Greetings all. rookie here with a ventilation question

Hi everyone
I just got my first tent and have a question on venting it. Ive been reading everything i can find and i gotta be honest...alot of it seems way too complex for me at this stage in the game. Anyway.. my setup now:
2x4x5 tent
1 150w HPS, getting another, or possibly CFL.
I have a 6in 240 CFM duct fan for exhaust but i think maybe that was the wrong choice?
my question is: what is the best K.I.S.S way to exhaust this tent? which fan? which filter?

feel free to work with what i have or assume i have nothing at all and go from scratch.
all comments welcome

thanks

Hey there mdub335,

Don't worry, it really isn't that complex. Basically, you need as much airflow as is required by your setup to prevent unwanted heating and to keep the plants supplied with fresh air.

With your tent, you have 40 cubic feet of space, which means your fan will clear the tent ~6X per minute, with no obstructions to the intake and exhaust of the fan. This is way more than good enough. When you install your carbon scrubber, your flow will substantially decrease but it should still be okay with the fan you currently have. There are lots of commercially available carbon scrubbers, but it is really easy to make one yourself. The plus side of making your own is that you can customize the size and shape of your filter for your needs. There are a number of good threads on the forums that can show you various ways to build your own. You might want a second, smaller fan for an intake if passive air intake isn't enough to keep the tent cool. You will need good airflow to keep the heat of the light(s) from building up in your tent, as well as to bring in fresh air for the plants to breathe. In order to maximize your odor control, you're going to want a 'negative pressure' situation within the tent, so that smelly air is not being pushed through small holes in the setup instead of your carbon scrubber. This is easy to achieve if your exhaust fan is pushing more air out of the tent than your intake lets into the tent.

It seems like everyone's setup and circumstances are a little bit different, so my best advice would be to decide on a first run setup, whatever it is. Then get a thermometer, set up the all the lights, fans, and scrubbing and run it for at least a couple of hours while monitoring the temperature inside the tent. If what you've put together works well, you'll be able to tell... and if it isn't working then your tent will turn into a little hot box.