Ventilation and lighting overkill... options?

I'm starting to realize my light, fan, and air filter are overkill for my tent. I've got a 600w HPS, a 6" 440CFM vortex fan (w/ speed controller), and a big carbon filter in a tiny 2'x4'x4' tent. I'm planning on using my light at 50% power for my first grow, and then try to sell it and buy a 250w. If I can't sell it I'll just keep it at 50% or 75% power.Also, I can hear my fan from outside my house when it's at full speed, which is way too loud. I want it to be completely quiet, but a slight hum is okay. What can I do about the noise, for now? I saw the thread about the vortex fan silencer box, but I'm not sure if it would make my 6" fan quiet enough.

Ha-ha. Don't feel bad my friend. I have a 8" 720cfm inline on my 4x4 tent with a 1000w light and another 8" on my 4x8 tent with 2x600w.

I have made some corridor/L shaped boxes with fins inside that I attach to the outlet of fans with good results (makes em very quiet).

I don't understand how you can run that light at 50% as it should be impossibe. Amazon has 250 watt convertable HPS/MH for about $ 140, which might be an option. I would save the 600 for when you expand, which I am sure you will do sometime in the future. All the best.

Buy a "Phat Muffler"
That should help quiet it down significantly

600 for that size isn't too much overkill. Wait till you are deep in flower and see how much penetration you get.

You said you have a speed controller for the fan are you using it? Running it @ half power will quiet it right down.

You have 75 watts per square foot and that is to much IMO as you have a 4 foot height when subtracting reflector,light distance from canopy and pot/growing container you will end up with light damage not from heat but over lighting. At 75% or 50 watts psf is great if you are running or planning on running c02. Dimmed to 50% you have 37.5 and that is good with no co2 and at 75% you have 50 watts per square foot perfect for co2. IMO I would keep the ballast for versatility. At 250 you only have 31 and that will work ok with dirt and no co2. You have options with the gear you have As Joe said a fan speed controller works wonders. A larger fan turned down is quieter then a small one cranked.

yup didn't see ya only had 4' height. What phlop said sounds right.

Jimdamick, I got this dimmable ballast from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HB3L6W/ref=oh_details_o02_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I ran the light at 100% for 20-30 seconds and then at 50% for another 20 seconds and it got noticably dimmer. Is that going to damage my bulb? I looked at Amazon a little more and I'm pretty sure my best option for the light is to keep it. It seems like $170 is a good price for any light between 250-600w, and I'd need to pay $30 to ship it back.

There might be something wrong with my fan speed controller. When I turn the speed down the fan doesn't get that much quieter. It moves a lot less air, but it always sounds like it's still speeding up. Once it gets to full speed you can tell the motor starts doing less work because it's not accelerating the air any more, just keeping it at a steady speed. Is that normal?

I saw a thread on icmag about different ventilation options and now I'm thinking having a separate fan for cooling the light and ventilating the tent might be a good idea, so I only have to push 5-10 CFM through my air filter. I'd need to buy a new fan, though... I'm going to go to the hydro store in a couple hours, hopefully they have something that can help. My first seedling sprouted yesterday and another sprouted today so I need to get the ventilation worked out ASAP. I've got the seedlings in a DIY humidity dome under a 14w CFL, so they should be ok for a few more days.

Sorry about making 3 separate posts, for some reason the paragraphs get pushed together when I hit the post button, like I never pressed enter.

I've been running my 1000 watt ipower digi with hortilux bulbs at 50% for almost a year with no problems. Those fan speed controllers take about 1 to 3 min to turn down depending on the quality of the barrings they tricked me at first too. Hot humid air is not good for carbon if you are running reflector to filter.

I looked at your link after posting we are in fact running the same digi ballest. Ive had 4 of them now they have all worked great I traded my first two off when I took a break and bought two more my friend tells me my first two are doing great and my new ones have given me careless reliability. They are better then alot of digi's 3 times the price. I think I got my new ones for 152.00 on fleebay.

Arafafwe,lamp manufactures recommend against it due to spectral changes, but they are not enough to worry about really No, it will not shorten the life of the bulb. Peace

I hung the fan from the ceiling with hooks and a bungee cord, so hopefully that will quiet it down a little. My fan speed controller broke so I had to send it back so I'm not sure how much it helped. One of my seedlings is growing its 2nd set of real leaves. How long should I keep them in the humidity dome? I probably won't get my fan speed controller till monday so they'll have to stay in the humidity dome until then. I might need to make a bigger dome, they only have another inch to grow before they hit the top.

I'm not sure why you are keeping a seedling in a dome. Do you have super low humidity where you live? Clones go into domes because they don't have roots yet but your seeding does and therefore requires nothing. One of the only ways to kill a seedling is to not water it or keep it to moist so that it gets stem rot. I would be more worried about the ladder. I wouldn't have it in a dome unless you live in a desart with R.H. 30% of less.

I just built a box for my 6 inch can fan. Used plywood and a nailgun, i built it square and put some owens pink insulating boards on the inside. When i walk out the room all i can hear is the fan dumping air out the exhaust. I set my speedster to 66% (the line between medium and high) and i can barely hear it, in facy i hear my oscillating fan more than the can fan now. I sealed all cracks with a can of expanding foam (that shit is messy). But it works like a champ and killed the vibration in the house.

Ya I hate how it keeps coming out after you quit spraying it. I sealed a hole door with it and when moving I had to kick the door about 20 times and I'm a huge guy. I use Mastic now. It comes in a tub kind of like dri wall mud but drys like a rock and is air tight. Just as messy. They both work good. It sounds like you did a great job bro some pun intended. I've never built one but if you put a duct muffler on it now it might not make any sound at all.