Secret Jardin Dark Room - DR120 (What's Should I add to it?)

Hello everyone!

I just purchased a Secret Jardin Dark Room - DR120 (4 X 4) and would like to ask the advise of some seasoned tent growers on what to "buy" or "not buy".

Here is what I have today....

Secret Jardin Dark Room - DR120
400 Watt Switchable Ballast with a LumeWing Reflector

I would like to know what additions I should/can make to the tent and in what order. I was thinking that I should invest in a good hood next? Opinions......

And my babies that will be moving into thier new home......

5 Buddha Deimos Seedlings
5 Easy Rider Seedlings


Thanks guys!

you need a 150mm inline fan, a 150mm centrifigul fan, ducting, air controller (set temp and fans switch on when required, cool to set temp and switch off ), will allow you to keep your light low to plant, thus leading to a bigger yield. other then ventilation for your tent, you ready to to some indoor soil/coco growing. good luck.

Oh, and bravo on the Secret Jardin, worth the money man, quality tents !!!

Thank for taking the time to reply to my thread, I need all the help or experience I can get!


Arriving Today
Secret Jardin Dark Room (DR120)

Arriving Saturday
Active Air In-Line Fan (165 C.F.M - 4")
Phresh Carbon Filter (150 C.F.M - 4" x 8")
EcoPlus Large Display Thermometer / Hygrometer

Can someone recommend a good hood. The current plan is to get a quality air-vented hood, this weekend, and assemble the it like this...

Carbon Fiber > In-Line Fan > Hood > Vent - I will of course strive to using the minimal amount of ducting. Anybody want to share pictures and/or stories about thier setup inside of thier tent?

Goosh... Alot to know and a limited checkbook. Help....

im wondering the same thing. i plan on getting a dr120 soon will be running 600 watt cooltube with same ventilation setup with passive intake im trying to decide on what size inline fan and carbon filter.

sealed hood reflector for sure, i havn't had my tent long or grown long either but a sealed hood is the key to keeping a 600 cool in my dr80. i also had a hell of a time finding a good, small, fan that oscilates, all oscilating fans are at least 16 inches (perfect foryou however)



this is the one i bought and i am quite pleased. no air leaks at all. the rim has a rubberized seal unlike all those other cheap foam liners that i saw wear out after like 4 bulb changes

http://www.valleyindoor.com/product.php?productid=461&cat=29&page=1

I use a 2x4 secret jardin with a 600W Hortilux HPS. I'm not an experienced grower by far but I have had good success after a little tweaking. I live in the southern US and temperatures reached above the 110s this summer so controlling heat was very important.

It's over kill but I use a 6" 400 cfm inline fan to draw air from the ac controlled room through the cool tube to the attic. To create negative pressure in the tent and suck the heat out I use a 6" 350 or 400 cfm hydrofarm inline fan for air outtake and a 225 (i think) cfm 6" inline fan to put cool air from the room in the tent. I cut two 6" holes in the ceiling drywall to vent into the attic (crawling in the attic was the hardest part of the setup but the most necessary for my situation). I found an aluminum 6" duct attachment pipe thing at home depot that sticks to the ceiling so I can attach the ducting. I run the cool tube fan 12/12 and the other two 24/7.

Even with the heat at 113 F outside I was able to keep my temps down to about 82-85 during the day and 75-78 at night. I never used CO2 so I could have had higher yields probably but i was getting about 1 oz per plant (Grape Ape and G-Bomb) in 1 gallon pots SOG style. I also never use a carbon filter as the small doesn't get that bad or a temp control unit. I recommend old pantyhose to cover all air intakes (those stupid bug catchers are expensive and ive found stalkings work just as well). Covering the fan intakes will make your fans last longer and keep bugs out. I'll post a basic drawing of my setup in a little bit.

I just ordered a Jardin 4'4' as well. I would recommend you reconsider your fans and ducting. I'll be using a 600W HPS bulb in a sealed air cool hood and I'll run mine like this....

The Jardin has two vents about 2/3's up the side of tent on opposite sides. These are for hood cooling. You run a duct from left side of tent to hood, then run duct from right side of hood to an inline fan, and from the fan to the other vent outlet in the side of the tent. This keeps the light cooler, because fresh air is being drawn from outter room, through the hood and back out again, without ever mixing with the tent's air. This will cool the light and the tent by several degrees. Your strongest fan should be ducted to exhaust out of top of Jardin. The intake should be attached to your carbon scrubber. This way, all air that has odor atoms has to pass through the scrubber and can then be ducted outside or into an attic. Two passive vents at ground level should be left open and light proofed.

You can pull the tent air through the scrubber, then the hood and then through fan and into exhaust, but consider this; you'll be using hot grow room air to attempt to cool the bulb, and you are asking the fan to pull through a filter and a hood with some curved duct. That is alot of restriction. I think your tent will run hotter that way.

Ordering my DR120 in a few weeks also, I'm currently running 600w HPS in a DR120W but plan to transfer it to the DR120 plus add supplemental lighting

Set it up like this.


Filter->ducting->Hood->ducting->Fan->

You want the fan Pulling through the hood and filter not pushing.

As far as what you should add to it, a remote thermo and hygrometer so you can read the temp and humidity without having to open the tent. I ordered a nice one on Amazon that has a simple remote and a big desk top display that can show current inside conditions and tent conditions. I also bought some expandable up to 60" shower curtain rods. My thoughts are to attach them horizontally, on opposite sides of the tent from each other, using velcro straps, so I can hang my scrog screen up and over the grow area. Also add a clip on lamp reflector or two and put green light bulbs in them. You can place them on a toggle switch and use them should you have a need to enter the tent during lights out. I'm going to velcro my toggle switch outside of the tent so I don't fumble around for it in the dark. When the switch is in off position, it glows a faint reddish - orange and is easy to spot. Just turn it on and you have safe green lighting that will allow you to see but not wake the plants. I would not use the new green CFL bulbs, as they seem awfull bright to me. Try to find the old fashioned incandescent party bulbs and only use the green ones.

Fluxcap said:

Set it up like this.


Filter->ducting->Hood->ducting->Fan->

You want the fan Pulling through the hood and filter not pushing.

Click to expand...

If you are going to use only a single duct exhaust run, that would be the way to do it. You lose far too many CFMs from pushing air than you do pulling it. The fan should be nearest the exhaust port.

Here's a rough sketch I made with paint. This is how I have mine setup in a 2x4 it'll work the same for a 4x4.

This is probably the simplest and most effective, IMO, it's a top view and you can replace the cool tube with any hood, it's just the lay out

Filter > Hood/Light > Inline Fan > Exhaust

Fluxcap said:

Set it up like this.


Filter->ducting->Hood->ducting->Fan->

You want the fan Pulling through the hood and filter not pushing.

Click to expand...

Basically a picture of this

I wanted to thank everyone for thier input on this thread. I wanted to update you on how it it currently setup.

carbon>fan>hood>vent


Will this work or should I take the time to re-arrange during this grow cycle?


Inside temperature has hovered around 77-80 degrees, with humity between 45-50.

With 9 autoflower strains in 2.5 gallon buckets, it appears that 400 MH/HPS is stretching it. What is the average capacity in a 4 x 4 for autos? What can purchase to increase lighting during flowering short of a ballast upgrade, which is not in the budget.

What ballast wattage would you recommend for future grows, that is cost effective for a 4x4 grow/bloom?

with anything above a 400, i would imagine you will have heat probs unless you construct your tent like your first diagram, where you have 2 fans, one for exhaust, and one for the lights. In a 4 by 4 room, you can have up to a 1000 watt light if you can control temps, 600 is probably ideal, but according to oaksterdams book, a 1000 is perfect for 4x4. I would veg with a 400 mh, and flower with a 1000 if you can control the temps, you can get switchable digitalballasts, althougt i assume you already have one so maybe just a standard ballast for which ever size bulb you go with. Good luck

l will make the adjustments and advise any differences

thanks.

J2M3S they only problem I see is your blowing air threw your hood which pontentially leaks air back into your room. I would put the fan after the hood that way the hood is under negative pressure and will help your hood seals work better potentially lessening air leaks. JMO on the subject. I have mine set up accordingly and it works well phresh filter>vent>hood>vent>fan>outside.

For a 4x4 I would optimally have 2 600 watt fixtures, but i currently run 4 600 watt fixtures in my 8x8 room and only have 1 600 with 2 t5 4ft set up in my 4x4. This is barely adequate lighting according to research I should have 4x 1000's and 2 600's in my tents :/

Just get what you can and think about expanding that way you dont end up with mismatch stuff. Ive had too many friends go from a few 400s to one or two 1000s only to revert back to more 400's or 600's. I prefer 600's because they have great lumen output and heat output is much less than 1000's. I would love to have a bunch of 1000's but in a 8x8x7 tent heat would be an issue so im glad i went with 4 600s.

I would recommend the Sunlight Supply Yield Master II hood. It has optional 4" air cooled fittings and tempered glass. I've seen them up close, and they are really well built. All of Sunlight Supply's hoods are. You could get a Super Sun 4", but the air fittings on that one are on the sides, and i think it interferes too much with the light reflection

You have a 4" fan, so getting that would be ideal. I know that im going to get it when i have the $$$. They're only like $100 with glass and fittings, and the lamp socket and cord is included with the reflector.

Edit: a 4x4 is 16sq ft, so at the recommended 50 watts per square foot, you should have about 800 watts in that tent.

I guess a 600 will do, but its under the rule of thumb.

OK, I made the changes this morning from

filter>fan>hood>outside

to

filter>hood>fan>outside

Thank you for thew suggestions. I went from pushing air to pulling it prior to leaving the tent.

It looks like I will be upgrading the lighting, when budget permits.

J2M3S said:

OK, I made the changes this morning from

filter>fan>hood>outside

to

filter>hood>fan>outside

Thank you for thew suggestions. I went from pushing air to pulling it prior to leaving the tent.

It looks like I will be upgrading the lighting, when budget permits.

Click to expand...

Too bad you did that, I disagree and ithink you had it right in the first place. Now you have the potential for smelly air to get into the exhaust.
filter>fan>hood>outside is the way to do it, IMO. The only area that smelly leaks will get into exhaust has negative pressure. This way the only area that leaks can get into the system is between the fan and filter and if you fan is connected directly to the filter and sealed then that is a very small area. It is all positive pressure after the fan and yes some air may leak back into the tent but that doesnt matter. If you poke a few holes in a straw and blow through it under water, the water doesn't leak in.....same idea.

By setting it up like filter>hood>fan>outside it allows for smelly leaks anywhere from the filter to the fan because this area has negative pressure. A lot more places for smelly leaks to get to your exhaust and out of your tent. hope that made sense. This topic has been discussed before and i am sure that some people will disagree