Help a noob start an indoor tent grow?

[InterestingPie]

Would like to use two tents for veg and flower: 60 x 60 x 120cm

Veg: 250w MH, 4" Centrifugal
Flower: 250w HPS, 4" Centrifugal, 30cm Carbon Filter

Some questions...

1. Living in the sub-tropics with an air conditioner on a lot of the time. Will this effect humidity dramatically? I can switch to just cranking the ceiling fans as an alternate.

2. What lighting should I use in the veg tent? Should I go with the 250w MH or would I lower costs and heat with a half dozen CFLs?

3. What lamp shade should I use for the tents? Is the grow space, a 4" centrifugal and a low 250w enough to afford an open shade? Should I go with Cool Tubes to be on the safe side?

4. Should I use active or passive intake for fresh air in the tents? The uniform seems to be active fan intakes on the internet but several experienced growers over the years in real life have argued that passive intake creates negative pressure or something like this where as both active outtake and intake bump heads

5. I only have a small one bedroom apartment, again in relatively warm weather mid 30c dropping to mid 20c in the coming months, will the 250w at 18 and 12 hours plus all the other gear heat up the apartment significantly? Will I be ok as long as I keep it away from the bedroom and lounge? As a rental venting to the ceiling isn't an option.

 

[geopolitical]

1. This is basically question #5. See the end.

2. I would go with the HID (the 250w MH)

3. There are plenty of shades that will work with your tent. I would personally go for an enclosed shade as you mentioned you were in the sub tropics. An enclosed shade will help keep the tent that much cooler.

4. Passive intake. Active intakes have a LOT of problems. On paper they seem great. In practice they're not. If you have a ton of experience balancing HVAC systems go for it, otherwise use a passive intake.

5. I have no idea how well insulated your apartment is, how big your AC is, if it's running on "full" to keep the apt that cool, etc. 500w+ fan of head isn't a ton, but in a marginal setup even a small heat source can build up over time. Can you run a stove or entertain several people for extended periods w/o it overheating in the room?

 

[basspirate]

Yep, I agree...go with the 250, you won't regret it. While cooling the light is an important and much discussed matter on grow forums, if you simply get the right gear to cool it...you won't have to think twice (at least in my experience).

I have a small 22x36x64inch grow tent and run a 250w switchable MH/HPS with a 4" inline fan with scrubber attached. The tent has a nice slightly "sucked in look" so I know the pressure is on and I have opened a few decent sized intake vents...the result, everything is working perfectly. Plants are happy and growing fast. You might want a little 10 dollar fan to blow over the tops of the plants so you can get the lamp down low.

If you aren't worried about the security risks of growing in an apartment, I would go for it in a second.

Actually, the one thing I will say you might wrap your head around is finding a way to dampen the sound of the fan...they can be a bit loud, but nothing crazy.


Good luck with the grow...I am sitting in a frozen hellhole wishing I was in the subtropics!

 

[JOJO420]

Ok here we go Hope this helps

Living in the sub-tropics with an air conditioner on a lot of the time. Will this effect humidity dramatically? I can switch to just cranking the ceiling fans as an alternate.

Yuor gonna be pulling outside air INTO and discharging stale warm air OUT. The Humidity of your tent will be its own climate. If the air going in is cold and fresh your golden.

What lighting should I use in the veg tent? Should I go with the 250w MH or would I lower costs and heat with a half dozen CFLs?

I vote for both. Cfl's have their place. The 250 will rock it. I t all depends on how hot it gets and what the temps and humidity is like. If one works ago with it as you cant fail with either choice.

What lamp shade should I use for the tents?

wide and flat, one of the new slim compact ones is what i would use, course I grow vertical and love it.

Should I use active or passive intake for fresh air in the tents?

Active if you can, passive will work, but then light gets in sometimes, depends on how you do it.. The active airflow is better for the health of the plants also.

5. I only have a small one bedroom apartment, again in relatively warm weather mid 30c dropping to mid 20c in the coming months, will the 250w at 18 and 12 hours plus all the other gear heat up the apartment significantly? Will I be ok as long as I keep it away from the bedroom and lounge? As a rental venting to the ceiling isn't an option.

this is a great question. Well you could always vent out a window? or into the main room or out the bathroom? depends on how stealthy you wanna be. answer that and you will get better responses and more detailed help
Good luck

 

[pinecone]

Would like to use two tents for veg and flower: 60 x 60 x 120cm

Veg: 250w MH, 4" Centrifugal
Flower: 250w HPS, 4" Centrifugal, 30cm Carbon Filter

2. What lighting should I use in the veg tent? Should I go with the 250w MH or would I lower costs and heat with a half dozen CFLs?

You might want to do some thinking about how large you want to veg plants and how many and what size moms you want to maintain. If you don't plan on vegging for a long time - growing huge plants - or maintaining a larger number of mother plants - or plan on bonsai moms you could easily get away with a smaller veg area.

Your current plans have veg and flower tents that are identical in size and configuration. You might be able to save some money and space while at the same time producing bigger yields by downsizing the veg area and upgrading the flowering chamber. In particular, a 60cm x 60cm tent is pretty big for flowering with a 250w lamp.

Pine

 

[CannabisDog]

If you can afford it I would go with a 400 watt hps cool tube for the flowering tent. 250 is small for that size tent. I find the 400 watt a bit small for my tent. You will be rewarded for the bigger light.

 

[hippydan]

If you can afford it I would go with a 400 watt hps cool tube for the flowering tent. 250 is small for that size tent. I find the 400 watt a bit small for my tent. You will be rewarded for the bigger light.

A 250 watt light is already over 50watts per square foot in a 2x2 tent. There's no reason to go higher than that..

 

[pinecone]

A 250 watt light is already over 50watts per square foot in a 2x2 tent. There's no reason to go higher than that..

metric conversions - I was confusing 60cm with 60in for some reason. I retract my earlier post; 250 is plenty is big enough for the tent.

Given the size of the bloom tent though you could get away with a smaller setup for veg though. Typically a veg area doesn't need to be as large as the flowering area as the veg area is used for much smaller plants (on average).

Pine

 

[yesum]

Typically the veg light is weaker than the flower light, so something in the 100 watt range or even less for veg would do. Pll flouros like 2 55 watt lights for the veg. Cfls in clamp reflectors also work. Y splitter and 2 lights per reflector, I use 26 watt ones.

I would try passive air intake first, as it is easier and likely to work. I use a section of 4 inch dryer vent hose in the intake port, hanging down to the ground for a light trap of sorts.

 

[nameless]

lots of good replies in here, i hope they help your situation. i would start out trying cfls or t5s for vegging to keep the heat down. also, i rent myself and can understand your fear of cutting holes in walls or ceilings. but, as a painter, i know that sheetrock is repairable. if you have flat white ceilings your golden, you can patch and paint them easily. popcorn, yeah, if its still bright white not too hard to patch, if its dirty you might have to paint the whole thing over, still doable. knockdown, your going to need a pro to patch it, or get really good at it yourself. also, dont forget about a/c ducts, you could easily exhaust through one of them or through the hole where a light/fan was. or will be, lol. just wanted to give you some ideas, if your going to be at that location growing for a little while, it might be worth it to cut some holes, depending. best of luck to you!@

 

[InterestingPie]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Following up now - had internet problems for a week or so.

I have taken on board all of your suggestions and would like to get some more info on my tent selection - you have made me think twice pinecone.

I only want 2 - 3 mothers and 2 - 4 plants on the go in each tent at any one time. As such I'm assuming the mothers won't need to be very big and only have to provide a cutting or two every couple of months. At the same time I can't imagine enough room in the Veg tent to fit them and 4 vegging plants. Maybe I've got bad estimate skills and can't envisage 0.6mX0.6m properly?

I was going to LST as I went and, not to sound optimistic, but only need maybe 150 grams or so per harvest - presumably attainable from 2-4 plants in tents that size if I Veg for 4 weeks and then flower. I would like to experiment after my initial harvest and veg for longer if the height permits.

What would you guys suggest instead? The next tent size from my retailer jumps to 1mX1mX1.8m and I would assume at the very least I'd want a 400w for that?

I was semi-confident in my small time plan but now you guys have me more motivated, salivating for stronger yields and making me ask 're-design my setup for me'.

 

[pinecone]

I only want 2 - 3 mothers and 2 - 4 plants on the go in each tent at any one time. As such I'm assuming the mothers won't need to be very big and only have to provide a cutting or two every couple of months. At the same time I can't imagine enough room in the Veg tent to fit them and 4 vegging plants. Maybe I've got bad estimate skills and can't envisage 0.6mX0.6m properly?

You should consider bonsai moms. They are moms that are kept very small via small pots, weekly trimming, and occasional root pruning. Bonsai moms can be kept in a 4" square pot as long as you don't mind watering frequently - or setting up blumats, (or something similar). The amount of space required 2-3 bonsai moms is minimal (48in^2 or 120cm^2)

All About Bonsai Moms - https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=31919

Additionally, if you are only planing on vegging for one month you really don't need much beyond 6" (9cm x 12cm) nursery pots. You can do a final transplant into something bigger (and start training) when they get moved into the flowering area.

I was going to LST as I went and, not to sound optimistic, but only need maybe 150 grams or so per harvest - presumably attainable from 2-4 plants in tents that size if I Veg for 4 weeks and then flower. I would like to experiment after my initial harvest and veg for longer if the height permits.

150 grams per 60 days with 250w is probably pretty optimistic. You could probably do it eventually, but it would take some time to find plants that are capable and to perfect your techniques. Since you don't have a large amount of space to grow out a bunch of plants and do selections it would take you longer than someone that had a lot of space.

What would you guys suggest instead? The next tent size from my retailer jumps to 1mX1mX1.8m and I would assume at the very least I'd want a 400w for that?

At least a 400 for 1m x 1m, and I would probably do a 600 because you get a lot more light for not much more electricity.

Truthfully, I'm not necessarily recommending that you go bigger than you planned. If you are growing for yourself you may not need 6 harvest of 150g per year. Everyone is different, but for us 1kg of bud is much more than is needed for 1 year. In the last year my wife and I have been unconstrained and have gone through about 0.40kg. Additionally, you are planning on growing in an apartment so you should be concerned about security.

Here are some possibilities to consider:
- Use a small cupboard, nightstand, or cab for a veg chamber fluorescent light or a small HID
- Use a 250w tent for flower - or if you are concerned about security use a wardrobe cabinet instead.
- Get a bigger flowering light and tent and only run it 4 months a year. Keep a small discrete flowering chamber to keep moms alive, root cuttings, and veg small plants. Once you figure out what you are doing you can easily harvest .5kg off a 600 in a 1m x 1m tent.

Pine