Quick Grow Tent Idea - Comments Appreciated

Starting my 1st grow-tent grow. DIY using PVC pipe as the framing and black & white poly as the walls.

Question I have is, why are grow tents made as cubes as opposed to creating a modified prism set up.

Sorry ass pics below show what I am thinking. The traditional grow tent/box design doesn't maximize the available light that we are using. Correct? With light dispersion, some of those lumens get reflected above the plant level and over the HID lighting source as illustrated by the reddish lines in the top pic. This essentially, "dilutes" those particular rays of light (due to not having 100% reflectivity and general properties of light dispersion over space).

The bottom pic is what I'm thinking to maximize light from my 400hps. Prism-like design is meant to absolutely minimize light getting into the supra-HID area. I'm even thinking of allowing NO space between the HID source and the grow tent wall. Cool tubed of course.

Let me know what you think. Will this work to maximize light? What problems would I have to anticipate (this will of course mean I have to modify venting)?

(Butters) said:

Starting my 1st grow-tent grow. DIY using PVC pipe as the framing and black & white poly as the walls.

Question I have is, why are grow tents made as cubes as opposed to creating a modified prism set up.

Sorry ass pics below show what I am thinking. The traditional grow tent/box design doesn't maximize the available light that we are using. Correct? With light dispersion, some of those lumens get reflected above the plant level and over the HID lighting source as illustrated by the reddish lines in the top pic. This essentially, "dilutes" those particular rays of light (due to not having 100% reflectivity and general properties of light dispersion over space).

The bottom pic is what I'm thinking to maximize light from my 400hps. Prism-like design is meant to absolutely minimize light getting into the supra-HID area. I'm even thinking of allowing NO space between the HID source and the grow tent wall. Cool tubed of course.

Let me know what you think. Will this work to maximize light? What problems would I have to anticipate (this will of course mean I have to modify venting)?

Click to expand...

Simple answer: Plants grow up. As they get bigger they get taller.. you would crowd the shit out of your plants.. so it's square, if it's a utilization of light question, then get a light suited to the room, or tray area.

Other than that, I was going to build mine out of PVC as well, cost changed that, and built 2X frames.

on paper what you're discussing about the light being better utilized, I dont' know that it would do anything that mylar or additional light wouldn't fix.

but give it a try and do a grow journal and I'll follow it to see how it works out for you.

Right. Shoulda explained my grow technique 1st. I plan on doing a scrog to keep the canopy even and intentionally crowd the shit outta them (maximize horizontal growth...otherwise i wouldn't even think of adusting typical grow tent). Dimensions of tent would be 3'w x 3'd (at base) x 5' tall. Height is still up in the air at this point, depends on how much space i'm lookin my 400wHPS to cover. 2-3 plants in scrog tops. current screen dimensions are 2' x 2' to maximize use of 400w light. Still deciding distance on light from canopy. That part will be trial and error a bit & will largely govern the overall height of the tent.

As for the mylar, I luv the stuff. But, it (and all reflective material) do little to address light dispersion over space. At 98% reflective ability, mylar takes the cake. I'm just looking for ways to keep that 2% (silly I know) Most reflective surfaces just end up just reflecting dispersed, less intense light which can end up a few other places (light absorbing) in the grow space (light, pots, anything remotely colored, etc). My goal here is to get as much of my 55,000 lumens directly on that canopy as possible with no loss of lumes. Limiting reflection back upwards, thereby increase space that light has to travel and ultimately dispersion. My reasoning is that this will increase the the gram/watt ration as well as the heat/watt ratio to get the most light-efficient grow that I can with this measly 400watter.

Thinking of your response, I will definately have to run a side by side comparison with clones with the 2 grow tents to see how much of net yield, heat, lumens are effected. May not be much of a point to it if there is very little difference in net yield (relative to grams/watt that is).

Thanks for the response bro. Much appreciated. As I'm experimenting, pvc may not be the correct material to do this on as those connectors are solidly made at 90 degrees. Gonna try and melt them a bit to get the angles I need.

(Butters) said:

Starting my 1st grow-tent grow. DIY using PVC pipe as the framing and black & white poly as the walls.

Question I have is, why are grow tents made as cubes as opposed to creating a modified prism set up.

Sorry ass pics below show what I am thinking. The traditional grow tent/box design doesn't maximize the available light that we are using. Correct? With light dispersion, some of those lumens get reflected above the plant level and over the HID lighting source as illustrated by the reddish lines in the top pic. This essentially, "dilutes" those particular rays of light (due to not having 100% reflectivity and general properties of light dispersion over space).

The bottom pic is what I'm thinking to maximize light from my 400hps. Prism-like design is meant to absolutely minimize light getting into the supra-HID area. I'm even thinking of allowing NO space between the HID source and the grow tent wall. Cool tubed of course.

Let me know what you think. Will this work to maximize light? What problems would I have to anticipate (this will of course mean I have to modify venting)?

Click to expand...

I know that this is an old post but I would suggest reversing you original idea. Instead of tapering outward, you should taper inward; as the plants grow, the reflective sides will bounce the light spectrum at an angle so that the lower branches will recieve light too. Less light wasted. Try 45 degree angle walls so that the light will be reflected from 45 to a 135 degree angle. Good luck if you haven't done this tent yet.

Xeno420 said:

I know that this is an old post but I would suggest reversing you original idea. Instead of tapering outward, you should taper inward; as the plants grow, the reflective sides will bounce the light spectrum at an angle so that the lower branches will recieve light too. Less light wasted. Try 45 degree angle walls so that the light will be reflected from 45 to a 135 degree angle. Good luck if you haven't done this tent yet.

Click to expand...

Interesting thought. Thanks for the idea.