New Grower - First grow closet - Suggestions\Criticism wanted

Hey Guys, Been doing quite a bit of reading and im looking to build out my first grow closet.

I am in an apartment (top floor, nobody above me) but I will be growing in a closet with no access to outdoor ventilation … everything will be contained in my closet \ bathroom

Tent - Vivosun 4x4x80" (6.6 ft)
Light - BESTVA DC Series 2000W LED (possibly 2 of them?)
Intake fan - iPower 4 Inch 100 CFM Booster Fan Inline Duct Vent Blower - this will be positioned at the bottom, intaking air from the bathroom\closet … wasnt planning on ducting
Exaust fan and carbon filter - iPower 4 Inch 190 CFM Duct Inline Fan with 4" Carbon Filter 8 Feet Ducting - Fan and filter hung inside tent, running duct out the top to the opposite side of the room as the intake, possibly out of the closet into the bathroom space.
3x 5 gallon fabric grow bags - I was thinking 3 bags would be the maximum for the 4x4 space
soil - fox farm ocean forest
Nutrients - Bergman’s All Fertilizers Set, 5 plant kit

Seeds
Blue dream
Sour Diesel
Bruce Banner

I have a little bit of anxiety issues so i’m going for strains that are euphoric \ stress relieving \ anxiety relieving

Any suggestions are very much welcome. Nothing has been purchased, this is still in its infancy.

My initial concerns are … will my space support 3 5 gallons pots and 3 plants?
I am planning on doing all 3 strains at the same time, 1 seed of each… ill be buying 5 seeds of each, im assuming that the seeds will ‘keep’ for a little bit?
Is there any downside to doing 3 different strains at the same time? I assume they will probably finish at different times.

Lastly, Is having a exhaust fan thats almost twice the power of the intake fan a bad idea? will it just suck all the circulated air out without benefiting the plants?

Thank you all for reading this and for any help you can give!

1 Like

Your intake fan should be sized 1/2-3/4 of the exhaust
You can buy a speed controller for exhaust fan and slow it down a bit if you wanted
Having the intake run slower will ensure you closet is in a neg pressure
If it was me i would have carbon filters on both intake and exhaust of smell is a issue since you plan o recycling your air also maintaining the space temp outside closet at proper humidity and temperatures will be beneficial to you

1 Like

I think you have a solid start on this. I would maybe not do 3 different strains at once since the individual needs of the strains are different and will require more work for a first time grower. Not say you can’t do it but dialing in your grow for one strain is easier than three JMO.

Thank you for the advice!

The intake runs at 100, the exhaust would be 190 so I am within the 1/2 to 3/4 range. so that works out!

Smell is important, luckily I dont have anybody above me so I was thinking 1 filter would get the majority of the smell… I cant get away from the smell leaking out when I open the tent. Will filtering the air coming back in increase the health of the plants?

I keep my apartment around 68-73 Fahrenheit at all times. I will have to get a humidity meter as well then.

Is it unheard of to dry \ cure the finished product in the grow tent once its done ? or could I get a separate grow tent with a heater or something along those lines to dry the buds out? Just hang them from the tents crossbars ? I was thinking maybe 2 tents so I could start the 2nd grow while the first one drys \ cures.

Thank you for your advice. Maybe that is what I will do then. Do 3 seeds of the same variety. For my first grow I think you’re right, I dont want to over complicate things.

Is 2 2000watt LED’s overkill ?

No. It’s not over kill because the advertised wattage is not the same as the actual wall draw. When they state wattage they simply multiply the number of diodes by the max wattage of the said diodes. What they are driven at is a lot less.

@elheffe702 grows in small spaces to. Maybe he can offer any other input. :blush:

1 Like

I grow 3 plants in the same space. I will be using 4 600w LEDs for my lighting. I used 3 lights for 2 plants in my last grow and it worked really well. My intake and exhaust fans run about 440 CFM for intake and 444 CFM for exaust and I really like it. I also have an adjustment on the intake fan so I can raise and lower the CFM to where I want it.

If you haven’t bought anything buy hlg leds for less heat and the amazing light that’s produced. You can dim them. Love it.

1 Like

Thank you for your advice!!

Those are powerful fans… What I was looking at is 190 cfm out 100 cfm in

Is that not enough? I thought because the leds run cooler that higher power cooling wasn’t needed… Is that not the case?

I’m sure it works fine, I just like having good air exchange. I also use my intake fan to blow on my air pumps to keep them cool. Basically you want all air to be replaced inside your tent every 1-3 minutes. You have approx 106 cubic feet, so your fans are within standards for your space.

I would look into quantum boards. You can get more light for your dollar, a lot less heat to deal with, and no cooling fans on the lights blowing hot air around.

@Newgrwr2018
@Whodat66

I found some HLG boards on amazon … Horticulture Lighting Group USA HLG 100 Quantum Board LED Grow Lamp Veg & Bloom 4000K

They also have the 65 @ 4000k and the 100 @ 3000k

These will go in a 4x4x80" (6.6 FT) grow tent.

What is generally the suggested arrangement? Would 2 HLG 100’s provide more light than 2 of the BESTVA 2000w LEDs? or would 1 100 and 1 65 equal 1 of the bestva 2000w LED’s?

Ive tried to find the answer but not sure about which is better, the 4000k or the 3000k?

Thank you for helping me and answering my numerous questions!

1 Like

I wasn’t going to push name brands but you found a good one. I think the ones on Amazon would be better than the ‘blurple’ LED’s, but for your best bet, Check out HLG’s website or one ot their authorized retailers, and see what THEY recommend for the size set-up you have, Growers Lights (and @dbrn32) helped me find the right one.

I spent about $350 for a 3x3 closet, but I won’t have to buy another until it dies. I have about that $350 in the 2 low-end LEDS I have.
uses Jedi voice “These aren’t the lights you are looking for, They are for sale, if you want them…” :slight_smile:

1 Like

The hlg-550 is the ready to hang quantum board solution for a 4x4. Growerslights sells a 4 board kit that’s similar for cheaper, you can assemble yourself. Or, they will assemble and test for you for a fee.

To reach ideal par levels you would be looking for a total of 4 of the 288 boards in there. Doesn’t really matter if you buy a 4 board kit, two 2 board kits, or four single board kits. But in a 4x4, the hlg-65 and hlg-100 aren’t the best choices.

1 Like

Thanks for the tag. What was the question?

Setup for a closet grow. Look over the list and see if they need anything or maybe any changes to the list.

Looks like they switched to a 4x4 so I guess that’s not really a closet anymore

1 Like

Ah. Looks like I’m pretty late to the party and it’s covered. Let me know if I can be of any help!

1 Like

Hahaha I think i’ll just buy new stuff. I guess this tinfoil hat im wearing to talk to the aliens blocked your jedi mind tricks :wink: I will check out HLG’s site.

Thanks for the advice!

1 Like

Hey,

I was always going for a 4x4x80(6.6ft) footprint … I have a pretty large walk in closet that this will end up going in.

1 Like