Tent and Lights-How to choose the right one?

[Wulf]

Hi Guys

As I have mentioned I am a total Newbie and need some help. I am trying to determine what size tent one should get and what light will work with that tent.

So if Im looking to grow 4 to max 6 plants indoors, then what size tent should I be looking at? And also what type of light, by this I dont mean HPS, LED etc, I have decided that if I do get a indoor setup then I will want to use LED.

If I were to buy the indoor set up I would look at spending 10k.

Your opinons are much appreciated!

[SkunkPharm]

1.2x1.2m tent Mammoth from Futurama someset west.

Light 320w led DIY strips and driver from Digikey and source aluminum frame locally. See LED Gardener for specs on sprips and drive.

6" extractor fan grow guru was the cheapest last time i Looked which was years ago.

2x clip on tent fans from Hydrobiz

Pots and trays. Soil orgasoilux from Jamies garden shop.

The source clones don't plant seeds.

You will probably have to invest in a dehumidifier at some stage for Winter.

That is my take on it.

[Wulf]

@SkunkPharm

WOW!

Thanks dude!

Sounds like solid advice.

[PsyCLown]

1.2 x 1.2 will be good, however you could go a bit smaller if you wanted to.

1m x 1m or even 1.2m x 0.6m could work for you and ensure you can meet your 4 to 6 plant goal... Cheaper too in terms of tent size.

 

Lights I would recommend LED, I personally prefer Quantum Boards but nothing wrong with LED strips either if you want to DIY.

Extractor fan, you could get away with a 4" however a 6" with a speed control would be more ideal and quieter - I have heard good things about the Prima Klima fans and pricing is decent. They have a model which has 2 speed settings which is what I would recommend.

Do you need a carbon filter? Is smell going to be an issue where you will be growing or can it stink up the place without any issues?

 

The clip on fans do not seem to last based on my experience, they are also a bit pricey. I find the box fans or even a desk top oscillating fan works well.

Get creative when hanging it, cable ties and/or rope ratchets work well to hang it inside a tent.

 

Soil, coco, hydro - your choice end of the day.

 

Rough pricing breakdown as follows:

Tent: R2500 (Mars Hydro or similar brand, from Hydroponics)

Light: R4250 (240W LED)

Extraction fan: R1400

Carbon Filter: R770 (if needed)

Oscillating fan: R199

Timer & Rope Ratchets: R500

 

Total cost so far, approx R9 619

You will need ducting for the extraction fan too which will bring you up to the R10k mark. You will have extra money if no carbon filter is required.

[Wulf]

@PsyCLown

Hey bud

Thank you for the detailed response + pricing, this forum rocks man!

if one goes for the 1.2 x 1.2 what would be the max plants one could fit in such a tent?

Any difference between the mars hydro vs the mammoth? Which would be better?

Lastly I would prefer a plug n play LED vs a DIY one. Been looking at the one at futurama for R5299

https://www.futurama.co.za/samsung-grow-light-lm301b-220w/

 

[Prom]

1 hour ago, Wulf said:

@PsyCLown

Hey bud

Thank you for the detailed response + pricing, this forum rocks man!

if one goes for the 1.2 x 1.2 what would be the max plants one could fit in such a tent?

Any difference between the mars hydro vs the mammoth? Which would be better?

Lastly I would prefer a plug n play LED vs a DIY one. Been looking at the one at futurama for R5299

https://www.futurama.co.za/samsung-grow-light-lm301b-220w/

 

You would need 2 of those lights for a 1.2x1.2, or 1 for a 1.2x0.6

Mammoth or the Mars Hydro... i never had a Mammoth. My Mars tents look pretty good after 1 year usage. All zippers work, no stitch let go. 

How many plants fit in... imagine you are a doctor and a 2 meter guy comes to you with his tiny wife and asks: she is pregnant, how tall will be our child? 

If you do a awesome job, 4 and is full. If you fuck over your auto batch... 16 easy  if you do all right, 1kg dry should be easy to reach on a 1.2x1.2 area. Better number as amount of plants. 

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Prom
typo

[CreX]

11 hours ago, Prom said:

You would need 2 of those lights for a 1.2x1.2, or 1 for a 1.2x0.6

Mammoth or the Mars Hydro... i never had a Mammoth. My Mars tents look pretty good after 1 year usage. All zippers work, no stitch let go. 

How many plants fit in... imagine you are a doctor and a 2 meter guy comes to you with his tiny wife and asks: she is pregnant, how tall will be our child? 

If you do a awesome job, 4 and is full. If you fuck over your auto batch... 16 easy  if you do all right, 1kg dry should be easy to reach on a 1.2x1.2 area. Better number as amount of plants. 

 

you and your words man... make me gush lol

 

[PsyCLown]

On 11/18/2020 at 6:55 PM, Wulf said:

@PsyCLown

Hey bud

Thank you for the detailed response + pricing, this forum rocks man!

if one goes for the 1.2 x 1.2 what would be the max plants one could fit in such a tent?

Any difference between the mars hydro vs the mammoth? Which would be better?

Lastly I would prefer a plug n play LED vs a DIY one. Been looking at the one at futurama for R5299

https://www.futurama.co.za/samsung-grow-light-lm301b-220w/

 

 

Both Mars Hydro and Mammoth are good brands, I'd say go for the cheaper one or whichever is in stock.

In a 1.2m x 1.2m tent I'd say you could comfortably fit 9 plants inside with space remaining, 12 if you cram them all in. This is based on a 20L pot size.

Although a bigger tent, is a more expensive tent. Also a bigger tent requires more light which further increases the price. If 6 plants is your limits, I feel a 1.2m x 1.2m tent would be a waste of money and for a Mars Hydro 1.2 x 1.2 it is over R3k

[Prom]

The 1.2x0.6 is a very sexy tent size. You reach all corners very easy and you dont really need to go bonkus on air flow. If you cant have it to noisy. A simple desk fan for entry, a small occilating inside and if you go with a light, combined with its own cooling, like the Mars144, you have very little noise in the room, but still a working system. Might smell a bit thou  

If it is your first indoor grow, i wouldnt go over the edge. Big tents bring work with them. I love my 1.2x0.6.. just easy to work with. You can always get a bigger one and sell the small one... but in general you add tents  

Edited November 19, 2020 by Prom
To stupid to type ;)

[Wulf]

Hey guys! 

I think I may have been doing this all wrong, by this I mean I should have been working out this thing "backwards".

After discussing with @Prom what I realised was that I should look at my monthly consumption first as this will give me an idea on what size tent I will need. (Monthly consumption around 50g) Also these were his comments, posted below, (with his permission), regarding running costs.

Lemme have your thoughts as well guys. The below text from @Prom does put "things" into perspective for me anyways. 

 

From @Prom :

"I pulled 300g prime buds from the 1.2x0.6 in 3 months with a non effort grow, nothing but feeding the plants. 50g a month, no Sir, not the 1.2x1.2... way to big for you 

Autos perfect... you will have a  good time, as long as all stays below 26 degrees.

The 1.2x0.6 will set you back around 1k a month on electricity.. the 1.2x1.2.. 2k... and so on hehehe so growing your 300g prime buds will cost you at least 3k electricity, plus fertilizer and your work time."

 

"Yes, the lights will run 20 hours a day and your ventilation never stops 24/7. The 250 watt light plus the desk fan and occilating one... should hit you with about 1000 rand a month, Eskom not expected to lower prices.

Buying the material is the cheap part. Eskom overtakes your investment cost within a year. Counts for all tent sizes you can buy. Running them is the real pain. So you want to be as efficient as you can.. rest is just wasted cash"

[Stinger96]

This is where Solar helps. If there is a way to save the cost to Escom... Makes it more Affordable..

[PsyCLown]

R1k seems a bit high to me, unless your electricity rate is stupidly high.

 

LED light = 260w draw, taking into account the less than 100% efficient LED driver

2x fans = 120w draw (60w each)

Total power = 380W let's call it, however fans are likely more efficient than that and that is also if you run the light at 100% all of the time. I personally do not like doing it like this, dim it during germination and increase watts slowly as the plants get bigger and require more light.

I know @Prom just runs it 100% and adjusts the height. Both ways work, dimming lights will help save power though.

 

Average electricity price is around R1.64 let's call it, the tiers actually start at a lower rate but let's assume you are on a higher rate and round up to R1.7 per KWH.

Light = 260w x 20 hours x 31 days = 161.2 KWH

Fan = 120w x 24 hours x 31 days = 89.28KWH

Total KWH a month = 250.48 x R1.70 = R425.82

 

If it takes 3 months from seed to harvest, even if we round up to R500 for electricity per month that comes to R1500 for 3 months.

If you harvest 300g dry, that is R5/g in terms of cost of electricity on your dry bud. Obviously there are other costs to consider as well - medium, nutrients, seeds, sprays, equipment and most importantly your time and effort.

 

Even if you do a photoperiod grow and it takes 5 months from seed to harvest and you manage to pull 300g it works out to 60g a month and meets your requirements.

 

 

@Stinger96 I was looking into solar recently. It does not make sense to run your grow off the batteries, will cost far too much to run it entirely off the batteries if you have a decent sized grow. I was thinking a grid tied system could work well, however you'd then need to have lights on during the day to benefit from the solar providing power when the sun is out. When the sun goes down then it can draw power from Eskom or if the solar panels are not producing enough power the deficit can be drawn from Eskom. Even if it helps reduce your monthly electricity usage and offers some savings it can be worth it.

For a house, typically one would require batteries though as during the day when the sun is out you are at work. So electricity usage at home is minimal, unless you are growing. At night is when you are home and no sun there, so gotta draw power from the batteries and then let the panels charge up the battery the next day once the sun is out again.

 

What causes issues is the bigger appliances, such as the aircon, oven, microwave and geyser. At around 2KW or more each, your draw adds up very quickly and would require a massive inverter. One may not use all of these appliances at the same time, but it is not impossible.

Heatwave in summer, boiling hot at 6PM so AC is on, you are in the kitchen busy cooking while the GF is taking a shower. So getting completely off the grid can be a costly experience or requires compromise.

A system which works together with the Eskom mains is more ideal I feel and can help reduce electricity costs quite significantly. Just a pitty about the monthly connection fee as that effectively makes your first few units really expensive and it becomes cheaper as you use more - if you factor in that cost which is close to R500 a month. Bleh.

[Ill_Evan]

1 hour ago, PsyCLown said:

Average electricity price is around R1.64

Damn son where you at? 

Mine is R2.69 per KWh

[CreX]

3 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

Damn son where you at? 

Mine is R2.69 per KWh

Mine is R1.69p/KWH

you being shafted bro!

[420SA]

3 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said:

Damn son where you at? 

Mine is R2.69 per KWh

I was just about to say...

My latest recharge came in at R2.74/unit... one of the many reasons why I haven't been growing for ages now

[Stinger96]

5 minutes ago, 420SA said:

I was just about to say...

My latest recharge came in at R2.74/unit... one of the many reasons why I haven't been growing for ages now

Switching off your geyser helps allot when you work on a pay meter. Geysers useability of units.. I've saved plenty on switching the geyser off during the day.

[CG420za]

My electricty cost is also UP there. I spend about R1000 extra a month on electricity when my tent is online. I think the more you use per month, the higher your tarrif

[420SA]

18 minutes ago, Stinger96 said:

Switching off your geyser helps allot when you work on a pay meter. Geysers useability of units.. I've saved plenty on switching the geyser off during the day.

My geyser is on a timer... so I have that addressed. Still bloody expensive though

[afternoon blazer]

Also remember buying electricity during the first day or 2 of the months. Gives u the lowest rate. After that the rate increases quite abit. 

 

Dont understand why though.

Maybe they want all the people to spend their money at once so they have a solid income.

[PsyCLown]

Damn guys, those of you with high electricity prices - who is the provider?

Eskom? City power? Also is it prepaid or postpaid?

 

 

First step is R1.42 and 2nd is R1.63 and this is recently as you can see the billing period is September & October 2020.

[Wulf]

@420SA 

30 minutes ago, 420SA said:

My geyser is on a timer... so I have that addressed. Still bloody expensive though

He bud, does the timer make a difference???

Please see below articles:
 

https://www.property24.com/articles/7-myths-debunked-about-switching-off-your-geyser/24814

https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/701/95201.html

Edited November 20, 2020 by Wulf
Errors

[420SA]

3 minutes ago, Wulf said:

@420SA 

He bud, does the timer make a difference???

Please see below article:
 

https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/701/95201.html

Good question and have often wondered myself. I feel it saves more and forces us to use less hot water. I have the timer on for 2 and a half hours in the morning and I find that the water is still pretty hot the next morning when the geyser kicks on again so not as much energy needs to be used to get the water up to temp again. Climate does help this though with our days frequently being between 30 and 40C. Winter is a different story. 

I'd have to test the theory to be sure and leave the geyser on for 3 days, measure total consumption and then use the timer for 3 days and measure consumption. Could be interesting.

[CreX]

4 minutes ago, Wulf said:

@420SA 

He bud, does the timer make a difference???

Please see below article:
 

https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/701/95201.html

i wasnt going to say anythig about geyser timers, but this article is exactly how i feel about geyser timers.

you are way better off improving the insulation of your geyser and pipes and showering in the mornings or evenings and not both, than introducing a stop start regime to reduce costs.

The science is sound. in a perfect world, the geyser will heat the water, and the water will stay heated and not cool down. but geysers do cool down if not in use.. requiring them to turn on now and then to raise the water temp back up to the desired temp... this could take a few min if the water is hot already.

but if your geyser and pipes are well insulated and keep the heat inside from escaping, then the geyser will need to turn on much less - and that is where the savings come in.

but to get it right you also need to get all your bathing or showering done as a family, within a relatively short time, and definitely not mornings and evenings as that would heavily negate any savings from the insulation.

keeping the geyser on at 65-70 degrees is the sweetspot as there is no chance of funky bacteria or anything growing in the heat.

[West Coast Vaper]

Also remember buying electricity during the first day or 2 of the months. Gives u the lowest rate. After that the rate increases quite abit. 
 
Dont understand why though.
Maybe they want all the people to spend their money at once so they have a solid income.

Your first electricity purchase of the month includes your free electricity. You think you getting more if you not aware of your human rights freebie. Same with water.

Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

[SkunkPharm]

On 11/18/2020 at 3:49 PM, PsyCLown said:

1.2 x 1.2 will be good, however you could go a bit smaller if you wanted to.

1m x 1m or even 1.2m x 0.6m could work for you and ensure you can meet your 4 to 6 plant goal... Cheaper too in terms of tent size.

 

Lights I would recommend LED, I personally prefer Quantum Boards but nothing wrong with LED strips either if you want to DIY.

Extractor fan, you could get away with a 4" however a 6" with a speed control would be more ideal and quieter - I have heard good things about the Prima Klima fans and pricing is decent. They have a model which has 2 speed settings which is what I would recommend.

Do you need a carbon filter? Is smell going to be an issue where you will be growing or can it stink up the place without any issues?

 

The clip on fans do not seem to last based on my experience, they are also a bit pricey. I find the box fans or even a desk top oscillating fan works well.

Get creative when hanging it, cable ties and/or rope ratchets work well to hang it inside a tent.

 

Soil, coco, hydro - your choice end of the day.

 

Rough pricing breakdown as follows:

Tent: R2500 (Mars Hydro or similar brand, from Hydroponics)

Light: R4250 (240W LED)

Extraction fan: R1400

Carbon Filter: R770 (if needed)

Oscillating fan: R199

Timer & Rope Ratchets: R500

 

Total cost so far, approx R9 619

You will need ducting for the extraction fan too which will bring you up to the R10k mark. You will have extra money if no carbon filter is required.

For R200 more you can get a Mammoth tent and the zips on those tents are 10x better than the Mars