How to keep a 5'x5'x7.5' tent cool

I just bought a grow tent and I have a 600w MH/HPS light in it. Its in a solar six air cooled hood hooked up to a 6" fan, the problem I am having is I can't seem to keep the tent under 80 degrees. Ive tried sucking and blowing the air through the hood but neither seem to make a difference. The 6" inline fan that is in the back right corner of the tent is pulling air in from outside the tent.

Do I need to down grade to a 400w bulb to keep the temps down?

By the way please excuse the wires that are hanging everywhere, once there are plants ready to go in everything will look nice and clean

So it looks like you have 2 intake tubes. 1 for the reflector and 1 for the tent. The tube coming out of the ceiling is the exhaust. What are the temps in the room that the intakes come from and is this the same space the exhaust blows into?

DMC65 said:

So it looks like you have 2 intake tubes. 1 for the reflector and 1 for the tent. The tube coming out of the ceiling is the exhaust. What are the temps in the room that the intakes come from and is this the same space the exhaust blows into?

Click to expand...

I only have 1 intake which was on the ceiling but I moved it closer to the ground to pull in cooler air. I have the light hooked up to a 6" fan that pulls air in on the left side at and blows it outside of the tent on the right side. The carbon filter and fan is exhausting air out of the right side as well.

The first pic is the intake fan and the second pic is after I revised my ventilation.

I have the same setup as you. I use an ozone gen now tho on the outside of the outake. I was experimenting. I hooked it up like you and I got 83 degrees. Then I hooked it up wasier for me with one fan pulling thru the light and heading out. Get me? Not two serperate fans, just one. Here I got 84 degrees but a whole lot moe air movement. I keep it on the one fan plan.

Here is how that will work better I foudn out the best way i like to learn, hands on. Kinestics. hehe. You have to shoot that outake out of the general are of the room. You also have to pull in cool air from outside or ac over the light. Cuz this is the funny part no matter how much we try the tent is gonna stay the same temp as the outside of the tent. We can only get it equal. For the summer I am jus tusing the house ac. $ but it has to be!

What is the temperature outside the tent? Where does the exhaust go when it leaves the tent? It needs to go completely away from the tent, preferably outside the house, otherwise at least into another room. The intake and exhaust should be far enough away from each other that one does not have an effect on the temperature of the other, which means at the very least they need to be in separate rooms.
I know this is basic but have you tried running the lights at night? It's surprising how much that can help, and how many people don't even think of doing it.
Lose the intake fan, they are a waste of time and money. At best it will be moving just as much air in as would flow in freely anyway, if it is moving less air than is moving out it will actually restrict the airflow, whereas if it is moving more air in than is being exhausted, it can raise the pressure, and thus the temperature. Not to mention creating odour leaks.

hello sir rig it up like this



fan pushes air pulled through carbon filter out the tent.
pics from 303

dbo24242 said:

hello sir rig it up like this



fan pushes air pulled through carbon filter out the tent.
pics from 303

Click to expand...

But why so much ducting? Everyone knows you should keep the ducting as short and straight as possible to maximise airflow. Mount them both horizontally, or vertically, whichever works for you, but there's no reason to have bends in the ducting to just take it through a filter and out of a tent.

Hairy Bob said:

But why so much ducting? Everyone knows you should keep the ducting as short and straight as possible to maximise airflow. Mount them both horizontally, or vertically, whichever works for you, but there's no reason to have bends in the ducting to just take it through a filter and out of a tent.

Click to expand...

Hey thats my tent!! LOL. yeah those pics were from the start of my first grow. Now it looks like this. and yeah, it won't go cooler if the ouside air isn't less than 80 degrees. I can count on with the light on only 2 degrees warmer than the outside air with this running. You need to run ducting from that inline fan and exhaust out. looks like the filter and fan aren't exhausting out. Make sure its the right way, fan sucking air from filter blowing out. many noobs have the fan blowing out the filter, not good. You have a nice setup, don't downgrade to 400 watter, thats what I got and wish I have EXACTLY what you have, a 600 watt cooltube. Don't fret on high temps, its summer, in a perfect world you want your tentt 75, but in reality if you keep it under 85 your good. Check my journal, I'm a week before harvest, I got some insane bud porn in there, and the temp is usually 82-85 lights on.

And it works wonders on odor. I'm a week from harvest and they some stinky girls.

didn't see this, looks good, BUT, your using too many inline fans IMO, what kind of cfm are you pulling insdide the tent, what kind of fan, if its a duct booster fan, I would use the inline fan thats attached to the filter for my intake. Attach the filter to the ducting that cools the light, like this

303 said:

didn't see this, looks good, BUT, your using too many inline fans IMO, what kind of cfm are you pulling insdide the tent, what kind of fan, if its a duct booster fan, I would use the inline fan thats attached to the filter for my intake. Attach the filter to the ducting that cools the light, like this

Click to expand...

I've had it running like you suggested for about an hour now and the temp is 85.8 degrees.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

if that work out 4 u DYNAMITE try riseing ur light so that it even with the ducting and rise ur plants up to the light, that why u have no bends that restrict airflow..i have a tent the same size with a 1000watt MH in there with a 340cfm fan and the temps are about 85f.. MEANGREEN.

MEANGREEN69 said:

if that work out 4 u DYNAMITE try riseing ur light so that it even with the ducting and rise ur plants up to the light, that why u have no bends that restrict airflow..i have a tent the same size with a 1000watt MH in there with a 340cfm fan and the temps are about 85f.. MEANGREEN.

Click to expand...

ok, I'll give it a shot

Does anyone know if a fan like this is sufficient to exhaust heat from an enclosed air cooled reflector?

http://www.4hydroponics.com/grow_room/ecoPlusDuctBooster.asp

No. You need a fan like this: http://www.htgsupply.com/products.asp?categoryID=7&subcategoryID=39

MEANGREEN69 said:

if that work out 4 u DYNAMITE try riseing ur light so that it even with the ducting and rise ur plants up to the light, that why u have no bends that restrict airflow..i have a tent the same size with a 1000watt MH in there with a 340cfm fan and the temps are about 85f.. MEANGREEN.

Click to expand...

Dude that did the trick my temp is about 84 degrees, I bought a cheapo fan off of ebay for my light so I'm going to my hydro store tomorrow to get a more efficient fan for the light and use the cheapo to pull air into the tent. +rep for you

kool beans man..glad to help..yeah any bends in ur ducting really restrict airflow, the temp should drop more with a bigger fan..also make sure that HOT air comeing out of the hood goes out of that room ur in.. i hooked up a stanley blower sucking air from high up in my room and tied it in to the hoods ducting (use a Y) to help get hot air in the room out...MEANGREEN.

You ask the million dollar question. Maybe in a grow tent getting to 75 is not possible without some major air cost. I suppose if you got creative with vents you maybe able to get the duct work to deliver cool beginning.