First timer with an interesting problem...

I've grown before, but not with any purchased/official equipment, so I'm just going to go ahead and call myself a first timer...

I've got an Agromax Original tent (approx. 39x39x79 inches); a 6 inch Growbright HV Fan and 6 inch original (not short/compact) carbon filter, and a 6 inch Growbright 400 watt air cooled reflector. My setup will be in a relatively dry, and generally very cool basement... My issue is that I think I've purchased too much fan for the job. I do not have any plants set up yet, but I ran a 5 hour test with the 400 W MH light, with no fan running, and the temp only reached 78! I don't really have much of an issue adding an extra light (CFL) or two to increase heat, but am not sure how much this will actually make a difference. I also am going to place the tent onto a styrofoam "slab" laid on top of a couple of 2x4's to assist a little bit.

I've seen a few suggestions... 1) Use a "speed controller", however I haven't found one yet, including the Growbright brand controller, that is designed for a brushless motor, and would not be a fire hazard, so that kind of scares me. 2) Restrict the flow of air coming into my tent, which is fine, however I've seen a couple posts mentioning that this could adversely affect the life of the fan. 3) Add lights, which again is fine, but I'm not sure how much it will make a difference with the amount of air that will be cycling through the tent anyway. UPDATE>>> I have seen the 3 Amp Variac Variable transformer and have seen a few good reviews of this. It seems very tempting as it is only 60 bucks and seems it would likely take the fire hazard out of the equation, again, please give your 2 cents on this...

I would GREATLY appreciate any responses, also, I am sending the exhaust air directly into my basement "room" that is plastic-wrapped off... will there be any serious smell issues? Should I consider running the exhaust into my 4 inch sewer exhaust as I am in the basement and it is relatively easily accessible? (I am running 6 inch venting but it would be an easy step-down)

Thanks ALL!

78 sounds good to me

- Jiji

I agree... but that is with NO air exchange... That would be a problem I'm thinking? Correct?

Short answer yes.

Long answer not really.....contrary to popular belief

- Jiji

Many ways to go about this,

Variacs are good.

Get an open reflector, or take the glass out of yours. You will yield more.

Think about upgrading to a 600 hps.

- Jiji

Jiji... very simple fixes. much appreciated! Will update...

Jiji,

I really like the idea of removing the glass however... then my filter will be useless, correct? As the fan would be taking air in the reflector after the filter... or unfiltered air going straight out of the tent??

Also... how am i going to increase RH in the tent with the amount of air flow i have? It is currently 40 percent humidity with NO plants lighting or ventilation

dankmandan said:

Jiji,

I really like the idea of removing the glass however... then my filter will be useless, correct? As the fan would be taking air in the reflector after the filter... or unfiltered air going straight out of the tent??

Click to expand...

Can't you move the filter outside of the tent?

Also 40 percent RH is fine. You may have to decrease RH in later stages.

Worldseries,
It is a can carbon filter... can that ne placed outside the tent? I currently have it in the tent and it is the "beginning" or first suction point on the end of my ducting... then it runs through the light/reflector and out of the tent... the 6 inch inline fan sucks the air out creating negative pressure so no air/smell comes out of the tent

Yep. As above, put the filter on the other end of the exhaust. It'll possibly decrease it's life as the white particulate filter won't do anything, but that's no biggy really.

Growan,

Moving the filter around will be a PITA, but i can handle that... will i still have enough air exchange within the tent? And... at that point... what will i be able to do to adjust the temp/air exchange rate? Would i be able to make "inlets" into my ducting INSIDE the tent to draw more air from the outside into the tent? Again BIG thanks for the helpful responses so far... even the ones I'm not using are getting me thinking

dankmandan said:

Growan,

Moving the filter around will be a PITA, but i can handle that... will i still have enough air exchange within the tent? And... at that point... what will i be able to do to adjust the temp/air exchange rate? Would i be able to make "inlets" into my ducting INSIDE the tent to draw more air from the outside into the tent? Again BIG thanks for the helpful responses so far... even the ones I'm not using are getting me thinking

Click to expand...

Try moving it outside as suggested. 40% RH isn't bad, it'll climb as soon as you get some plants in there. Definitely worth getting a variable speed controller, they're readily available and cheap, I use them for both incoming and exhaust inline fans, handy to turn them down or up depending on lighting/season/stage/conditions.

Another way you can adjust the 6" if it sucks too much out (even if on lowest variable speed it's too much) is reducers, you might need multiples, like 6"-->5"-->4", only thing is they'll make the equipment work harder but imo maintaining the environment is more important than reduced life on components. There's always options... Bumping the light to 600 as someone suggested is probably the least expensive overall and you'll gain flower-power

Also... in order to maintain negative pressure i would need to have the fan pulling from the light and open intake on the opposite side of the tent... through and have the filter can attached directly to the other end of the inline fan... right? Will this be overworking the fan or am just overthinking?

You can have the intake anywhere, as long as it's low. The tent will 'draw in' if the negative pressure is sufficient and that should mean no leakage of smell. The carbon filter can go either inside the tent or out, as long as the air leaving the tent passes through it.

cant you just hook your intake directly to filter? Or is there no room?

Putting carbon filter outside and pushing through it is ok.

Don't over think it.

You'll probably have to adjust a few things down the road, a variac will make that much easier.

- Jiji

All filter companys say they should be used via sucking
not blowing...

Suck air thru filter than move air elsewhere. Period.

pushing air thru filter is haphazard and allows for more
odor to seep out.

Now thats day 1 stuff

Well... problems abound... I had the MH light plugged in a warming up the tent, as I got an unexpected delivery from a friend to start up. The tent was warm, I was preparing soil/etc for the unrooted clones and then I decided I needed to unplug the light from the timer so I could keep it 24/7 and place my fan on the timer. I plugged it back in and the MH light makes a buzzing noise and will not fully ignite, just the "arc" in the center of the bulb????? BIG PROBLEM. Anyway, for short term I plugged in the HPS light and it is running. Should I be concerned about trying out the MH light again?

Also, the clones as noted are unrooted, and I didn't have time as it was a spur of the moment delivery... I got them in dirt, I have pretty high humidity and about 70-75 degrees maintaining pretty well right now. How good are my chances of having these bad boys survive, and... Should I give the ballast a break tomorrow sometime for a couple of hours and give the MH bulb a shot again???

HELP ME?

I was set up to start from seed, and do have peat plugs I believe, but things got rushed and they are in the dirt now...

Use the light as a heater, which is controlled by a electronic thermostat. My tent swings between 25.3 and 26.1 degrees C - during lights on. The electronic thermostat brings in the fan at 25.5 and the inside temp rises to 26.1 before the temp starts to drop to 25.3 then switches off - the cycle continues.

I also have a hood fan connected to another separate thermostat - that is set just outside the above figures, that is my back up, and as you can see - I do not need the hood fan, only for back up really.

I run my lights during the cooler night time also.