Hydroponic grow tent setup

Everything You Need For A Hydroponic Grow Tent Setup

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When I first started hydroponics I didn’t have my garden enclosed. It soon became evident that I needed to get a grow tent.

Besides the actual tent itself, I wasn’t sure exactly where to start. I thought I’d share my setup to give you a starting point. Here is everything you need to assemble a hydroponic grow tent!

The Hydroponic Grow Tent

The first item to decide on is the grow tent itself. There are many different size grow tents available for pretty small to really large.

The grow tent I had in my apartment is 48″x 48″x 80″. I don’t have much room in my new apartment so opted for something smaller on the square footage side but I like to be able to stand up in my garden as I’m tending to it.

Having a taller grow tent is more necessary when doing hydroponics compared to grow in dirt. Hydroponic system setups often have the plants sitting up higher. A higher ceiling means you have more room to raise your lights, allowing you to grow taller plants.

Check out my full review of my Vivosun hydroponic grow tent here..

Grow Light(s)

Choosing the correct grow lights has gotten a lot easier. Grow lights have come a long way over the years and now LED grow lights are pretty much to go to for hobby hydroponic gardeners.

The main thing that’s going to determine what grow lights to get is the size of your grow tent. You want LED grow lights powerful enough to cover the entire square footage of the tent.

I would recommend getting more than one light if growing several plants. This will ensure more of the plant gets light exposure which is hard to do with a single light as plants get larger.

Rope Hangers

It’s important to have the ability to adjust your lighting, so you’ll need to get rope hangers if your lights don’t come with any.

This will allow you to easily adjust the height of your grow lights as your plants grow taller.

Ventilation

Ventilation is not something you should overlook and is a relatively cheap investment. Proper ventilation can control humidity, circulate the air and suck fresh air into your hydroponic grow tent. There are 3 parts that make up the ventilation system. The ventilation unit, the ducts, and a carbon filter if you’d like to use one.

I’ve been extremely impressed with my AC infinity ventilation system. It’s set to automatically kick on when the temperature or humidity reaches a certain point and has a cool LCD screen to view/control the system.

Hydroponic System(s)

Depending on how you set up your garden you may not be limited to only one hydroponic system. I like to grow a variety of plants at once so I try to utilize my space in a way to fit multiple systems.

I didn’t purchase a hydroponic system and instead made my own. I can grow strawberries in the ebb and flow hydroponic system while growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in my drip hydroponic system.

Power Strip

For as many items as you’ll need to plug in, you’re definitely going to need a power strip for your hydroponic grow tent. While any power strip will work, there are a few that have some extra benefits that can make things easier.

I really like the power strip that I use by Geeni. The Geeni power strip is wifi enabled, so you’re able to control each plug-in separately via the Geeni app. In addition to being able to turn each plugin on and off you can also set up a timer or a consistent on-off schedule. This makes it a breeze to set up your lighting schedule without any extra physical timers.

Check out my full review of the Geeni power strip here…

Fans

Don’t forget that like us, plants breathe too and breathe better when the air circulates.

I recommend getting at least 1 fan for your hydroponic grow tent to help circulate the air. Fans can also decrease the chances of pests, mold, and other pathogens finding a resting spot in your garden. Wind movement also makes the plant stem grow stronger, allowing the plant to hold the weight of itself as it grows larger.

I use an ordinary Honeywell house fan in my current hydroponic grow tent. There are also smaller fans that are made more specifically for grow tents that have clips to fit on the poles of the tent.

Timers

If you don’t go with a power strip that has a built-in timer, then you’ll need to purchase timers to control the duration that your grow lights stay on. Timers also come in handy to power pumps to water your garden at specific intervals.

You don’t need anything fancy when it comes to a timer. I prefer the cheap timers where you push the pins in for the “on” time. The timers usually offer one or two outlets. I prefer the two outlet timers, as you can never have too many outlets.

Velcro Straps

I would definitely recommend getting some velcro straps to secure cords and to hang things. While not absolutely necessary they do come in handy and make things look clean. Velcro straps will allow you to keep cords and rope lights neat and out of the way.

Nothing fancy here, any cheap velcro straps will do.

Conclusion

I hope this helps you with a starting point in putting together your own hydroponic grow tent. With a little planning building the perfect grow tent is easier than you may thing. Purchasing quality parts of your grow tent helps work towards having as smooth of a grow season as possible.

If you’ve found some products that work really well in your hydroponic grow tent let me know in the comments!

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