Need input on newly purchased tent.

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
I recently bought one of these off ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/321149835627?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649. It is a 4'x4'x6' grow tent, only $99.00 with free shipping. Basically I will be using a 250W HPS for my first go around, which I know is a bit small for the area but I will be upgrading lighting before the end of the year. So my questions are:

1) How many plants would someone with experience with a similar set-up recommend to be in there at once? I was thinking 9 at the very most but more than likely I will do just 6.
2) Can someone recommend a good fan to exhaust? My current temps in my veg area are between 78-92, but will be getting more stable in the coming months.

That's all I can remember right now...just smoked some pineapple express and my mind keeps roaming. But yeah any input on those 2 questions would help and I'm sure I can think of more later....
 

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
if its a true pineapple express strain then x10 on it being awesome. been smoking that for 6+ months and have a seed germinating as I type (among the other 3 strains I grow). anyways, back to your Q. I grow in a 4x4x7 tent with a 600w light. I crammed 7 plants in 3 gal pots in there and there is NO room for anything. shit is tight in there. next cycle ill only put 6 but in 5 gal pots. depending on your pot size will determine how many plants you can fit. but a 250w will only produce enough light for so many plants. you can veg for a month or so then flip so they wont be as big, then you can fit more in the tent. but its a trade off. more smaller plants, vs fewer larger plants. I also rotate my plants 1/4 turn daily, to help get everything some light. I also FIM, super crop, and lollipop multiple times in veg.
 

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
Well right now I have a little veg chamber with a 110W HO t5 (about 10,000 lumens) and 2 23W CFL's (one 6500k one 2700k). I have 3 "mother" plants in there right now along with 4 clones. The 3 mothers are Trainwreck bagseed (known female) and 2 unknown sex/strain mainly indicas. I will be finding out what they are as soon as I get my shit together and hopefully getting rid of them, as I have quite a few seeds I've ordered and want to use, BUT I will keep the wreck, she's been impressive for the shitty conditions.

I was planning on a 2 plant every 3 weeks kind of thing, hopefully enough for personal and to help cover some rent. The clone will root then go for 3 weeks in veg then the flower time which I will find out when the time comes.

Do you think would a 4" inline be enough to keep the tent cool? As I said I will be getting a 600W before the end of the year so I would prefer not have to buy another fan at that point.

Having all this finally come in to place is too exciting and I keep forgetting the small things...I'll try to think of more haha.
 

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
buy everything you think you'll need in the future now. no sense buying things 2x. booster fans are junk and wont work that great. I run a 6" 440cfm fan for my cool tube hoods, carbon scrubber and my a/c exhaust. 2 8" 420 cfm fans for my intake and exhaust in mny flower room plus an 18" fan under the hoos and 3 5" fans blowing cold air up thru the plants. 6" intake 250 cfm and an 8" 380 cfm exhaust in the veg room plus 4 5" clip fans for circulation.
 

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
Only issue is right now I am in a apartment so noise has to be kept to a minimum. As long as temps are not above 84 I will be happy, which shouldn't be hard to achieve in the northeast over the fall/winter. How would I calculate the fan size required for my tent, the CFM that's required basically? Then I can try to base a Inline fan choice off of that I suppose.
 

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
By the way my current HPS has a built in ballast so the light itself won't be air cooled, the fan will pretty much be used for exhaust/smell only.
 

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
ok, are you bringing in fresh outside air, and exhausting the tent air outside as well? or are you getting your intake air from your room your tent is in? and where are you exhausting your tent air to? if you are using a bedroom for your grow (tent), and are using that rooms air for your intake and exhausting the tent air back into the same room, your going to run into heat issues no matter what season it is outside. im not sure how much heat a HPS 250w light puts out, but my 600 was throwing out 86* with my 420 cfm intake and 420 cfm exhaust fans. as I said above I had to put an 18" fan blowing that hot pocket of air under the cool tube to get to 81*. also, since your not running a cool tube or a sealed hood, you are definitely going to run into heat issues.you can run a sealed tent but only when using C02 and run higher temps w/o effecting the plants. iirc about 90* w/o any damage. but the cost of a full C02 system is pricey.

for the smell, you can either DIY a carbon scrubber and use that paired with a fan and use that as your exhaust and scrubber fan all in one. or use a separate exhaust fan and run some odor absorber like ONA gel, ozone machine (use extreme caution as you can kill your plants and or yourself), or other odor absorbing products.

I wasn't expecting on the HPS tent to be 8* hotter than my veg tent. that put me 2 weeks behind flipping.
 

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
Srsly? I'm not doing any seed -> bud grows, all will be clones only and I'm not going to be able to give them a full on veg like I said, maybe 3 weeks at the most. But if you still think it'd be better to do 1 plant over 2-3 at a time then meh I might just try that.
 

Ckrogue

Well-Known Member
Sounds good then I guess, but won't quantity lack due to only a 3 week veg?
I'm hoping to cut down to 2 mothers, the Trainwreck and I decided to put a Granddaddy Purp seed in for germination last night, and I will just flower the 2 random indica's as soon as I get my tent.

Do you think putting 1 plant in at the half way point through flowering would be too much? I'm not trying to be greedy but if I have the 2 mom's (hopefully GDP will be a female, but male would be nice for future endeavors), it'd be nice to have a somewhat perpetual thing where I could veg on for 3 weeks put in to flower (5 gal), take a cutting of other mom when I put 1st in to flower, veg for 3 weeks (time will start after root breaks stater pellet), put that in to flower (1st one should be about 4.5-5 weeks in by then), and just keep it going from there?
 
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