Need advice

Hey all, I've been looking around at a lot of grow tents and lights. I'm getting ready to "renovate" the grow room. I'm looking at getting 2 3'x3'x5' and 1 2'x2'x4' tents and curious what you all would recommend for lights and tents. I'm switching from doing photos to autos. I currently only have a 2'x4'x7' homemade tent in my laundry room and a small seedling spot. The lights are some driverless leds. They work good, but want something better for the space (also am going to be getting some carbon filters. Spent way too long without em lol). My plan is to S.o.G. autos.

My main questions though are 1. What are some good lightproof tents because there will likely be a light turned on every once in a while. 2. What lights would you recommend for the tents? ( I'm hopping to get good par for the whole canopy. I saw some that "work" for 3x3s for veg and only work for 2.5x2.5 for flower.)

First bit of advice I would give is find tents that are 6ft high or more , it makes life a lot easier.
One of my tents is 2x4x5 and its limits what I can do as far as training.

Ive not heard of SOG using autos , I assume you've seen it done somewhere? From what I know about autos they do what they want.

As far as light proof tents, nearly all of them are light proof from the outside, though you may see some light through the zips from the lights inside, they are considerably brighter than a single source light bulb hanging from the ceiling outside.

Are you wanting LEDs or cmh or hid lighting options?

Yeah I bought the cheapest tents I could find on amazon.
My big one has some pin holes, but its not enough to effect anything. There was one zipper I dont use that I was slightly concerned about because of the lamp I use to see into my outside res shining directly at it, so I covered the inside of it with foil tape.
My cheap 5x5 is much higher quality than I expected for the price and doesnt have any pinholes that I have seen.

I might end up going that route. I saw some kits on amazon that came with carbon filters and everything else

opusmaximus said:

I might end up going that route. I saw some kits on amazon that came with carbon filters and everything else

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Well price the things individually to make sure your getting a good deal and check the quality of the fans and filters.

Its very common for these bundles to look good but contain crap components.

Ive seen a few times a 2m x 2m tent offered as a bundle with a fan not capable of doing the job and a light that would only cover a quarter of the space.

coreywebster said:

First bit of advice I would give is find tents that are 6ft high or more , it makes life a lot easier.
One of my tents is 2x4x5 and its limits what I can do as far as training.

Ive not heard of SOG using autos , I assume you've seen it done somewhere? From what I know about autos they do what they want.

As far as light proof tents, nearly all of them are light proof from the outside, though you may see some light through the zips from the lights inside, they are considerably brighter than a single source light bulb hanging from the ceiling outside.

Are you wanting LEDs or cmh or hid lighting options?

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I'm wanting leds. I'm only planning on getting autos that get 2-3 foot max. I'll look for some 6 foot tall tents. My thought for sog was to put 6 plants in each 3x3 to max out canopy and not worry about veg times. I was looking at star dust and royal dwarf.

Ive seen a few times a 2m x 2m tent offered as a bundle with a fan not capable of doing the job and a light that would only cover a quarter of the space.
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I saw a lot of that going on, I was curious what other people are using so I dont fall into that trap and have to spend a bunch of extra money on buying things twice.

opusmaximus said:

I'm wanting leds. I'm only planning on getting autos that get 2-3 foot max. I'll look for some 6 foot tall tents. My thought for sog was to put 6 plants in each 3x3 to max out canopy and not worry about veg times. I was looking at star dust and royal dwarf.

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Fair enough man, that's not really a SOG though, SOG is 1-4 plants per square foot.
Sounds like a fair plant though.

Some good LED companies.

Horticultural lighting group ( plug and play or kits)

Timber grow lights (COB based plug and play LEDs)

High lights from Aussie grow lights ( edit, sorry that's Grow lights Australia)

Solskin from cutter.au

Cob kits (for diy cob set ups)

ChilLED

DIYleduk (for various top quality LEDs in UK)

BC Blondes (Canadian plug and play boards)

Rapid LED (kits based COBS or pucks)

Any of those you want to aim for 30-35w per square foot of space.

There are others like amare but I don't know enough about them.

opusmaximus said:

Ive seen a few times a 2m x 2m tent offered as a bundle with a fan not capable of doing the job and a light that would only cover a quarter of the space.

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I saw a lot of that going on, I was curious what other people are using so I dont fall into that trap and have to spend a bunch of extra money on buying things twice.
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I run a few tents, 2x4 and 3x3 and 1m x 1m.

Im running a 315cmh in the 1m x 1m but its my veg tent for now.

I use 260w HLG v1 kit in the 2x4x5, though ive recently change that to 240w of high light boards.

I usually run 320w of HLG boards in the 3x3x6 but again ive swapped those out for some Aussie High Lights.

When I get chance I will be putting all the high light boards (4x) in the 3x3 and putting the HLG v1 boards in the 2x4. Power consumption will stay the same but having more boards will allow me to get lights closer to plants, which will be a benefit in the 2x4x5.

Sounds like OP is wanting to do somewhere between sog and scrog
Lol.. thats funny to say out loud.

Most ppl end up going HLG for good led. There's lots of options out there like corey mentioned but a lot of them get pretty damn close to HLG pricing so it makes sense to spend the few extra dollars to go with the top dog.

It

fragileassassin said:

Sounds like OP is wanting to do somewhere between sog and scrog
Lol.. thats funny to say out loud.

Most ppl end up going HLG for good led. There's lots of options out there like corey mentioned but a lot of them get pretty damn close to HLG pricing so it makes sense to spend the few extra dollars to go with the top dog.

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Will end up being a mix of both. Lst with no trellis. If I have room I want put 9-16 in each tent. I have to figure out room for fans and lights. If I can hang the fans on the sides I'll go with more plants. Unless you all have any ideas that don't involve an oscillating fan.

opusmaximus said:

I'm wanting leds. I'm only planning on getting autos that get 2-3 foot max. I'll look for some 6 foot tall tents. My thought for sog was to put 6 plants in each 3x3 to max out canopy and not worry about veg times. I was looking at star dust and royal dwarf.

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Considering that 2' x 2' spaces are well suited for one auto, I think three autos in a 3' x 3' is going to give you more than enough (if not too much) canopy.

opusmaximus said:

It

Will end up being a mix of both. Lst with no trellis. If I have room I want put 9-16 in each tent. I have to figure out room for fans and lights. If I can hang the fans on the sides I'll go with more plants. Unless you all have any ideas that don't involve an oscillating fan.

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I REALLY like these fans. Theyre small and push great air for their size. I run 1 in each corner of my 10x10 and one is enough for my 5x5.
I just drilled some holes around the base and used zip ties to hang them to the top bars in the flower tent. Playing with hole placement, I was able to mount them securely while also being able to aim them anywhere I wanted.
I used some paracord with slipknots to hang one from the veg tent and make it adjustable height.

Here's my veg tent. I keep the fan oscillating right above the canopy and its plenty for in there.

It'll probably be way to much canopy, but that's why I want to start with six each and see of its doable without much loss.

@fragileassassin was wondering If the could be hung from the ceiling or hang a board from the side and cover it in mylar to screw the fan to.

fragileassassin said:

I REALLY like these fans. Theyre small and push great air for their size. I run 1 in each corner of my 10x10 and one is enough for my 5x5.
I just drilled some holes around the base and used zip ties to hang them to the top bars in the flower tent. Playing with hole placement, I was able to mount them securely while also being able to aim them anywhere I wanted.
I used some paracord with slipknots to hang one from the veg tent and make it adjustable height.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J07RMU/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Here's my veg tent. I keep the fan oscillating right above the canopy and its plenty for in there.
View attachment 4482619

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You can make those lil' Blizard fans very mobile by removing it from the mount and then attaching it to one of these shop light clamps. I love the one that I have. Here's a link to find them at wally world.

opusmaximus said:

@fragileassassin was wondering If the could be hung from the ceiling or hang a board from the side and cover it in mylar to screw the fan to.

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Yeah, all im really saying is get creative with it!
Function over form. Im sure I could have come up with some fancy mounting solution but drilling a few holes and using zip ties and paracord worked perfect and is very secure.
wouldnt even need mylar or any of that. A coat of white paint would be plenty.

Just Be said:

You can make those lil' Blizard fans very mobile by removing it from the mount and then attaching it to one of these shop light clamps. I love the one that I have. Here's a link to find them at wally world.
View attachment 4482626

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Another fantastic example of getting creative with it.
Nicely done, ill have to keep that in mind. Was considering buying 2 more.

fragileassassin said:

Another fantastic example of getting creative with it.
Nicely done, ill have to keep that in mind. Was considering buying 2 more.

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I've had this one for years and used it for removing paint fumes and over spray more than anything else. It still works like a champ but doesn't do so well in an upside down position anymore. Gravity has gotten the best of the mechanics behind the little grey block that you pull out to stop/activate the oscillation. Upright and sideways it works just fine.

Just Be said:

I've had this one for years and used it for removing paint fumes and over spray more than anything else. It still works like a champ but doesn't do so well in an upside down position anymore. Gravity has gotten the best of the mechanics behind the little grey block that you pull out to stop/activate the oscillation. Upright and sideways it works just fine.

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Glad they are as durable as the reviews made them sound. I havent had mine all that long. First one I got about a year ago.