5x8 tent setup - help please

Hey guys,

I'm interested in doing a 5x8 tent. The ceiling is only about 6'7. I have very little experience so I'm interested in just using half the tent at first, learning a bit, and then doing the other side. Access would be limited from outside the tent so I was thinking of doing a 2 ft walkway in the center of the tent and putting 1000w (or equivalent) on each side.

What do you guys think? I'd like to keep it simple right now, do I need to SCROG due to the low ceilings? Is 2x 1000w MH/HPS going to be too hot in there in the summer? I'm in So. Cal but it does heat up here in the summer. Should l really look into LEC or LED? Do the sun systems LEC's really grow as well as HPS without the heat? I'm a little bit afraid of LED's lack of canopy penetration coupled with my lack of experience.

I may have another 4x8 or 5x8 space available to me with higher ceilings but it would be a lot of work to setup whereas this is already ready to go.

Really appreciate any advice, totally in the dark here.

rama108 said:

Hey guys,

I'm interested in doing a 5x8 tent. The ceiling is only about 6'7. I have very little experience so I'm interested in just using half the tent at first, learning a bit, and then doing the other side. Access would be limited from outside the tent so I was thinking of doing a 2 ft walkway in the center of the tent and putting 1000w (or equivalent) on each side.

What do you guys think? I'd like to keep it simple right now, do I need to SCROG due to the low ceilings? Is 2x 1000w MH/HPS going to be too hot in there in the summer? I'm in So. Cal but it does heat up here in the summer. Should l really look into LEC or LED? Do the sun systems LEC's really grow as well as HPS without the heat? I'm a little bit afraid of LED's lack of canopy penetration coupled with my lack of experience.

I may have another 4x8 or 5x8 space available to me with higher ceilings but it would be a lot of work to setup whereas this is already ready to go.

Really appreciate any advice, totally in the dark here.

Click to expand...

Dang. 6'7 Should be enough to grow any cannabis crop in my opinion... I've never had a grow space with more than 6' of vertical space. I think you should be fine. Just make sure you learn about the common methods of "cannabis training"... You can either cut them, or bend them, or whatever... What ever makes you smiley

Regardless of where you place your crop, remember that adequate ventilation is almost as necessary as the lighting. So just make sure you've got plenty of airflow. If it gets hot, it gets hot... That will not be a problem if the plants have sufficient air exchange.

And finally, when it comes to the lights I'm biased towards LEDS since that's all i use now. HPS/MH will work fine. In fact, as you've said, 2000 Watts of HPS should do the job perfectly for a tent that size, specially if you go DE HPS... but at this point i see no reason to recommend them when you can buy or build a high quality LED fixture (cob, bridgelux eb strips, samsung strips, and so on...)...... But if you've got experience with HPS growing, by all means, go that route... Explore other options when you feel comfortable.

LEC is a very good lighting technology, but way too expensive when compared to any other option.

Thanks for the reply!

Would sufficient air exchange keep the room at the same temperature as the area the fan is pulling air from? What kind of CFM would you want for a 5x8 area?

Do LECs cost more than LEDs? I've heard a lot of people have trouble dialing in the height of their LEDs so they don't burn their plants and that they can't penetrate a canopy very well. I've been under the impression that LEDs are a little less forgiving.

I was hoping to do my first run without really training or stressing the plants. Would that be a bad idea?

Thanks!

If you want taller plants I would stay away from led and use DE HPS because of the penetration issue you mentioned. If you were going to train them to get an even canopy then I would recommend LED.

2x 1000W closed hood HPS would be a good fit in that tent. Heat shouldn't be an issue if the tent is designed right.

It's important to make sure you have good air circulation to balance the environment and remove hot spots and good air exchange to get the co2-depleted/hot air out and get in some fresh/cool air. I find that the more air exchange you give them (in a non-sealed room), the better. You have about 270 cubic feet in there-- I would personally exchange the air at least 2 times a minute, so you want a fan that can OUTPUT around 540 CFM from your grow room. I like to have passive intakes at the bottoms and draw air from the middle-top part of the tent, through a carbon filter, through the lights, and out-- all pulled by the fan. It's important to have a filter before going through your lights.

rama108 said:

Thanks for the reply!

Would sufficient air exchange keep the room at the same temperature as the area the fan is pulling air from? What kind of CFM would you want for a 5x8 area?

Do LECs cost more than LEDs? I've heard a lot of people have trouble dialing in the height of their LEDs so they don't burn their plants and that they can't penetrate a canopy very well. I've been under the impression that LEDs are a little less forgiving.

I was hoping to do my first run without really training or stressing the plants. Would that be a bad idea?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If your room is not heating up when compared to the surrounding area... Then your ventilation is fine. Remember that as the plants reach flowering stage they transpire more, and create more humidity, btw.

LEC and high output LEDs are about the same price watt for watt. But LEDs have twice the lifespan, don't use bulbs, and are significantly less bulky. You may have a more intense light per energy consumed if using LEDs, but that depends on your build or product. The whole penetration thing is in the past... Back when LEDs were bulky-overpriced and misleading purple lights.

Training is neither required nor necessary. But even outdoor growers train their plants, training is not necessarily stressful if you do it correctly, even defoliation is training. I train my plants because i usually grow in tiny spaces and like using all available room... But even though, some strains benefit greatly from well done training and some breeders even recommend training certain strains if you really want to see the expected yield.

friedguy said:

If you want taller plants I would stay away from led and use DE HPS because of the penetration issue you mentioned. If you were going to train them to get an even canopy then I would recommend LED.

2x 1000W closed hood HPS would be a good fit in that tent. Heat shouldn't be an issue if the tent is designed right.

It's important to make sure you have good air circulation to balance the environment and remove hot spots and good air exchange to get the co2-depleted/hot air out and get in some fresh/cool air. I find that the more air exchange you give them (in a non-sealed room), the better. You have about 270 cubic feet in there-- I would personally exchange the air at least 2 times a minute, so you want a fan that can OUTPUT around 540 CFM from your grow room. I like to have passive intakes at the bottoms and draw air from the middle-top part of the tent, through a carbon filter, through the lights, and out-- all pulled by the fan. It's important to have a filter before going through your lights.

Click to expand...

Thanks Fried,

I'm thinking that I'd like the option of doing taller plants just because I'm too inexperienced to know what I want yet. What do you think?

I thought I remember hearing something about DE HPS being a bad idea with smaller tents. Any truth to that?

Would you recommend SCROG and LEDs to a complete beginner? How work intensive is SCROG and what's the margin for error like?

Re: Ventilation, So would that mean that a fan blowing in is not necessary in a setup like that because the fan blowing out is pulling from the bottom and top passive intakes of the tent?

What is your preferred method of making passive intakes without causing light leaks?

So that one 540 CFM fan pulls air from the passive intakes, through a carbon filter, through the lights and out? Why is it important to have the air filtered before it goes through the lights? I'm sure there's a good reason, interested to know.

Thanks!!!

Go tall, it's a great way to start growing. All you should be focusing on is learning the plant and keeping her healthy. Maybe train a little, but I wouldn't make that my primary focus for a first grow.

Never heard of problems of DE vs regular HPS in tents... it's possible.

I don't recommend scrog or LEDs for beginners. Too much to manage. It's not hard to scrog though.

Correct, except all intakes should be at the bottom... none at the top. Hot air rises, so we want the higher/hotter air out and the lower/cooler air in.
Air comes in the bottom of the tent's intake vents, air goes through the carbon filter near the top of the tent, air goes through the lights, air goes through the fan, air goes out of the tent.

I might get some heat for this, but I don't worry too much about light leaks... small ones anyway. I cover the intake vents with fabric and don't open the doors or turn on lights during dark times. I just try to keep night time as dark as the night sky... remember, we have the moon and starts lighting things up just a bit. But in all seriousness, you should have as little light as possible at night. Light traps are easy enough to make.

How many intakes at the bottom? What size? Directly on the bottom against the floor or down low on the sides?

Can you recommend specific lights, tent, and any other gear?

Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for.

DE lights get a lot hotter than single ended lights, bad idea in an enclosed area, work much better in a room with a higher ceiling

Roger A. Shrubber said:

DE lights get a lot hotter than single ended lights, bad idea in an enclosed area, work much better in a room with a higher ceiling

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Thanks for the heads up Roger. Can you recommend lights and do you have any other advice? Much appreciated.

if you're trying to get the basics down, go to amazon, buy a 400 or 600 watt hps (i prefer the 600) you can get a ballast with a cool tube for around 100-125 bucks.
you'll need at least a 4 inch exhaust fan, to cool the light, and a carbon filter unless you don't care about the smell. a 6 inch fan would be better, you can run it at less than 100% which makes it quieter.
i'd recommend getting a t5 fixture to veg under, they're a lot more economical to run than the hps, and give good results. i use an 8 bulb 4 foot for veg, with 6 bulbs in it, and it works great.
that's far from a complete list, but that ought to get you started