Tent light setup help

[Recklessjoint]

Ok so I'm new to growing indoors.. I've grown many summers outdoors but now that I have the space and privacy I'm planning an indoor grow.. I'm pulling the trigger on a setup come friday.. I've read as much as I can and done all my measuring and planning but I still have basically 1 question.. because of size limitations I'm going with a 4x2x5 tent.. ideally I'd prefer to go with a slightly taller tent but it's just not an option at this point.. I was planning on using a 600 watt hps/mh light with a sealed reflector and running a 440 cfm 6in fan pulling air from outside the tent thru the light then back out of the tent and venting it to the attic.. then running another of the same fans pulling air thru a scrubber inside the tent out the top and venting to the attic as well.. of course a small oscillating fan inside for air movement.. I'm not to concerned with Temps the room outside the tent is always between 72f-76f sometimes even a lil lower.. i feel confident i can keep the tent temps in check with the high volume inline fans..I'm planning to scrog with 3 plants in 3 gal pots.. but my concern is will there be enough space between the canopy and the light..? the reflector is 9 in tall so rounding to 12in to allow a Lil room between the light and ceiling of the tent leaves me 4 ft to the floor.. then let's say 12 in or so for pot height and 12 in of space between the light and canopy is only leaving 24 in of growth space.. Is This adequate enough space for a scrog..? Are my plants gonna fry under that light setup with such limited space..? Should I go for a 400 watt light instead..? Any help/tips are greatly aplreciated.. I just don't want to buy to much of a light or too little and wanting more down the road..

 

[Recklessjoint]

Also can I fit more then 3 plants in there..? I didn't want to over crowd it but I've seen some nice scrog in 4x2 tents with 6 plants

 

[JuanCarlos]

First thing I would be concerned with is your light: is it dimmable? I would go with a dimmable setup because I am concerned that you may not be able to keep that space cool running 600 watts. Perhaps that's why you are using two fans. Even if you can, a dimmable setup will allow you to dial it down if the plants grow too close to the light. You will normally see a 4x4 tent with a 600 watt HID using a single fan in this arrangement: carbon scrubber>reflector>fan. I would personally start out with one fan setup like above and see what you get.

The issues with height can be worked. Personally I would run two plants in a scrog screen, each plant gets a nice square. With the use of a scrog and some supercropping for backup you should be fine with the height.

 

[Recklessjoint]

Yes the ballast I plan on ordering is dimmable.. but I have read that dimming the ballast down causes the light spectrum to change as well as shorten bulb life.. some say it doesn't cause any noticeable changes and other say never dim them down cause its to dramatic of a difference.. any thought on this or personal experience with dimmable ballast? I planned on the 2 fan setup to allow for plenty of fresh cool air coming from outside the tent dedicated to the light so I'm not pulling tent air that's already warmer to try and cool it.. the fans have variable speed controllers built in so I can crank them down if need be if I'm creating to much air flow.. thanks for your input

 

[DukeO]

Is there a reason your not going with LED in such a small tent?

It sounds like it would be the perfect light for your needs.

They give off much less heat and take up less space and the plants can get closer to them without burning.

Those are the reasons I switched over and I am glad I did.

 

[Recklessjoint]

I honestly hadn't considered led much.. I was worried it would be too costly and everything I've read says hid is the best way to go.. any suggestions on an led setup for around 225 that I should look at..? I looked at some Mars hydros that where 300 watt but they say it's an actual rating of only 132 watt for 99.99 would 2 of these be a good choice over 1 600 watt hid?

 

[DukeO]

I would run two Mars II 400's in it.

mars hydro led grow light-mars II 4

You could also run a mars hydro led grow light -reflector 144

I think the two 400's would be better for that tent.

I run mine in a spare bedroom and just have a black Honeywell fan that blows out the top side vent into the room and it just pulls fresh air from the bottom open vents.

It works great for me.

To me. One good run pays for everything and it is a Much safer way to go as far as fire or burning plants with to much heat.

It is very hot where I live in the summer. Before I would have to shut down for 2 or 3 months from the heat. Now I can grow all year long.

I for sure will never go back now...

 

[Recklessjoint]

What about using 3 300s..? the actual watt compared to 2 400 the 3 300s come out to almost 50 watts more and almost 100 bucks cheaper for 3 300s rather then 2 400s.. how's your flower development with led..? Nice and dense..? I want to avoid stretchy flowers.. I considered cfl lights but I've read so much back and forth opinions on cfl.. hid seemed to be what most people agreed on for over all best option if the heat can be dealt with.. I just want to make sure I spend my money wisely

 

[DukeO]

If you went with 3 300's I would make sure that they are using 5w LED's.

The old ones used 3w. I own many of them.They work great in veg and will flower them out.

But 5w's have better penetration. They did at one point make some 300's with 5w's.

But I think you may need to look on EBay for them now.

 

[Recklessjoint]

MarsHydro Mars300 Mars600 LED Grow Light(Mars300 with Veg/Bloom Spectrum

It says they are the 5 watt less and sold by marshydro thru amazon.. I'm gonna do a Lil more reading on leds and strongly consider them before I make my purchase on friday.. but thank you for your input

 

[DukeO]

Yes those are the newer 300's with 5w LED's and three of those should work great for you in there.

 

[JuanCarlos]

Concerning HID, I am sure dimming a bulb down shortens the life of the bulb and spectrum may shift a bit, but not to the point that it won't grow good plants.

LED is an option, seems to be the way that things are going these days. Before you run out and buy a few Mars Hydro units which will do the job, I encourage you to research DIY LED, perhaps go to YouTube and look at the videos made by Growmau5. You can build something that will produce amazing buds, although your entry cost will likely be a bit more than a Mars Hydro setup. If you are looking at the Mars Hydro, check eBay for the old style Mars 300, they have them for $73. No veg/bloom switch, but I don't think you will need it with 3+ panels. And 3 is the minimum number of panels I would use in that tent.

 

[Recklessjoint]

I just wanted to thank you guys for the input.. I placed my order today and decided to go for 2 mars hydro 300s instead of 3 for budgets sake.. I've seen a YouTube video of a guy scroging in a 4x2 with 2 mars 300s and having some really nice results so I'll see how it goes for me and I figure I can always pick a 3rd one up if I feel the need later on.. I already have 4 seedlings going into week 2 of veg now under some small cfls.. I can't wait till Saturday for my equipment to get here and get my gear up and running.. just need to pick up a few small things tomorrow like a light timer and a few larger pots and I'll be set..!!

 

[JuanCarlos]

Atta boy! That's the conservative thinking you need!