How To Set Up A Grow Tent Extraction System
One of the most asked questions our community asks is ‘how do I set up a filter kit?’ or ‘where does the fan go in my grow tent?’. In this latest blog post, I’ll answer these questions and explain once and for all how to set up an extraction system in a grow tent.
Why Do You Need An Extraction System
When plants grow, they consume Co2 and produce moisture. This moisture is then heated up by grow lights which subsequently produces a warmer, humid environment within a growing area. This environment can produce a stale, hot atmosphere that can damage and reduce a plants health and size, therefore this is the reason why an extraction system is needed inside an indoor garden.
How Do You Work Out Which Extraction System You Need?
As previously mentioned, you need to extract stale air from your grow room. Extraction fans will draw out the stale air and are rated at m3/hour. To work out how much air needs extracting per hour you can use the following formula:
Grow room space ( L x W x H) x 60
For example, if I had a Grow Tent which was 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m I would need a fan that has a rating of around 172.8 m3/hour (1.2 x 1.2 x 2 = 2.88 x 60 = 172.8).
Now you have a starting figure to work out how powerful your extraction fan needs to be, you will also need to consider the following factors which can affect your final requirements:
- Cool Environment (E.g. Basement): + 20%
- Warm Environment (E.g Loft): -20%
- Air Cooled Reflectors: – 30%
- Carbon Filter Included: + 20%
- Long Ducting: + 20%
As we’ll be using a carbon filter in our 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m Grow Tent, the final airflow requirement will be 207 m3/hour (173 m3/hour + 20% = 207.36) which could easily be handled by a 4″ Fox fan.
Finally, if you’re using an intake fan to draw in fresh air to your grow room it should be around 20% less powerful than your extractor fan, this prevents your tent from blowing up like a balloon and helps to keep odour contained.
Choose Where You Want Your Extraction Fan.
When deciding where to place your extraction fan, the answer entirely depends on what type of grow tent set up you want. For example, if you want an indoor garden that produces little to no noise or odour it would be best to hang your fan inside your grow tent. However, if you’ve got a large industrial garden it would be best to hang your fan outside your grow tent as this would save space inside the tent for valuable equipment, such as more lighting or carbon filters.
How To Set Up An Extraction System Inside A Grow Tent
Setting up an extraction system is fairly simple once you get started as there aren’t that many steps. To begin, make sure you have your extraction fan, carbon filter, ducting, ducting clips and hanging ratchets nearby as this will make it easier when hanging the individual components.
- First, place the carbon filter cover over the filter.
- Next, set up your hanging ratchets or straps in your Grow Tent so you can easily slide your filter in later.
- Then grab a ducting clip and place it over the opening of the filter. Place the fan opening into the opening of the filter and tighten the ducting clip (make sure that the fan is facing the right way as you don’t want air being blown into the filter).
- The next part is probably the hardest part. Grab your filter with the attached fan and slide the previously set up hanging ratchets around it so the filter and fan sit securely inside your Grow Tent. If need be, grab another hanging ratchet or strap and attach it to the fan and Grow Tent hanging bars. On a side note, if you want a Grow Tent set up that produces small amounts of noise don’t tighten the hanging ratchets so much that the top of the fan touches the Grow Tents frame as this will cause vibrations when the fan is being used.
- Thread your ducting through the Grow Tents inlet sock and connect the end of it to the fan via another ducting clip.
- Run any wires through the Grow Tents cable holes.
And that is how to set up a basic extraction system within a Grow Tent. If you need any of the pieces of equipment we’ve mentioned in this blog please check out our fans, filters & environment category.
