My First Tent

It looks like there is a good chance that I’ll be moving from a place where I can’t grow to a place where I will be able to dedicate a room in the house to become my grow room. I’ll be renting the place so I think that I will start off by setting a tent up in the room to avoid having to drill/cut holes/etc to the room itself. Ideally, I’d like to have the tent along with a cloning station set up in the room.

I’m kind of overwhelmed by the variables involved (what size tent to buy, what kind of lights etc) and am not sure where exactly to start despite all of the info on the forum. I’m planning on growing 3 to 4 plants (Applejack, possibly) at a time.

I was checking this tent out:

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=9031

And the images contain lights and venting... I’m assuming that tents don’t come with these things?

Can anyone recommend a great tent setup for this type of situation? If you had a grand to spend on gear, what would you get (lights, tent, venting....) for a great indoor tent setup for 3 to 4 plants?

I'm using a Secret Jardin DR120W and a GL60, if you're interested in how I set them up the link is in my sig

Personally I'm hooked on using tents, I already want a bigger one and it's only been 2 months

Thanks bajafox, super helpful.

I just realized something, if I am dedicating an entire room int he house to the project, do I even need a tent? I could simply set up my lights and fans and grow in the middle of the room, right?

Personally I am sticking with using a tent, even when I get a dedicated room for my grow. I haven't tried it any other way as I am in my first grow as well but I've found these tents to be so easy to use, as long as you have a little common sense, time and a few extra dollars I think tents are the way to go for indoor growing. That's my opinion of course. My DR120W is 2x4x5 and Im planning to upgrade to a 4x8 in about 2 to 3 months

Happy Growing and good luck

Thanks, Baja. How many plants can you comfortably grow in your tents? Now that I think of it, even though I have an entire room, it's probably smarter to be a bit more subtle and still use a closet or tent as I'm only looking to grow 3 to 4 plants at a time. How and where do you vent to?

Could you post a shopping list of the basic equipment you have for one of your tents?

I would start on greners.com for prices.

Sounds like you could use a GL80, you should easily fit 3 plants in there. I have 6 in my flower tent (DR120W) and about 9 or 10 clones and seedlings in my veg room (GL60)

To run a tent the basics are inline fan, carbon filter, ducting, fans for circulation and your choice of light, depending on the size of the tent.

bajafox said:

Personally I am sticking with using a tent, even when I get a dedicated room for my grow. I haven't tried it any other way as I am in my first grow as well but I've found these tents to be so easy to use, as long as you have a little common sense, time and a few extra dollars I think tents are the way to go for indoor growing. That's my opinion of course. My DR120W is 2x4x5 and Im planning to upgrade to a 4x8 in about 2 to 3 months

Happy Growing and good luck

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im sticking with tents as well, until i move up to a basement or warehouse. i recently talked my girlfriend into letting me get a 12'x4' and plan on getting it in december. this time im going to get a secret jardin, although i do enjoy having the windows on mine, the velcro around the window covers is a concern for me on my grow lab. im heading home tomorrow and will be taping over them.

heres my tent,its 4x4x7.5,400watt hps,130cfm inline fan

Consider a 400watt Ceramic Metal Halide. There are a couple threads by riddleme that sound very promising. You would need a magnetic core HPS ballast(NOT digital) and a Phillips Master Color HPS retro fit bulb. Do some research on Ceramic Metal Halide, you'll find it is the closest spectrum to the Sun. There are many claims that this type of lighting is a solid choice for both flower and veg, eliminating the need for HPS & MH. This type of set up will be cheaper as well. Something for you to chew on as you ponder your lighting source.

oh wow, thanks. so i would need two different lights, one for veg and one for flower? if i went with the HPS & MH combo, would the same ballast work for both?

Red.Orm said:

Awesome. Thanks for the intel. Is the air intake on the hood the only thing pulling air out of your tent? Are you using passive air intake in your tent? Looks awesome!

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yes and yes,its the only fan i have pulling air out with a passive intake.as far a what setup to get i would highly recomend this setup,all you need is a inline fan and the plants and your ready to go.they also have diffrent size kits that you can get ,best of luck,oh yeah you might want to upgrade the reflector to a air cooled hood aswell ,i think its only 35 more bucks
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=55651

Red.Orm said:

oh wow, thanks. so i would need two different lights, one for veg and one for flower? if i went with the HPS & MH combo, would the same ballast work for both?

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If you went that route there are ballasts that are "switchable" meaning they can operate both MH and HPS. You would need seperate bulbs for each or a conversion bulb which lets you operate hps to mh or mh to hps. You are better off getting a switchable ballast and using seperate bulbs.

Red.Orm said:

Thanks so much, I'm getting geared up to go shopping soon.

One final question, if the only exhaust I am using is an inline fan through the light’s hood, how would I go about hooking up a carbon filter to that setup to clean the air coming out of the tent?

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just connect the filter to the other side of the reflector with a vent hose,then hang the filter up in the corner and your good to go.but remember to get a inline strong anough,with the 600 watt and conecting to a filter i would suggest atleast 250cfm but might want to go up to a 400 cfm depending on you home enviroment.

I'm thinking of using a Yield Master II 6" Classic Reflector with 400W MH and HPS lights...

I'd like to vent the lights and use a carbon filter... am kinda thinking of two inline fans, one for the hoof/lights, and another for the carbon filter..

does this make sense? Should I simply go with one inline fan as per litljohn's setup?

I noticed that litljohn has the outtake from one side of the hood, with no duct on the other side. This is sufficient to keep temps down in the tent? Typically, are you supposed to connect the other side of the hood to something (ex: duct to pull in air from outside of the tent?)

you can go either way,just depends how big and how many fans you want to use.if you dont want to buy a ton of gear just get the light/hood and connect the filter to the other side of the hood,just use a bigger fan like a 400 cfm,this would be plenty to cool the light and filter the air and it will create a passive intake.or if you want better intake then just get a small fan for the intake of fresh air