Led basement grow tent help (humidity levels)

[Fishing4life12]

Hello everyone , im new to indoor growing and have been at this for several weeks trying to get the right environment dialed in to start sprouting my fem. seeds. I have a 2x4x5 growneer tent, elevated on a pc of 3/8plywood and 3/4 foil insulation overtop located on my cool basement floor. I have a 1000w sunraise LED light with a veg and bloom setting haging at 40" above the floor set on a timer for 18/6. I currently bought a 203cfm 4" inline fan with a charcol filter and have it set to its lowest setting on the controller running constantly (both inside the tent and 12 ft of vent outside the tent, attached to a "y"at the dryer and vent thru the wall). Im using a heater fan in front of my passive intake wich is keeping my temps where i want them at 25°c. (Can switch it higher or lower if any of you dissagree with that temp). I have a 6" s bend passive intake opposite my exhaust fan. Im using a tower fan set on oscilating and on its lowest setting 1 of 3. My hydrometer is locates in the side pouch, halfway up the tent. Im also using a ultras sonic cool mist humidifier to raise my humidity in the tent wich is located beside the tower fan and opposite the passive intake and opposite the charcol filter.(I put warm water inside thie resevoir) I cannot get my humidity higher then 30 32 % and replacing the water in my humidifiwr on the highest setting every 6hrs. How can i get it up to about 50 60 %? I have acheived this before by simply putting the exhaust fan on a timer, to come on once an hr for 1 minute as anymore then that sucks to much humidity out. Ive changed back to running the exhaust alll the time because ive read that if you do not run it all the time, weed stench will flow back out the tent and into the room and I also read that air should be recirculated a certain amount (some say 3 to 5 times a minute, others 6 times an hr and im just confused with that since my 2x4x5 tent is only 40cfm , so technicaly my fan should 5 times that right) To raise humidity in my tent, Ive tried towels hanging but they dry out to fast. Ive tried a bowl in front of intake and i front of fan and does nothing. Ive tried a bowl with a towel hanging over the edge with water in it and doesnt do much neither. After all my blabbering to get you guys the clearesr picture of my set up, how can i get my humidity levels up to 50 60% ? Any info would be greatly appreciated, oh and i currently do not have any plants in the tent until i get the tent environment dialed in. Thanks in advance to all of you and taking the time to read and come up with a solution. Cheers

 

[Renfro]

Plants will raise the humidity a little. Honestly you can grow in the lower 30% range so don't let that worry ya.

 

[drsaltzman]

Don’t worry about it.
You can’t really dial in your environment until plants/soil/hydro is in it.
They change it up quite a bit.
Plus you’re drawing heat into an empty tent. That’s gonna dry it out too.

 

[ColoradoHighGrower]

One thing you can try is to have exhuast fan connected to same 18/6 timer so it only runs while lights are on, or have it come on intermittently while lights are off. I have my humidifier (with built in humidistat) and auto heater on 24/7, but only exhaust for 15min/hr while lights are off.

 

[ColoradoHighGrower]

You can veg in 30% rh range, but your ladies will thank you a lot if you can manage to maintain 55-65%...

 

[Fishing4life12]

Thanks everyone. When my lights go out, hum drops abit if any since im running led, but with fan off i can get higher humidities since it aint being sucked out. So turning it off at night us the opposite i want. Doesnt the exhaust fan need to be run 24/7 to exhaust stench and intriduce new air into room? I get the hum and temps will go upabit with a couple ladies in the tent but honestly by how much? If it aint alot then how can i make more humidity and not get ut all sucked out or dried out by my heatee fan or tower fan for a breeze? Thanks again. Sorry guys im totaly new to indoor and i can say its wayyyy more complex then when i grow outdoors. Any info, tips for my basement delema is much appreciated

 

[Chip Green]

elevated on a pc of 3/8plywood and 3/4 foil insulation overtop located on my cool basement floor

Good move. I will ask, is the plywood itself directly on the floor? If it is, I suggest you put some short "feet" of some sort, on the corners, and maybe the side middle...Allow some airflow underneath.
I found out the hard way, that many concrete basement floors will eventually produce enough evaporation, to collect under a tent over time, and create a messy, bacteria infested sludge....

 

[Fishing4life12]

I will elevate my tent. Thanks for that . I dont want any of that happening.
I have a heater thats got a built in thermostat and keeps temps blowing at a constant. It does turn on and off. All try for a bigger humidifier and see what happens. This one might be to small and also maybe cause its a cool mist humidifier and not a warm one they act different. I cant turn off inline fan once i have plants in there or else smell will come back into room but on another note when i do, hum rises and i can control it and lowet humidifier to get to 60%. Does the tent neex constant exchange or can i do it every hr fir one minute to exhsust tent and bring in new air. Thank you

 

[drsaltzman]

Thanks everyone. When my lights go out, hum drops abit if any since im running led, but with fan off i can get higher humidities since it aint being sucked out. So turning it off at night us the opposite i want. Doesnt the exhaust fan need to be run 24/7 to exhaust stench and intriduce new air into room? I get the hum and temps will go upabit with a couple ladies in the tent but honestly by how much? If it aint alot then how can i make more humidity and not get ut all sucked out or dried out by my heatee fan or tower fan for a breeze? Thanks again. Sorry guys im totaly new to indoor and i can say its wayyyy more complex then when i grow outdoors. Any info, tips for my basement delema is much appreciated

I have the same size tent. Only 7 feet tall.
Run LEDs.
Exhaust out to the backyard.
In a basement that is currently 58 at night.
Plants are on wire shelving 1.5 inches off the ground.
Roots 707 in felt pots.
My humidity bottoms at 38-40 and peaks at 58-60.
Low temp is room temp 58 and high with lights on is 75.
This is my winter reality.
I do much better in the Summer/Fall but my plants still grow. Frosty. Dense.
Don’t sweat it.
Your room is not your room until the plants are living and breathing in it.
You’ll be surprised how much the environment changes.

 

[lovemfrosty]

I cannot get my humidity higher then 30 32 %

Working with lots of stable dry air is perfect for tent growing.

As others have stated, plants in there will raise the humidity. If you search for a humidity controller with an outlet and a sensor on a long wire, plug your exhaust into that and that'll turn on your exhaust when the humidity gets to a certain level you can suck in that dry air and reduce the humidity. This will happen more than enough to exchange air in the tent and will give you good control over your tent's rh. You don't need a humidifier and if your basement stays that low you don't need a dehumidifier either.

If you are seeing 30% rh outside the tent you should be able to get the inside down to somewhere around 37% with a 203cfm fan on 2/3 speed, maybe lower (I'm in a 4x4x7 with the same rated fan). When closed up with some plants in there, it'll rise to over 70% after a watering without rh mitigation.

I cant turn off inline fan once i have plants in there or else smell will come back into room

You absolutely can turn off your exhaust and maintain odor suppression, just not forever.

Good luck!

 

[drsaltzman]

Once in flower you’ll have to exhaust 24-7.
It will be quite fragrant.
Get your plants in there first, then adjust, if necessary.

 

[Antitheist]

I grew all winter in a basement in northern Illinois. Was lucky if humidity ever got as high as 40%. Got as low as 27%. Usually was low 30s even with 2 small humidifiers running. Everything was fine. Cannabis is a weed. Don't over think it.

Run your fans 24/7. Airflow is more important than most of the other dumb shit that a lot of people worry about.

 

[gwheels]

I live in sw ontario and in the winter good luck keeping the RH at 40. I have grown 30 to 70 RH and lower is a lot easier to deal with than higher (without adding a huey/dehuey etc.).

If you have access to your tent you can bump up RH during veg with simple methods. I used 2 buckets. One was on a pedestal and full of water with a towel that went to the dry bucket. fill the bucket every day and the water will evaporate in the tent raising RH. Like a giant wick on your dehuey without a compressor and fan.

But you are running a dehuey ! . Run the fan at a lower speed. The scrubber works a bit better when it is running slower and reduces the odor more effectively. I run 2 tents 2 x 3 x 5 feet on 1 fan running at 20%.

Now i just let them grow. They work out. Some strains handle the low rh better than others.

 

[Fishing4life12]

Thanks everyone for all your input. All take into consideration all the info and make things work. I will update once i put a couple ladies in there and get the ball rolling.

 

[Chip Green]

For most of the frigid winter months in my area, the RH in one of my VEG rooms never gets above 20%. The digital hygrometer reads LL% for weeks on end.
It can be done. Many growers would be in a state of perpetual, anxious despair over this situation.

 

[Kingrow1]

Yep no low humidity ever bothered my plants and litreature cites this plant is well adapted to many humidities which is probably why a load have chimed in with the same.

Antiheist above wrote how air flow is more inportant - second that.

Put temp and humidity meters outside the tent and let me knoe the readings - inside a well lit tent can be problematic to work out the humidity and temp of the air your sucking in and filling the tent with

 

[madvillian420]

glad i found this thread, im having the same issue, only in a bedroom closet as opposed to a basement. Best of luck to the OP

 

[Fishing4life12]

Kingrow1 the temp and humidity outside my tent are 18°C and 38% hum. When i just run my exhaust fan which is 4" and have an oscilating fan moving , while pulling in room air thru my 6"passive intake vent, the temps drop significantly and so does my humidity. Like only 14%. So as of now, ive added a bigger 1g tank humidifier with hum control and volume output, while running exhaust and passive intake and heater on a stat and an oscating fan and humidifier 24/7 and my led 1000w(2 cooling fans built in) on 18/6, ive managed to get my temps to 25 26°c and a humidity level of 42%. Seems pretty good to me . I will bable to adjust the temp down and humidity down if i have to once my girls are finished sprouting within the next day or so. Once its time for bloom, i will switch to 12/12 and slowly decrease heat and humidity . I beleive my growneer 2 plug thermo switch will gwt me where i need. Thanks again for alll the suppport. Much appreciated.

 

[Kingrow1]

Kingrow1 the temp and humidity outside my tent are 18°C and 38% hum. When i just run my exhaust fan which is 4" and have an oscilating fan moving , while pulling in room air thru my 6"passive intake vent, the temps drop significantly and so does my humidity. Like only 14%. So as of now, ive added a bigger 1g tank humidifier with hum control and volume output, while running exhaust and passive intake and heater on a stat and an oscating fan and humidifier 24/7 and my led 1000w(2 cooling fans built in) on 18/6, ive managed to get my temps to 25 26°c and a humidity level of 42%. Seems pretty good to me . I will bable to adjust the temp down and humidity down if i have to once my girls are finished sprouting within the next day or so. Once its time for bloom, i will switch to 12/12 and slowly decrease heat and humidity . I beleive my growneer 2 plug thermo switch will gwt me where i need. Thanks again for alll the suppport. Much appreciated.

Your humidity is fine no need to adjust or run humidifiers.

Your temps are also fine - thats my room range too.

I feel its your meters that are the problem - can you find a place in your tent where they equalise more with the outside - base of the tent in the shade or above the light to the side maybe.

 

[Fishing4life12]

Heres a pic of my set up