Tents are uncharted territory for me. I've always grown in homemade cabs. But now that I have fortunately come into a 400w HPS, ballast, and cool tube for free, I must upgrade and start growing monster buds with the HPS (I've always grown strictly CFL so I know I am in for a treat). I've got to get a tent, scrubber, and fan. And likely a speed controller for the fan. Stealth isn't a huge issue but it's obviously some what of an issue. I just don't want it to sound like a jet engine in the next room. I figured I should decide on the tent first, then determine ventilation based on that. I'm looking at a tent that's roughly 3' x 3' x 6.5' (36" x 36" x 78"). Here's my questions... The tube is a 6" tube. I'd like to get a 4" fan just to cut down on size and noise as much as possible. But do you think I can adequately cool that light in that space with a 6" tube reduced down to a 4" with a vortex or similar fan? My budget for fan and scrubber is about 200 bones. Ideally I'd like to stay under 200 if at all possible. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance guys and gals. Cheers.
The size of the fan intake and outlet is not as important as the CFM of the fan I would not go below 250 CFM As for the tent IMO go as big as you can I know all grows start out as "small" ones but they never stay that way lol Sent from iPhone 5
Thanks for the quick response. I know what you mean and I've been grappling with the size. But I think that's about as big as I can go. And I'm fine if I can only flower one plant at a time. With my other cabinet I can keep shit rotating and get a sort of perpetual grow. I was thinking 250 CFM would be about my cut off as well. So you think even if I reduce the duct down to a 4" and ran a 4" that was at least 250 CFM, even if it's pulling through a scrubber, I should be alright? Thanks brother.
That all sounds fine. A 4" fan should be plenty of power for ya. There's not a lot of room to expand tho (I always like to keep that in mind). In my experience, cheap fans are... cheap and loud. lol you get what you pay for. Sounds to me like you've got it dialed tho. Good luck to ya!
They say you want all the air to evacuate in 3-5 mins I guess. The faster you can replace stale air the better. If your tent is 3'x3'x7' then it is only 63 cubic ft total. With a 250 cfm fan, you will evacuate all of the air in the tent about 4 times per minute--so that is plenty.
Yeh you will be fine you could do 4 plants with about 1.5 month veg and should be fine in that 3x3 Sent from iPhone 5
Thanks, y'all. Since posting this thread I've discovered that I don't know if I can even find a 4" fan with at least 250 CFM in my price range. Regardless, I think I've decided to go with a hydrofarm 6" 400 CFM and get a speed controller. I can get that fan for around 80 bucks and most people speak pretty highly of them.