The Equipment in the Highland Grow Tent

GrowLab 145

About a month ago, I wrote about my new highland/intermediate setup. After about a month in operation, I can successfully say that my setup is working reasonably well. I certainly have to caution anyone looking into upgrading their indoor setup into grow tents that these massive black boxes take up quite a bit of room, but it's definitely worth it for those of us obsessed with carnivorous plants.

Windows Open

As I mentioned previously, one of the main reasons I purchased this GrowLab tent was the presence of two large windows at the front. As you might imagine, we spend quite a bit of time at my house looking at our tropical plants, especially during the long, dark, cold winter, so it made sense to get a tent which provided a good view of the plants without disturbing them.

Blauberg Inline Fan

In terms of the equipment inside and outside the tent, I have been fairly impressed with this little 4" Blauberg Inline Fan. Despite my reservations, it has proven fairly capable at keeping the tent cool despite the tent containing some 56 feet of lighting, most of which consists of T5HO bulbs. Sometime this week, I expect a second shipment of Luxul T5HO replacement bulbs. Those are a much lower temperature and, hopefully, I should be able to begin transitioning to a closed window, rather than having to leave it open to help cool the tent/room as I do now.

Fan & Humidifier

Inside the tent, I have had a lot of success with this small, reused fan in terms of circulating enough air to prevent any kind of fungal buildup. It is positioned to help spread the cold air coming in from the Blauberg fan as well as blow the humidifier's humid air throughout the tent. Sometime this week or next, I expect my MistKing Misting System to arrive. That should allow me to remove the humidifier (and shelf) as MistKing just came out with a Hygrostat that will allow systems to automatically control misting based on the amount of humidity in the room.

Temperature/Humidity Gauge

Perhaps the most impressive device in this whole setup and the one I rely on the most is this fairly inexpensive Accurite temperature and humidity gauge. It keeps a log of temperatures and humidity over a 24 hour period and is very useful for as a relatively accurate device to check how the tent has been doing.

A View Inside the Tent

One of the newer acquisitions for the tent was a couple of white shelves. (We had need for a shelf the same size as those inside the tent, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to white shelves). My hope is that these white shelves will be more rust resistant than the regular metal shelves. Only time will tell whether that is true or not, but I remain hopeful.

The Bottom Shelves

Inside, I haven't quite finished setting up the back white shelf. I'm waiting for another 2-foot T5HO unit, and am saving for a second one. Until I get those set up, I'll be using the clip-on light to supplement the light the plants back there are getting.

The Tent

So that's it as far as updates go. A grow tent is a fairly expensive proposition and there's a lot of planning that goes into it. (I ran through five different setups for the MistKing alone before I settled on the one that I've decided to implement. I honestly don't remember how many different setups I ran through before I settled on the one that is currently implemented).