My First Grow Tent - Any Advice?

This is my first post to the Grow Room Design & Setup Forum. I'm not looking for any specific information, maybe just some validation......

I think I've got my set-up in place. Still tweaking, and working on temperature control. Here's a list of my gear:

·Homebox XL – 4’x4’x6’
·Sunleaves Pioneer VIII (Grow) – 8 x T5 / 36,800 Lumens / 6,500K
·Lumatek 600w / 120v Digital Ballast
·Hilux Grow HPS 600x Lamp – 90,000 Lumens
·Cool Junior Air-Cooled Reflector
·Econojet 3’5” x 3’5” Ebb and Flo Kit
·Can – Fan 6” In-Line Fan / 269 cfm
·12” Charcoal Filter / 200 cfm
·GH - FloraGrow / FloraBloom / FloraMicro
·CocoCoir Medium

I haven't opened the GH nutes yet as there are so many choices and opinions out there. GH's feeding schedule shows changing the nutes every week! I want an easy to use "first timer" system that will give me decent yields, and won't keep me dialing in the numbers 24/7. So, I'm still researching that......

I'm using a bagseed test dummy, and it has survived overheating, overwatering, high pH'ing and overlighting. I think the 8 bulb T5 fixture is too hot for this setup, so I'm playing with the number of bulbs being lit. I'm waiting for some Nirvana feminized PPP and Snow White seeds, so I'll veg the test plant until I receive the seeds, and then flower to sex it. If it's a male, I'll toss him and germinate the seeds. If female, I'll use the plant to test out my bloom set-up...

That's all for now. I'm going to attempt to attach pics.

Any hints, tips, tricks I need to know about?

Thanks!

greetings, well you get the noobie award for most patience for your willingness to do a test grow. good job.

a few thoughts for you to consider:

1. the saucer under the pot works for house plants but is lousy for weed. you want air to get to the roots after watering and not have them standing in water. just put something under the pot to raise it above the level of water that accumulates in the plate. you risk root rot.

2. if you are too hot with the t-5's, you are going to fry with the 600 hps. you have about the right amount of light for veg now. you need to improve your ventilation. go ahead and fire the hps up, check temps and improve circulation as needed.

3. a common error when measuring temps is to have the thermometer directly in the light. this gives an artificially high reading because you are picking up ambient air temp (what the guidelines are set for) and radiant heat (that you test with your hand). shade the thermometer with a piece of cardboard or similar placed at the top of the plant canopy.

4. how old is your plant? it looks nitrogen starved showing its time to add nutes. time to figure out what to use if your plant is over 3 weeks.

Damn nice fellow nu, look at my test grow, 400 watt. I was just thinking i love my tent. I saw yur post thot i better give yu some validation! Lol, dont laugh at the plant, it is pollinated (on purpose) and my first!

everything you got is great to start with but like desert said if the 8 bulb t5s are too hot just imagine what that 600 will do..you have an air cooled reflector right?if not you probably would want to invest in that...do you have a different flower room or you are using the same room to flower?

i got the euro hood from htg. its awesome but i sure wish i wudda bot the cool tube with wing for the ame price now. Maybe buyers remorse, but maybe i think it cool better with that tube encapsulating the bulb. Also it can go vert!

desertrat said:

greetings, well you get the noobie award for most patience for your willingness to do a test grow. good job.

a few thoughts for you to consider:

1. the saucer under the pot works for house plants but is lousy for weed. you want air to get to the roots after watering and not have them standing in water. just put something under the pot to raise it above the level of water that accumulates in the plate. you risk root rot.

2. if you are too hot with the t-5's, you are going to fry with the 600 hps. you have about the right amount of light for veg now. you need to improve your ventilation. go ahead and fire the hps up, check temps and improve circulation as needed.

3. a common error when measuring temps is to have the thermometer directly in the light. this gives an artificially high reading because you are picking up ambient air temp (what the guidelines are set for) and radiant heat (that you test with your hand). shade the thermometer with a piece of cardboard or similar placed at the top of the plant canopy.

4. how old is your plant? it looks nitrogen starved showing its time to add nutes. time to figure out what to use if your plant is over 3 weeks.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

1. I used the saucer to catch overflow from my last watering. I made sure the pot never sat in the water for any period of time. I also wanted to be sure none of the soil got into the E & F system and got sucked into the pump when I go hydro. The plant is on the stand to check light distances and heat only.

2. With a combination of outside venting, and cool air intake, I am getting the heat under control. I ranged from 72F to 82F last night with all 8 T-5's fired up. Currently at 80F under all 8...

3. I have the thermometer probe attached to the tent upright at the front of the tent and at canopy level. I will try your cardboard trick and let you know how it works.

4. I really don't know how old the plant is. My wife decided to throw a bunch of bag seeds in an unused pot on our back patio, and this one came up. It was probably sprouted outside for about a week, and I took it inside to protect it from the cool evenings. (Mid 50's) I had it under a 12w flouro and 15w CFL for about a week (It's all I had on hand.), and have had it under varying amounts of T-5 light since Tuesday. So....maybe 3 weeks old? I think you are correct on the Nitrogen starvation. Unfortunately, I tested my tap water, and it comes in at 8.5pH and 0.8 EC, so the high pH is probably holding back N uptake. In addition, the soil my wife used has got the long lasting fertilizer mix, and I'm afraid of nute poisoning. I will flush with 6.0pH at the next watering, and then use 1/2 strength nutes on the following feed.

+ Rep for helping a newbie!

Eharmony420 said:

Damn nice fellow nu, look at my test grow, 400 watt. I was just thinking i love my tent. I saw yur post thot i better give yu some validation! Lol, dont laugh at the plant, it is pollinated (on purpose) and my first!

Click to expand...

Even if folks laugh at our plants, we'll both be glad we did a test run when we start planting $10.00 seeds! Let me know if you run into any problems with your test run.

Abnjm said:

the soil my wife used has got the long lasting fertilizer mix, and I'm afraid of nute poisoning. I will flush with 6.0pH at the next watering, and then use 1/2 strength nutes on the following feed.

+ Rep for helping a newbie!

Click to expand...

watch out for flushing a pre-nuted soil. the leaching can activate the time release formula and just increase the amount of nute in the soil.

you can try and add an n only nute (x-o-o) and see if that does the trick.

wyteberrywidow said:

everything you got is great to start with but like desert said if the 8 bulb t5s are too hot just imagine what that 600 will do..you have an air cooled reflector right?if not you probably would want to invest in that...do you have a different flower room or you are using the same room to flower?

Click to expand...

Yep, I've got the Cool Jr. aircooled light. It's a sealed unit with intake and outflow openings. It'll intake through a charcoal filter, through the light to the fan and then outside. I was hoping it would be cooler than the T-5....

Thanks for the advice!

dont you want it to exhaust thru the filter for smells??

desertrat said:

watch out for flushing a pre-nuted soil. the leaching can activate the time release formula and just increase the amount of nute in the soil.

you can try and add an n only nute (x-o-o) and see if that does the trick.

Click to expand...

I'll give it a try and let you know how it works out.

wyteberrywidow said:

dont you want it to exhaust thru the filter for smells??

Click to expand...

I think it will scrub the smells if you draw or push through the filter. I figured a draw system would be better as the pre-screen filter would get the air first, as opposed to the fan pushing the air inside to the charcoal and then to the prefilter. In addition, it is easier to disguise the end of the flex pipe in a window. The filter is 12" across.

Of course, I'm a noob and may be completely wrong... That's why I'm here!

wyteberrywidow said:

everything you got is great to start with but like desert said if the 8 bulb t5s are too hot just imagine what that 600 will do..you have an air cooled reflector right?if not you probably would want to invest in that...do you have a different flower room or you are using the same room to flower?

Click to expand...

I forgot to tell you that I will be vegging and flowering in the same tent. I'll just swap out the T-5's for the HPS 600. I wanted to keep it simple for the first try. Of course after reading these forums, there are thoughts of veg rooms, flower rooms, clone rooms and mother rooms dancing in my head..

Abnjm said:

I think it will scrub the smells if you draw or push through the filter. I figured a draw system would be better as the pre-screen filter would get the air first, as opposed to the fan pushing the air inside to the charcoal and then to the prefilter. In addition, it is easier to disguise the end of the flex pipe in a window. The filter is 12" across.

Of course, I'm a noob and may be completely wrong... That's why I'm here!

Click to expand...

you're absolutely right about the filter but you do need to make sure your seals are airtight as you are trying to pull a vacuum.

i pull thru the light now. I wanna add a carbon filter with another fan and pull thru that and push thru the light and then finally pull thru outlet of tent. So it wud line up like this: carbon filter, duct, in line fan, duct, air hood light, duct, duct fan on top of tent pulling. it says on the fans to pull the air!

desertrat said:

you're absolutely right about the filter but you do need to make sure your seals are airtight as you are trying to pull a vacuum.

Click to expand...

I'm using 6" worm screw connectors, and the duct tape is at the ready. I will tape it up when I am sure I like the set-up. Seems to be drawing very nicely so far......

Eharmony420 said:

i pull thru the light now. I wanna add a carbon filter with another fan and pull thru that and push thru the light and then finally pull thru outlet of tent. So it wud line up like this: carbon filter, duct, in line fan, duct, air hood light, duct, duct fan on top of tent pulling. it says on the fans to pull the air!

Click to expand...

I'm getting a pretty good draw without the HPS air-cooled light in the system right now. I will keep your idea in mind when I go to bloom. Looking at my light hood, it appears that there won't be much increased air friction, so I hope I'll be OK. I'm tired of trying to get these connections perfect...

when you get temps under control if you can get that 600 in there and veg with that far better choice than the t5s

Abnjm said:

Seems to be drawing very nicely so far......

Click to expand...

i hate when i'm not clear. so to be clearer - your system can draw air just fine and still have leaks that will cause you big problems. since you are pulling a vacuum in your line you can introduce untreated air into your exhaust line thus bypassing your filter. this is why some people like to push thru a filter. i still prefer pulling for the same two reasons you mentioned.

desertrat said:

i hate when i'm not clear. so to be clearer - your system can draw air just fine and still have leaks that will cause you big problems. since you are pulling a vacuum in your line you can introduce untreated air into your exhaust line thus bypassing your filter. this is why some people like to push thru a filter. i still prefer pulling for the same two reasons you mentioned.

Click to expand...

Probably more of a comprehension issue.. I will check the lines thoroughly when its set.

I am concerned about wyteberrywidows's post:

wyteberrywidow said:

when you get temps under control if you can get that 600 in there and veg with that far better choice than the t5s

Click to expand...

Did I really drop unneeded money on the T-5's when the HPS would have worked all the way through? I've done a lot of reading, and I seem to recall recommendations of CFL or MH for veg and HPS for flowering, due to spectrum differences.

I'll bet you never reply to one of my threads again.....