So I just ordered this grow tent for my garage from ledwholesalers on amazon.... 36X20X62 GROW TENT dark room hydroponic box:Amazonatio, Lawn & Garden Yes, I went ahead and did it. Its a good investment for me now that I pretty MUCH have indoor growing down. Good for the offseason! Nonetheless, I already have the ducting set up, concidering its going RIGHT under the central heater of the house, a tube coming in from that (for night time warmth) and a tube going STRAIGHT out the ceiling through the dryer's ducting. Its going to be perfection! I already have the duct fans, 250's I believe? Whatever that SAME site sells.... From the measurements it seems like its goin to be a PERFECT fit.... I just have one QUICK question! Is it possible or DO ppl use straight CFLs in the grow tents? I have MONSTER TRUE WATT 300 watt bulbs. I have 2, I'm going to go buy 3-4 more tomorrow and build a lid for them all (actually ill prolly end up just hanging them with their own seperate lids and/or two to a lid.... Feel me?) Do you think this will be sufficient lighting for the tent? I also have tons of smaller (60-100 watt bulbs and a couple t5's...) that could be hung closely, as I do in my grow box now (sufficient for one BIG LST'd BUSH!). I'M TIRED OF LSTING SO MUCH! Lol.... This damn tent is like as tall as me - if not taller! Haha... But I want to be able to grow my 3 shark attack seeds in there... Think this will be sufficient? I am buying a 400 watt or 600 watt hps with the helmet and everything soon! It'll be here by the time the plants are in flower (FOR SURE!). But that's also another question, what wattage should I get for this size tent? Hps only! Sorry guys, got my MIND MADE UP! And a cpl picked out! Lemme know what talk think! Good looks on ANY replies!
So I'm thinking about this package... http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/view...md=VIDESC&index=13&nav=SEARCH&nid=39354236874 I know its "ebay cheap" but it'll get me on my feet, my plant in the garage and it'll WORK! If Anything breaks, hell... Every piece is replaceable! The hood is even capable of holding a 1000 watt bulb If u buy the ballast! Who knows, I've gotten alot of "cheapo" products from ebay and they've worked flawlessly! Guess its just a hit or miss thing though!
You may want to get a cool tube instead of an open reflector for a 400w hps in an enclosed tent like that. I have a tent almost like yours, 2x4x6ft, and I use a 400w hps in a 6" cool tube with an in-line 400cfm fan exhausting, and temps still get a little above 80F, close to 90F if I forget to turn up the fan speed.
I agree with obsstar you should look into getting a cooltube if your gonna run a tent. Here is one I picked up last year and haven't had any problems with it.
I completely feel what y'all are saying. I thought I posted a response earlier but musta forgot to actually post it?! Lol.... I plan to use my 300W CFL's at first, until my funds are in order. Ive got 6 of them now and after taking measurements with each of their own "lids" it seems like it'll be a perfect fit for yhe tent! I have cooling/warming plans for that setup.... Considering the CFL's dont get to hot, it SHOULD be easy to maintain with the ducting and boosters. All that said! I think I'm goin to pick up this kit. Reason being, price and the option of HPS and MH, WITH 400 WATT BULBS included! The helmet can be changed after time, I WILL eventually get her a new head (probably before I even use it during flowering)! Now a question that didn't get answered that I'd like to know, no offense, I take yalls info humbly..... And thankfully! IS 400 WATTS IN HPS AND MH ENOUGH FOR THIS SIZE TENT AND 3 PLANTS IN 3-5 GALLON POTS/BUCKETS? OR WILL THIS NOT BE ENOUGH ALONE? I CAN "DRAPE" A FEW OF THE CFLS FOR SIDE LIGHTING.... I'M THINKING THIS WILL BE SUFFICIENT THOUGH CONSIDERING THE TENT IS MYLAR AND HIGHLY REFLECTIVE IN ITS OWN! BUT WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK?! BIGGER? SMALLER? TWO 250'S? LEMME KNOW PLEASE! THANKS FOR ANY REPLIES!
Based on your tent size, I think you are fine with that lighting combination given the plant numbers and the funding conditions. MH works great for vegging. I used a 175w MH for vegging back in '05 and thinking back on it, it vegged much better than the 400 watt HPS I have ran or the CFLs. In the meantime, you can use the CFLs. If you find yourself using them for the whole grow, throw a screen over your plants and train them--SCRoG works great for lower-lumen bulbs like CFLS (HPS and MH really throw out the light by comparison whereas CFL's fade in intensity rather quickly with distance). Regarding supportive equipment, I ran a 400w HPS with a piece of 4" diameter hurricane glass (the glass tubes people put around large candles) and set up a Lasko Fan as the driving fan. I connected the fan to the cooltube using buzzzd's ideas for a fan manifold over on what was formerly gardenscure.com. I would HIGHLY suggest using this over any batwing reflector or enclosed lightbox without an aircooling feature. Put simply, you will bake your plants with a 400 in this small of an enclosure. You absolutely must have an effective way to evacuate all of that heat, and using a cooltube concept--DIY or storebought--is just about crucial. As an added benefit, the Lasko fan is next-to silent and kept my grow operation under the radar during apartment inspections, family visits, and other sensitive situations. My tent never exceeded 80 degrees, either. While super intense fans are guaranteed to keep your tent cool, they also produce a ton of noise (most from just moving so much air) and--at least in my case--were unnecessary to control temperature, humidity, etc. The Lasko, for me, did just fine and ran me about $25 shipped.
Bah, i've done that a few times too hehe. Dang, 6 300w cfl's? I had a 250w cfl, and the "ballast" was at the bottom of the bulb itself, and it would shoot out hot 100F+ air. So, if you can manage 6 300w's and keep the temps down, you'll probably be able to keep that one 400w HPS frosty. Speaking of price, I didn't see one on that ebay listing. In any case, I did find a 6" cool tube with almost the same deal as you mentioned for about 150 on amazon... Amazon.com: 400 Watt Hydroponics Grow Light System HPS MH Digital: Everything Else And that thing isn't bad...I wish I could see the fan in the tube it talks about, as mine did not come with one. Just another option, just in case. The single 400w should be more than enough. Gotta figure you have 6 ft squared in your tent, and 100w = 1st foot, +50 for each after, so 400w should be good even for ~7ft. I'm using 400w HPS in a 8ft squared tent and it still kicks ass.
Okay, So once when I was super broke, I did a full harvest on 1000w worth of CFL's in a closet with under $100 all in for the set up. Now I did get herb, not the best, but way cheaper than anything else. Got about 4.5 ounces from 6 lanky plants.... As far as your 400w question, That should be more than just fine. That's a good amount of light for the space. Be careful of amazon, make sure that they are the one that are fulfilling the product, if not and you have problems its a royal B***H to work out with them. With the fan you have now it should keep it cool, that tent has more than on vent inlet from the look of it, so another small fan blowing in maybe around 230+ in and you should be without worries.
That's what I was thinking, 250 going in (fan) in the "inlet" duct and a 250 going out for the "exhaust" duct.... The exhaust is being ran straight outside via the roof and the other is coming in from the house. Noise is not an issue and the 300 watters get HOT towards the top (where the ballast is) but not the bottom of the bulb! Atleast with the CFLs I'm using! Thanks for all the replies guys!