[Howard Marks]

Hello

I have two grows under my belt, wonderful ones with good results but that was a few years back when space wasn't a problem for me.

Now that i have moved into an apartment i dont have anymore the luxury to grow something without being cautious about odor and sutff.

Im contemplating in buying a grow tent, a 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m sized one.

My first question rose about the the temperatures that i will get in such a tent. I will use a 400W HID and the tent will stay in a room with temperatures up to 24 Celsius degrees.
Will my tent do get to hot? Will i need to buy an air cooled reflector or just the extractor fan will do its job and keep the tent cool?

And now for the size of the carbon filter and the extractor fan. I know that i need to multiply my tent size to get the total cubic meters but then? Do i need to multiply it again? Al i got is a 2.88 cubic meters for the tent i want to buy, this need to be multiplied with 60 perhaps? So in one hour to exchange the air 60 times?

What fan size? I read about that the fan its not good to be more powerful than the carbon filter can take but there is any problem if the filter is much bigger than the fan rating?

Can anyone help me please with this numbers? What size/ratings i need on a filter and a fan for the tent i mentioned?

And last but not least, do this carbon filter really do the job? If i will have guests over the place will they be able to sense anything? Im planing to grow 4 plants in 20 liter pots in that tent.

Thanks anticipated for your help guys!

[GoatCheese]

Hey amigo..
Here's my reply to our PM convo as you asked. I mention this so that others wont be confused by my reply


Afghan Kush vs Ketama
I have read that WOS's Ketama has some semi auto-flowering traits in the line which is apparently quite usual for Moroc and Lebanese genetics. I have few packs of these but haven't grown any yet. I'm sure Afghan Kush is more indoor friendly and also more stoney indica.

Landrace genetics, like Afghan Kush don't usually need as much nutrients as worked western indoor hybrids, so go easy with the nutrients. For the Afghan Kush, maybe the nute strenght with BioBizz around the same as in the feeding schedule i wrote down = medium feeding strength, i would call it.
That feeding schedule, quit possibly, may need some fine tuning as i mentioned, but i'd try similar nute strength for the Afghan Kush.
::::::::::::

Tent size:
Like i mentioned in the PM i have tent set up for a 250w HPS. I have grown with a 400w HPS in a tent some years ago but never with a 600w or bigger.

Usually a 1mx1mx2m tent for 400w which is a minimum for a 600w HPS. Most likely you'd need a cool tube or something similar for these lights esp. with the 600w.

Yea, that Hygro Mars brand looks ok enough. Appears to be very similar in quality to Segret Jardin and Silver Box from what i cna see from internet photos.

Ventilation for your 400w HPS/HID set
For a 400w HPS you'll need ventilation system that is:

- Inline fan about 350 cubic m/hour. In more expensive models you can dial in the speed.

- Carbon filter is always little larger so about 400 cubic m/hour. (if the filter is too small it will make noise)

- Duct connection for 125 mm duct hose

For a 600w HPS you'll need bigger ventilation set.
Check out grow shop for light + ventilation sets and grow tent sets to get an idea what sized tent for which sized HPS.

If noise is an issue:
Inline fan + normal aluminium duct hose wont be very quiet, but you can significantly reduce noise if you buy insulated duct. Costs more but it's much more quiet. It's also much more durable than the thin Alu foil duct (small holes start to appear in time), so you'll get better bang for your money, imo.

CoolTube Set Up in a tent:
Some air cooled reflectors operate like cool tubes (like Prima Klima's Spudnik), they just have better reflectors. Cool tubes sure haven't got the best reflectors.

The inline is made to SUCK thru the carbon filter infront of the cool tube/air cooled reflector = BLOWS air thru the cool tube/reflector and then out of the tent.

This way hot air wont move thru the inline fan and it will last longer cause it wont heat up so much. Some times you 'll have to do it the other way around = warm/hot air thru the inline fan, but that's how it is sometimes.


In early flower, when they plants wont stink so much yet, the ventilation (carbon filter) run can run only when the light is on, but when the buds and resins starts to form, you'll need to run it 24h. Also so that buds wont start to mold.
You'll also need a small (15-20 cm diameter) clip fan inside the tent to create air movement which should run 24h at all times.

Get it done and have fun!

[Howard Marks]

Hola mi amigo estimado

Thanks you so much for your help and info given to me this days!!

[Speed of green]

You can maintain ambient air temp with 2x exchanges per minute.

so if you had a 3m3 tent you would aim for a fan/filter combo capable of 6m3 per minute.

[gaiusmarius]

great post by GoatCheese.

i would add that going a good 25% over capacity with ventilation and filter size and running it slowed down is good for noise reduction and so you can up the power for trimming or if it gets really hot in summer. you can also reduce noise a lot by running your ventilation at half or even a third of the full speed under normal conditions, this means you need to over size the whole ventilation set up, the wider your ducts the less noise it will make too. but you have to work with the tent duct hole size in the end. also means buying a good controller for the ventilation. some of them will keep temps steady for you as much as pos, this can be handy, it will go to the lowest setting when the lights are off and turn up when they are running. the new digital ventilators even have these controllers built in or easy to hook up anyway. so depending how much noise is an issue you might want to consider these things too.

the one problem with turning ventilation off at night is that the underpressure is lost from the tent, so all the smells can slowly seep out and spread around. even vegging plants will smell a bit, so it's really best to have your ventilation on full time, just reduced speed during lights off.

[Howard Marks]

Originally Posted by GoatCheese

If noise is an issue:
Inline fan + normal aluminium duct hose wont be very quiet, but you can significantly reduce noise if you buy insulated duct. Costs more but it's much more quiet. It's also much more durable than the thin Alu foil duct (small holes start to appear in time), so you'll get better bang for your money, imo.

CoolTube Set Up in a tent:
Some air cooled reflectors operate like cool tubes (like Prima Klima's Spudnik), they just have better reflectors. Cool tubes sure haven't got the best reflectors.

I never heard how much noise an inline fan of that power can make but if it can get loud this could be an issue too.
I will take in consideration the insulated ducts and i seen some insulated wood boxes where you can put the inline fan for additional silencing.
Dunno how good they are but i will make some further research about them.

Exactly the air cooled Prima Klima Sputnik reflector is what caught my attention. I seen it on a local web shop. Do you have it or had it? Is the gasket good, air tight, hermetically closed?

Originally Posted by Speed of green

You can maintain ambient air temp with 2x exchanges per minute.

so if you had a 3m3 tent you would aim for a fan/filter combo capable of 6m3 per minute.

Yeah but at that force maybe the tent it will be sucked in!

Originally Posted by gaiusmarius

great post by GoatCheese.

i would add that going a good 25% over capacity with ventilation and filter size and running it slowed down is good for noise reduction and so you can up the power for trimming or if it gets really hot in summer. you can also reduce noise a lot by running your ventilation at half or even a third of the full speed under normal conditions, this means you need to over size the whole ventilation set up, the wider your ducts the less noise it will make too. but you have to work with the tent duct hole size in the end. also means buying a good controller for the ventilation. some of them will keep temps steady for you as much as pos, this can be handy, it will go to the lowest setting when the lights are off and turn up when they are running. the new digital ventilators even have these controllers built in or easy to hook up anyway. so depending how much noise is an issue you might want to consider these things too.

the one problem with turning ventilation off at night is that the underpressure is lost from the tent, so all the smells can slowly seep out and spread around. even vegging plants will smell a bit, so it's really best to have your ventilation on full time, just reduced speed during lights off.

Thanks, i will take in consideration every tip you gave me guys, you were of a lot of help and i really appreciate it!

[GoatCheese]

Originally Posted by Howard Marks

I never heard how much noise an inline fan of that power can make but if it can get loud this could be an issue too.
I will take in consideration the insulated ducts and i seen some insulated wood boxes where you can put the inline fan for additional silencing.
Dunno how good they are but i will make some further research about them.

Exactly the air cooled Prima Klima Sputnik reflector is what caught my attention. I seen it on a local web shop. Do you have it or had it? Is the gasket good, air tight, hermetically closed?

Well, the inline fan itself isn't the biggest noise maker and you can't call it "loud", but most noise comes from the air blowing thru the duct hose, and you can significantly reduce this noise by using insulated duct.
I'd say the insulated duct is a must, but like i wrote earlier, it's more durable than the thin Alu duct, so you should buy the insulated duct hose in any case, imo.
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No i haven't got any air cooled reflectors, only a cool tube, but that Prima Klima reflector looks good to me.
Prima Klima also makes inline fans that have built-in speed conroller, so you might wanna look one of those up. Those cost a little more, but might be useful if you feel you have to dial in the ventilation

[gaiusmarius]

totally agree the insulated ducting is essential if you care about noise. my points were to be considered on top of using insulated ducts, you can also get noise reducing mufflers for the ventilation system, but you probably won't need to go that far if you already have insulated ducts.

[Howard Marks]

Yeah i do care about noise. @GoatCheese i checked the Prima Klima inline fans, the new generation of their fans with temperature and speed control are super but in my country they kinda expensive.

I seen this noise test on Prima Klima fans on YouTube, they seem kinda noisy.With insulated ducts they are more ok but if i dont hear one next to me i cant really tell how loud they are or how the noise will be outside the tent.

Check the noise test if you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9iCSe_F0-w

[maimunji]

Check S&P Td silent 500. Two speed 580/430 mh3. 22/19 dba. This for 600 w. If you want 400 w take 350 model its 5" ducting.