New Grower Need tent suggestions...

[Gadgetguy]

So my house is odd lol. It is an A frame house with the bedroom/bathroom built off the side of it. The bedroom has enough room for a 2'x4'x7' tent. I've been growing for 5 years at another location but that was a dedicated bedroom and I don't have that kind of space at my current house. I have a loft in the upper part of the A-Frame that could be turned into a grow space with some framing work etc. but I haven't found a tent in the world that would fit up there unless it was just a 2'x2'x5' and that's just not enough for me lol.

For now I'd like to do a tent in the bedroom but me and the lady do sleep in there. It will be LED/CFL and my climate is pretty cool most of the year (freezing in the winter in fact). I won't need to be running any crazy loud 6" fans etc. to keep lights cool. Will a 4" fan with a carbon filter for air exchange be LOUD as in keeping us awake at night loud if in the tent and in the same room?

If so, I may just have to frame a little area into the loft upstairs and go that route. I've seen the mufflers they make for fans but I have to wonder how effective they really are.

Thanks in advance friends

 

[Trapper]

I can't sleep WITHOUT any ambient noise...so fans are a plus for my sleep.

If you have to go up to the loft, I did see that Secret Jardin has a "dome/pyramid" style tent they offer.....

 

[Gadgetguy]

I can't sleep WITHOUT any ambient noise...so fans are a plus for my sleep.

If you have to go up to the loft, I did see that Secret Jardin has a "dome/pyramid" style tent they offer.....

I may have to check that out, I've never seen such a beast! Thanks Trapper. We fall asleep to a movie every night while we down a bowl of hash so ambient noise is fine. I know I couldn't sleep through a 6" vortex fan though lol, sounds like a rocket ship, not sure how the 4" compares.....

 

[Trapper]

Here it is....don't know how it shapes up to the space you have but thought I would link it:

http://www.secretjardin.com/en/grow-tent-secret-jardin/sj-cristal.html

 

[Gadgetguy]

This would be the room I'm working with lol. Hard to fit any tent and the dome looks like it would be a bit of work. I wouldn't mind keeping it open for guests but even that is somewhat rare, so they can sleep in the living room on the pull out couch. It has a nasty set of circular stairs leading up to it so I will need a hose fitting for the kitchen sink to get water up their, I'm not carry 5 gallon buckets of water up that mofo lol.

The space is SMALL. that is a full size bed and you can't walk past it without using it to hold you up while ducking the ceiling.

 

[jackmc]

Gadgetguy, You have a decent amount of space. A full size bed is 54" wide so you must have 6'-7' across the floor. How high is the ridge of the roof? My tent is an Agomax I got from htg.com. The tent has a lot of nice features including a view window with a canvas flap so you can peek in without opening the tent. The quality seems decent. I've only had it for a month and a half so we'll see.

 

[Gadgetguy]

@ 75" tall it's only 25" wide and that is the tough part. I may be stuck framing something in. When it comes down to it with Mylar etc. and the shape of the space I could have something good but I'll have to do some work, lol

 

[jackmc]

I had a real space constraint too. I am growing in a 46" tall space. I cut a hole in the floor of a 30" high tent and elevated the floor of the tent to the top of my hydro reservoir. There are a couple of other height short tents I saw when I was shopping. You could do the same thing I have but I'll bet you could elevate the tent to a more comfortable working height. Mine is about 12" above the floor. 16"+/- would be a more comfortable height from which to work while sitting on a stool. If you shoved it to one side of the room you could probably get to 3 sides of the tent. I have 3 sided access which I don't use much but it is nice.

BTW I choose a tent over building out a grow space for quick dissassembly and portability. I am not planning to move it but you never know. I also hoped it would keep the smell under control. Not entirely even with a carbon filter. But that's a story for another conversation.

 

[Freiya]

I just bought this tent a few days ago.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Mylar-6...74?pt=US_Hydroponics&var=&hash=item3cd0836a86

the 48x24x48 (4x2x4) it's like a giant ass pc case. They actually have a bunch of different sizes and the prices are really good. Quality seems nice too. I actually wish I would have got one a bit smaller and a bit taller but it's too late now qq. I got no room for this thing atm but thankfully we are moving in a few weeks. That opens up a whole new can of problems though as I haven't started my grow yet and I really want to, but I'm nervous about moving the plants in 20 days when it's time to move. First grow so I'm even more of a worry wort lol.

 

[az2000]

I know I couldn't sleep through a 6" vortex fan though lol, sounds like a rocket ship, not sure how the 4" compares.....

If you don't need to deal with heat extraction, you only need enough fan to replace the tent's volume of air every 5 minutes. This means you can slow the fan down. At that point, a 4 or 6" will sound about the same. What you're hearing is the fan speed and air flow. When you dial it down, it gets quiet.

For speed control you want a $50 variac, (<<link) not one of those $20 dimmer-like speed control. The dimmers chop the sine wave, making the fan buzz with hundreds of on/off pulses. The variac reduces the voltage. Huge difference in fan sound.

If you want to dial the speed down precisely, put a large garbage bag over the exhaust tube and time how long it takes to fill up. If you have a 4x4x7 tent that's 112 cu. ft. A 33 gal trash bag has 4.4 cu. ft. That tent holds 25.5 of those bags. Therefore, you want to fill 5 of those bags in 1 minute, or 1 bag in 20 seconds.

For me, with a 6" fan, that's around 50 volts on the Variac.

I think a 6" fan would be quieter because it would push less air through a larger diameter tube. Most of what I hear (with the fan inside the tent) is the air rushing out of the tube. I think a smaller tube with faster airflow would make more noise.

You can also wrap the fan housing in bubble wrap to dampen noise. Use insulated foil tubing (usually for flexible AC and heating). You can also get creative at the exhaust end, terminating into a cardboard box lined with pillows or acoustic foam to deaden the sound of rushing air.

I'm with trapper. I like background noise.