of tent roughly 2 times per minute.

You said the filter is rated at 235cfm's, as far as I know all filters are rated at their scrubbing cfm's. But you will be using it to exhaust your air not scrub it, so we need to divide that number by 2 for the filter to work reliably (235/2=117.5).

So the fan is flowing 140 cfm's at full speed and the filter can only clean 118 cfm's.

If you put the speed controller on the fan I'm sure you can slow the fan a little and the filter will do it's job, but then you won't be exhausting your heat and moisture as quickly.

I hope I cleared it up instead of making it more confusing for you. I would still recommend that you go with a phresh, phat or can filter and that you go a little bigger then you need with both the fan and filter. You can always slow an over powered fan down but you can't make an under powered fan keep up.

Freedom is priceless!

 

[deliants]

Excellent post, very helpful

There's no problem for me to bump up the fan size and carbon filter, although the only branded filter this shop sells are "Le Filter"s. They supposedly are good quality with a slightly shorter lifetime than Phresh filters

I was planning on oversizing the fan abit anyways as my experience with noisy things are that they are alot more quiet if they dont have to run full RPMs

Gonna set up the lamp tomorrow over some chillipeppers to give it a testrun and see what kind of heat the ballast builds up over 12hours ... then some math i guess

I gotta feelin'!

 

[qupee]

the fan filter combo sound a little undersized... It will have to deal with the 400w & the veg area at 125w? Might be a bit much for it. If the surrounding temp is low (not above 70* F) and your 400w is in a air cooled hood or tube, then that fan/filter could work - but better to go bigger and have head room if you can afford to.

Also, 400w is a good match for that tent, which is about 3x3. It's just under 5' tall on the bottom, so you'll want to look for a hood or tube that conserves height - same with light hangers, some use more height than others.

That's a nice little setup for flower & veg though! You should blow right through 75g/month with ease... but of course you'll only harvest every other month. If you're good and the strain yields, you could hit a pound a harvest. 10oz/300g - should be attainable without too much problem.

 

[deliants]

That is correct qupee, i also want it to support the veg room aswell Btw checked out your youtubes - keep up the good work, nice techniques

Ok i've been doing some temperature readings, and the ballast itself doesnt seem to give off too much heat - when i touch it after 7 hours of running its a soothing warm, perhaps 82-85F but it seems to give off way more heat from the reflector and lamp part where its at something like 95F 3 inches under the reflector (which sounds like a logical temp reading to me? 400w of light after all)
Both parts are connected so the ballast "absorbs" some heat from the reflector/lamp aswell

The basement room i am putting my tent in is at 60ish during the night/morning and up to 66 during the day, i will put in a panel oven so i can keep it under some control and there will be a small window for emergency venting.
Money will be tight after buying the rest of the setup, so is there any chanse i could make it work as is?


Vent package options;
247cfm(-1/3=164) 6" exhaust fan
294cfm filter

or
388cfm(-1/3=259) 6" exhaust fan
382cfm filter
This is the biggest 6" fan package i can find in a convenient place to buy

I guess the other option is to consider a slightly bigger tent, altho that will force me to invest in a separate veg room altogether.
Any suggestions and feedback is greatly appriciated as i have no experience to make these kind of judgement calls ^^

 

[deliants]

Went with a diffrent shop so i could get a slightly more powerful setup (and Phresh filter)

RVK fan at 720m3 (423cfm -1/3=282cfm)
Phresh filter at 1000m3 (588cfm)

Hope this will do the trick
How i plan to setup the tent

Going for an all-organic soil first grow Fingers crossed!