Need help/advice for my 3x3 tent

Hello there. This is my first time growing indoors. I've had experience with outdoor for quite some time though, always 1 or 2 plants for myself at a time. I will appreciate any help so much. I have a 3x3x5'8 ft tent and a 600 watt hps magnetic ballast. I plan on using an air cooled reflector with a carbon filter. I am ducting all these parts together, filter to reflector, reflector to inline fan for exhaust. All in one. The fan will either be outside or inside my tent. This is the best ventilation setup for my situation. The room the tent will be in is about 14x12x8 ft, roughly. When the door is open it will have direct access to central heating and a ton of airflow. Also due to my situation, venting into the attic isn't an option for now, so exhausting into the same room with central heating will suffice for the time being. The house is always running incredibly cool with the a/c (65F-75F on average year round) due to my very hot and very humid climate. Again, my space will have access to central heating in a hallway which is open to the whole house, so there is a lot of air circulation thankfully.

After a month of constant research in what to buy, I am burnt out as I'm sure many can relate to. I've settled on the can fan pro 420 cfm 6 inch fan. It has its own speed controlling capabilities which goes down to 378 cfm and 291 cfm. High, medium, low. I'm worried that running it on low will still be too much for my tents size which is about 52 cubic feet. I plan on using a 6x16 phresh filter 400 cfm. I am looking at a daystar ac reflector which is 24.8x13x11.6 inches. The height may be 7-9 inches, some reviews differed. Regardless, that is the smallest quality reflector I can find for my 3x3 space.

I'm worried my fan is too powerful, and I don't know if a controller will mess with the fans already built in capability to reduce its power. I don't want to exchange so much air that I can't control my humidity levels properly. I may go with a simpler inline can fan due to risking unnecessary complications. I don't know.

I really want to be sure my 600w hps light is properly cooled, but not having a fan suck my tent through a wormhole. The 6x16 phresh filter 400 cfm, the 600 watt hps in a 24.8x13x11.6 air cooled reflector, and a 420 cfm inline fan with controller. Still not sure about that can fan pro. All items have a 6 inch fitting. I went with these sizes because of the potential high temperatures with the 600w hps in that size tent. I've already got the ballast and tent up and ready. Am I good to go with the other items I have mentioned? What are your thoughts? Thank you again

What you need to go with that fan is a heat/RH controller. I use one then have a variable speed controller plugged into that to keep my fan at half speed. Much better climate control and can keep both temperature and humidity in a very narrow range. It just uses a humidistat for a bathroom fan and a cooling thermostat. Those can be bought as a unit for A/C. I made the fan speed controller from a $13 ceiling fan controller you can get at any hardware store. The can be bought for $30 or so but I had all the other fittings so mine just cost me for the controller.



I have the parts to build another one for a new grow room addition and here's a wiring diagram if you want to go DIY.
I want to wire in the speed controller as well so it's all one unit.



You also have to consider that the CFM ratings for fans are for unrestricted air flow. The filter alone will reduce it by around 25% I believe and the length of the flex tubing plus the number and severity of any bends will also reduce air flow. With the heat/RH and speed controllers you'll be golden.

With the amount of air you can move you don't really need an air-cooled hood and would get better light coverage with an Adjust-A-Wing type reflector to flood the plants really good in a tent of those dimensions. Not to mention that the short profile of those reflectors will give you about 6" more headspace than a hood. A 600w will give really decent lighting for a 4x4 footprint so will cover a 3x3 area in a most excellent manner.

You should have about a 12" oscillating fan in there to keep the air stirred up real good and that will keep the light moving around the bulb just fine. They can handle the heat in an enclosed hood with no air flow. Plus the glass in most sealed hoods will block some light and greatly reduce or eliminate any UV light given off that is good for your plants resin production. Try to find a fan that can be mounted on a wall as they can also be hung upside down in the upper corner of the tent which helps a lot in a small tent. The cheapo fans oscillating mechanisms aren't designed to run in any orientation but upright and will fail in a short time if hung upside down which I tried with one bolted to the ceiling.

If you've already bought the reflector but haven't used it maybe take it back tp swap it an hopefully get some money back or at least store credit for the difference. I just got one for my 1000W and it was $45.

Hope some of that helped and good luck with your growing!

OldMedUser said:

What you need to go with that fan is a heat/RH controller. I use one then have a variable speed controller plugged into that to keep my fan at half speed. Much better climate control and can keep both temperature and humidity in a very narrow range. It just uses a humidistat for a bathroom fan and a cooling thermostat. Those can be bought as a unit for A/C. I made the fan speed controller from a $13 ceiling fan controller you can get at any hardware store. The can be bought for $30 or so but I had all the other fittings so mine just cost me for the controller.

View attachment 3895739

I have the parts to build another one for a new grow room addition and here's a wiring diagram if you want to go DIY.
I want to wire in the speed controller as well so it's all one unit.

View attachment 3895740

You also have to consider that the CFM ratings for fans are for unrestricted air flow. The filter alone will reduce it by around 25% I believe and the length of the flex tubing plus the number and severity of any bends will also reduce air flow. With the heat/RH and speed controllers you'll be golden.

With the amount of air you can move you don't really need an air-cooled hood and would get better light coverage with an Adjust-A-Wing type reflector to flood the plants really good in a tent of those dimensions. Not to mention that the short profile of those reflectors will give you about 6" more headspace than a hood. A 600w will give really decent lighting for a 4x4 footprint so will cover a 3x3 area in a most excellent manner.

You should have about a 12" oscillating fan in there to keep the air stirred up real good and that will keep the light moving around the bulb just fine. They can handle the heat in an enclosed hood with no air flow. Plus the glass in most sealed hoods will block some light and greatly reduce or eliminate any UV light given off that is good for your plants resin production. Try to find a fan that can be mounted on a wall as they can also be hung upside down in the upper corner of the tent which helps a lot in a small tent. The cheapo fans oscillating mechanisms aren't designed to run in any orientation but upright and will fail in a short time if hung upside down which I tried with one bolted to the ceiling.

If you've already bought the reflector but haven't used it maybe take it back tp swap it an hopefully get some money back or at least store credit for the difference. I just got one for my 1000W and it was $45.

Hope some of that helped and good luck with your growing!

Click to expand...

Wow! Thank you so much for that detailed response. You gave me a lot of great information that I have taken into consideration. I'm impressed with that set up you got, I learned something new with that! So you believe the can fan pro with the already built in speed controller won't be negatively affected by the separate controller I have?

Thank you again!