Grow Tent Advice

[jaynewbie]

Hi guys,


I'm looking advice on how to improve my current setup


This is my current grow tent

I'm having issue to drop the temperature to desired level.


Lights off for my babies is from 7am till 7pm then rest is lights on.


During lights on + the ac , temperature is around 29 degree Celsius and during lights off is around 26 degree Celsius .


I've tried a lot of method trying to meet the desired temperature. Harvesting for one of my babies is 2-3 weeks away and i'm planning to use brown paper method to hang it above the tent.


I have 3 oscillating fan and a tower fan


Tower oscillating fan is on the floor to cool the ground , 2 oscillating fan is hanged in the top tier of the tent facing to the plant in opposite direction rotating. The last oscillating fan is facing directly to the LED lamp to cool it off.


During night time, i had to on my portable ac + mini split ac to achieve 24 degree celsius for lights on and 18 during lights off. The bill came out for this month electricity and it almost hit 1 grand...


Is it okay if i put in the AC in the tent , and the exhaust hose for the AC i equipped it with carbon filter? and remove my exhaust fan?

I'm running both veg/bloom switch at the same time since it's flowering

Any advice?

 

[Ladon]

That's a pretty big light for a tent that size. Where are you venting the tent?

If your in a room I would just use that as a lung room and cool that and draw passively into your tent while venting back into the room...just watch humidity and source of co2 whether ambient air or from a tank. Inside the tent I would only have the carbon filter, fan, light and one oscillating fan.

 

[gr865]

I would not blow the air down from the top of the tent, that is where heat accumulates.

 

[jaynewbie]

That's a pretty big light for a tent that size. Where are you venting the tent?

If your in a room I would just use that as a lung room and cool that and draw passively into your tent while venting back into the room...just watch humidity and source of co2 whether ambient air or from a tank. Inside the tent I would only have the carbon filter, fan, light and one oscillating fan.

From the tent i have a 3M ducting directly to outside through a window.

This is how my tent looks like

I would not blow the air down from the top of the tent, that is where heat accumulates.

My intake is at the bottom and the exhaust is on top. Or should i do it the other way around?

 

[gr865]

Intake and exhaust are both good just saying that if you have fans at the top of the tent blowing down that could b e problems.

 

[Ladon]

I would only vent the air conditioner out the window and vent the tent back into the room at floor height since heat rises. Right now your exhaust fan is blowing up to 10 times the volume of your tent a minute out the window so I bet your a/c never shuts off.

 

[jaynewbie]

I would only vent the air conditioner out the window and vent the tent back into the room at floor height since heat rises. Right now your exhaust fan is blowing up to 10 times the volume of your tent a minute out the window so I bet your a/c never shuts off.

Exactly, that what i'm facing. The A/C never stop turning off, before this it will stop when it hit 24 accordingly , im using a china made brand fan ..

 

[zeroday]

Yup, I would agree with @Ladon If you can, control the temperature of the room that the tent is in, and let the tent get its air from the room instead of direct from the AC.

I'd guess you are sucking the air out of the tent quicker than it is cooled. Then, the tent has to get air flow from somewhere, so it gets warmer air from the room the tent is in, and then needs to cool that. If you cool all of the air in the room the tent is in, it will have plenty of cool air to suck from.

 

[jaynewbie]

Yup, I would agree with @Ladon If you can, control the temperature of the room that the tent is in, and let the tent get its air from the room instead of direct from the AC.

I'd guess you are sucking the air out of the tent quicker than it is cooled. Then, the tent has to get air flow from somewhere, so it gets warmer air from the room the tent is in, and then needs to cool that. If you cool all of the air in the room the tent is in, it will have plenty of cool air to suck from.

So i'm going to revamp, is this okay, i put a little higher and the ducting hole facing downwards.. so the ac have space to cool the room

cc @Ladon

 

[Ladon]

Don't bother running ducting from the a/c to the tent, just put the a/c by the window and let it cool the whole room.

 

[jaynewbie]

Don't bother running ducting from the a/c to the tent, just put the a/c by the window and let it cool the whole room.

A little bit confuse, my intake fan is in the room sucking air from my room. This is the layout of my room, so i put the a/c to passive intake ? but i think it's not much diff cause the outside window also got intake air coming in passively

 

[Ladon]

Sorry if I'm confusing you, hopefully this picture helps clear things up

 

[jaynewbie]

Sorry if I'm confusing you, hopefully this picture helps clear things up

So it's more of a close system?

So i assume my toilet will only be used when i want to shower or something.
But for the AC exhaust, the only option i got is open one window .. will need to find a way to close the window and let the hot go out.

My window is type

Thanks to you today, i learn something, i don't necessarily need to extract the exhaust fan of the grow tent directly to outside. i can allow it to circulate in my room and let the aircond do the job

 

[Ladon]

No problem it's closed to an extent so just keep an eye on the humidity. As your air conditioner exhaust it will draw new air into the room through door cracks, central heating ducts...etc. If it's too sealed you might have to add a passive intake to the room.

As for the window you'll have to figure some way to exhaust your air conditioner out, maybe a foam insulation board over the opening with an exhaust hole?

 

[jaynewbie]

No problem it's closed to an extent so just keep an eye on the humidity. As your air conditioner exhaust it will draw new air into the room through door cracks, central heating ducts...etc. If it's too sealed you might have to add a passive intake to the room.

As for the window you'll have to figure some way to exhaust your air conditioner out, maybe a foam insulation board over the opening with an exhaust hole?

i just purchased this product below, hopefully will help. Will update you on the airflow system im going to build

 

[Ladon]

i just purchased this product below, hopefully will help. Will update you on the airflow system im going to build

Nice, let me know how it works out for you.

 

[Bud basher]

How’s it going Jay do you live in a hot part of the country? As you should not need an ac to cool that tent especially as your light is led and not hps, I notice you have the extraction running in the room you need to duct it out of the room completely and your intake should be taken from outside fresh air as it will be colder than the room. If you live in a very hot climate ie the temps outside are hotter than the temperature you need in the tent then you’ll have to use the ac, draw the ac from outside the window as you have shown build a cardboard and duct tape box on the top of the ac with a 4 inch hole to your intake air tight as best as possible and your extractor ducted to outside the room this should piss cooling that tent down. I would also check all your fans as they could not be running right which I think is your problem cause you should not have all these problems cooling that tent, that’s my 2 bobs worth hope this helps cheers.

 

[jaynewbie]

How’s it going Jay do you live in a hot part of the country? As you should not need an ac to cool that tent especially as your light is led and not hps, I notice you have the extraction running in the room you need to duct it out of the room completely and your intake should be taken from outside fresh air as it will be colder than the room. If you live in a very hot climate ie the temps outside are hotter than the temperature you need in the tent then you’ll have to use the ac, draw the ac from outside the window as you have shown build a cardboard and duct tape box on the top of the ac with a 4 inch hole to your intake air tight as best as possible and your extractor ducted to outside the room this should piss cooling that tent down. I would also check all your fans as they could not be running right which I think is your problem cause you should not have all these problems cooling that tent, that’s my 2 bobs worth hope this helps cheers.

I live in a very humid and hot country, during daytime its 30 degree celcius ++ .
Currently, this is my setup but still no luck. I manage to bring down the temperature ... now the issue is with the humidity.
I changed to the lung of room setup. During lights off , i can bring it down to 23 degree celcius and light on is 29.
Is it okay?

 

[Bud basher]

22 degrees light out and 25 lights on is the ideal temperatures for growing if like you say you are in a place with that kind of heat and humidity that fucking sucks, the light on temperature is boarded line, what is you humidity readings light on and off in the tent? What light do you have? And what tent do you have? Where do you live in the fucking Amazon lol let us know as I still have a few more things to help let us know cheers.

 

[Southerncough]

I also live in a very hot, humid climate and constantly battling temperatures and humidity, especially since my garden is in my garage. You will be okay if your temps are a little higher than say folks growing in a cool Colorado basement or a Canadian summer outdoor grow.
Wanted to share a few lessons I've learned.
1) charcoal filters are more effective at lower fan speeds. If you have to blast your tent exhaust fan full power you could have odor problems.

2) not all strains need cold weather. So you won't get to wow your friends with blue and purple buds, but remember this stuff grows natively in the tropics (Thailand, Brazil, Africa, Jamaica, etc) see if you can find a heat tolerant strain that doesn't grow too tall. I've been digging Mandala seeds and their extensive breeding and research of heat tolerant strains that can really take a beating.
If you can't beat the elements, join them!

3) Portable ACs only work if you can move hot air away from the compressor.
Hence any further than the factory provided exhaust hose and it wont cool. I had mine tied into my dryer vent for a while and thought it was broken until i added an inline fan to push the hot air further down the tube.

As previous growers commented, the AC will create WAY more heat than your light. Top priority is putting that hot air OUTSIDE. I like splitting my ac between the ambient room and grow tent which keeps both relatively under control.

You're not alone and it took me a while to figure stuff out. Like i learned that my light was amazing, but not a good fit for my situation and needed changing, etc.

I'll share pics of my setup when i get home.

Best of luck!