Setting up My First Tent

[bud nugbong]

Going with a 4x4 tent in the bedroom. I'm no rookie when it comes to growing, but I'm usually an outdoor guy. I didn't get a chance to grow this year because of the kids getting older. So I have gone indoors and I'm just exited to be growing again.
I've got almost everything I need: 4x4x7 tent, 600w light setup with charcoal filter and inline fan, timers, thermostats etc..

My biggest concern is going to be the humidity in the room with the tent exhaust. I don't see much about it on the forums. It's winter so I would love to heat the room up with the hot air. Does anyone do this, or attempted this? Let me know if you have. I do plan on getting a small dehumidifier just in case there is too much humidity.

Going to use soil in fabric pots and Haven't decided on a fertilizer yet but I will decide at the store. I am a fan of organic, so I'll see what's good for indoors, no buffalo diarrhea allowed . And for this first cycle I'll be vegging under a HPS. Shame on me, but That's all I got. I'll consider it an experiment. And I'm going to grow 5 "THC Bomb" , and one freebie "Royal Queen Critical", all feminized. I also plan on doing a scrog, which I haven't built yet. But I'll be using a 6in grid pattern.

Any comments and questions? Especially about heating a 12'x20' room with a 600w exhaust. And I'll try and get some pics up soon if I can.

 

[Rusher]

During the winter months, I move my ballast back into my grow space, and it provides just enough heat to bring me back up to a nice temp and humidity in my 3x3x5 space. Not sure about your 12x20 space, maybe just a portable 1500w space heater?

 

[DankBudzzz]

I'm growing in a 4x4 in a room in 5 gallon fabric pots with 1000 watter. It heats great except for lights off during flowering I have to supplement heat with a small infared heater. The humidity is an issue though without a DEhumidifier unless you can leave a window cracked. Look into the organic grow go box, super cheap and my plants love it.

 

[bud nugbong]

Damn Dankbudzzz I was reading through the thread in your sig and then realized it was from 2011! Update that shit lol.
I'm germinating the seeds today and hopefully will have the whole tent set up within the next 2-3 days.

 

[ChaosHunter]

If you don't vent your heat the temps in the tent will slowly climb up. Your just going to be recirculating hot air.

 

[DankBudzzz]

Damn Dankbudzzz I was reading through the thread in your sig and then realized it was from 2011! Update that shit lol.
I'm germinating the seeds today and hopefully will have the whole tent set up within the next 2-3 days.

I have a new Grow going in Grow journals here's a pic

 

[bud nugbong]

If you don't vent your heat the temps in the tent will slowly climb up. Your just going to be recirculating hot air.

I'm venting into the bedroom. And it seems to be maintaining a good temp. I've got the charcoal filter up high in the tent-->Hood-->inline fan which is outside of the tent (sucking out the hot air). And a 6" duct for a passive intake at ground level. It's been running for 5 hours and seemed to have stabilized at 83F inside and 76 in the bedroom. And today was in the 40s which is kind of warm for the winter. It'll take some adjusting but it seems to be doable for sure.
The plan is to have the light off from noon to 6pm and be on for the colder parts of the night. I've got one of those digital thermometers that will keep track of the highs and lows. I've got a few days to dial it in. But I think dangerously high temps will be rare.

 

[bud nugbong]

Here's a few pics of the setup. I don't have much room to step back and take a shot of the inside. It takes up a good part of the smaller half of the room. I've got room to get behind it to access plugs and raised the inline fan so I could walk under and have a shorter straighter exhaust.
The seeds are in the soil after about 30 hours in a wet paper towel. I stopped waiting for the seed to sprout many years ago. It'll be just as good in soil.
As far as equipment I've got an I power carbon filter, SunSystem low rider reflector, and their harvest pro ballast, Apollo Horticulture 4x4x7 tent, and a fairly cheap blauberg inline fan....Last night got a little warm 89 inside and 81 in the room. I'll have to leave the door of the room open a bit. It was about 60 in the hallway this morning when the room was hot. I do have a thermostat type plug that I could set up for when things get too hot.
The wheels are starting to turn...

 

[BBbubblegum]

So i actually run a 4x4 apollo tent in a bedroom of the same size. What i can tell you in that humidity will become an issue in flowering if not properly vented, especially after watering. Using the light to heat the room is more than reasonable, but the issue i've ran into is that the environment changes as the lights shut off, and also the temperature day/night differentially isn't going to be as big as outdoors, which generally leads to bushy plants so get ready to get your hands in there.

 

[bud nugbong]

Thanks for the input BBbubblegum. I do plan on getting a small dehumidifier but the local home depot was out of the one I want. I've got a little time to get that.
Oh and I forgot to mention what a pain in the ass that tent was to put together by myself. You have to pretty much bring the whole tent over the top of the frame and I had about 4 inches to work with.

 

[bud nugbong]

Things are coming along. I've made a couple adjustments to improve things.
- Put cups on a storage bin so I could raise the light. This shortened the exhaust ducting inside the tent and straightened it out a little for improved airflow.
- Moved the passive intake duct to the opposite side of the tent last night. It was right near a baseboard heater that was getting hot at night.. actually 120F surface temp. Stupid on my part for not realizing it before. But now I can stretch the intake out to the hallway at night and suck in some 60 degree air to keep things cooler.
-I made sure all sleeves for ducting and cords were sealed up nice. I want that air coming from the intake. And the one thing I don't like about this tent is the Velcro rectangles near the bottom. They are not air or light proof and I can't get tape to stick to the tent material. This is very frustrating. But I've managed to keep the temps inside from 74-85 over the last 48 hours.

And I've got the first sprouts. I just peaked in and 4 out of 6 have cracked the surface, all THCbomb. Soaked them on the 23rd, in soil the 24th, and popping up on the 27th. Not too bad.

I'm still undecided on scrog or lst. I like that I have reason to make a decision in the next week or 2. I wont bore you with pictures but I do plan on making an actual thread about the grow and leave this one about the setup.

 

[bud nugbong]

Week One

The seedlings don't look too healthy. I think it might be the light distance. I had it at about 21in. then moved it down a little each day until 18.5in. And just now I took it back up to almost 23in...I usually start seeds right out in the sun so I didn't think this would be too close. Anyone care to weigh in? I can feel a little warmth but nothing compared to a hand in regular sunlight. I did just take the pics right before their bedtime so hopefully that's why they look a bit droopy. They just got water so they're not thirsty.

 

[NanoGadget]

So i actually run a 4x4 apollo tent in a bedroom of the same size. What i can tell you in that humidity will become an issue in flowering if not properly vented, especially after watering. Using the light to heat the room is more than reasonable, but the issue i've ran into is that the environment changes as the lights shut off, and also the temperature day/night differentially isn't going to be as big as outdoors, which generally leads to bushy plants so get ready to get your hands in there.

I wish I had that issue.. the RH in my house during the winter gets down to like 10% sometimes. Colder than hell where I live and the combination of lower humidity outside and radiant heat are a real bastard. I run a humidifier right in my tent on full blast with lights on and I'm lucky if I get it up to 50%

 

[BBbubblegum]

I wish I had that issue.. the RH in my house during the winter gets down to like 10% sometimes. Colder than hell where I live and the combination of lower humidity outside and radiant heat are a real bastard. I run a humidifier right in my tent on full blast with lights on and I'm lucky if I get it up to 50%

But remember that once you get some established plants in there they natural increase the humidity through transpiration and the bigger the container means more water that can evaporate throughout the day.

 

[Morriston55]

You said you moved indoors due to kids growing up, you dont think they see that huge tent and 2x4 aparatus suspending ducting and a loud fan??

IMO you should be getting rid of the exhaust air from the tent and not dumping it in your bedroom, route it out the ceiling if your sharing a wall with an attic or such, could hude things alot better, give more control and less worry about temps

 

[bud nugbong]

They stay downstairs. And the room is locked when I'm not home. No noise either, it's a very quiet fan. You're looking out for the children. I like that.

My problem right now is the humidity being too low. It's usually about 40% but it can go up or down 10. I have to get a little humidifier to put inside the tent. I've got a very cold and dry room so I'll be using that warm air to keep things decent. The room never gets too hot. And I've got a thermostat wall plug if I need to get a booster fan for extra cooling.

I really think I had the light too close to the seedlings. They have a slightly bleached look and they're not growing as well as they should be. I just brought the light up to 31". Hopefully that's high enough. It helps with venting the heat too, with shorter and slightly straighter ducting.

I've got a ph and tds meter on the way. I bought some Roots Organic soil and Biocanna veg nutrients. I'll have some pics on Tuesday. Hopefully the seedlings wont embarrass me too much And I think I'll be getting some new seeds as a backup. I've got 2 NLxBB. But I could use a half dozen more.

 

[bud nugbong]

WEEK TWO Nothing to see here

I've come to the conclusion that the light was way too close. The seedlings have barely grown, they still have that yellow and droopy look. They felt a little crispy or hard too.
I've got it up to 32" now and it seems to be a good height. The seedlings haven't done much growing since last time and I think they might be a lost cause. I would imagine this much stress would cause some hermies. I've got backups on the way. 5 Ice Bomb (white rhino x vanilla kush x bomb #1) and a free Special Kush #1. I got them from the vault. I tried attitude first but it wasn't working.
I also got the humidifier set up. I put it outside of the tent just because it doesn't have a sensor to set to a certain %. The humidity went from 30%-50% in less than an hour and then almost hit 60%. Hopefully that helps out a bunch too.

 

[bud nugbong]

WEEK THREE Even Less to See Here

I gave all of the original seedlings the heave ho. They hadn't done much in a whole week. And I wanted to use those cups for the new seeds. I just planted a Special Kush #1 and 3 Ice Bomb. I actually ordered 10 of those so I'll be looking for some nice phenos. The 2 NLXBB I planted 5 days ago are just starting to break the surface. Hopefully I'll keep the light far enough away this time.