Grow Tent size

[EvansInUK]

Hey guys I wanted buy an air cooled hood but it's size is to big for my current tent, which is no big issue as I wanted buy a second tent for flowering anyway under a higher output light, my question is;

Based on the Air Cooled Hoods size "Which Is"
Lenth 33.30" or 2.8 feet
Width 28.60" or 2.4 feet
Height 10" or 0.8 feet
What size tent would you say is best? 3 feet seems adequate to me, but I'm concerned about heat, or heat off the hood etc. So what are your recommendations please? If 3 feet is enough for the air cooled hood then I'll just go with that.

I have now a 260w QB v2 on it's way, and a 2.6 x 2.6 foot tent. Which is around 38watts per sq/ft. So it should be adequate enough for veg with a 4k light spectrum.

 

[EvansInUK]

?

 

[New Age United]

If your reflector(hood) is 33" you should definitely go with a 4 × 4 tent bro the metal gets piping hot and an inch and a half on either side is just too close for comfort.

 

[coreywebster]

What light you planning on running in this hood man?

The heat of the hood will be proportionate to the wattage of the light and the amount of airflow moving through it.

Can you link the hood? There are lots of terrible hoods over here.

 

[EvansInUK]

What light you planning on running in this hood man?

The heat of the hood will be proportionate to the wattage of the light and the amount of airflow moving through it.

Can you link the hood? There are lots of terrible hoods over here.

https://mjgreenhydroponics.com/products/copy-of-growlite-og-315w-1000w-vertical-8-vented-reflector

Please don't trry and convince me to change it. I really like the look, shape and style of it and as it's my first time in allowed to make mistakes lol I.wanted either a 400w on 440w boost settings, which I think is adequate enough for 2 to begin with, or a grolux silvania 600w 2000k bulb but again for 2 plants maybe 2 much. I don't want try 4 until I got my bearings with 2. Then I'll expand it once I have more experience.

 

[EvansInUK]

If your reflector(hood) is 33" you should definitely go with a 4 × 4 tent bro the metal gets piping hot and an inch and a half on either side is just too close for comfort.

Ok. The next size tent in the line is 1.2m by 1.2m anyway. So I'll ask for the quote on that. I will wait for Corey's reply as well see what other useful information I gather before making a decision. But 1.5 inches doesn't seem a lot no. As for the air intake I'm not sure which fan size I would need to be honest. As it's my first setup. My led is on shipment which I will use for the veg. This set up now is for My flowering tent.

 

[coreywebster]

https://mjgreenhydroponics.com/products/copy-of-growlite-og-315w-1000w-vertical-8-vented-reflector

Please don't trry and convince me to change it. I really like the look, shape and style of it and as it's my first time in allowed to make mistakes lol I.wanted either a 400w on 440w boost settings, which I think is adequate enough for 2 to begin with, or a grolux silvania 600w 2000k bulb but again for 2 plants maybe 2 much. I don't want try 4 until I got my bearings with 2. Then I'll expand it once I have more experience.

Looks ok. Just checking as there are some that are terrible and some that are great for literally a couple of extra quid.
That's an expensive hood though.

As far as how it fits in a tent, the 4x4 would offer better room for duct bends ect. It wont get too hot if the airflow is plentiful.

If your spending all that on a hood you may want a 315cmh over a 400hps. It has a better spectrum than the HPS. plus a 400w hps isn't an improvement over the QB kit you already have. The 315 wouldn't light up a 4x4 but neither would a 400. Other than that a 600w would light the space well. I think though for your goals the 315 is ample and you would just work within the 3x3 footprint its good for, which is plenty for two plants. Then again, a 600w an 4x4 space you can fill out nice with two plants and bosh out some nugs.

 

[EvansInUK]

Looks ok. Just checking as there are some that are terrible and some that are great for literally a couple of extra quid.
That's an expensive hood though.

As far as how it fits in a tent, the 4x4 would offer better room for duct bends ect. It wont get too hot if the airflow is plentiful.

If your spending all that on a hood you may want a 315cmh over a 400hps. It has a better spectrum than the HPS. plus a 400w hps isn't an improvement over the QB kit you already have. The 315 wouldn't light up a 4x4 but neither would a 400. Other than that a 600w would light the space well. I think though for your goals the 315 is ample and you would just work within the 3x3 footprint its good for, which is plenty for two plants. Then again, a 600w an 4x4 space you can fill out nice with two plants and bosh out some nugs.

But wouldn't the 600 then be a better option as I would go up 4 later on. Or even - Would a 1000w fit in a 4x4 then if air is plenty full? I just wanted move from one to another to start over again quicker instead of using the led for all of the stages and especially if I wanted do sog for example and keep a mother on hand. It's just better with 2 tents I think for me as I can play around and always keep 1 plant normal in case I f$&k up somewhere. But the hps has 20% better intensity than my led. I checked with migro lol. But that's using the 440w settings I think it was. So what would you pick Corey the 440w 600w 1000w or 315cmh? It's only for flowering that's why I thought hps would have been better over the 315w Lol, or if that's the case I.could just use the led full stop. But I was thinking of that extra intensity without to extreme and large with a 600. That's why I was thinking of the 400w. But what ever you think is best I'll probably go with.

 

[coreywebster]

Well personally speaking I would say 260w Samsung boards beat a 400w hps on intensity. But that's based on my own observations and not on light meter readings.
If your plan is to go up to 4 plants later then a 600 would suit you well. Since your going air cooled why not get a 1000w digital dimmable ballast that has 1000w-600w-400w option. Run it at 400 while you have two plants and bump it up to 600 or 1000w when you decide to run more plants.

Where did you see info that the 400w HPS had 20% more intensity? Can you link the page? Its contradictory to other info on migro and what I have see here and in my own rooms. https://www.migrolight.com/category/migro-400/

As for the cmh vs the HPS, they used to market the 315 as a 600w HPS replacement, now I don't believe that to be true but im sure it beats a 400w HPS, especially in resin production.

 

[EvansInUK]

Well personally speaking I would say 260w Samsung boards beat a 400w hps on intensity. But that's based on my own observations and not on light meter readings.
If your plan is to go up to 4 plants later then a 600 would suit you well. Since your going air cooled why not get a 1000w digital dimmable ballast that has 1000w-600w-400w option. Run it at 400 while you have two plants and bump it up to 600 or 1000w when you decide to run more plants.



Where did you see info that the 400w HPS had 20% more intensity? Can you link the page? Its contradictory to other info on migro and what I have see here and in my own rooms. https://www.migrolight.com/category/migro-400/

As for the cmh vs the HPS, they used to market the 315 as a 600w HPS replacement, now I don't believe that to be true but im sure it beats a 400w HPS, especially in resin production.

I contacted migro directly with the link to the led and I gave them the lumatek digital ballast and omega bulb as a reference and he send me back.the info that the hps had more intensity by 20% on 440w settings which is what I asked. Do you reckon A 1000w could run in a 4x4 then? Or would cooling it be to expensive in the long run for the number of plants i want

 

[EvansInUK]

Here is the response from migro. I only contacted them as I borrowed a book from a friend and it said over 90000 lux is to much light. It's pushing the plant beyond that they need co2. While another said 107500 lux is absolute maximum. Before it gets beyond and has a negative effect stumping growth.




Which 90000 lux in a 6.76 sq/ft is around 60000 lumens. Hence the reason for the 440w.

 

[coreywebster]

Nice of the bloke to send that info.

Cooling it isn't going to be an issue no, your set on that air cooled hood so your removing at least a 3rd of the heat. The fan requirements will stay the same. Plus fans over hear are pretty low on wattage so even if you were to upgrade its a tiny amount.

The other thing to consider is boosting the bulb like you plan to, your supposed to turn it up once its fired. A long time ago I upgraded my HPS ballasts to digital dimmables so I could boost them too, if you let the bulb fire up on boost mode it can kill a bulb.
I had a couple burn out within a week. I read on the manufacturers site they had to be fired up at normal wattage and turned up once the bulb was fully illuminated. This info usually doesn't get mentioned.

Anyhow, still makes sense to have a ballast with 600w and 400w and boost options, the price of a top HPS bulb is nothing so switching out a 400 bulb to a 600 is a nice option to have.

 

[EvansInUK]

Is it possible then to get a
400w
440w boost
600w
660w boost ballast?
Or even a
400w
440w
600w

I plan on flowering 10pm onwards and firing it at 9:45pm this way what ever shift pattern I work I'm always home by 10.15pm so I can crank it on boost for 12 hours.

 

[Lucky Luke]

If you get even a little bit serious then you will have two tents. a veg and a flower. So buy the best flowering light you can and worry about a veg later.
4x4 you can comfortably fit 9 plants in with a decent veg. 600W HPS is pretty good for a 4 x 4 but not a perfect fit. Good trade off though.

 

[EvansInUK]

I

If you get even a little bit serious then you will have two tents. a veg and a flower. So buy the best flowering light you can and worry about a veg later.
4x4 you can comfortably fit 9 plants in with a decent veg. 600W HPS is pretty good for a 4 x 4 but not a perfect fit. Good trade off though.

Serious? I'm from the UK and it's for a personal smoke. 9 plants is the limit for domestic use even though it's actually illegal to grow to begin with so 4 is max I will ever go until laws change.

Also my led is good enough to veg 2 plants. It's a 260w QB v2 that pulls 287w from the wall. So it is ran at 260w. 4000k colour spectrum and 38w per square foot of led in 6.76 sq ft of tent is adequate enough for 2 plants for veg. I don't need to go bigger when I.can train and lst/hst with fewer plants.

 

[EvansInUK]

Nice of the bloke to send that info.

Cooling it isn't going to be an issue no, your set on that air cooled hood so your removing at least a 3rd of the heat. The fan requirements will stay the same. Plus fans over hear are pretty low on wattage so even if you were to upgrade its a tiny amount.

The other thing to consider is boosting the bulb like you plan to, your supposed to turn it up once its fired. A long time ago I upgraded my HPS ballasts to digital dimmables so I could boost them too, if you let the bulb fire up on boost mode it can kill a bulb.
I had a couple burn out within a week. I read on the manufacturers site they had to be fired up at normal wattage and turned up once the bulb was fully illuminated. This info usually doesn't get mentioned.

Anyhow, still makes sense to have a ballast with 600w and 400w and boost options, the price of a top HPS bulb is nothing so switching out a 400 bulb to a 600 is a nice option to have.

I decided I am going to go with the 400w 440w 600w 660w ballast option and using the results from hydromag's dimmable ballast reviews I will take the best option from there. Also I'll grab the 1.2 x 1.2m tent and keep my plants cannopy footprint within 6.76 - 9 square feet. This will dissipate heat better, utilise the full power of the ballast/hood and bulb. Thanks for the input all. Now I need to save for a bigger tent. But at least my led has arrived which is a big suspense over with.

 

[coreywebster]

I decided I am going to go with the 400w 440w 600w 660w ballast option and using the results from hydromag's dimmable ballast reviews I will take the best option from there. Also I'll grab the 1.2 x 1.2m tent and keep my plants cannopy footprint within 6.76 - 9 square feet. This will dissipate heat better, utilise the full power of the ballast/hood and bulb. Thanks for the input all. Now I need to save for a bigger tent. But at least my led has arrived which is a big suspense over with.

Have a look at black orchid tents fella, they are very nicely put together and fairly priced.

Oh and enjoy the QB, don't get it too close and don't look into the light!

 

[EvansInUK]

Haha I've got to set it up some time.this week. I'm also looking at getting the reflectors for it, yeah it may not add a massive increase but as for the rectangler shape of the led it does help distribute light more in the shape of the led so less light is wasted. Green qube I'm going to.go for mate the diamond mylar one. I've got a mylar 600d 2.6 x 2.6 one here already but I'll get the 1.2 x 1.2 one first and then update my veg one later for another 2.6 x 2.6 foot but diamond mylar tent and replace the one I have now, I think it's adequate for 2 plants in veg for couple weeks. But ill sure check that tent out you just mentioned.

 

[jeepster1993]

If you are growing just for personal use only...
A 4x4 tent is a lot. You would only need to run it 1 time a year for 4 months, and you have enough 1 person to smoke.

 

[Lucky Luke]

If you are growing just for personal use only...
A 4x4 tent is a lot. You would only need to run it 1 time a year for 4 months, and you have enough 1 person to smoke.

Way more than id need for personnel smoko but if your an Oz plus a week man like a mate of mine then its not. Keep in mine he isn't running many plants either so will need a long veg to fill the canopy.