6" AC hood w/ 4" air filtration. Keep separate or get a reducer?

Hey guys,
I know the ventilation/cooling questions come up about as often as yield questions. I've looked all over and couldn't find anything specific to my particular situation.

So, As the title states, my grow hood has 6 inch flanges. I don't have any 6 inch equipment, but I have pretty decent 4 inch ventilation equipment. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to get two 6 to 4" reducers, attach my exhaust to that, by putting the filter on the other side of the light.As it stands there is no active cooling on the 1000W HID. Also no plants in there yet until I get it slightly dialed in.

The only negatives I can think of, and have read about, are: I'd be creating a negative pressure on the hood. So, If there are any leaks after the filter, they are going to not get scrubbed. Additionally, it'd be a lot more difficult to run C02 in the future, if I went that route with a small 5x5 grow tent (It'd be probably useless but I'd enjoy the practice)

If money wasn't an object, I'd just setup dedicated 6" lamp cooling. But I've spent my grown-ups "allowance" getting what I have so far, so I'd prefer the cheapest solution. By the time my tent has any smells, wifey will give me more allowance anyway So I am thinking short term fix, thats cheapest, would be to get the reducers. Maybe even just one reducer, but I haven't worked out all the possible configurations yet to know if that'd be feasible.

How effective is doing it all in one like that, while including your lamp? My temps went from 71 (21.66C) to over 92F (33.3C) in just a bare tent from the filtration on its own and using passive cooling vents! So, it's obvious I've got to get some cooling on that lamp. I just don't want to waste money getting reducers when someone here has the experience to tell me I should pursue dedicated lamp cooling, even in the short term.

Thanks, let me know if you want any specs. 5x5, 1000w HID w/ digital ballast, temps I stated were from MH bulb. Room the tent is in temps were around 70-71 ambient. One 90 degree bend in ducting of current setup. About 5 ft of total ducting. I'll post anything more specific if I think of something that is worthwhile.

Oh, maybe this will be useful. It feels pleasant in there after I step in (and zip it off too). I feel like the thermometer I have may be measuring some IR heat? You know, it can be freezing outside but the suns rays will still feel warm. I set the thermo at the height of my growbags and put it in the center, where my plants would be. Is this bad? IR contamination of my true ambient temps? It's a good ways from the light, about 36 inches.

Save yourself the money and don't run co2 in a tent in the future. Tent has too many leaks. And for what you get it's not worth the hassle. Build yourself a sealed room within a room if you want to take advantage of the benefits

Lots of places make 6-4 reducers
https://www.growlights.ca/reducer-6-x4.html

As for leaks. Silicone is your friend. I like the red high temp silicone from Walmart or home hardware. It's for mufflers.

Don't worry about small contamination like from a thermometer. I alwase put mine by my stalk.

Are you sure a 4 inch fan will be enough? Have you tried this setup befor?

projectinfo said:

Save yourself the money and don't run co2 in a tent in the future. Tent has too many leaks. And for what you get it's not worth the hassle. Build yourself a sealed room within a room if you want to take advantage of the benefits

Lots of places make 6-4 reducers
https://www.growlights.ca/reducer-6-x4.html

As for leaks. Silicone is your friend. I like the red high temp silicone from Walmart or home hardware. It's for mufflers.

Don't worry about small contamination like from a thermometer. I alwase put mine by my stalk.

Are you sure a 4 inch fan will be enough? Have you tried this setup befor?

Click to expand...

Hey there. Well, what I was referring to with the C02 was regarding other, larger grows. If I don't keep it in mind now, what is needed to do it properly in the future, then It'd be a big waste of time down the road. You only have to buy the equipment once. Get some practice in (heck, just set the timers, don't even use C02, and you'll be a lot more prepared down the road. That's where I was going with C02 thing. I was trying to find negatives as to not using dedicated lamp cooling

I know where to purchase reducers. That's not the particular question I have. I don't even have to order those online. I wouldn't be losing any airflow from a 6 to 4, cause my fan is a 4 as it is. I'd say exhaust is right at about 75% of what it'd be if if I were to just hook it to the wall and let it blow, so there is well-over 200CFM left to use before I start making it work too hard.

When I was referring to leaks, I was talking about, for instance, if unfiltered air got into the hood from the negative pressure, before it entered the carbon filter, it would blow out air that smelled like herbs. With positive air pressure dedicated cooling, don't have to worry about that. I'm not about to silicone my AC hood up, lol.

For my thermometer contamination issue, I want to clarify what I meant by contamination: I meant heat contamination. Infrared heat can be wildly different from ambient air temperatures. So I was thinking I should put it in the middle of the grow room where my plants would be, under some shade so it just samples the ambient air. With the light shining on it directly. The plastic on the thermometer warms up via IR heat, which is why i was concerned about heat contamination. Cause it really didn't feel like it was 90 something F in there.

Nope, I'm not sure if the 4inch fan will be enough, which is why I ask asking here, hoping someone had some personal experience. I know your philosophy is to overpower (from another post of yours I read) but I'm trying to avoid doing that. As I said, money is an object here. At least for right now.

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and give your input!

gjs4786 said:

Hey there. Well, what I was referring to with the C02 was regarding other, larger grows. If I don't keep it in mind now, what is needed to do it properly in the future, then It'd be a big waste of time down the road. You only have to buy the equipment once. Get some practice in (heck, just set the timers, don't even use C02, and you'll be a lot more prepared down the road. That's where I was going with C02 thing. I was trying to find negatives as to not using dedicated lamp cooling

I know where to purchase reducers. That's not the particular question I have. I don't even have to order those online. I wouldn't be losing any airflow from a 6 to 4, cause my fan is a 4 as it is. I'd say exhaust is right at about 75% of what it'd be if if I were to just hook it to the wall and let it blow, so there is well-over 200CFM left to use before I start making it work too hard.

When I was referring to leaks, I was talking about, for instance, if unfiltered air got into the hood from the negative pressure, before it entered the carbon filter, it would blow out air that smelled like herbs. With positive air pressure dedicated cooling, don't have to worry about that. I'm not about to silicone my AC hood up, lol.

For my thermometer contamination issue, I want to clarify what I meant by contamination: I meant heat contamination. Infrared heat can be wildly different from ambient air temperatures. So I was thinking I should put it in the middle of the grow room where my plants would be, under some shade so it just samples the ambient air. With the light shining on it directly. The plastic on the thermometer warms up via IR heat, which is why i was concerned about heat contamination. Cause it really didn't feel like it was 90 something F in there.

Nope, I'm not sure if the 4inch fan will be enough, which is why I ask asking here, hoping someone had some personal experience. I know your philosophy is to overpower (from another post of yours I read) but I'm trying to avoid doing that. As I said, money is an object here. At least for right now.

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and give your input!

Click to expand...

Good luck

put filter on other end an blow thur

thumper60 said:

put filter on other end an blow thur

Click to expand...

I've heard a lot of negatives about pushing air through a filter. I don't know how dated they are, though, I'll do some more research on that. Thanks!