Ventilation is essential for growing plants. By using ventilation, you can avoid serious problems with cannabis and leaves.
Contents
How to set up ventilation in grow tent
Even as a beginner, you should know how vital airflow is to your plants. Stale, hot air can cause many problems for your plants, including disease, stunting, and pest infestation. On the other hand, a clean, quality airflow allows your plants to absorb the CO2 they need for photosynthesis and growth.
In this article, you will learn how to install ventilation in a grow room or in a tent and how to prevent problems when growing plants.
How to ventilate a grow tent
There are two ways to set ventilation: passive and active supply.
Exhaust fan with passive suction
The passive intake relies on negative pressure to create passive airflow.
This means you have a fan blowing air out of your grow room or tent, but no fan blowing air from outside to inside. Instead, you use an inlet that passively allows new air to enter the tent. This is usually about 3 or 4 times the size of the outlet, or you may have multiple passive inlets.
Exhaust and active intake system
The active intake system blows air into the vent of the grow tent using a fan.
So two fans work together. One to keep air from inside the tent blowing out, and another to keep air blowing air in.
Inlet size is less important when using this system.
So if your grow room or tent has an inlet about the same size as the outlet, your grow room or tent is a good fit for an active inlet system.
The principle for exhaust systems is always the same. It must maintain the supply of clean fresh air and exhaust the used and damp air.
Ventilation system components
Many different ventilation system equipment will preserve the quality of the crop, but also minimize noise and odors.
The ventilation system consists of the following components:
- Rope ratchets for hanging equipment
- Exhaust fan
- carbon filter
- Air ducts and clamps
- Muffler
- Oscillating fans
Air-cooled grow lights (most types of grow lights, such as LEDs, produce little to no heat, so they don’t need to be included in the ventilation system).
Ventilation installation steps
- Installing air ducts for fans
To install ventilation, it is necessary to connect the rest of the equipment to the exhaust fan using aluminum ducts.
Flexible aluminum ducts provide the perfect combination of affordability, versatility, and ease of installation.
But if you want to use ducting for more severe applications and you have the funds to do so, insulated aluminum is a better choice.
To ensure maximum performance, ensure that all kinks and wrinkles are smoothed out.
- Installation of an inline fan
Next, you need to install an inline fan. Enter your grow room or tent and connect the exhaust fan to your tent’s exhaust vent.
You can hang the fan from the ceiling of the tent. And either connect the fan outlet directly to the outlet or with a duct if you prefer.
- Installing a carbon filter
The carbon filter must be taken into account when tuning the exhaust. The air from your grow tent needs to pass through a filter before it can escape. By using a carbon filter, you protect the space from the smell of cannabis.
The process of installing the carbon filter is very simple, all you have to do is hang the carbon filter inside the tent. Thus, the air first passes through the carbon filter, and then the exhaust fan throws the filtered air out.
- Adding a silencer for extra stealth
Mufflers dampen the air from the exhaust gases, creating much less noise. They are located behind the fan, but if necessary, they can be placed further along the duct.
Silencers also change the type of sound, it goes from a terrible whine to a soft whistle, more like the wind.
- Connecting an air-cooled reflector (mainly for HID fixtures)
If you have a carbon filter, you must connect the air ducts to the reflector. Then connect the reflector to the exhaust fan and finally to the tent’s exhaust vent.
If you are using HID bulbs to grow your plants, your hood light likely allows you to use air ducts.
You will need a direct stream of fresh air passing through the light reflector. This will help you lower the temperature as well as cool the bulbs as HID bulbs generate a lot of heat.
- Sealing the grow tent
An airtight tent keeps bugs and pests out and maintains negative pressure so your cannabis air intake filter can do its job. In addition, an airtight tent helps protect plants from ambient light at night. If you have a depressurized tent, the exhaust system will be susceptible to air leakage and will be ineffective.
Sealing creates an independent environment so you can control temperature, humid air, and CO2.
And ensures that your exhaust system works at peak efficiency. By preventing air leakage, the exhaust fan generates negative air pressure by forcing new air through the inlet.
Tips for effective grow room ventilation
Now that we know how to install ventilation and what it is for, the next thing is to provide the grow tent with good conditions for growing plants. The more you control the conditions, the better for the plants.
The best grow room circulators automatically eliminate many of the most common indoor growing problems. Here are some tips for effective grow room ventilation:
Maintain the ideal CO2 level for cannabis
Plants can benefit from extremely high levels of CO2. Generally, levels between 1200 and 2000 ppm are best for cannabis.
Like all plants, cannabis requires carbon dioxide to survive. But when the plants are inside with stagnant air, the CO2 acceptance in the atmosphere is rapidly depleted.
Your grow tent should have two-way air circulation so that cold, fresh air filled with CO2 enters the inside and exhaust air exits. Therefore, an ideal CO2 level is essential.
Control humidity
Humidity plays a huge role in plant health. Humidity that is too high can cause disease in your grow box, and too low can negatively affect growth, so you need to constantly monitor the humidity.
Humidity in a grow room is largely the result of evaporation. Transpiration is the process by which the leaves of a plant release water into the atmosphere. The suction created by transpiration draws nutrients through the roots as the plant produces water vapor.
On the other hand, too high humidity creates ideal conditions for diseases and pests to thrive and also prevents evaporation by limiting the plant’s ability to transpire, so you need to be able to raise and lower the humidity in the grow box without difficulty.
Prevent pests and diseases
Air circulation helps prevent pests and diseases. Molds, powdery mildew, spider mites, and fungus gnats prefer stagnant, damp conditions. Pests lay their eggs in moist topsoil, so having a fan to keep the topsoil dry can slow down their reproductive cycle, and constant wind prevents them from gaining a foothold on your plants in the first place.
If you have the right fan and extractor fan, your plants will be much safer in the absence of spider mites and fungus gnats.
Control the temperature in the grow tent
Cannabis plants thrive at comfortable temperatures, ranging between 70-85°F during the vegetative stage. When your plants are ready to flower, you will find that lowering the temperature to around 65-80°F results in higher yields and bud quality.
Wind control
Cannabis plants benefit from light winds and are even essential for optimal growth. This gives the stems an excellent loading and prevents them from becoming very exhausted to facilitate the right bud growth.
Without the wind blowing in the grow tent, the stems can become numb, which can lead to bending. And also the leaves will not be able to absorb enough light for proper photosynthesis, preventing proper growth.
Fan noise control
Since you need a powerful fan to ventilate the grow tent, you can expect some noise. But there are ways to mitigate the noise.
In addition, most models of built-in fans are equipped with noise-reduction features. You can also attach a silencer to dampen the sound of your fan.
Fan power calculation
CFM shows how much air the fan is moving. Calculating fan power requires a bit of math, but it’s relatively simple. Fans are rated in CFM or Cubic Feet Per Minute. To understand CFM, you need to know:
- Dimensions of your grow room or tent
- Exhaust efficiency
Calculate the total volume of your grow box by multiplying the length x the width x the height. These are the cubic feet of your room measurement. Hold on to this number. Next, we’re going to multiply it by the efficiency drop.
This efficiency depends on the age and brand of the filter, as well as the length of the air duct between the fan and the filter, among other factors. You need to multiply the volume of your room by 25%. There is a rule of thumb: if you have a long duct path, multiply it by three, and if you have a short path, multiply it by 2.
Your formula should look like this:
Room volume x efficiency drop = CFM
For example, if your room has a volume of 320 cubic feet and you have a short duct, then you would multiply that number by 2.
320 x 2 = 640
Now that you have a basic CFM, you also need to consider accessories such as air ducts, grow lights, and a carbon filter or muffler. All of these accessories can influence the operation of the fan to achieve ideal growing conditions.
FAQs
When should I run my exhaust fan in a grow tent?
The fans should be running when the grow lights are on. At night, turn on at least one fan. At a late stage of flowering, some flowers may emit a fetid odor. Therefore, run the fans throughout the entire period.
What vents should be open on a grow tent?
If you rely on passive suction, be sure to keep the air intake in your grow tent open. Also, keep a window open next to your grow room ventilation to replace the warm air coming out of your tent. If you are using active suction, install an intake fan on the vent of your tent.
How does ventilation work in a grow tent?
Ventilation means using one exhaust fan to remove hot air and organize the flow of cold air from a technical hole at the bottom of the grow box.
What is the purpose of oscillating fans?
Installing oscillating fans will help reduce the temperature and humidity in the grow box, but such fans are not enough. An air exhaust system is also needed to keep the air in the grow room ventilation.
How big a fan do I need for my room?
To find out how big a fan you need for your room, you need to calculate your room’s CFM using the formula. This calculation will help you find the range of fans best suited to your installation.
Conclusion
The ventilation system of the grow tent ensures that air is always moving between the outdoor environment and the indoor grow space. In addition, he has a strategy to maintain airflow inside the grow tent.
Choosing the grow tent ventilation system is difficult, so it’s important to understand how to grow a tent ventilation system work and what grow room ventilation benefits. Proper ventilation is essential for the health and productivity of your plants.
Installing ventilation will help you not worry about controlling the airflow in your grow room or tent. Plants will thrive if you follow the tips in this guide and make sure the air in your room is constantly renewing.
Remember that the size of your tent and the climate inside depend on the plant you are growing. Remember to clean and care for your plants regularly.
So, follow our tips for growing your plants efficiently and productively to ensure optimal yields.
