Welcome @Growtiv8tion
I bought an Ac infinity 4x8 tent off Facebook marketplace for $150 it came with an Ac infinity pro 69 controller and a 4in inline duct fan with a carbon filter. I bought a hlg 600rspec off ebay for I think it was $215 + 58 for shipping. I also got fans and a humidifier from Ac infinity all said and done Ive got less than a grand into it.
Hi @Growtiv8tion ! Welcome to the forum!
Last fall I bought a 3x3 kit from SF and a month later a 4x4 and the SF5000…
So far I’m happy with those and I’m growing autos only. For what it’s worth that kit for +600 bucks is a value buy if you ask me. Of course there are other things you need to buy aswell but the essentials are there. The light is great, and the smart controller for the inline fan is invaluable.
Additional purchases could be a humidifier and maybe a fan or two more.
Here is a family foto from my 4x4:
Hey i started out just like you I went for the “Whole kit” the kits are designed to get you started but not finish, your 480watt light is not going to be enough in that 4x4 I currently run 500watts in my 4x4x7ft Tent and it’s not enough for me.
My best advice if you are going 4x4 get one of the HLG Diablo 600watt or better can always dimm the light can never add more power to it if needed, minimum of 600w light to start then tent then the tent an other components Facebook marketplace depending on your location should get you a decent used tent cheap got mine for $27.00
With stronger light you could have much bigger plants an yields. If you do the math at 480/16=30watts per square foot. That’s low. A decent number to be around would be 600watts. That would give 600/16=37.5 still a little low but close to the 40wayts per square foot.
Good morning @Growtiv8tion , and welcome to the the party. I’m glad your here and look forward to learning together. I love my AC Infinity equipment, and AC Infinity does have a 4x4 PRO kit that has everything you need and a more than adequate 500W bar light. And the App connected controller works well and probably the best on the market.
@DanB surely bigger is always better, but I thought it’s more about ppfd and DLI than watts per sqft..?
It’s a mashup of ppfd/dli and watts. But the larger your light the easier you can get and maintain the ppfd/dli.
Basically it’s like this, if you get 40 watts true per square foot you won’t ever worry about chasing ppfd or dli and you will have more then enough power to max that tent out.
I started out buying kits an adding lights to get my 500w and I still need another at least 100w for my 4x4x7ft Tent.
Just explaining you can have all the best equipment but a underpowered light and your crop will not reach its full potiontial will be airy buds and stretched stalks decreasing your possible node sites decreasing yield and weight.
I do hope this makes sense I’ve been on the road a lot over the last week doing 1600+ mile round trips on my 4th trip now lol
@DanB I hear ya loud and clear. I dob’t think I’ll go much over 1000 ppfd in my grows and my plants are usually not very tall, so I’m gonna have to soldier on with what I have now…
@Growtiv8tion welcome to the family my friend happy growing
@Hopalong I hear you and fully understand just trying to advise so others don’t do like myself and many others did an have to get more or bigger lights later.
Speaking from my personal experience I have 5 of the 100 watt lights daisy channed together 5 plugs to 2 different timers.
@DanB You’re absolutely right. I have also been thinking to move the SE5000 to my 3x3 and getting a bigger one (700-1000W) into the 4x4.
But before going all crazy I’m just going to make a few runs with these and then see about any possible upgrades..
Im on the same thing man. I have 3 of the 100 watt, 1 of the 150 watt, and 1 240 watt. The plug managment and timers is where the real problem comes in. I may try to sell them and go get a big boy.
to clarify, watts is the amount of electricity consumed, PPFD is the amount of photosynthetic light generated at any given moment, and DLI is the amount of photosynthetic light generated over the course of a day or light cycle. There is one more figure and that is efficiency which is how much PPFD you can produce per watt/ joule. High efficiency chips like lm301H evo(raw efficiency of around 3.1 umol/joule) produce more PPFD with the same amount of wattage than say a bridgelux chip(around 2.8 umol/joule). So yes wattage isn’t the end all be all, but it’s still a good point of reference +/- about 10%
thanks everyone! I’m incredibly happy to have stumbled upon this community - I’m definitely excited to get going and really start to learn hands on 
Welcome to the community, @Growtiv8tion It’s a great place here. I briefly skimmed through your thread here and I’m seeing lots of good advise and suggestions. I don’t have time to read them all at the moment so someone may have already said what I’m throwing out here but I just wanted to mention something you might keep in mind when trying to decide on a tent, if that’s the path you go with.
Something I didn’t consider until after purchasing my first tent was a little extra room for things I didn’t think of when first starting, such as room for things like the humidifier, dehumidifier, tower fan, etc. I can fill up my 2 x 4 AC Infinity tent with 2 five gallon pots and LST’d photoperiod ladies, doesn’t leave much room for much else. I recently set out to double my grow space but opted for a 5 x 5 instead of a 4 x 4 for this reason. I might loose a few photons with the more open space but for me, not being as crowded, I think, will be worth it. Just my opinion. Happy growing 
Welcome to the community , Lots of tent growers around to move you in the right direction.
I got a AgroMax 4.5x4.5 on my second grow and to maximize my space on my tent I have my exhaust fan, and humidifier outside my tent and use clip on fans inside. I use a AC Infinity cloud com B1 thermo-hygrometer to help keep track of things, a AC Infinity cloudforge T3 humidifier, and a heat activated outlet to run my exhaust fan to regulate the temperature also my exhaust fan is on a speed controller it took a little work to get it diled in but workd great the fan kicks on at 80 deg and off at 75 I’m sure I’ve missed a couple of details but it works pretty good so far
light deprivation (light dep) is useful when you’re aiming to control the flowering cycle** for better yields or multiple harvests in a season.
With light dep, you simulate those shorter days earlier, letting you harvest earlier, (avoid mold from fall rains), get multiple harvests per season, improve bud quality and cannabinoid conten
Hemp typically flowers with 12 hours of light / 12 hours of darkness. So with light dep, you’ll cover the plants (or greenhouse) with blackout material to block light for 12 hours. Uncover after 12 hours for light exposure. Do this every single day until flowering is well established (~2–3 weeks minimum).
Use a blackout tarp or lightproof greenhouse plastic.Automate if possible — manual pulling is doable but labor-intensive. Make sure it’s truly dark — even a bit of light leaks can stress the plants or cause hermaphrodites.
Maintain good airflow and ventilation inside the covered space to avoid mold.
For early harvest, begin light dep in late spring to early summer (like June).
Most hemp strains will flower in 8–10 weeks once you flip.
Mold risk goes up with covers — make sure humidity is managed.
Stress from inconsistent light schedules can lower cannabinoid content or cause male flowers.
What is light dep?