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Choosing Equipment for a Secret Jardin DR2 DR-90 3x3 Tent Setup

bookaker

New member
To make a long story short, a friend had some unexpected expenses and gave me an awesome deal on a few grow equipment pieces. My main concern was that the pieces my not exactly be the best fit for a 3x3 tent but with your help perhaps I could make it work out.

Tent
  • Secret Jardin dr90 3x3 tent (purchased from friend)

I will be placing the tent in a large closet with an average ambient temperature of about 75 degrees year round. I have an AC duct very close to the closet and can leave the closet door open to ventilate more

Lighting
  • SS Magnum XXXL 6" (purchased from friend)
  • Lumatek 600w Bulb
  • Lumatek 600w Digital Ballast

There are a few issues that I have with this hood and tried to search and have found some growers using a similar setup. I think the magnum xxxl is a bit large for a 3x3 tent but if I scrog or grow short bushy plants I may get away with it. If I scrog I possibly could even mount the carbon filter up there as well. Do you think it's worth a shot?

Grow Method
  • (4) Modified GH Waterfarms with res and controller (purchased 8 pack from friend)
  • (4) 4" disc air stones
  • (1) GH dual diaphragm air pump
  • (1) EcoPlus Air 1 (20 watt I believe) commercial air pump
  • (1) EcoPlus 1/10hp water chiller

I will be scrogging or cultivate indica dominant plants. I will be drilling extra holes, adding shutoff valves to each bucket, and add the water chiller and inline pump (with a ball valve to control flow) on the return line before the reservoir. The res/controller bucket and waterchiller will be plumbed outside the tent with fan blowing across them.

Exhaust


Since these are brand new and never used I thought I might try them out, even though they are a chinese generic brand. But I am not sure if they will work well together since the fan is only rated at 206cfm. Using the idea that air should be replaced every 3 mins, in a 3x3x6 tent, I would need at least 162cfm to properly exhaust the air in the tent. I thought I might be ok even with the resistance that the xxxl hood might give.

If all else fails I have a Can setup that I can put on a fan controller as backup.

Intake
Not sure which way to go with this

Meters
Hanna Combo Pen. If I have left over funds after the Holidays I have my eyes set on a Blue Lab Guardian.

Any opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 

Snow Crash

Active member
Veteran
To make a long story short, a friend had some unexpected expenses and gave me an awesome deal on a few grow equipment pieces. My main concern was that the pieces my not exactly be the best fit for a 3x3 tent but with your help perhaps I could make it work out.

Tent
  • Secret Jardin dr90 3x3 tent (purchased from friend)

Awesome man. I'm not totally happy with my DR90 (rusting poles after just 3 months) but hopefully you'll have better luck.

I will be placing the tent in a large closet with an average ambient temperature of about 75 degrees year round. I have an AC duct very close to the closet and can leave the closet door open to ventilate more

Ambient 75 is about what you want for the plants. Typically the temperature in the tent is 3-4 degrees over what the intake temperature will be so you may want to focus on maintaining more of a 72f ambient room temperature for the best results. Ideal for many strains is 75.6 to 76.5 at the canopy, although sativas can stand slightly higher temps if the humidity comes up a little as well.

Lighting
  • SS Magnum XXXL 6" (purchased from friend)
  • Lumatek 600w Bulb
  • Lumatek 600w Digital Ballast

There are a few issues that I have with this hood and tried to search and have found some growers using a similar setup. I think the magnum xxxl is a bit large for a 3x3 tent but if I scrog or grow short bushy plants I may get away with it. If I scrog I possibly could even mount the carbon filter up there as well. Do you think it's worth a shot?

This hood is too big. At 32.5" long that leaves just 1.5" on either end between the hood and the tent wall. It's not enough room to run the ducting, and you'd also need to keep the reflector at the top of the tent to duct straight out, which means no room for the carbon filter anyway.

I would want to pick up something smaller. I use a Blockbuster 6 and even at 26"x26" that is still a little too big for my DR90. A Yield Master 2 is the smallest one I can think of at the moment.

Grow Method
  • (4) Modified GH Waterfarms with res and controller (purchased 8 pack from friend)
  • (4) 4" disc air stones
  • (1) GH dual diaphragm air pump
  • (1) EcoPlus Air 1 (20 watt I believe) commercial air pump
  • (1) EcoPlus 1/10hp water chiller

I will be scrogging or cultivate indica dominant plants. I will be drilling extra holes, adding shutoff valves to each bucket, and add the water chiller and inline pump (with a ball valve to control flow) on the return line before the reservoir. The res/controller bucket and waterchiller will be plumbed outside the tent with fan blowing across them.

Think of it like this. You have an area 3 feet long and 3 feet wide. If you put 4 plants in there it gives each plant only 9 inches of growing space on either side of the stem. Really, not much room for scrogging. Those waterfarms will produce some decent sized plants so you're going to want to turn to flowering pretty early or they will become crowded (which is another bag of worms). Go with the indica's, feel free to top them maybe once, but don't train them out too heavily because there just isn't the need to with that many plants in those systems that small an area.

Exhaust


Since these are brand new and never used I thought I might try them out, even though they are a chinese generic brand. But I am not sure if they will work well together since the fan is only rated at 206cfm. Using the idea that air should be replaced every 3 mins, in a 3x3x6 tent, I would need at least 162cfm to properly exhaust the air in the tent. I thought I might be ok even with the resistance that the xxxl hood might give.

If all else fails I have a Can setup that I can put on a fan controller as backup.

You need to match the fan to the filter. That filter will reduce the already low flow rate of the fan and it will be inefficient at cooling your space. A 3x3x6 space is only 54cuft. So you'd only need 18cfm to exhaust every 3 minutes... But you should definitely exhaust more than that. 3x per minute, or about 162cfm, is more along the lines of what I think you were getting at. The fan you have is appropriate but the filter is not. When it comes to security and smell I would get a filter that matched my fan. A 4"x12" Phresh Filter is the choice that I would make here.

Intake
Not sure which way to go with this

Meters
Hanna Combo Pen. If I have left over funds after the Holidays I have my eyes set on a Blue Lab Guardian.

Any opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Intake: Not required. You do need some air circulation fans and there's not a lot of room in there. Try getting 2-3 clip fans and setting them up in the corners. Its not oscillating but it's better than nothing and they are small enough not to cast much of a shadow.

Meters: You're going to need to stay on your calibrations with the Hanna pen. I'd do them once a week, at least, especially the pH. The BlueLab is a worthy investment to keep your reservoir dialed.
 

bookaker

New member
Awesome man. I'm not totally happy with my DR90 (rusting poles after just 3 months) but hopefully you'll have better luck.

What would you try next? I have only seen three tents in person. One is the SC Dark Room 2 dr90, the Gorilla Grow equivalent and some generic brand off amazon. I chose the dr90 because it looked like a feature rich tent with good build quality and a decent price. But I would hate to have rusting poles or any other problems.



Ambient 75 is about what you want for the plants. Typically the temperature in the tent is 3-4 degrees over what the intake temperature will be so you may want to focus on maintaining more of a 72f ambient room temperature for the best results. Ideal for many strains is 75.6 to 76.5 at the canopy, although sativas can stand slightly higher temps if the humidity comes up a little as well.

Great info here thanks! 75 degrees was measured throughout
the summer and a bit into September. If the winter ambient temps do not drop I will most likely use the AC or even see if blowing a fan in front of the closet door will help any.


This hood is too big. At 32.5" long that leaves just 1.5" on either end between the hood and the tent wall. It's not enough room to run the ducting, and you'd also need to keep the reflector at the top of the tent to duct straight out, which means no room for the carbon filter anyway.

I would want to pick up something smaller. I use a Blockbuster 6 and even at 26"x26" that is still a little too big for my DR90. A Yield Master 2 is the smallest one I can think of at the moment.

I was thinking the magnum xxxl is way too big. Do you recommend the Yield Master 2 over the blockbuster 6? I can trade my xxxl magnum 6" for a blockbuster 6" or buy a yield master 2 for around $75.


Think of it like this. You have an area 3 feet long and 3 feet wide. If you put 4 plants in there it gives each plant only 9 inches of growing space on either side of the stem. Really, not much room for scrogging. Those waterfarms will produce some decent sized plants so you're going to want to turn to flowering pretty early or they will become crowded (which is another bag of worms). Go with the indica's, feel free to top them maybe once, but don't train them out too heavily because there just isn't the need to with that many plants in those systems that small an area.

I will take all this into consideration. Depending on the strain I may just stick with 2 trained plants or 4 with a short veg period.

You need to match the fan to the filter. That filter will reduce the already low flow rate of the fan and it will be inefficient at cooling your space. A 3x3x6 space is only 54cuft. So you'd only need 18cfm to exhaust every 3 minutes... But you should definitely exhaust more than that. 3x per minute, or about 162cfm, is more along the lines of what I think you were getting at. The fan you have is appropriate but the filter is not. When it comes to security and smell I would get a filter that matched my fan. A 4"x12" Phresh Filter is the choice that I would make here.

Yes you are correct. I meant I wanted to move 3x per minute for a total of 162 cfm. I have a can fan and can filter setup that is rated for 600cfm. I think I might just used that instead and use a fan controller to dial down the inline fan by 50%.


Intake: Not required. You do need some air circulation fans and there's not a lot of room in there. Try getting 2-3 clip fans and setting them up in the corners. Its not oscillating but it's better than nothing and they are small enough not to cast much of a shadow.

I have a ton of small fans I can use to circulate air. I just didn't know if added a duct fan for intake was required.

Meters: You're going to need to stay on your calibrations with the Hanna pen. I'd do them once a week, at least, especially the pH. The BlueLab is a worthy investment to keep your reservoir dialed.[/QUOTE]

My hanna pen seems to lose its calibration after 2-3 weeks. You are more likely more meticulous than I am. Thank you again for the info!
 

Snow Crash

Active member
Veteran
I would go with a gorilla tent next time around. I chose the DR90 because of the cost and the short height, but I'll get my use from it I'm sure.

I like my Blockbuster, but I purchased it with the intention of using it in a larger space, 4x4 or 5x5 in the near future. If I were going to stay in the 3x3 then I would definitely consider the Yield Master 2 6" hood.
 
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