How Do The Passive Intake Vents On The Bottom Of Grow Tents Not Cause Light Leaks?

[MajorGrindage]

Hi,

I am setting up my first grow soon with 5x5 tents, and i know that you must leave the air intake vents on the bottom of the tents open so that fresh air is able to enter.

My question is, it seems like these vents are just covered with a bug screen, but allow light in, so how does leaving these flaps open not cause light leaks?

I am using Gorilla Grow Tent 5X5 tents, and 8 inch AC infinity T8 exhaust fans.

For example, what if i need to come in during lights off and do some work in the lung room, but the bottom vents will be open so the light from the room will be entering my tents during lights off.

Also, theres a window in my lung room, so will the intake vents allow the window light in during lights off?

The only solution i can think of is to just not open them and leave them velcro'd... do they not need to be open?

Thanks in advance for any help, i really appreciate it!

 

[Mr. J]

Don't use those. Use one or more (preferably 2 of them at least) bottom vent holes and run some flexible ducting and leave it long enough to make a couple of bends (like an S) and the light won't get in.

Use the biggest ducting for the intakes that you can. If you can go with 10 inch do that. The more freely air enters the tent the less it will want to suck the walls in and implode on itself.

 

[negative37dBA]

I use my tent in a dark room. Then I am able to leave the vents open so they work. Yes they will leak light like crazy if you dont take some precautions. Tents generally suck to flower in, in my humble opinion. Even the best quality ones have stitching issues. I use mine for veg only in a dark room.
Peace, negative.

 

[moose eater]

My shop is dark where my boxes are located, but the whole issue of 'light leaks' is often exaggerated.

To disrupt the bloom cycle requires light above 'x' intensity, and most lower vents don't let that amount in.

Consider the amount of light on a full moon night. And yet cannabis blooms under those monthly conditions outdoors.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Hi,

I am setting up my first grow soon with 5x5 tents, and i know that you must leave the air intake vents on the bottom of the tents open so that fresh air is able to enter.

My question is, it seems like these vents are just covered with a bug screen, but allow light in, so how does leaving these flaps open not cause light leaks?

I am using Gorilla Grow Tent 5X5 tents, and 8 inch AC infinity T8 exhaust fans.

For example, what if i need to come in during lights off and do some work in the lung room, but the bottom vents will be open so the light from the room will be entering my tents during lights off.

Also, theres a window in my lung room, so will the intake vents allow the window light in during lights off?

The only solution i can think of is to just not open them and leave them velcro'd... do they not need to be open?

Thanks in advance for any help, i really appreciate it!

Think how bright it can be at night, under a full moon, after your eyes have adjusted?

In my experience, light leaks and the consequences of them are greatly over-exaggerated. A general rule of thumb, if it's bright enough for you to read a book for 5 minutes, then that's going to cause problems. If you can't read a book, you're not going to have any trouble with delayed flowering, hermies, etc.

 

[Ca++]

If you can't read in there, it's probably alright.
As a rule, I keep the room pretty dark. Without window covering of some sort, the light from within the tent causes a security risk. People don't have light that bright in their houses. So blocking the window becomes a two way issue.
I think I once used the flaps at the back, when the tent was up to a wall. I have an image of standing a box to one, and using it like ducting. It may of been a dream though.
Today I have ducts from the lower holes, which goes straight up towards my roof. Where the air is warmer. Using a bulldog clip, the tent seam around the roof, is a useful anchor point for these ducts. Though they really just serve to get warmer air in this cooler weather. I don't zip up my tent, in this darkened room. The zips are too noisy. Instead I have a sheet dropped over the door side. I guess sheets over the duct sides could be made use of, but the room itself needs light control.
I do have my veg in a second tent in there, but it lives within a third tent. So I just enter that 3rd tent, which houses the veg tent (number 2) and actually tent number 4 also. 2 in 1.

 

[negative37dBA]

My shop is dark where my boxes are located, but the whole issue of 'light leaks' is often exaggerated.

To disrupt the bloom cycle requires light above 'x' intensity, and most lower vents don't let that amount in.

Consider the amount of light on a full moon night. And yet cannabis blooms under those monthly conditions outdoors.

Bruce Bugbee would highly disagree with that statement. Cannabis is EXTEMELY sensitive to light pollution.
We are also not growing outside in nature brother

 

[Ca++]

Bruce Bugbee would highly disagree with that statement. Cannabis is EXTEMELY sensitive to light pollution.
We are also not growing outside in nature brother

It is sensitive, judged beside many other plants. However, to put a number on that, is difficult for us. Bugbee suggests covering the LED indicator lamps in equipment isn't needed, and I think is the one talking about reading. If you can't read a typical sized print, it's just not enough. Our eyes are also very sensitive.

It would seem the moon is under the count of a light meter, or not bright enough to read the light meter Hence we are guided to use reading effort as the judge.

 

[moose eater]

Bruce Bugbee would highly disagree with that statement. Cannabis is EXTEMELY sensitive to light pollution.
We are also not growing outside in nature brother

I've been growing indoors for decades, and I highly agree with my statement. To each their own.

Edit: Light sensitivity is light sensitivity, indoors or out. Photoperiod plants don't become more susceptible to it by being in a basement or closet than if they were in a corn field.

Maybe if there are other stressors happening, then..... maybe...

 

[goingrey]

Secret Jardin intake vents have an angled grille. Homebox have some kind of flap IIRC. Both have a mesh for the intake as well.

Any light from them is highly localized in the container space anyway as the intake vents are at the bottom of the tent. Not too much getting to the leaves.

 

[goingrey]

You can buy the Secret Jardin vents and grilles separately and install in any tent btw.

 

[whiteberrieS]

Hi,

I am setting up my first grow soon with 5x5 tents, and i know that you must leave the air intake vents on the bottom of the tents open so that fresh air is able to enter.

My question is, it seems like these vents are just covered with a bug screen, but allow light in, so how does leaving these flaps open not cause light leaks?

I am using Gorilla Grow Tent 5X5 tents, and 8 inch AC infinity T8 exhaust fans.

For example, what if i need to come in during lights off and do some work in the lung room, but the bottom vents will be open so the light from the room will be entering my tents during lights off.

Also, theres a window in my lung room, so will the intake vents allow the window light in during lights off?

The only solution i can think of is to just not open them and leave them velcro'd... do they not need to be open?

Thanks in advance for any help, i really appreciate it!

Night vision bro, go in like delta force

 

[moose eater]

You can buy the Secret Jardin vents and grilles separately and install in any tent btw.

View attachment 18998651

When I worried more about this issue, I used something like these, but even lighter gauge aluminum, and closer to 3" x 15" or so, and cheap.

My vents had a bug screen on the inside.

My boxes are plywood construction,and had one vent at the base of each side.

I took 30" x 6" soft/thin-gauge aluminum ducting, opened it up at the crimping/locking seam into a half-moon shape, and screwed each edge above and below the aluminum vents to shield the light, letting air in either end of the half-moon ducting.

Worked fine, but was a pain in the ass as a protrusion, in re. to getting kicked or running things into it.
And, as implied in my earlier post, I found it to be unnecessary.

Unless bright light is getting in, most male stress pods (NOT technically a hermaphrodite; a distinction too often left unaddressed) on an otherwise stable female photoperiod plant are caused by other factors such as -other- environmental stressors; to much H2O, too much nutrient, too little nutrient, ph issues, too dry, etc.

 

[goingrey]

Yeah vent grilles are standard HVAC gear I have seen them at the hardware store. But the Secret Jardin ones are designed for fabric walls and easy to install.

I don't worry about it either but I installed it because it came with the tent, why not. If someone else is worried and have a different make tent they can buy one.

Herming is one issue and something many people are terrified of but IMO a bigger problem are issues with extended flowering, might even start revegging, I have had this with a broken timer.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

When I worried more about this issue, I used something like these, but even lighter gauge aluminum, and closer to 3" x 15" or so, and cheap.

View attachment 18998685

My vents had a bug screen on the inside.

My boxes are plywood construction,and had one vent at the base of each side.

I took 30" x 6" soft/thin-gauge aluminum ducting, opened it up at the crimping/locking seam into a half-moon shape, and screwed each edge above and below the aluminum vents to shield the light, letting air in either end of the half-moon ducting.

Worked fine, but was a pain in the ass as a protrusion, in re. to getting kicked or running things into it.
And, as implied in my earlier post, I found it to be unnecessary

If the OP is really concerned about light, they could try a filter I use on the 8-in duct leading to my carbon filter:

That $35 Atomic Innovations filter has extended the life of my Terrabloom carbon filter by quite literally years. Filters out all the particulent soil matter that gets sucked into the carbon filter and clogs it up.

Since light intrusion isn't a concern for me, I just use standard fabric filters on all of the tent ducting to try to cut down on the particulant matter but use this one for the duct leading to the carbon filter.

 

[moose eater]

If the OP is really concerned about light, they could try a filter I use on the 8-in duct leading to my carbon filter:

View attachment 18998809

That $35 Atomic Innovations filter has extended the life of my Terrabloom carbon filter by quite literally years. Filters out all the particulent soil matter that gets sucked into the carbon filter and clogs it up.

Since light intrusion isn't a concern for me, I just use standard fabric filters on all of the tent ducting to try to cut down on the particulant matter but use this one for the duct leading to the carbon filter.

I run custom made MERV-8 filtration before my carbon filtration panels, which are also custom. If I don't run 'high flow' MERV-8s ahead of the carbon panels, then I fuck myself up in short order. Throwing cash away for carbon panels that aren't cheap. Particulate debris in a carbon panel equates to a dead carbon panel in shorter order.

Though I've been more than skeptical of the 'high flow' claim for decades. I run similar custom MERV-8 filters to either side of my HRV core in the warmer months, for pollen, small tree seeds, micro-insects, and silt, and even with a brand-new filter installed, I can feel the reduction in air flow at my supply trim faces in the house, but they help to keep the core cleaner, so I don't have to soak so long when cleaning, or, heaven forbid, replace the core any time soon. A massively expensive bit.

 

[moose eater]

Yeah vent grilles are standard HVAC gear I have seen them at the hardware store. But the Secret Jardin ones are designed for fabric walls and easy to install.

I don't worry about it either but I installed it because it came with the tent, why not. If someone else is worried and have a different make tent they can buy one.

Herming is one issue and something many people are terrified of but IMO a bigger problem are issues with extended flowering, might even start revegging, I have had this with a broken timer.

Back then I also took 6-mil black Visqueen and stapled it to the wood at the top of the venting on the inside of the box, and the air movement easily moved the black 'curtains' out of the way of incoming air when the fans were on, during the lit period.

That added to the shading of any outside light, too.

But those went away when I needed to repaint the insides of my boxes routinely, having pulled them and replaced them too many times..

 

[Ca++]

The £12 kit from screwfix was useful. I chopped up the grey louvers, to make them look like the white top-hat beside them. With two top-hats, I was able to have a hose spigot both inside and outside the tent. I cut the tent after fitting them, so there was no alignment issues. Just a perfect hole. With duct both inside and outside the tent. Not this white duct though, as it blocks as much light as a window.

 

[Deleted user 689045]

I have wondered the exact same thing. I have two tents setup in the bedroom upstairs of my tiny apartment. I have the widows covered, and get very little light from there, but I occasionally need the bedroom light, and get a lot from downstairs from the open stairway. It's on the warm side, so my fans usually run at 60% or better to keep the temps and humidity down, so I need those vents open for airflow. I just flipped one of the tents to flower, so I'm concerned about the light leaks. I tried building a light trap, from a cardboard box, but the flaps on the tent don't come completely off, and was causing issues. I'm not even sure how much I should be worried about it, but I'm planning on getting some 8" ducting, and using the 8" openings in the bottom of the tent instead of the square openings. I plan on making a box, with prefilter and light baffles, then attach it to the tent with the 8" ducting.

 

[Ca++]

It's a light bulb moment.