First off, I am brand new This is my first day on the forums. Please pardon my beginner’s naivety.
To get right to the point. I am starting with a 2 X 2 X 4.5ft Grow tent. My plan is to grow two plants in it.
Once it gets out of the germination stage and into vegetation stage, I’d like to use one 600W HID light. Because of the small dimensions of tent, it would be pretty cramped to put in a lighting hood. So, I was just going to screw the bulb into a socket w/ an aluminum cylander reflector. Like the clamp lights you would see at home dept, and hang it downwards from the center.
I think that would be adequate unless somebody has a better idea. For heat I have a 4 inch 203 CFM Duct Inline Fan along with carbon filter.
Sounds good, I use a old cargo trailer and a 150w CFL my ventilation is weird well rigged and it works. And a small plastic gang box I had from work with the same CFL and a 6in intake but it’s inside.
That’s gonna be an oven, not a grow tent. You need more tent, or maybe LED lighting. You need to stop and do some research before you dive in too fast. Download Robert’s grow bible and read it before you jump in too fast and have problems.
Thanks for the feedback. With that, I think I will try it with one plant rather than 2 and see how it goes. I’m limited for where I can put it, so 4.5 feet tall (55inches), 2ft X2ft was the best I could do. I should be able to rig up my duct fan to the outside of the tent and just have the carbon filter inside, making some of the air space to create somewhat of a better environment. Have the ballast outside as well.
Maybe take it down to a 400W light.
And keep the plant shorter using the Scrog Screen growing method.
Looking forward to the attempt!
A more extreme measure would be to make the pre-fabricated tent higher. Not that tough. Just a little ingenuity.
You have to keep a distance of between 12"-24" from light to plant with a 600, I don’t think that will improve much with the 400. Please try and take honest advice from someone has burned plants with 10’ of height. You can’t run that light, in that little tent. But best if luck to you either way.
@Blountville seems to be speaking from past experiences , sometimes the best advice comes from somebody who’s been there and done that… HPS and MH put off a lot of heat , 400 watts and up… Best wishes…
To start off the germination and beginning part of vegetation, I’m gong to use 3 single cord hanging CFL 55 watt (200 watt replacement), 3860 Lumen per bulb, with aluminum cylinder. That’ll put me at 11,580 total lumen. And not so much heat. Is that overkill for the start of vegetation, once the head first pops out of the soil?
As they grow bigger I will then use the LED lights.
You actually DONT have 11,580 lumens when you put those bulbs together.
Instead, you have 3,860 lumens, but with a better canopy of light being spread out.
This is a misconception many people make. Adding bulbs together does not double or triple lumens, it only adds to the spread of light. I wish I could find the article that explains this better.
Regardless, your setup will work great for germination and sprouts!
I would go led with that height HID would become a nightmare with heat the plants will stretch and then the problems start.
1 or 2 300w LEDs would be good in that space.
You will need 3w leds in the unit not 5w if you can the are cooler.
It would work best would be one 300w led + some CFLs.
Do your home work on the LEDs there are some bad ones out there that claim all sorts of things.
I would use cobs buts thats me, Two 3590s and use a adjustable power supply so you can turn
them up or down to fine tune your heat or keep the light wattage lower for seedlings and such.
@ktreez420. If you find then cool, if not don’t worry. Clf’s don’t have the power to go deep. That’s why vho’s and clf’s stopped in the aquarium business. Can’t grow corals cause it can’t penetrate water or air. Man the corals that grow under LEDs are crazy colorful.
