Grow Tent in Attic, Need Help? +Rep for answers!

At this point I have not purchased any equipment nor do I know that much if anything about growing. I am a newbie when it comes to growing so please excuse me if I don't understand grow terms or equipment that I may need. I will be setting up my grow tent inside my attic, any suggestions or comments would be welcome.

TENT QUESTIONS?

I want to purchase a grow tent with the dimensions of 4'x4'x6' tall. I have been looking at a few online browsing google & i've seen a couple for around a 100$ & a few for 500$. I am hoping to get one of the cheaper ones but I a lot of the cheaper ones use pvc pipe, I heard that pvc tubes can under a light can put toxic shit on your plants. I plan to grow up to five plants max at a time, will a 4x4 & 6 foot tall grow tent do the trick? Also I was wondering do hydroponic tents have to be grown hydroponically or can it also be grown organically?

I keep coming across New 4' X 4'X 6.5' Hydroponics Grow Tent Hydro Box Hut Cabinet by Sky Enterprise USA on amazon.com. This I believe would be ideal for me considering I only will be grown 5 plants max. I ordered 2 different strains recently that are both medium grow height, Nirvana "White Widow" & Nirvana " Bubblelicious."



PRODUCTION INFORMATION:
48(L) x 48(W) x 78(H)(4ft x 4ft x 6.5ft) Hydroponics Tent
Tent Exterior: Black Polyester Nylon Plastic Lined Grow Tent
Tent Interior: Utilize Thermal Film.
Highly Reflective Non-Toxic Waterproof PVC Plastic.
Removable Waterproof PVC Plastic Floor Tray
Built in Heavy-Duty Zippers and Velcro, Which Makes it Easy to Assemble and Disassemble.
Multiple Ventilations: (2) Top Circular Vents, (1) Right Circular Vent, (1) Left Circular Vent, (2) Back Circular vents.
(3) Receptive air ventilation with flaps located on 3 different sizes of the base of the grow tent.
Side pockets for storing PH Meters
Metal rails for lighting equipment.
Strong powder-coated framework with flexible plastic connectors
Light-proof Material: Prevent light from entering or exit for controlled light cycles.
Removable Roof Cross Members which makes it easier to adjust lighting and accessories.



LIGHTING QUESTIONS?

When it comes to lighting, I have no idea about anything but I plan to use a 600 watt light bulb for my plants. Not really sure what type of lights I will need, I was looking at led & I feel that would be the safest but when you need watts I don't see that happening. If anyone can shed some light on this idea I would be greatly appreciative. I did notice this higher the wattage on led the higher the price & I am trying to cut cost because I only plan to grow 5 plants at a time. I was also seen that a lot of you use cool tubes for your grow setups, would a 600 watt cool tube work for a 4x4x6 grow tent safely? I am really worried about the heat that they will put off, I will be setting up in my attic & do not want to burn my new house down, please keep in mind that the grow tent will be made of nylon. A friend suggested a timer for my lights so just in case I get too stoned it would turn them on/off for me. Can anyone suggest a cheap brand that is reliable & maybe explain how to setup? I was told that temperature is a big issue in attics, I have central ac & I am willing to hookup a duct if needed for my grow tent.

VENTILATION QUESTIONS?
Thanks snodegd for replying back to my "Introduce Yourself" post about ventilation in your attic. I will quote this below considering I still don't completely understand some of the terms, perhaps some pictures to help explain exactly how to setup? Can someone please create a shopping list of things I will need for ventilation? I want to try to keep supply cost down as low as possible but I was a somewhat small professional setup.

snodegd said:

Exhaust - I have a 440 cfm fan 6" conncected to a t pipe going into my living room. It has a carbon filter attached.

Intake - I have 2 220 cfm for intake. 1 is connected to a 6" cool tube with 400w MH. The 2nd has a homemade carbon filter attached( minimiumal air restriction).

Connections - Depends on if you have pre-existing duct work in your attic or not. If you do, you can buy stoppers and T connectors to hook it all up. A stopper will simply be an end cap to a pre- existing duct not allowing air to pass. A T connecter will to your duct allowing you to keep the original air flow from heater/ac unit(heat and ac will come in your grow room( can control temps without extra ac or heater too). Attach to vents plug in.

The reason both my intakes aren't in the 2 cool tubes is because one that is HPS is on a 4' rail.

Buy an oscillating fan for in the room as well.

If you have a exhaust vent to the roof that would be ideal for your exhaust fan hot air rises anyways.

Noise - a 440 cfm will sound almost as loud as a jacuzzi running. The 220s you wont hear unless in the attic.

Intstallation - You will want to seal your area as much as possible. I would go buy some viscayne(a clear plast near tarps at store). I think that the name of it. Take a staple gun and seal off the intallation as hush as possible. Easy removal as well. You also could use mylar, NOT foil. I did both and got 10 or 12 mm think black and silver tarps.

How tall is your ceiling? What strains?

Let me know what else you want help with setting up in the attic.

BUY GLOVES if you are working with sheet metal!!!!!! It can slice you really bad.

Click to expand...

OTHER QUESTIONS?

If there is anything I will need for setup that I did not mention please let me know, this will be my first setup & I plan to have a nice setup that I can take down when needed. I also hear a lot about co2, can anyone tell me how this works and what are the benefits? Please help me build the perfect grow tent, I want to get it right the first time. I have not purchased anything yet.



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SHOPPING LIST: Things I plan to purchase for my setup.
note: If you have better sources to get items from or disagree with what I am planning to purchase please speak up, all comments welcome. Also if you know of a site where I can get the item for cheaper please help me save some money!

1: GrowLab Horticultural Grow Room - GL120

$224.95

Specifications:

Material:
Interior: highly reflective thermal film
Exterior: waterproof black canvas

Recommended lighting:
400or 600 watt HPS or MH system

Dimensions:
Assembled: 3'11" wide x 3'11" deep x 6'7" tall / 47 " x 47 " x 78.75 " tall / 120 x 120 x 200cm
Packed: 3.9' wide x 1.3' deep x 0.36' tall / 48" x 15.7 " x 4.3 " tall / 123 x 40 x 11cm

Ports:
Intake/Exhaust: (5) - 8" / 203mm (2 ports for air-cooling of reflector plus 3 additional ports; all ports adjust to fit smaller-diameter ducting and equipment as well)
Cord access: (2) - 4" / 101mm

Miscellaneous:
Intake windows: 3
Doors: 1


2: C.A.P. 600W H.P.S. XTREME BALLAST

$178.48

I may consider down sizing it to a 400W depending on what size bulbs I decide to go with.

I've been looking for a thread like this. I'm going to keep watch on this and check out other people's posts.
Bump.

Also, did you purchase your seeds online or from a local dealer? I'm kinda' hesitant about purchasing them online because I still live with my 'rents (I'm 17) and don't want them finding out about my little op, lol. Should I just set up a fake address or have 'em send the package to a friend's house?

FOAM said:

At this point I have not purchased any equipment nor do I know that much if anything about growing. I am a newbie when it comes to growing so please excuse me if I don't understand grow terms or equipment that I may need. I will be setting up my grow tent inside my attic, any suggestions or comments would be welcome.

TENT QUESTIONS?

I want to purchase a grow tent with the dimensions of 4'x4'x6' tall. I have been looking at a few online browsing google & i've seen a couple for around a 100$ & a few for 500$. I am hoping to get one of the cheaper ones but I a lot of the cheaper ones use pvc pipe, I heard that pvc tubes can under a light can put toxic shit on your plants. I plan to grow up to five plants max at a time, will a 4x4 & 6 foot tall grow tent do the trick? Also I was wondering do hydroponic tents have to be grown hydroponically or can it also be grown organically?

I keep coming across New 4' X 4'X 6.5' Hydroponics Grow Tent Hydro Box Hut Cabinet by Sky Enterprise USA on amazon.com. This I believe would be ideal for me considering I only will be grown 5 plants max. I ordered 2 different strains recently that are both medium grow height, Nirvana "White Widow" & Nirvana " Bubblelicious."

PRODUCTION INFORMATION:
48(L) x 48(W) x 78(H)(4ft x 4ft x 6.5ft) Hydroponics Tent
Tent Exterior: Black Polyester Nylon Plastic Lined Grow Tent
Tent Interior: Utilize Thermal Film.
Highly Reflective Non-Toxic Waterproof PVC Plastic.
Removable Waterproof PVC Plastic Floor Tray
Built in Heavy-Duty Zippers and Velcro, Which Makes it Easy to Assemble and Disassemble.
Multiple Ventilations: (2) Top Circular Vents, (1) Right Circular Vent, (1) Left Circular Vent, (2) Back Circular vents.
(3) Receptive air ventilation with flaps located on 3 different sizes of the base of the grow tent.
Side pockets for storing PH Meters
Metal rails for lighting equipment.
Strong powder-coated framework with flexible plastic connectors
Light-proof Material: Prevent light from entering or exit for controlled light cycles.
Removable Roof Cross Members which makes it easier to adjust lighting and accessories.



LIGHTING QUESTIONS?

When it comes to lighting, I have no idea about anything but I plan to use a 600 watt light bulb for my plants. Not really sure what type of lights I will need, I was looking at led & I feel that would be the safest but when you need watts I don't see that happening. If anyone can shed some light on this idea I would be greatly appreciative. I did notice this higher the wattage on led the higher the price & I am trying to cut cost because I only plan to grow 5 plants at a time. I was also seen that a lot of you use cool tubes for your grow setups, would a 600 watt cool tube work for a 4x4x6 grow tent safely? I am really worried about the heat that they will put off, I will be setting up in my attic & do not want to burn my new house down, please keep in mind that the grow tent will be made of nylon. A friend suggested a timer for my lights so just in case I get too stoned it would turn them on/off for me. Can anyone suggest a cheap brand that is reliable & maybe explain how to setup? I was told that temperature is a big issue in attics, I have central ac & I am willing to hookup a duct if needed for my grow tent.

VENTILATION QUESTIONS?
Thanks snodegd for replying back to my "Introduce Yourself" post about ventilation in your attic. I will quote this below considering I still don't completely understand some of the terms, perhaps some pictures to help explain exactly how to setup? Can someone please create a shopping list of things I will need for ventilation? I want to try to keep supply cost down as low as possible but I was a somewhat small professional setup.





OTHER QUESTIONS?

If there is anything I will need for setup that I did not mention please let me know, this will be my first setup & I plan to have a nice setup that I can take down when needed. I also hear a lot about co2, can anyone tell me how this works and what are the benefits? Please help me build the perfect grow tent, I want to get it right the first time. I have not purchased anything yet.

Click to expand...

Why are going to use a tent? Do you have more room than that? Anyways I don't use tents but i have a weird space with a water heater divivding part of it.

Are you going to be using dirt, bubbleponics, aeroponics, drip?

Why only five? You will need a veg and a flower if you dont plan on waiting a long time before harvests. Also a cloning area.


I would rather use 400 watt or 1k watt. i am not a fan of the 600's. Most 400s and 1ks are MH or HPS. I dont like the leds but thats just personal experience. If you are only doing 5 you dont need more than a 400 watt light although you could you use one.

If you buy a cheaper ballast(magnetic) it will use more energy over time than a digital ballast. I got mine at igrowhydro.com.

You will also need a a refector. A 6" cool tube will suffice. I think I got mine at hydroponics.net(greentrees).


I will never take or post pics sorry.

If you can explain your attic in detail or pics i could help more. height length width. Unless your set on the tent.

Does your attic have air ducts from your heating/cooling system? Do you have ducts to your roof accesible from the room?

I

DO NOT BUY THE CHEAP ONE.

I will give you practical reasons based on my own experiences.

1st White plastic does not reflect like the silver tent
2nd Not all materials are non-toxic to plants. In fact there are several companies in the past and present that have and make materials that kill the plants inside of them. Especially the cheap ones. Dark room fixed there late 90's issues with plant toxicity.
3rd Improper ducting in the cheaper tents leads to a situation in which you cannot properly vent the tent. Unless you rig everything, and cut holes in your tent you just baught, which defeats the purpose.

If you want to go cheap. Buy a 100 foot roll of Panda Film(Black outside/white inside) and make a room! Down load or buy Jorge Cerventes Ultimate Grow DVD, he explains how to make a cheap room in that DVD. I built my version of one and saved over 700$

4th 6' may not be enough height for what you are doing, espeically if you go big on lights.

On lighting, you will have to go with a single 600w most likely(because of heat, especially if you want to go cheap). Get a ballast that does both HPS and Metal Hallyde. Buy both bulbs. Use the Metal Hallyde for Vegging, and the High Pressure Sodium for Blooming.

On ventilation. BIG ISSUE, you are in an attic. You need attic ventilation, making hot air expel from the attic iself, especially if you have a tent. Remember, the tent will always be between 10 and 15 degrees hotter in the summer, and in some situations 10 to 15 degrees colder in winter.

If you can score 6" cool hoods, or cool tubes, you can get a fan that is bigger than 6" Vortec and a number of other companies make 6 8 10 12 etc. Home depot and a million other places carry an adapter that makes 10" 6"s for this exact aplication. If you can do it, you want cold or outside(at least bug screen filtered) coming into the light hood/cool tube, and exiting out of the tent, and if possible right out of the Attic.

But also remember, on attic ventilation, even if you are growing medically, attic fans that turn 24 hours do raise Eyebrows.

Krawnik said:

I've been looking for a thread like this. I'm going to keep watch on this and check out other people's posts.
Bump.

Also, did you purchase your seeds online or from a local dealer? I'm kinda' hesitant about purchasing them online because I still live with my 'rents (I'm 17) and don't want them finding out about my little op, lol. Should I just set up a fake address or have 'em send the package to a friend's house?

Click to expand...

If your P's dont open your mail then no worries!!!!

CO2 is like air to you.

CO2 equals bigger better and more in the area of yield.

It isn't cheap to do right.

There are a number of cheaper solutions now though. If you have the money, get a meter, regulator, and CO2 tank or CO2 generator. Or go cheap, get a CO2 boost b ucket, or CO2 pucks.

The pucks are about 5$ each and work for one light cycle aprox. The CO2 boost bucket, is essentially a paint bucket full of funk with a fish pump, that constantly pushes out CO2. There are no real numbers on how much or for how long, but it is suggested that you will see the difference in a 4x8 area with one CO2 boost bucket. I had to use 3 in a 10x15 area. They are 150$ each. I have heard they last for 3 months or longer, but this was not my experience.

Once thing, unless you are using the pucks, you should be consistant with the CO2. Don't buy a tank of CO2, start the process, get your plants used to 1400ppm of CO2, then cut them off, because you don't think you saw a result or because you realise the cost of constantly refilling the tanks. KEEP THE CO2 ON! ! ! Once you have started, don't stop, you can cause stunting, and other issues!

Remember, a big issue is what strain you are going to grow. And your grow medium.

If you have a grow table(6" TO 12" height on top of a resevoir(18" to 24 "), and a standard Sus System 6"(12" to 18") air cooled hood. You have just cut the plants possible grow area to about 24"s, and thats if the plants are allowed to touch the lights. Which they are not. At this point, if you are to give the plants even say 6"s of space between the light and the tips of your budding plants, you would only be able to grow an 18" plant in this scenario. So be careful, plan before you plant!

Remember, even a bucket system is aproximately 18"s off the ground, and a light hangs, aproximately 18" from the ceiling(especially if you have yo yo's on the lights for bringing them up and down. If you add light movers, you lose another 8"s to 12"s. With a 78" tent, you really need to do the math. OG, Big Buds etc wouldn't be best in this situation. You want shorter bushier strains.

Are you doing Buckets, Soil, Tables?

I would suggest a 6" cool tube, you might get away with 2 600's but you not get away with 1000watt bulbs in a tent that size unless you add a 1500$ ductless a/c to the "tent"

Ventalation,.... Im somewhat familiar with these tents. Seen em at the store and givin it some thought as to how to vent, clean the air and bring in fresh air. I think it can be done for about $250. Its a small area so you could use a 4 inch or 6" inline fan attached to a hepafilter goin out. The in duct could be just a 6 or 8 inch aluminum flex duct or any type of duct that could be bought at home depot for 20 bucks. Cheaper the better. Have that duct coming in attached to a roof vent or gable vent. Doesnt have to be to professional just as long as its big enough to bring your girls some fresh air to breath.

Do you want a blow by blow of what you need?

You need at least 3 timers, and several surge protectors. 1 light if properly wired will not burn down your house, but attics have alot of heat!

A 6" vented cool tube with a 600 watt metal hallyde for vegging, and a 600 watt hps for blooming. The appropriate ballast for these lights would be a 6-- watt ballast that does both hps and mh. You can add t5 lights as supplemental for little cost, they do not add alot of heat, considering how much light they add.

You will need at least one intake fan and one exaust fan for the room, and one fan for the light(cool tube). Fresh air in, air exist the room and attic. If you can afford, an air filter on the way out(charcoal et. ) would cut smell. On the way in, panty hose are good enough for filtering out most bugs etc.

Everthing else you need, will depend on what grow media you decide on.

NOTE: Everything in red are answers/questions posted by me.

snodegd said:

Why are going to use a tent? Do you have more room than that? Anyways I don't use tents but i have a weird space with a water heater divivding part of it.

I am set on using a tent because I don't want to build a room in attic, I have a pretty big attic but I need to put down a floor. I also have a water heater, I will put pictures up later of the attic.

Are you going to be using dirt, bubbleponics, aeroponics, drip?

I probably will go with the cheapest method for my first harvest, so dir is my answer for now although I would love to do hydroponically later. Perhaps after Obama gives me my 8k from being a home owner.

Why only five? You will need a veg and a flower if you dont plan on waiting a long time before harvests. Also a cloning area.

I am only doing five because I don't plan on getting out of control with it, I don't plan on letting many people know about it. Just me and my girlfriend that lives with me will be tokin' it, perhaps 1 group of close friends as well. I will get a smaller tent if needed, I do plan to clone a Bubble Widow plant.

I would rather use 400 watt or 1k watt. i am not a fan of the 600's. Most 400s and 1ks are MH or HPS. I dont like the leds but thats just personal experience. If you are only doing 5 you dont need more than a 400 watt light although you could you use one.

I will go with 400 watt, what type of bulb would be safe in attic, MH or HPS?

If you buy a cheaper ballast(magnetic) it will use more energy over time than a digital ballast. I got mine at igrowhydro.com.

I will take a look, still want to go kinda cheap but don't want to use much energy.

You will also need a a refector. A 6" cool tube will suffice. I think I got mine at hydroponics.net(greentrees).

I was looking at cool tubes, would it be safe for my 4x4 grow tent made of nylon?

If you can explain your attic in detail or pics i could help more. height length width. Unless your set on the tent.

Does your attic have air ducts from your heating/cooling system? Do you have ducts to your roof accesible from the room?

My attic does have air ducts from my central ac, I'm not sure if I have a duct going to the roof.

Click to expand...

FOAM said:

NOTE: Everything in red are answers/questions posted by me.

Click to expand...

Bulbs - Both will produce heat so you will need to have a intake and exhaust fan. MH is for veg and HPS is for flower. Ideally have both at same time. If you can only get 1 get the HPS. Get a decent bulb.

Safety - yeah will be fine in tent just make sure to vent to keep heat down and air circulating.


Attic Ducts - Do you keep the ac on when hot and heat when cold? around 70? If so you can just buy T's connects and flexible duct from home depot. That way will circulate filtered air in to the tent and will alway be at 70 or atleast fresh air coming in will be before heating up. Your exhaust should leave room as well. if you dont care about smell you dont need a carbon filter.

The Good Doc has a few good words of advice. The main concern is that your probably wanting to grow in your attic. what is the ambient temp during the day and at night? Based on budget, you may only be able to do this during the fall/winter/spring. basically 1 or 2 grows.
You can find good deals on GrowLab tents online the size your looking for should be around $200.00. (GL120)
You can fit 6" hydrofarm hood in all of GL's tents that are larger than the GL60. GL60 will work, you just have to rotate the hood and expect some pushing out on the edges.

Some tents say they have ventilation ports, but some are 5" (for 4" ducting) and not 7" (for 6" ducting). So, if they come with 5" ports, you can mod like Good Doc said. It works, you just have to buy the 6" double flange kits. or 8" which ever size fan or ducting you go for. ($15-18 a pair).

Odor control - you can build or buy a filter. Building your own will save you only 100 or so bucks. It just depends on the size of filter which is based on how you vent the tent.

You can vent the tent with one inline fan ( ducting* -> tent** -> open space / plants -> filter -> ducting -> tent**-> ducting -> inline fan -> ducting -> vent to outside )
and vent the lamp with another ( ducting* -> tent** -> ducting -> Hood -> ducting - > tent** -> ducting -> inline fan -> ducting -> Vent to outside).

* ducting length is optional depending on where the cool air is at. if the room is cool, no need to have long lengths of ducting, just enough to create bends in it to keep light from entering the tent.
** the ports of the tent may be to small, so using the flange kits and cutting the the tent is a must. for the hood, you will need to have these flange kits installed not to close to the top of the tent on opposite walls, there needs to be room and extra room for the filter to be hung.


if you can only afford 1 inline fan, you can vent the hood and tent all in one step. ( ducting* -> tent** -> open space / plants filter -> ducting -> hood -> ducting -> tent**-> ducting -> inline fan -> ducting -> vent to outside)

lighting
go with what ever you can afford, 400/600/1000. plus the cost of power. depending on where you live and how much electricity you already use, your bill could go up quite a bit. with these wattages. check with your local electricity company website to see if they have an energy calculator. also see if there are tiers for usage and look at past energy bills to see what you will be charged for running the extra 400/600/1000 watts per hour (remember that these actually are the bulb wattages and not the ballast wattage which is higher).

depending on your budget for this area, you can go with digital or magnetic. i'm interested in the C.A.P. Extreme Ballast's. they have a lifetime warrantee. So far the only other's are 5 year.
http://www.horticulturesource.com/c-a-p-custom-automated-products-600w-h-p-s-xtreme-ballast-p4827/?osCsid=0b40d7b1f3e31e71e6f66012e417e110

Lumatek ballasts are good too. quite as hell.

No matter what people say, all ballast will be just like many other electronic products on the market. Some may just be defective, or not all the ballast in the batch were tested fully. Electronic/digital ballasts need to be scrapped when replaced. magnetic, all they need to do is replace the defective part.


You will also need to control your humidity. if it's to high, you will get mold or thc levels will be low.


take a look at what other people are doing, price shop, etc... you're the only one that knows your growing environment and you can sketch out what you need on top of what anyone has suggested.

Expect to spend around 1000 when all said and done, unless you build the room from stuff that is just laying around (which i have seen quite a bit of). but in the end, if it's done right for your environment, you will save money in the long run.

Dirt will cut your costs a whole lot, and will make things simpler. But remember to get staralized soil! Other wise you will get bugs, hopefully the ones you get if you don't get steralized soil are not the bad ones.

You will still need nutreints. Don't ask what is best, its what works for you. I or anyone else can only speak from the experience of the crops that they have run with those individual nutes.

You can do simple hand watering, which will save a whole lot. Just remember to get a ph & ppm meter at the very least. Also a thermometer & a mosture meter of some kind. You need to know the temperature of your room, humidity of your room, ph of your nutes & ppm(not as important with soil but still an issue).

If you are going to get a tent, spend the 300 or more on a good one. I have found some nice stuff on ebay, for about half the cost of a store. Make sure to get the silver interior, and one with multiple duct options! Other wise just making a Panda Film room is cheaper and as good or better.

If money or electricity is a big issue, you could always drop down to 1 or 2 400watt setups, or go with several t5 lamp setups. You can get good results with either way. But remember, you get what you pay for! & You have to pay to play! Every corner you cut, comes with the possibility of a lesser quality or quantity yield.

5 Plants with the right nutes, co2 & lights could possibly yield up to 20 ounces or more. I wouldn't expect this your first time, or if you cut lots of corners. If you have a stunted crop, you could expect from 3 to 7 ounces from all 5 plants.

If you wanted to, a grow table is a very cheap and easy way to get into hydro ponics. You only need to buy, one pump, one table one resevoir, and one grow mat the size of your table. A 4 x 4 would work just fine for any where from 5 to 12 plants. With this type of setup, you could get away with using a two part hydro nute setup like FloraNova from Gen Hydro. Add a sugar booster and co2 during the right times, and you will get a good yield.

As described you would be in to between 850 and 1400 dollars. It just depends on the deals you get at the time, and if you buy the black or white resevoirs. The magnetic or electronic ballast. T5 or HPS.

I agree with the above btw. If you only get one light, go with the biggest HPS you can afford. Most ballast do have a dual spectrem function at this point, so on the second crop you could always add the MH to your game. Or, for that matter, most companies do make a MH to MPS conversion bulb. So you have options!

I will tell you one big thing, I speak from personal experience with the cheap tents. Don't go cheap on the tent. DO YOUR RESEARCH!

To The Good Doc & msgmehere1, thank you for all your comments. I will only be growing in the colder seasons, I just went in my attic & took some pictures and did some measurements. I will post a few pictures and give the measurements below. On the odor control tip, odor will be a issue to me because I don't want my entire block smelling the goodness. I plan to get a 4 Inch Carbon Filter to take care of that, would this handle my 4x4x6.5 tent? For lighting I am considering getting a digital ballasts, I may actually go with the C.A.P. Extreme Ballast's as well. I haven't picked out a light fixture just yet but I want to get something for around 100$ - 200$, complete setup. Any suggestions would be great. Lighting will be one of the most important issues because it will be in the attic, as far as humidity goes; lets just say where I live it is usually up in the 80%'s.. Is there anything that I can do to cut down the humidity in tent down?

To snodegd, I keep my ac in the house around 75 degrees but I will consider keeping it out 70 degrees if nessasary. As far as for heat, I don't really use the heater that much because we have a fireplace that I use often when its cold, our cold winters might get down to like 40 degree max. I uploaded a couple of pictures of my attic, please excuse the mess. I just moved in a few months back & I plan to put floor down very soon. Also I have about a 6x6 foot area that I can play with minus the ac air ducts that around the area. The center of the roof is about 7.5 feet tall, I also have one of the those metal spiny things luckily right by the location I plan to setup.

dude.. as far as anything goes as setting up a grow.. if your not 18.... dont do it.

If you are 18 then fuck the tent and build a actual grow space. Wither it be a closet or what.... do it right. it will pay it off in the end Big time.

How much revenue are you working with.. do you have only 300 dollars or 700 dollars? reason I ask is because lights can be more expensive... but sometimes you get what you pay for.

If you are planning on doing only a few plants... and thats it... then I would go with a hps lamp.... depending on the size of your growing room... space that to the wattage of your system. Digital ballasts will run you more... but they are silent, run cooler, use less elec and produce a brighter lamp. The old style core and coil ballasts are cheapier... but are noisy... can be very noisy and that will give you away to anyone in the same house.

Other people dont like the 600 watt lights.. I actually do. ITs a nice common ground between the 400 and 1000. If you are only doing a small area.. I would go with this wattage. Again.. hps.

if you are not 18.... again.. dont do it. wait the time and plan it out.

As far as seeds go... I order from Amsterdamseedbank - have ALWAYS had great success with them from shipping to germination. Prices might be a little higher... but you get it from the quality in their product.

good luck

FOAM said:

To The Good Doc & msgmehere1, thank you for all your comments. I will only be growing in the colder seasons, I just went in my attic & took some pictures and did some measurements. I will post a few pictures and give the measurements below. On the odor control tip, odor will be a issue to me because I don't want my entire block smelling the goodness. I plan to get a 4 Inch Carbon Filter to take care of that, would this handle my 4x4x6.5 tent? For lighting I am considering getting a digital ballasts, I may actually go with the C.A.P. Extreme Ballast's as well. I haven't picked out a light fixture just yet but I want to get something for around 100$ - 200$, complete setup. Any suggestions would be great. Lighting will be one of the most important issues because it will be in the attic, as far as humidity goes; lets just say where I live it is usually up in the 80%'s.. Is there anything that I can do to cut down the humidity in tent down?

To snodegd, I keep my ac in the house around 75 degrees but I will consider keeping it out 70 degrees if nessasary. As far as for heat, I don't really use the heater that much because we have a fireplace that I use often when its cold, our cold winters might get down to like 40 degree max. I uploaded a couple of pictures of my attic, please excuse the mess. I just moved in a few months back & I plan to put floor down very soon. Also I have about a 6x6 foot area that I can play with minus the ac air ducts that around the area. The center of the roof is about 7.5 feet tall, I also have one of the those metal spiny things luckily right by the location I plan to setup.

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you could do a lot with that space!

I would say you could go with any ballast that fits your budget. CAP (magnetic) Extreme ballast (link from previous post) are currently the cheapest i could find.

Bulbs: http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/
great price on hortilux bulbs.

and for the hood, go with a hood that has 85-90% + reflectivity and matches the fan you want to use.

As for your filter, it depends on how you're planing on venting the tent and hood. if your connecting your filter to your hood then to your fan, i'd go with a higher CFM filter since your going to need to move more air over the light than if you were to have them on 2 separate intakes and exhausts. (all in one) If a filter is rated for 200cfm, and you need a fan running at 400+ CFM to keep the tents temps at 79-85, than the filter is doing double time and the air is not going to be filtered properly.
if you have one fan exhausting the tent (smell) and another exhausting the light (heat), than the 4" you have in mind will be fine.

I have a 630 CFM 6" venting 400w HPS w/ or w/o a filter (DIY), it is running at 60-75% full speed and it keeps the temps at around 4-8 degrees above the external air it is pulling it.


As for humidity, your probably going to have to decide how you want to do your setup. you'd have to have a hardcore dehumidifier to remove the moisture form the attic space, plus a pump or piping to remove the moisture from the machine. Check your humidity level's for the air in the ducts uses to push cool air into the attic, it may be lower than you think. It's the air leaks in the attic that may cause the humidity to be equal or a bit shy of what is outside of the house. if the vents cooling the house have a relatively low humidity, you could just splice off of one of those to use as your intake.

wyatte said:

dude.. as far as anything goes as setting up a grow.. if your not 18.... dont do it.

If you are 18 then fuck the tent and build a actual grow space. Wither it be a closet or what.... do it right. it will pay it off in the end Big time.

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I am well over 18, parent's don't live with me, I live in my house with my girlfriend, don't rent. Building a grow room was a option to me at first (inside the attic) but I don't really have the space for that when it comes to height. Also I don't want to start an projects that don't need to be done when there are other portable options. The seeds I ordered are both medium size plants, I plan to stick with small plants.

People are giving you hella good advice. I didnt know what the fuk happened to me this week. I used that fukd soil like the good doc said and had whiteflies and silverfish all over hell and back within a week. I wondered how they got there. Guess the moral is. DOnt go cheap on the soil your gonna use if you use soil. I love this site...