I’ve been growing in a 16’ x 16’ room I built in my garage. Divided in half for veg and flower. I’ve decided to downsize a bit, and move the grow in to my house in a spare bedroom. I bought a Vivosun 4’ x 4’ tent a couple of weeks ago, and I’m not thrilled with it. I see light leaks in the seams, and the zippers, so I don’t think it’s going to be the greatest for flowering. So I want to get another tent for flowering. Anyone have recommendations for a good quality tent with minimal light leaks I’ll need to worry about? I’ll be running a 150 watt LED in the veg/clone tent, and a 315 CMH in the flowering tent. I looked at Gorilla tents but reading the reviews it looks like they have light leak issues too. Any recommendations?
It seems to be a crap-shoot out there.
I have a secret jardin and love it, another person recently reviewed the same tent and he had a hole in it. 
Hard to say
G
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Maybe order a roll industrial strength duct tape to cover all the leaks lol…
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Gotchya covered…
Cheers
G
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I’ve heard great reviews for ac infinity tents @Badger . I have their T series exhaust fan and absolutely love it!
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I checked their site and they’ll have some in March. That would work out fine for me. Thanks!!
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Hey @Swe-can that door looks like it would be a pain the ass. ???
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Compared to Vivosun I’d say the Mars tents are heavier and better built to a certain extent. I think light leaks are a thing across all brands unfortunately, just a roll of the dice.
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Hey bro,
I have a homebox and i love it! Such a great tent. When im lazy w the door i just throw the flap onto the roof haha.
I also have a seahawk tent, another great option.
As for premium tho cant go wrong with either the gorilla tents or homebox!
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Yeah, your lazy way wouldn’t work for me. I have very little clearance with the ceiling. I think I prefer zippers 
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Ah yeah nah its zippered. 2 zips, one on each side. Only takes a few secs to roll up if you need tho aswell
Like katanaking said, if your lazy just throw it on top. Or just roll it and secure it.
But it’s a very nice tent I really do like the home box tent 
!
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Oh. I see. Rolling it up. Ill still will pass on that.
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Ive got a Mars Hydro, Apollo, Quintet, Opulent, and a iPower tents. They all leak light. So far the Opulent is best as far as light leaks go. A bit on the chintzy side though.
I wouldn’t trade my ac infinity 2x4 for anything.
On the 5x5, I wish they had another velcro hanger further back. It’s kind of a pain rolling that long door all the way around the back, then having nowhere to hang it. It’s still a good tent though, for sure. I even like the looks of them. I’ll never use another brand of fan.
Always check every tent for light leaks before doing a flowering cycle would be my advice.
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Cant get any better.
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Yeah, the Mars Hydro tents are great. Definitely the smoothest and most durable zippers, with 1680D fabric. All Mars Hydro purchases I have made came with assorted free gifts, such as light timers/rope ratchets/smell proof bags. The stitching is pretty well done with thick sturdy seams. The reflective mylar inside is embossed in square patterns, which reflect more photons downward toward the canopy, rather than omnidirectional reflection as other flat-surfaced mylar print patterns offer.
Gorilla Tents are far overpriced, though if you are in dire need of a pre-fabricated tent with an exceptional height capacity, their extension kits can afford benefit in environmental control and canopy height. edit: Gorilla Tents claim the “thickest” and “strongest” indoor grow tents “ever created” with a Pole Diameter of only 19mm; while 22mm to 25mm steel locking poles are available from Liquid Jade below:
The YouTuber Liquid Jade had some tents custom made to his specifications, which are pretty impressive: https://liquid-jade.com/shop-now/
He boasts top of the line everything, from the highest quality fabric to the thickest support poles (22-25mm). Very highly priced, but unlike any other tent available.
There are many near-identical lowest-costed bargain brands such as: Melonfarm, Lumo-X, Ohuhu, TOLYS, VIPARSPECTRA, BLOOMGROW, Minerva, IDAODAN, Zazzy, Venustani, Opulent Systems, etc.
Opulent Systems and Melonfarm produce the best quality among the cheapest class of tents available in Canada through Amazon.ca. It is the quality of the stitching and zippers in this price range that differentiates quality most. These two brands have proven a consistent quality in manufacture, and my experience with them has surprised me with their durability and design.
The newer AC Infinity tents look incredible, but I have no experience with them. Highly recommend their ventilation equipment though. On that note, I have had massive and repeated failures with Vivosun brand ventilation equipment and no longer support the company.
There are some interesting size and style options for tents as well, worth considering, such as:
Barn-Style (in 4x4, 5x5, and 4x8)
The advantage of a peaked roof is that the heat collects to a central point by way of convection, and the draw of an exhaust more efficiently moves heat from the space. The downside of course is less volume of air compared to an average full sized cube or rectangular prism shaped tent of the same dimensions. However, the sloped sides may compliment a living space well, such as allowing the tent to nest into the contour of an attic or stairwell.
Spider Farmer makes a “2x4” sized tent that is actually 27" by 55", making for a luxurious “2x4”. Similar other oddball 3x5 tents pop up now and then, but they are less common.
In all tents I recommend 80" height. However smaller tents are usually much shorter:
80" = 4x4, 5x5, 4x8, 5x10, 10x10, and good 2x4 tents
72" = lower quality 4x4, 5x5, and 2x4 tents
60" = typical 3x3 and some very low quality 2x4 tents
There are plenty of oddball dimensions too, such as 16"x16" or 3’x2’:
And then there are alternate color schemes and lining options:
Grey Tents
Couldn’t find an example readily, but there are some grow tents which offer a white-poly inside lining, instead of silver. It has been demonstrated in experiments that silver mylar, and especially diamond embossed mylar, sends more light downwards, whereas white lining scatters light in all directions.
You can also buy a 25’ or 50’ or 100’ roll of Diamond Mylar (or black/white poly), and build your own grow tent. If you choose to use a base such as a shelf to construct a grow tent, the investment will be much more long-term; when you are done growing with it, you’ll still have a storage shelf for multiple applications; whereas a dedicated grow-tent will eventually (in years) wear/tear and likely end up being trashed within a decade.
Here is an example of how to turn a department store chrome wire shelf into a makeshift grow tent:
There are other great designs using lumber such as 1x1s and 2x2s or PVC piping; rough frames to suspend black/white poly or mylar, to create an enclosed environment.
Some of these tents or materials may be ideal or unsuitable for specific areas. I hope that an assortment of ideas and options will benefit your decision process.
Cheers,
-Dr. Zinko
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Great write up.
I put the height extension on my 4x4 gorilla. I have seen that some people found extra poles to go with their gorilla tents. This gives you a nice, horizontal place to add fans and other accessories.
It is now the sativa tent, where the 5x5 ac infinity is for indicas. It is nice to have the extra height when you need it for sure.
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ok i have never owned one but recently saw a 4 x4 Ac Infinity on amazon for 129 bucks, it has 22 mm poles and 2000D canvas, seems like a lot for the money
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