venting my tent???

[FamMan]

Hello RIUers. So I will be starting my first grow(FINALLY...got a little delayed) in the next week or two. I still havnt ordered my vent equipment(starting with T5s) and I have some questions. My setup: 4x8 tent with 6.5 height running 2 1000w air cooled hps using Thunder Sunlux reflectors. The tent will be in my basement where it seems to stay a little cooler. Also I will be running lights at night.
I plan to run an 8 inch 710 cfm to vent the lights, 6 inch 315 cfm (both Hyper Fan) attached to a 400 cfm Phresh filter to exhaust plant environment/actual tent, and all controlled by a Titan Saturn 5 (temp, humidity, Co2 controller).

1. Is all this a going to keep my tent cool? Is it overkill?
2. I accidentally ordered 6 inch reflectors thinking that's what i needed.....should I try and exchange them for the 8 inch since my fan will be 8 inch? I planned to get 8 inch ducting so it seemed that would be the best move.
3. My basement is 700+sf and the tent is in one corner to the rear of the room. Can I use the air from the room to cool the lights? or should i use Outside air? Temps drop a lot during the night time and i read not to run very cool air through my lights. If I do use the air from the room should I run a duct to somewhere else in the room or i can i use the air around/near the tent?
4. One half of my basement is a crawlspace. Same layout as the rest of my basement but half the height. I run my electric through there to the breaker box in my garage. The crawlspace is insulated. There is a 12x5 inch hole in part of the drywall that seperates my basement area from the crawlspace. Can i directly vent my lights into the crawlspace or does it need to go outside(somewhere on here i read that it cant be dump into a enclosed area???) Or should i use the air from crawlspace to vent my lights then dump outside?


Hope that all made sense. Thanx BIGTIME for any help. Peace. Btw I posted this in Design and setup and wasnt getting much responses. Im hoping here i will get some more feed back.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Hello RIUers. So I will be starting my first grow(FINALLY...got a little delayed) in the next week or two. I still havnt ordered my vent equipment(starting with T5s) and I have some questions. My setup: 4x8 tent with 6.5 height running 2 1000w air cooled hps using Thunder Sunlux reflectors. The tent will be in my basement where it seems to stay a little cooler. Also I will be running lights at night.
I plan to run an 8 inch 710 cfm to vent the lights, 6 inch 315 cfm (both Hyper Fan) attached to a 400 cfm Phresh filter to exhaust plant environment/actual tent, and all controlled by a Titan Saturn 5 (temp, humidity, Co2 controller).

1. Is all this a going to keep my tent cool? Is it overkill?
2. I accidentally ordered 6 inch reflectors thinking that's what i needed.....should I try and exchange them for the 8 inch since my fan will be 8 inch? I planned to get 8 inch ducting so it seemed that would be the best move.
3. My basement is 700+sf and the tent is in one corner to the rear of the room. Can I use the air from the room to cool the lights? or should i use Outside air? Temps drop a lot during the night time and i read not to run very cool air through my lights. If I do use the air from the room should I run a duct to somewhere else in the room or i can i use the air around/near the tent?
4. One half of my basement is a crawlspace. Same layout as the rest of my basement but half the height. I run my electric through there to the breaker box in my garage. The crawlspace is insulated. There is a 12x5 inch hole in part of the drywall that seperates my basement area from the crawlspace. Can i directly vent my lights into the crawlspace or does it need to go outside(somewhere on here i read that it cant be dump into a enclosed area???) Or should i use the air from crawlspace to vent my lights then dump outside?


Hope that all made sense. Thanx BIGTIME for any help. Peace. Btw I posted this in Design and setup and wasnt getting much responses. Im hoping here i will get some more feed back.

one thing to consider, and it's funny cuz I often run into it in the auto industry, is ALL intakes need to have an equal exhaust, or you'll have flow issues.
Also I haven't heard of colder air hurting running lights.. If anything it'll make it to where you can run your lights closer, which equals more lumens, which equals bigger nugs.
the exhaust can be exited anywhere, provided it's not going to be re-circulated into your room.
NOW, that's assuming your exhaust is for the plants and not the lights, they are different. I do a mix of both, my fans that cool my lights are intaking from outside, and then through both my 600w, then from there exiting on my plants (keeps the air warm), I also have holes in the room for passive ventilation.
OR you can run a ventilation solely for your lights, and another solely for your plants.

 

[FamMan]

Thanx grease. Im not sure i get what ur saying about the intakes equalling exhaust. my exhaust for my light (im planing to PUSH the air through) would be 710 cfm. exhaust for plants would be 315cfm with a carbon filter(both i plan to put on the outside of the tent and prolly vent them outside). At this point i was goin to try passive intake with lower openings with screen. I will do some research on cold air passing through lights but if u said it grease. So this is how i will prolly do it......use outside air and push through lights and exhaust in my crawlspace. another fan will exhaust tent/plant area also to the outside. Sound good grease? one last question is it ok to use 6 inch reflector with 8 inch ducting and fan? Much appreciation for the help. PEACE

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Thanx grease. Im not sure i get what ur saying about the intakes equalling exhaust. my exhaust for my light (im planing to PUSH the air through) would be 710 cfm. exhaust for plants would be 315cfm with a carbon filter(both i plan to put on the outside of the tent and prolly vent them outside). At this point i was goin to try passive intake with lower openings with screen. I will do some research on cold air passing through lights but if u said it grease. So this is how i will prolly do it......use outside air and push through lights and exhaust in my crawlspace. another fan will exhaust tent/plant area also to the outside. Sound good grease? one last question is it ok to use 6 inch reflector with 8 inch ducting and fan? Much appreciation for the help. PEACE

what I meant is that if you use two fans in conjunction that it'll only be as effective as the weakest fan, meaning you can have a 70,000 cfm fan but if at the other end you have a tiny one, the tiny one is going to be your restriction. SO in your case, if you have inline a 710cfm and a 325cfm, you'll be flowing near the 325 cfm, the fans will sorta work against each other.
I don't KNOW for a fact that cold air on running lights is bad for them, but I've never heard that. Please do your research before doing so, i'd feel horrible if I blew up your bulbs from faulty advice.
Your plan is a good one, I do that as well.
I use a 6" vortec to push through the lights, and then I just keep it passively vented ( a have two screened holes)
Ideally you'd want to have the 6" ducting as well (keep the airflow from swirling) but it'll be fine.
I'm still sorta confused on your fan setup (sorry, i'm dealing with girlfriend drama)
let me try this again...
your lights.. one 710 cfm 6" fan with 8" ducting. Correct? no other fan inline with it?
And then your room ? that's the other two fans/filter inline. Correct?

 

[FamMan]

Nope..... one 8 inch710 cfm fan for the lights
one 6 inch 315 cfm to exhaust the tent
So just two fans total.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Nope..... one 8 inch710 cfm fan for the lights
one 6 inch 315 cfm to exhaust the tent
So just two fans total.

ahhh...i'd say you are golden then
my bad, my mind is elsewhere

 

[FamMan]

awesome the grease sign of approval makes me feel TEN times better. Hope the woman issues work themselves out my friend. Peace!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

awesome the grease sign of approval makes me feel TEN times better. Hope the woman issues work themselves out my friend. Peace!

you are too kind man, if I may make a suggestion also. Use the big zipties they sell at auto parts stores to zip the tubing to the reflectors, works great and they never break (well not yet for me). You
Also don't forget to have a fan in there solely for the plants, in case you didn't already.

 

[Midwest Weedist]

I use zip ties to attach all of my ducting together and to hang it all, top 50 best invention imo!

you are too kind man, if I may make a suggestion also. Use the big zipties they sell at auto parts stores to zip the tubing to the reflectors, works great and they never break (well not yet for me). You
Also don't forget to have a fan in there solely for the plants, in case you didn't already.

Cold air vented over lights, even only 20 - 40 degrees cooler, affects the spectral output of the bulb. Will it hurt it, nope. Last winter I ran -20°f over my 600 watt in a ~70 degree tent, not a single issue. But that's not to say my light output wasn't effected negatively, though realistically it' was probably only by a negligible amount. The advice I was given was that if I was going to expose my bulb to that cold of air it can't be done after the bulb is on. So you either have to vent that cold air immediately over the bulb at lights on or constantly keep it running over it (them, if you have multiple bulbs).

what I meant is that if you use two fans in conjunction that it'll only be as effective as the weakest fan, meaning you can have a 70,000 cfm fan but if at the other end you have a tiny one, the tiny one is going to be your restriction. SO in your case, if you have inline a 710cfm and a 325cfm, you'll be flowing near the 325 cfm, the fans will sorta work against each other.
I don't KNOW for a fact that cold air on running lights is bad for them, but I've never heard that. Please do your research before doing so, i'd feel horrible if I blew up your bulbs from faulty advice.
Your plan is a good one, I do that as well.
I use a 6" vortec to push through the lights, and then I just keep it passively vented ( a have two screened holes)
Ideally you'd want to have the 6" ducting as well (keep the airflow from swirling) but it'll be fine.
I'm still sorta confused on your fan setup (sorry, i'm dealing with girlfriend drama)
let me try this again...
your lights.. one 710 cfm 6" fan with 8" ducting. Correct? no other fan inline with it?
And then your room ? that's the other two fans/filter inline. Correct?

 

[GOLDBERG71]

Thanx grease. Im not sure i get what ur saying about the intakes equalling exhaust. my exhaust for my light (im planing to PUSH the air through) would be 710 cfm. exhaust for plants would be 315cfm with a carbon filter(both i plan to put on the outside of the tent and prolly vent them outside). At this point i was goin to try passive intake with lower openings with screen. I will do some research on cold air passing through lights but if u said it grease. So this is how i will prolly do it......use outside air and push through lights and exhaust in my crawlspace. another fan will exhaust tent/plant area also to the outside. Sound good grease? one last question is it ok to use 6 inch reflector with 8 inch ducting and fan? Much appreciation for the help. PEACE

DONT PUSH THE AIR IN THE TENT. THAT PUSHES THE SMELL OUT. YOU WANT TO PUSH IT OUT USING THAT FILTER. The fresh air returns passively. Then the best advise I can give you is this. Think seriously about where you plan on taking this. So you don't have to buy the same things 6 months from now the next size up for a larger growing area. I was hooked and my area kept growing. So now my first exhaust fan works in my drying tent keeping that smell down. But if I didn't have as much space as I do that 4 inch fan could have become useless to me after the first grow. The larger the hood the harder it is to cool the area. Because the larger surface facing the plants decreases the ability for the heat to rise. I have 2 monster hoods I was so proud when I bought them. They lasted 1 run and they're in closet collecting dust. So bigger also isn't always better.

A 4 inch makes as much noise and uses almost the same electric and cost is neglagable to a 6 inch fan. You can slow a larger fan down with speed adjuster.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

DONT PUSH THE AIR IN THE TENT. THAT PUSHES THE SMELL OUT. YOU WANT TO PUSH IT OUT USING THAT FILTER. The fresh air returns passively. Then the best advise I can give you is this. Think seriously about where you plan on taking this. So you don't have to buy the same things 6 months from now the next size up for a larger growing area. I was hooked and my area kept growing. So now my first exhaust fan works in my drying tent keeping that smell down. But if I didn't have as much space as I do that 4 inch fan could have become useless to me after the first grow. The larger the hood the harder it is to cool the area. Because the larger surface facing the plants decreases the ability for the heat to rise. I have 2 monster hoods I was so proud when I bought them. They lasted 1 run and they're in closet collecting dust. So bigger also isn't always better.

A 4 inch makes as much noise and uses almost the same electric and cost is neglagable to a 6 inch fan. You can slow a larger fan down with speed adjuster.

good advice if smell is an issue.
For me it's purely to keep bugs away, I figure a flow of air PUSHING out of the shed is better than sucking in from every little crevice (no where near airtight)
Course doesn't fuckin matter...
I could literally set off a hydrogen bomb in the shed and all it'd do would be make the mites bigger and more badass... hell they'd probably learn jujitsu in the process and come out and rip my arm off..
Fuckin mites...

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I use zip ties to attach all of my ducting together and to hang it all, top 50 best invention imo!


Cold air vented over lights, even only 20 - 40 degrees cooler, affects the spectral output of the bulb. Will it hurt it, nope. Last winter I ran -20°f over my 600 watt in a ~70 degree tent, not a single issue. But that's not to say my light output wasn't effected negatively, though realistically it' was probably only by a negligible amount. The advice I was given was that if I was going to expose my bulb to that cold of air it can't be done after the bulb is on. So you either have to vent that cold air immediately over the bulb at lights on or constantly keep it running over it (them, if you have multiple bulbs).

never heard that before, good to know.
Course the nights here don't get colder than 40 degrees..
sorry guys, not trying to rub it in or anything...
muahahhah

 

[Midwest Weedist]

Our nights are still getting down to the 40s, gotta love the Midwestern weather. Its almost as bipolar -definitely less sunny though- as colorados.

never heard that before, good to know.
Course the nights here don't get colder than 40 degrees..
sorry guys, not trying to rub it in or anything...
muahahhah

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Our nights are still getting down to the 40s, gotta love the Midwestern weather. Its almost as bipolar -definitely less sunny though- as colorados.

And the 40's is only in theory... CA is having a weird ass couple years...
the winters don't rain, or get cold.
Realistically the coldest nights we had this winter/spring was MAYBE 50 degs.
AND it was getting in the 90s on multiple occasions in march and april.
We are frying the planet man... and sucking up all the water too..

 

[Midwest Weedist]

And the 40's is only in theory... CA is having a weird ass couple years...
the winters don't rain, or get cold.
Realistically the coldest nights we had this winter/spring was MAYBE 50 degs.
AND it was getting in the 90s on multiple occasions in march and april.
We are frying the planet man... and sucking up all the water too..

You guys definitely have had some strange weather the past few years. My local weather has actually been getting progressively cooler unlike Cali. We've seen some almost record lows all spring.
And you can have some of our rain, we get too much of it Lol

 

[greasemonkeymann]

You guys definitely have had some strange weather the past few years. My local weather has actually been getting progressively cooler unlike Cali. We've seen some almost record lows all spring.
And you can have some of our rain, we get too much of it Lol

that's why all the KOOKS think global warming isn't real..
they have ZERO concept how the earth actually works...

 

[FamMan]

that's why all the KOOKS think global warming isn't real..
they have ZERO concept how the earth actually works...

or they make too much money off the destroying the earth to give a fuck. this past government budget that was passed had provisions in it to GIVE LESS MNY TO THE EPA(but yet cali is seein the worst drought in 500+ years)! i hate our government sometimes(alot of the time really). But GOD i love my country. sorry off subject

 

[GOLDBERG71]

I'd like to hear more and see any information on spectral output changing due to temperature of air cooling the bulbs. I could be wrong but it doesn't seem possible to me. The gases inside the bulbs don't change. Neither does their concentration. Neither does the amount of electricity powering the bulbs. So why would the color change? All it should be doing is cooling the glass encasing the gas mixture in the bulb?! I'd love to see evidence of this. Although it won't change how I do things.
So you're saying if I keep a sealed room with no air exchange, co2 enriched and cooled by A/C. Those lights would put off a different color than the same room minus co2 but being cooled by 50 degree air from outside being brought in and sucking through the light to cool and exhausting?
Because the air going over the lights is no longer 50 degrees when it passes over the lights. The cool fresh air is being warmed as it cools the room. Usually the air is drawn in at a rate to maintain temps around 76-78. So the air being pulled through the filter and over the lights is going to be just below 80 before it passes over the lights. And yes my fans come on about 5 minutes before lights and and doesn't stop until 5 minutes after. The hoods still stay cool to the touch because they're at the 76-78 degrees. I'd like to know where your info comes from.
I do know there is a loss of light passing through the glass of the hoods. This winter when the temps drop again I'm thinking about running my lights without hoods. Maybe using parabolic reflectors instead? I'm not sure I have a few months to figure it out. I can see passing through the extra glass of the hoods altering the color slightly. But I'm finding it hard to believe air temp plays a role in it.

 

[Midwest Weedist]

I'd like to hear more and see any information on spectral output changing due to temperature of air cooling the bulbs. I could be wrong but it doesn't seem possible to me. The gases inside the bulbs don't change. Neither does their concentration. Neither does the amount of electricity powering the bulbs. So why would the color change? All it should be doing is cooling the glass encasing the gas mixture in the bulb?! I'd love to see evidence of this. Although it won't change how I do things.
So you're saying if I keep a sealed room with no air exchange, co2 enriched and cooled by A/C. Those lights would put off a different color than the same room minus co2 but being cooled by 50 degree air from outside being brought in and sucking through the light to cool and exhausting?
Because the air going over the lights is no longer 50 degrees when it passes over the lights. The cool fresh air is being warmed as it cools the room. Usually the air is drawn in at a rate to maintain temps around 76-78. So the air being pulled through the filter and over the lights is going to be just below 80 before it passes over the lights. And yes my fans come on about 5 minutes before lights and and doesn't stop until 5 minutes after. The hoods still stay cool to the touch because they're at the 76-78 degrees. I'd like to know where your info comes from.
I do know there is a loss of light passing through the glass of the hoods. This winter when the temps drop again I'm thinking about running my lights without hoods. Maybe using parabolic reflectors instead? I'm not sure I have a few months to figure it out. I can see passing through the extra glass of the hoods altering the color slightly. But I'm finding it hard to believe air temp plays a role in it.

I'm not an electrician so I can't argue against your logic. I also shared it until someone showed me the science behind it, the thread is on here somewhere. Lol but I'm not about to dig back for it, but feel free. Rollitup is indexed by Google so just start googling for it.