Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
Look into controllers . Life has never been so easy since getting them
Excessive Heat Issue In Grow Tent
- Thread starter GKM420
- Start date
I wanted to buy an AC Infinity T6, instead of the S6 because it has a controller, but I've spent so much money I was worried about spending more. Probably should have gone with the controller because it sounds like it would make a difference. I guess I can still buy one though.
Do you have the AC Infinity controller?
Do you have the AC Infinity controller?
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
No I but I heard that’s a pretty sweet system . I use inkbird controllers . They’re were like 60$ for the pair . One for temp and one for humidity. If you go the ink bird route get the wifi one . I didn’t and regret it . Didn’t realize they even had it .
Severed Tongue
Well-Known Member
I'm currently in week 7 of flower with a Red Dragon in a 3x3 with a TSW2000 atm and with tent closed Temps are 82F - 88F with RH 45% - 65% on avg. Light is 300 watts on 100% 16" from tops.
I have an 18" Turbo-Aire high velocity floor fan running 24/7 for circulation, pushes serious CFM of 11,000 @ 20 ft, im running on lowest setting so prob 3500 CFM.
An 4 inch inline cycling fresh air for 15 min every hour. This brings RH down to 25% and Temps down to 80F at the end of that 15 min, take about 30 min to get back up.
RH is higher in morning on watering, which I do at light on, and lower in afternoon.
No issues at all with heat or light stress.... dialing in my nutes feeding I'm still working on lol.
I have an 18" Turbo-Aire high velocity floor fan running 24/7 for circulation, pushes serious CFM of 11,000 @ 20 ft, im running on lowest setting so prob 3500 CFM.
An 4 inch inline cycling fresh air for 15 min every hour. This brings RH down to 25% and Temps down to 80F at the end of that 15 min, take about 30 min to get back up.
RH is higher in morning on watering, which I do at light on, and lower in afternoon.
No issues at all with heat or light stress.... dialing in my nutes feeding I'm still working on lol.
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Nice, thanks for the reply! If I understand correctly, I need to crank up the humidity and then increase the power to my lights. If you and others are able to grow successfully with high temperatures, then I should be able to as well. I have a humidifier in my tent as of today, and am trying to figure out how to raise the humidity without lowering the intake fan speed too much. Gotta find that balance between fresh air coming in and not too much humid air leaving.
So you have your inline fan running only 15 minutes every hour? I've been told that inline fans should be running 24/7 but now I wonder...If it works for you, maybe I should try getting a controller and doing the same.
I'm going to increase the humidity to at least 40-50% and try dialing up the lights after getting that part established. Don't want to change too many things at once or I'll get overwhelmed!
It's funny you know...Growing seems like an easy thing but there are so many factors to consider that you don't know about when starting out. I guess being a beginner is all about learning, even if it's the hard way!
Thanks again, everyone!
GBAUTO
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have the t6 and it works well.
It will come on if either the temp or humidity exceeds my set point.
I have also modified one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08K31FCFC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
by bridging the line side of the outlets together. Now it does the same thing-comes on if either the temp or humidity exceeds my set point.
Seems to be quite accurate so far.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
It looks like you have the bottom vents closed. Open them up or more of them so you get more airflow. Filter them of course.
Imcamping86
Well-Known Member
when you use leds the temps need to be in the low to mid 80s . It has something to do with the leaf surface temp. A search would concur what I’m saying.
JOO©E
Member
Columbia, Jamaica, Mexico, Africa, ect all get hot and the plants thrive. 27-29°C (80-84°F) is about optimal imo.
750 - 850PPFD : 28/29C
Photosynthetic action @ 775PPFD & 1,000PPFD (if you use UVB; dots)
Photosynthetic action @ 775PPFD & 1,000PPFD (if you don't use UVB; circles)
According to the data (and if not using UVB), you get to about 85% of maximum possible photosynthesis around ~775PPFD. Intensities greater than ~775PPFD facilitate slightly greater photosynthetic action but at diminishing returns. And more significantly, with high PPFD comes high heat and possible RH issues, ect. Staying between 750 - 850PPFD in bloom reduces the need to condition your environment while still maximizing (almost) photosythesis per unit area.
According to the data, if you suppliment with UVB, the gains in photosynthesis from increasing PPFD beyond ~775 PPFD are even less pronounced (@~92.5% of max @ 775PPFD).
750 - 850PPFD : 28/29C
Photosynthetic action @ 775PPFD & 1,000PPFD (if you use UVB; dots)
Photosynthetic action @ 775PPFD & 1,000PPFD (if you don't use UVB; circles)
According to the data (and if not using UVB), you get to about 85% of maximum possible photosynthesis around ~775PPFD. Intensities greater than ~775PPFD facilitate slightly greater photosynthetic action but at diminishing returns. And more significantly, with high PPFD comes high heat and possible RH issues, ect. Staying between 750 - 850PPFD in bloom reduces the need to condition your environment while still maximizing (almost) photosythesis per unit area.
According to the data, if you suppliment with UVB, the gains in photosynthesis from increasing PPFD beyond ~775 PPFD are even less pronounced (@~92.5% of max @ 775PPFD).
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Severed Tongue
Well-Known Member
Thus is my 1st indoor, so don't take my post as a way of doing it, I was just sharing my experience. I learned the basics reading sites like this and watching YouTube.
I grew a plant outside last summer and in the middle of summer we had highs of 90F + (in western Canada) and its dry here RH in the low 20's most of the day, and the plant absolutely loved it.... so I figured why should it be any different in a tent?
I'm not really tracking everything either, just set it up and water/feed when it needs... still not dialed in on that yet either.
Some people are insane with OCD micro manage.
All I know is, the plant is happy, and doing its thing.
JOO©E
Member
The only way to remove heat is to pump it out. You can transfer it into a substance and pump the substance out (AC, kinda), but its all the same, there isn't a meaningful way to convert or transform the heat into other useful forms of energy, so we're down to pumping it out.
What I'm getting at, is if you want to reduce the temp, then you need to increase the speed at which you're exhausting. You have to ensure that the input air is at your desired temp or less than, then its only a matter of how quickly you exhaust. If your tent warms the input air quickly, then you'll need to exhaust quickly, if it warms it slowly then you need to exhaust slowly, ect ect.
If you're dumping your exhaust into the area where the input air is being sourced from (tent in a room - exhausting hot tent air into room - pulling room air into tent as input air), then it won't work. Your hot exhaust air will warm the room air and then you'll just be sucking in hot air and the tent temp won't drop regardless how fast you pump. You need to exhaust the air to a different area, preferably outside or out a window, so that your input air is not thermally contaminated.
You need to make sure nothing is clogging your input air from flowing. If you poked a straw into a gas can and tried to suck you wouldn't get very far before you couldn't suck any more in, or the walls would start caving in. Same with grow rooms. If you're exhausting to the outside through ducting (straw), and your grow room is closed (gas can), you won't be able to pump any air out. You have to open your growroom door (open gas can bleeder valve) or a window, or there has to be some way for new air to come in as old air is being pumped out. If your area can't breathe easy, or you have clogs in your flow ect, then the fans/pumps won't be able to pump like they're designed to and the heat can pile up.
What I'm getting at, is if you want to reduce the temp, then you need to increase the speed at which you're exhausting. You have to ensure that the input air is at your desired temp or less than, then its only a matter of how quickly you exhaust. If your tent warms the input air quickly, then you'll need to exhaust quickly, if it warms it slowly then you need to exhaust slowly, ect ect.
If you're dumping your exhaust into the area where the input air is being sourced from (tent in a room - exhausting hot tent air into room - pulling room air into tent as input air), then it won't work. Your hot exhaust air will warm the room air and then you'll just be sucking in hot air and the tent temp won't drop regardless how fast you pump. You need to exhaust the air to a different area, preferably outside or out a window, so that your input air is not thermally contaminated.
You need to make sure nothing is clogging your input air from flowing. If you poked a straw into a gas can and tried to suck you wouldn't get very far before you couldn't suck any more in, or the walls would start caving in. Same with grow rooms. If you're exhausting to the outside through ducting (straw), and your grow room is closed (gas can), you won't be able to pump any air out. You have to open your growroom door (open gas can bleeder valve) or a window, or there has to be some way for new air to come in as old air is being pumped out. If your area can't breathe easy, or you have clogs in your flow ect, then the fans/pumps won't be able to pump like they're designed to and the heat can pile up.
Betterdaysco
New Member
The temps will be ok if you adjust the humid like he said, google vpd for more info there. But simply adding the humidifier will lower your temp as well. I have a 8x4, a 4x4 and a 3x3. My 4x4 has the ac infinity program which has temp setting to clear the tent, works and stress free. For my veg/cloning 8x4 I purchased a thermostat controlled power outlet to mock the ac infinity system. It was $20, and works amazing. Basically the outlet has a temp sensor and controller; My 8x4 no longer runs hot ever. Turns the inline on at temp alerts and pulls fresh basement air in to replace the hot air. Gl with it
SpawnOfVader
Well-Known Member
How strong is your negative pressure? My heat issues turned out to be the amount of passive intake being insufficient (8" passive intake with a dust filter and a 6" high CFM exhaust fan). Adding a small can fan (AC Infinity Raxial S 8 - like 20-30 US$ fixed my issue.
Nice, which controlled power outlet do you use? Sounds very useful.
Also, three grow tents? Super jealous!
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Never seen that booster before! Looks great but in Canada it's around $100 or $78 USD
I don't have much in the way of passive intake, just using one of the rectangular vents near the grow tent floor.
Good news! The humidifier I bought today is working wonders!
The humidity has been around 40-44% for the whole afternoon and it's brought down the temperature to around 24 degrees C/75 degrees F, without reducing the lights. The light output is a steady 200 W total at the moment. I'm keeping an Excel spreadsheet as a log so I can figure out the sweet spot for the output of my lights. I'm hoping to be able to eventually dial them up to 400 W (out of 480 W possible) but even 300 W would make me happy!
I know this won't be surprising to everyone except for me, but wow, raising the humidity really improved the climate in my tent! I think I'm going to get a second humidifier and have them on a timer. 9 hours on for each one, to match the 18 hours of time the lights are on for (autoflowers).
Speaking of, is it okay for the humidity to drop during the lights-off period, or should I keep the humidity up even with the lights off? I'm wondering if it will shock the plants to go from dark and dry to suddenly lights full-blast. It looks like it will take 15-30 minutes for the humidifier to raise the humidity from being turned off. Don't want to stress out my girls anymore than they already have been.
Thank you so much for everyone's advice-I don't think I would have figured out the humidity issue without talking to y'all! This community has been really helpful to me as a beginner and I really appreciate it!
The humidity has been around 40-44% for the whole afternoon and it's brought down the temperature to around 24 degrees C/75 degrees F, without reducing the lights. The light output is a steady 200 W total at the moment. I'm keeping an Excel spreadsheet as a log so I can figure out the sweet spot for the output of my lights. I'm hoping to be able to eventually dial them up to 400 W (out of 480 W possible) but even 300 W would make me happy!
I know this won't be surprising to everyone except for me, but wow, raising the humidity really improved the climate in my tent! I think I'm going to get a second humidifier and have them on a timer. 9 hours on for each one, to match the 18 hours of time the lights are on for (autoflowers).
Speaking of, is it okay for the humidity to drop during the lights-off period, or should I keep the humidity up even with the lights off? I'm wondering if it will shock the plants to go from dark and dry to suddenly lights full-blast. It looks like it will take 15-30 minutes for the humidifier to raise the humidity from being turned off. Don't want to stress out my girls anymore than they already have been.
Thank you so much for everyone's advice-I don't think I would have figured out the humidity issue without talking to y'all! This community has been really helpful to me as a beginner and I really appreciate it!
I have to double-check, but my lights have IR and-I think-UVB/UVA. Might be wrong about that. Thank you for posting this; I need to get a light meter to check my PPFD levels.
Does the information you posted change with indicas or hybrids? I noticed the graphs mention cannabis sativa, and imagine the difference (if any) is not significant, but would be curious to know. I'll have to look at that for interest's sake. I mention this because I'm primarily growing autoflower indicas which I believe are a indica/ruderalis hybrid. Anyway, something else to learn about!
I've thought of that but here's the problem: My lights have IR/UV light and I'm sitting in close proximity to them. If I understand correctly both IR and UV lights are hard on eyes. I have a pair of welding goggles that I wear when I'm working with the tent flap open. Don't want to damage my eyes.
If I open the tent flap on the left side in the photo, the light will be shining on me while I work at my desk. Indirect light, but still maybe not good for eyesight? I'm going for the better safe-than-sorry option for now. My wife also has a desk in the same room and I don't want to damage her eyesight also.
I wish you nothing but success! Good luck with your future grows!
BTW, a Canadian summer with low humidity? Must be nice...Out here in Southern Ontario we get hot summers with high humidity! Great for plants but not so great for smog when you're near a city (Toronto).
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I was referring to the round vent holes at the bottom of the tent that are closed.