How Much Weight Capacity Do I Need in My Grow Tent?

If you’ve ever built a growroom or attempted to hang a carbon filter from the ceiling, you know that cultivation equipment can be quite heavy. While grow tents offer many conveniences, people often have concerns that these structures can’t support all the equipment needed to grow an indoor crop.

To help you better understand exactly how much weight grow tents can support, manufacturers developed weight capacities for different models.

Before you go out and purchase all the equipment needed for your indoor grow, be sure to have a look at the weight capacity of your grow tent. Luckily, since grow tents are small compared to most growrooms, the equipment needed to regulate the environment in such tight spaces is generally quite compact.

What is the Weight Capacity in a Grow Tent?

The basic structure in a grow tent is formed by an internal frame made of metal or steel. By attaching adjoining bars with interlocking joints, you build a rectangular shape that gives tension to the tent fabric — thus creating the walls, ceiling, and floor. Yet, the frame in a grow tent is responsible for more than giving shape to the fabric — it also supports the weight of equipment such as fans, lights, and carbon filters. (Read also: What is the Best Way to Hang Grow Lights?)

The weight capacity of a grow tent is the total weight the internal frame can support. Yet, this figure includes more than just primary pieces of equipment like fans and lights. You must also consider other extras that are often attached to tent walls like garden tools, clip fans, and trellising.

Different Weight Capacities for Different Size Tents

Larger grow tents with more plants require more total equipment. As such, manufacturers are known to provide different weight capacities for different sized grow tents. For purposes of this exploration, we will focus on a mid-sized grow tent with a volume of 48x48x80 inches and a weight capacity of 150 lbs.

What Factors Impact Weight Capacity in a Grow Tent?

The most important factors influencing the weight capacity of grow tents are tent poles and the hardware used for the interlocking joints.

Leading manufacturers like AC Infinity utilize heavy duty steel bars for their tent frames. It takes this type of durable material to support the weight of heavy grow lights and carbon filters suspended over the middle of the tent. To meet their 150 lb. weight capacity, AC Infinity uses tent poles with 22mm thickness.

The other important element contributing to the weight capacity of a grow tent is the interlocking joints that hold the bars together. These joints function as connectors in the middle as well as corners of a tent, bearing much of the structure’s weight. The highest-quality connectors are reinforced with push buttons.

Horticultural Lighting

With so many types of horticultural lighting on the market today, it can be tough to know exactly what fixtures will meet your needs for tent growing.

To begin with, you will want to choose a grow light that is rated for the size space you need to illuminate. When growing in a tent, purchasing an overly strong light such as a SE HPS can have devastating effects on your cannabis garden. In like fashion, you need to ensure that you don’t overload the weight capacity of your tent with an oversized fixture.

A 400-watt LED light is a perfect size for illuminating a 4×4-foot grow tent. You can count on one of these fixtures weighing between 10-15 lbs.

Inline Fans & Carbon Filters

Inline fans and carbon filters are the bulkiest pieces of equipment in your grow tent.

In growroom design, cubic feet per minute (CFM) refers to the volume of air an inline fan can move in one minute’s time. With airflow ratings of around 400 CFM, a six-inch inline fan will be more than adequate for a 4×4-foot grow tent. You can count on a six-inch inline fan weighing about 10 lbs.

Carbon filters are sized to fit with specific size inline fans. Within this spectrum, larger filters within single-size ratings generally last longer and offer better airflow than smaller models. A conservative-size carbon filter for a six-inch fan would be about 16 inches long and weigh 20 lbs. (Read also: Common Mistakes with Growroom Ducting)

Wall Fans & Equipment Storage

Since every object hung in your grow tent will add to the total load on the structure, you need to allot a bit more weight for wall fans and additional tools.

To keep fresh air mixing properly in your tent, you need to clip fans that attach to the sides of the frame. High-quality six-inch clip fans that can handle the workload of an indoor garden weigh about 2.5 lbs. each — coming in at a total of five lbs.

Since you work in your garden nearly every day, you will want to keep tools like glasses, gloves, and sheers handy. You also need to consider the fact you will be supporting your trellising and cannabis plants with the tent frame. While the total weight for these extras will vary with each garden, a liberal weight range of 10 lbs. should be more than enough to cover it.

Summary
Based on the figures from the above equipment categories, you can count on hanging about 55-60 lbs. worth of gear in a 4×4-foot grow tent. Besides the obvious equipment like lights, fans, and carbon filters, this number also includes a very liberal 10-lb. allotment for the additional weight of tools and trellising.

In looking at a grow tent model like the AC Infinity Cloudlab 844, it’s evident a 150-lb. weight capacity is more than enough to adequately support your garden equipment. However, if you move to a large grow tent, say 10×10-feet or larger, weight capacity could be much more of a concern. Since larger cannabis gardens require more total equipment, it’s very important to be mindful of these weight thresholds.

If you want to be 100 percent sure your equipment will be well within the weight capacity of a grow tent, you’re well advised to purchase an all-in-one kit. AC Infinity has a number of Complete Grow Tents available specifically for these purposes.

AC Infinity is the foremost name in air delivery systems, designing and developing the latest innovations in cooling and ventilation technology. They offer a suite of quiet inline fans that automate the growing progress and track key metrics. Visit acinfinity.com or contact [email protected] to learn more.