I’m on a bit of a budget and live in a small apartment, so I’m trying to keep everything as quiet, odorless, and relatively compact as possible. With that said, I could really use recommendations on a really good carbon filter and quiet fan setup (and all the connector and such needed), to go with the Vivosun 36"x20"x63" Hydroponic Mylar Grow Tent I’m going to be getting.
Also I’m really new to growing (I just received the seeds this past weekend), so I’m still learning what all the terms and everything means.
AC Infinity by leaps and bounds is the quietest inline fan I’ve encountered. I have a Vivosun 6” fan and some other Amazon off brand 6” fan in my spare bedroom. I can hear them from across the house. Meanwhile I have the AC Infinity 6” fan in my garage - adjacent to my kitchen - and I can’t hear a thing. It runs a bit more but the quality is worth the price difference.
Wow! I’m amazed by all the responses, I didn’t get a chance to reply until just now., as for your questions PupNGold74.
The light I’m looking to order is: " LED Grow Light, VIPARSPECTRA Newest P1000 Full Spectrum LED"
The seeds are the l.s.d. (I put “.” between the letters, as to me it reads to much like a much different ahem drug.
I bought them from this web store site. So they’re I think, auto?!
I bought the nutrients starter pack from their partner site, so I’m at the moment, not sure what nutrients. Though it’s I think 3-1-1 (nitrogen, potassium, and I can’t recall the third one at the moment.)
I actually still need to read to learn about what a PH or PPM pens is and does.
Graysin, I looked AC Infinity 6 fans and, wooow, huge selection! Is there a specific type of “AC Infinity 6 fan” I should be considering? There looks to be 4 different models ranging from $38 to $149
A few of them show as:
AC Infinity RAXIAL S6, Inline Booster Duct Fan 6
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE LITE A6, Quiet 6” Inline Duct Fan
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6, Quiet 6” Inline Duct Fan
That’s the one I’ve got. It’s phenomenal. The Cloudline (not lite) is also good, and has higher CFM, but I think for your purposes and tent size the Cloudline Lite would do fine.
Let me steer you hard away from that light.
It draws 100 actual watts. Not bad but let me tell you from personal experience that’s going to be too little to effectively flower out your tent.
The purpose of a PH pen is to determine the acidity or alkalinity (@JaneQP did I just make up a word?) of your water. The reason this is critical is that cannabis in soil thrives at 6.5 ph - it absorbs the widest range of nutrients at that ph level. In coco coir or water(hydroponics) the target ph is 5.8. I highly recommend BlueLabs, Apera, or Hanna instruments for a Ph pen. They won’t be cheap ($50-$90) but there is nothing more important to your grow than a good light and watering at the proper PH.
Autos are good. They’re a bit unforgiving but I grew an auto as my first plant and I learned a lot from her.
Okay now let me get back to the light situation.
Most folks here use Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) lights. They’re good. Seriously. They are an investment up front but if you happen to be a vet or know a vet they can hook you up with a discount.
I also use KingBrite (sketchville from Alibaba, but truly quality builds) and highly recommend them. It’s just a question of whether US-made and great customer support (HLG) outweighs the affordability of a cheap Chinese light (KingBrite).
If you want quiet go with ac infinity or maybe hyperfan. I would probably lean towards s6 as well, i actually use it same size tent.
I previously swore by phresh filters, they have a 6x16 that will fit with s6 fan and do a great job. But I’m pretty sure phresh and Can were purchased by the mothership, so they no longer get my money. I haven’t used ac infinity filter, but reports are good. If you absolutely need a quality filter then go with mountainair.
3-1-1 is Nitrogen leaning so Im inclined to think thats seedlings or veg nutrients. Bloom (flower) normally has higher PK values as the plant requires more PK in flower.
Everything else was addressed above. Solid write @Graysin
This is a AC Infinity fan and filter. It is The S6 Cloudline with manual speed control. It is used for intake to a closet. I use the same fan for exhaust. In side the closet I have a Terra Bloom 6" filter.
WOW! Thank you for the continued guidance, everyone!
Graysin and Beardless, I put the following carbon filter and fan into my Amazon cart:
Activated Charcoal Carbon Filter 6" x 16", Up to 400 CFM, Premium Grow Tent Odor Scrubber
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE LITE A6, Quiet 6” Inline Duct Fan
Also Graysin, I’m now a bit confused about the HLG versus LED growing lights. I was going with the LED growing lights, in order to save on my electrical bill. But as you said you have personal experience with both types, what’s the impact difference between the two?
Does LED just make the grow cycle take longer, or is the flower less useful due to the LED’s?
That and as for the PH Pen, from reading your description, I actually realized that I do have a lower end TDS/PH pen that came with my water filter from ZeroWater company. Probably not exactly the same, so I’ll need to read up more about that, so that I understand the differences.
Also Beardless, further more thank you for including that picture of your mounted fan and filter setup! That helps me put this into better perspective. Though what type metal tubing is that you have there? So I can see about ordering similar. And what brackets do you recommended for securing each part of the setup together? (i.e. carbon filter to fan to tubing to tent).
HLG stands for Horticulture Lighting Group. They make kickbutt LEDs. Best for the buck in the biz. Give em a google. The pictures dont tell the whole story
HLG makes some seriously good lights, I personally own 3 of them. Just for another option though, check out ChilLED Tech lights. I got the X3 for my 4x2 and this thing is amazing. About the same price as HLG, lower if you don’t mind assembly (super easy). I believe HLG also has DIY kits cheaper as well.
A/C infinity is quality stuff and I run fans/filters from them with no issues. Full blast will suck in the sides of your tent, so a high CFM kits may be needed if its too much.
Apera 20 is the standard issue PH pen around here, for a reason at that…great product. Had mine almost 2 years, no issues. You will need PH up and down made by General Hydroponics to adjust the PH in your water. Or something similar to do this.
As far as nutrients go, Jack’s 321 is very popular for growing. Great results, no flushing required (barring any issues with burn or whatever) and it’s very cost effective. It can be used in soil or coco with no issues.
Going on growing medium, most of us have transitioned to coco now due to the great results and relative ease of use. Besides having to water everyday, there are little cons. It’s nearly impossible to overwater your plants in coco as compared to soil.
Sorry back to fans, get a few small fans for the tent. AC Infinity is rolling out some nice ones, but you can find the 6" ones on Amazon as well. I have a mix of cheap ones that are a pain to clip on and Monkey fans. Monkey fans are more expensive but are made to attach to the tent poles. Either way a fan inside the tent is needed to move air around and help strengthen the plants.
I’m certain I missed something, but holler if you need anything.
HLG, as others have mentioned, is just a brand of LED Lighting. I absolutely recommend LED instead of an HPS bulb or something like that, but not all LED lights are created equal.
My experience has been that a cheap LED light is often made with low-tier component parts, fewer of the useful diodes (it may draw a decent amount of power or put out light that hurts human eyes but does next to nothing for plant growth). Most lights you can find on Amazon are going to fit that category: cheap components and a price tag that reflects the lower quality. Sometimes they slap a big $ on it and use that as a false sense of security that they’re actually good. As far as what you can find from Bezos, Spider Farmer is available on Amazon and the SE lights are maybe actually good - the jury is still out on that. But as a rule of thumb most of the lighting on Amazon is cheap crap with a higher price tag than they’re worth because you’re paying for convenience, not quality.
LED Light brands I can recommend either from personal experience or watching others’ grows here:
Horticulture Lighting Group (try to get a Diablo board, they have a good 200watt light for $200, and code DUDE is good for 10% off that)
KingBrite (you have to buy via Alibaba and shipping is often unattractively high)
ChilLED Tech
Cheap lights I’ve used that are fine but nothing to write home about and you’d be better off avoiding unless you need something to generate a lot of heat for you:
bloomspect (the SS series)
Vivosun (the VS 1000)
Also you can tag folks to grab their attention - for example, you can tag me by typing the @ and then my name - @Graysin - if you have a Q for someone but they seem unresponsive, a tag is a good way to grab us.
Hey everyone, thanks for being so patient with my sporadic replies! I’ve been reading through all the posts and typing up each of my replies in between work calls. So it’s taking awhile to do.
That and in-betweem all of it, I’ve been adding the recommended items to my Amazon cart. Though I’m still rather uncertain about what to do regarding the grow lights. Though @Graysin THANK YOU for the extra insight about that! The for detail I get about which products to get and the “WHY” one item is better than another, DEFINITELY helps me a TON!!
@Graysin correct me if I’m mistaken and I hope that I am mistaken, but I thought I read that weed plants/flowers needed like 500watts or 600watts of growing light to effectively grow. If they only need the 200 watt light that’s TOTALLY cool with me. As I’m sure that would save on my electricity bill. But…well…please let me know.
auto or photo or who knows?
If you answered all those questions from 
