"HELP" "HELP" "HELP"!! In Dire Need Of Advice and Tips For My DIY Grow Tent

I'm currently building a 38"Wx20"Lx82"H grow tent out of 3/4" PVC pipe and black/white poly vinyl with a shelf about 5'. The shelf will be used to house my mothers and clones. The bottom portion will be used for flowering. This idea minus my own lil shelf modification was inspired by an HTG video I saw on YouTube. Watching the video while "HIGH AS HELL" gave me an epiphony. I've seen many videos of grow tents however had yet to see one with a shelf. I plan on enclosing the bottom portion within the tent's poly vinyl skin further to make the flowering portion light tight from the veg portion above it. My delimas are trying to figure out the proper amount of ventilation needed to support the plants, since on a budget choosing the best lights to use between multiple cfl's and T5 flourescents, and whether or not to use an 18 gal tote or a few individual hydro buckets. As far as problem solving the ventilation issue I thought of maybe splitting the exaust's intakes so that the exaust fan would be pull hot air from the tops of both veg and flowering areas. Now heres my dilema. How would I go about bringing fresh air in to both the top and bottom portions with "one fan"? As for the lights I'm in need of more bang for my buck sort of speak. I need a light with the best coverage, canopy penetration, and brigthness. Keep in mind I am going to be using the scrog method. And as for the pot/ container snag I'm torn. Because I know the plants would love thier own space to mature having multiple hydro buckets going can become clutersome if thats a word because of the pump cords and loud from water sloshing. Thats is why I'm leaning towards the tote because it seems to be the most logical and practical planter because instead of having to check and maintain several buckets I'll just have one container to monitor and less cords. PLZ PLZ PLZ help me out any info, advice, or suggestions would be greatly apreciated!! Thanks

P.S. I have White Widow and Juicy Fruit seeds coming in next week so this will be interesting!

you will need an HID for flower if you want to yield anything worth the time and risk involved. honestly it sounds like a novel idea but there are much simpler ways of growing. continue building your tent but drop the shelf and take the mothers and clones outside the tent with a couple of cfl's hanging down on top of them. having a shelf would mean keeping your light higher off your flowering canopy so that plants on the shelf can get light as well. this would be possible with a 1000w HPS but for your space i'm thinking you'll need a 400w - 600w HPS and those need to be kept closer than your setup would allow. here let me explain my setup. all you would have to do is scale it down to meet your needs

THIS IS ALL IN THE SAME ROOM
15' x 12'

built a table for one hydrofarm 8 bulb t5 2700k florescent - vegetative growth and clones
2 x 600w HPS (aircooled hood) inside tent - flowering
1 x 200cfm (i think, cant remember) inline fan - exhausting flowering tent (and lights)
4 x 65w CFL's - mothers
2 x 32 gallon reservoir (with airstones) - one plain water, one flowering mix
1 x work table
various wall fans to circulate air
storage for all my supplies, buckets, promix, perilite is under the veg table while all nutes and trimmers etc, etc, go on a shelf near the reservoirs.

temps:
room ambient = 69 degrees F
tent ambient = 74 degrees F

humidity:
room: 60%
tent: 40% - 50%

trying to combine a veg and flower room into one is kinda crazy in my opinion. you have to close up the budding plants by hand every day, your just asking for light leak problems and it really complicates the exhaust situation. instead just put those mothers right outside the tent and save yourself the hassle. with my setup the tents exhaust actually acts as the whole rooms exhaust which by creating negative pressure draws in all the fresh air needed for the vegging plants, mothers, clones and budding plants. its simple and you couldn't ask for better conditions IMO.

as for grow medium i would just go the simple route for such a small grow. get some promix (soil-less) and have at it. no need to get all complicated with hydro yet. your first grow is going to test how green your thumb is and you should focus on refining and learning your growing techniques (trimming, space management, watering schedules, nutrient levels, ph adjustments, canopy control, etc, etc). when you have that down then play with hydro.

are you going to be going clone to flower? because i see no provisions in your plan for veg growth. if so then disregard the t5 setup part.

hope this helps, if not let me know and we'll figure something out.

Thanks for the response I plan to get an HID however at the moment my budget won't allow. I looked at a few convertible 400watt'ers but since theres going to be a shelf dividing the one space into two seperate spaces theres no need to get a switchable MH/HPS grow light right? Maybe a 250 watt HPS and a seperate 250 watt MH. I must agree with you that having both the flower and veg areas combined into one space is unorthodox. However thats all the space I have to work with for now and have to make the most of it. If not out, up! Look at New York. You have a nice setup from the sounds of it but may I ask why two reservoirs and how many cfm's for inline fan would you reccomend me to get to vent my dimensions 38"Wx20"Lx82"H? How many cfl's would I need to get light to cover the veg and flower areas completely. I am comfident I can get the lighting and air circulation right with all the help I can get. And thank you for your insight and expertise. It's just a matter of slight calculations and a tweak here and there but like you said we'll get it. Well as for the mother seeds I plan to use to rest of my Miracle Gro to and later transplant into some Fox Farm Ocean Forrest soil later. But first they'll be sprouted into some Jiffy Peat Pellets after germinating in a paper towel. Only the mothers will be soil based and the clones will be grown hydroponically. Out of the few derivatives of hydroponics like aquaponics, ebb & flow, deep water culture, drip irriagation, bubbleponics, aeroponics, fogponics, and fim which of these would be best suited for large a tote say 18-20gal? Or what about the smaller tote I'm planning to use to clone which method would be best in your opinion? Now it always bites me in the end of a project no matter what I'm doing because what might seem to be easy is usaually the hardest. And I say that to say this the poly-vinyl I mentioned I'll be using comes on a roll and I'll have to cut and sew pieces together to make the skin covering for the entire tent. Then I'll cut and make the flowering section. I'm still learning different pruning technics. But actually I'm in the fifth week of flowering my few bagseeds. They aren't doing too well pluse the buds are small and I'm pretty sure its because they are root bound and have been for a while just keep procrastinating on getting larger pots. Just started them as an experiment to see if I could get some B^((S#!+ bagseeds to flower. Needless to say I did. The story behind them is unique see I started them in a PC growbox I made from yet none other but another inspiring YouTube vid. Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be able to get two maybe what would you say about 3 or 5gal containers seeing as how they are in pots now that are just about a gallons volume. Mind you they are in Miracle Gro soil? And thanks again for all your help!!

i have two reservoirs because one is for nutrients and the other plain ph'd water incase there's an accidental overdose or something and i need an emergency flush. i also steal water from there to fill a 5 gallon bucket for veg nutes as needed. yes i could just go get it from the faucet but i'm a big believer in using airstones to oxygenate the water. oh i looked at my box and it's 400cfm not 200 lol. i think bubbleponics (DWC) would be good for you. i've seen people use it effectively to maximize a space and it's less complicated than a lot of hydro methods. i think you can pull this off as long as you stick with cfl's because they can be easily placed in ideal positions around the plants but i cant figure out how to put an HID in there effectively. check out the cfl growing section to see how those guys are maxing out their yields.

Ok cool makes hella sense now thanks. But now my question is how quiet is the 400cfm I've seen a vid where a guy hung his fan from the ceiling to help dampen the noise is that how yours is setup? Would I need to install a flange or two in the tent to connect the flexible ducting to the fan? Oh yeah as for the lighting I saw another vid where a guy made a grow light using one 4' piece of metal ducting, two light sockets, two chains, and two I hooks. It seemed simple enough just wanted another opinion on that. My grow area consist of a cardboard box with a measly little clip on fan clipped to the top of the box blowing air down to the plants and one 300 watt equivalent 2700k cfl bulb hung from top the top with three and half sides of the inside of the box reflective. Besides scrapping the whole cardboard grow box idea how could I improve on this temporary grow op until the tent is finished? By the way I failed to mention that in the flowering part of the tent there gonna be scrog scrog and more scrog. Having seen how nice a canopy of nothing but buds flourishing and maturing looks has me anxious to get the tent done. I've been LST'ing my plants now since they vegging seedlings back in late April. I know the lights won't be a problem just add more if needed but I'm going to need more info venting the tent and maintaining temps all the while not trying to get super dumb loud fan either. Would a 400cfm be overkill for my tent or what?

a 200 cfm should be good. maybe a little overkill but you'll need it if you add a carbon filter. it won't be that loud but yes hanging the fan with some rubber cords will help dampen sound. if you want to get real crazy you can built a foam lined box around the fan to really kill the sound. no flange should be necessary just the proper sized ducting. get the insulated ducting. its a few dollars more but well worth it. i dont know what your monetary situation is but i'm pretty sure i've seen reflectors for cfl's for sale online. as far as making reflectors go you can get as creative as you want. i've even see someone make a reflector for a cfl using a pop can. the grow bible says that a 65w cfl is more efficient when hung vertically with out a reflector. as far as improving the box until the tent is done i'd say cut a whole in the box near the top and bottom on opposite sides put the fan in the top hole blowing out. this will create a negative pressure system in the box which makes sure the plants are getting new fresh air at all times. also spray paint the inside of the box white.

Aw man you've been a BIG help good lookin I hadn't even thought of spray painting the inside of the box white or cutting wholes and using one fan to create the negative pressure needed to vent the box CUDOs. But soundproofing the cfm is a beast of an idea I like that. Stealth will always be my principle motivator. So whats the deal with the insulated ducting? I could get light with a reflector and would usually means flourescent lighting and come to think of it I did see a 3' flourescent light without the reflector at Home Depot for about $40. My only reservation with fluoresent lights is that I wouldn't know where to begin as far adequate wattage and light coverage.

insulated ducting keeps the heat thats being extracted from bleeding back into the room like regular ducting. in other words it more efficient. as far as how many cfl's it depends on there output and what shape they are. look at the total lumens out put by each light. honestly when it comes to cfl growing i dont think you can ever have to many as long as heat doesnt become an issue. see what the boys are up to in the cfl growing section to see what kind of light setups they're running. dont waste ur time with t-12 or t-8 flourecent tubes. they are only good for clones and some small mothers. they are weak and have next to no penetration into the canopy. all i know is that you need max effeciency when using cfl's so find out what reflectors are effecient if any are needed at all and make sure to keep your grow space as compact as possible to maximize your available light. a grow room with good reflective walls can recapture 10%-20% of the light that would otherwise be wasted.

Ok I didn't think you could go wrong with cfl's just need good ventilation. Got it! Is Miracle Gro liquid plant food any good for weed or just house plants?

house plants. nutrients are not something you want to skimp on.
i use fox farm for day to day growing and humboldt nutrients organic line when i want something a little more special from a plant or two.
you definitely want something made to grow cannabis because most products (like fox farm) have 2-3 products that are meant to be mixed together to provide vigorous growth and nice thick buds come flowering time. i'm not saying you couldn't use miracle grow nutes but i wouldn't recommend them. stay away from solid food that gets sprinkled into soil as well because if there is any kind of nutrient imbalance then it will be near impossible to flush out. always remember that if you construct a quality grow room it will pay for itself..... very quickly lol. make sure the bills get paid but don't be afraid to throw some money at this thing so it's done right. every new grow room has it's problems that need to be sorted out but a poorly constructed one might not be able to be fixed. just make sure money is spent wisely.

also chemical nutrients are very acidic and will drop the ph of your water greatly. you will need "ph up" to correct this or your plants will more than likely lock out certain nutrients and die. correct ph is determined by what type of hydro you're using though. this makes ph test strips or a ph pen mandatory.

here's a few accessories i think/know are worth the cash

cloning tray with tall humidity dome - $12
seedling/clone heating mat with thermostat - $50 (germination and clone strike rate are much higher using these)
soil ph meter/moisture meter - $10 (may not apply with hydro)
ph pen - $50
or
ph test strips - $7 (less accurate than pen)
airstone and pump w/ tubing - $17 (important for hydro reservoir)
2-3 5gallon homedepot buckets - $3 each
spray bottle - $5 (or run an empty windex bottle through the dishwasher once or twice)
measuring shot glass - $5 (its a shot glass that has measurements marked all over it for pouring your nutrients. it's very important you measure out the proper amount of fertilizer or disaster is guaranteed)
thermometer w/ hygrometer - $10 or less (do not get digital unless you're dropping good money on a quality unit. cheap digitals are poorly calibrated and are untrustworthy.)

Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible - $30
http://www.marijuanagrowing.com/dhtml/books_bible.php

i can't begin to state how great this book is. it will teach you almost everything you need to know. this is seriously one of the most powerful items you can buy to make you a better grower and it's a super easy read with all the illustrations you could ever want. if only my textbooks were this painless! after reading this book 2-3 times i realize i was pretty much stumbling in the dark before.

you are going to create a negative airflow within your tent with your exhaust fan to make sure that new air is constantly circulated. an unfortunate side effect of this is that shit gets sucked into the tent through the intake hole (bugs, dirt, pollen). to combat this get a silkscreen, don't ask me where (Micheal's?), and put it over your intake hole. it won't impede airflow and it will keep out the pesky critters and whatnot.


just be ready to find out that there will be a few more things you will need you never included into your budget. it's unfortunate but a lot of the times it's the difference between success and failure.

Now thats what I'm talking about thanks thats alot of great info I'm in sponge mode

hey man if you using MG try the organic it comes in a orange bag i grow with it an some cfls an just started a new grow an my seedling just poped about a week ago an this is what they look like
an sorry i dont want to take over you tread but i just want to tell you i have good results its just cheaper an easier to get then foxfarm