Another first grow - Need some quick advice

[danglyroot]

Hey guys, first post here, but have lurked for a while soaking up information in preparation for first grow. I'm preparing to germinate two Nirvana NL seeds, but aren't comfortable with tent set-up yet. I have a Gorilla 3x3x7'11 tent with two 300w LED's over a 16 site DWC w/ top feed rig, and a 171 cfm Hurricane fan with 12" Phresh filter (200 cfm rating I believe).

I am limited on space for the tent so it's somewhat stuck in a corner between furniture and I believe I'm having ventilation issues. I turned everything on after getting it set up to get a feel for how the temps and RH would run prior to germing any seeds. With the fan on high, and both lights glaring with veg and flower switches on the temp peaked, and stuck at 90. The RH was relatively low, hanging at approx. 25%. When I was installing everything I decided to tap the fan and filter together with 3/4" self tapping screws and sealed with foil tape really well. The fan and filter is mounted in the middle of the tent at the top, right in front of one of the 10" ports, so it only has a 7" piece of duct running directly through the port and out of the tent.

Currently I have a 10" port at the bottom of the tent on the opposite side of the exhaust open, as well as the back mesh flap that is designed to be a passive also. The tent is maybe a foot off of the wall where the exhaust port is and probably 10" off of the back wall where the back passive intake flap is. I'm wondering if the tent being so close to the wall is creating some sort of resistance to my exhaust and not allowing air to flow properly. I've also read that the thermometer may be throwing incorrect readings. I had a stool in the tent that I was standing on to hang stuff off of, and I had the thermometer setting on it. Could the direct light cause it to throw a temp that isn't actually the ambient temp in the tent, or should I look in to getting some sort of intake fan?

Thanks for any help on this subject.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

No such thing as an ambient temp in side of the tent i'm afraid...

It does change depending on positioning but most of us would normal take readings with in the top several inches of the plant canopy.


Ambient air temp via passive vent flow is another thing & all together this just adds up temp created by the leds etc

You also need to exhaust or extract hot air out of the grow area aka some where else as the exhaust vented in the same room is only going to be recycled by the passive vents.

 

[JuanCarlos]

Fuzzy Duck makes some great points. Get that hot air exhausted elsewhere. You also need to get a fan in the tent that moves the air, like a tower fan.

 

[danglyroot]

I'm currently trying to figure out a way to dump the exhaust into another room without it being blatantly obvious. The tent is right next to a window, but that window faces a high traffic area, so exhausting there probably isn't a wise decision. I tossed a small non-oscillating fan (have a clip on oscillating fan on order) in the tent to see if that would make any sort of difference. Since I'm limited on places to exhaust, would I be better off looking into getting some sort of AC for the tent just to keep temps down? Also, would the AC allow me to dump exhaust into the same room, or would I still run into the same issues with recirculating hot air? I really appreciate the help and the quick replies.

 

[Dave Groomer]

I'm currently trying to figure out a way to dump the exhaust into another room without it being blatantly obvious. The tent is right next to a window, but that window faces a high traffic area, so exhausting there probably isn't a wise decision. I tossed a small non-oscillating fan (have a clip on oscillating fan on order) in the tent to see if that would make any sort of difference. Since I'm limited on places to exhaust, would I be better off looking into getting some sort of AC for the tent just to keep temps down? Also, would the AC allow me to dump exhaust into the same room, or would I still run into the same issues with recirculating hot air? I really appreciate the help and the quick replies.

Use an exterior dryer vent and hook the hose up to that.

 

[danglyroot]

That's what I was considering but I can't get the ducting to the utility room without it being obvious. Modifying walls and things of that nature are out of the question, so I may have to postpone for now. I had hoped to tinker with a few small grows to learn the basics before moving everything to my other location, but it's two hours from where I currently live. Patience is a virtue I suppose.

 

[JuanCarlos]

AC in the tent is not the best idea. AC units need a place to exhaust heat as well. With an AC in the tent when it exhausts heat it will also be exhausting the smell of the tent. I would place the AC outside of the tent in the same room and just deal with the coldness.

 

[danglyroot]

Would a small window unit close to one of the lower ports with a small intake fan pulling the cool air in the tent work?

 

[landfarmer]

leds are dope but they run super warm i have 2 600 watts in my tent and it turned into an oven, upgrade to a 6 in 400cfm fan with a speed controller, set it to low and let the kights run as it warms up set the fan speed accordingly to bring the temp down, u must have access holes on the bottome of the tent to let fresh air in that way youll have the negative pressure hot air goes out the top with the duct fan and fresh air is pulled in fron the liwer access panels

If you wanna keep it hidden mount the duct and fan inside the tent know you will lose alot of grow space

 

[danglyroot]

I just ordered a new 6" fan and filter, so hopefully that will eliminate the issue. If not, I could always use the 4" fan I currently have for intake if the passives aren't enough. I'm not keen on mounting the fan/filter outside of the tent, but like you said, the current, smaller combo I have takes up quite a bit of space. Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. I'll post an update next week once I get the new equipment installed and let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again.

 

[grimmreefer]

If you could use the window for an intake it would probably take your Temps down. Just put a duct close to it and run it thru your bottom vent. It's always good to have outside air anyways. More CO2 out there.

Also, I don't know where you are but I'm assuming it getting colder, not warmer where you are. 90 isn't too bad. A sativa strain would thrive in that.

Make sure all of the fans on your lights are working, you can blow a bigger fan in the tent.