It's Amazing What The Cooltube Has Done For The High Temp's I Was Getting,,,Right At 100* In The Top & 97* At The Canopy!!!!!
Great to hear it.
Cooltubes are highly effective. If you put enough air through them to keep the cooltube's glass cold, they're doing their job. Downside is the cooltube blowers have to run at all times when lights are on, adding to the general grow-op noise pollution. If your cooltube blower/s make too much nose, get a motor speed controller and slow them down a little. A blower running at 80% of max speed may make 50% less noise but still be shifting enough air to get the job done.
I Hooked This Light Vertical,,With The Fixture On The Bottom,,,I Can Already Tell The Plant's Are Going To Love It!!!!
It'll be interesting to see how that works out. Like I said before, light will be strongest when it doesn't have to bounce off a reflector first to get to the leaves. You've made a direct path to plants which can surround this vertical lamp.
However, SoG ops deliberately grow short plants which don't normally need side lighting. SoG tailors plants to suit the foliar penetration available from overhead lighting, even though quite a lot is coming via a bounce off the reflector.
I will be interested to see how you tailor your plants to the lighting you've set up.
Do You Think It Would Be A Good Idea, For Me To Add CO2?????
If I Add CO2, & The Exhaust To The Chamber Would Need To Be Off, When The CO2 Come's On????,,,,,,,What Temp's Can It Rise To & Be OK????
& I Guess The Intake Would Need To Be Off As Well????
CO2 is only worth doing if done right- and it's not cheap. You'll need a tank & regulator for starters, but the magic happens with a proper, modern CO2 sensor & applicator device (controller). These controllers have a sensor which measures the CO2 content in the air, valving which can turn gas flow on and off and electrical outlets for fans and/or aircon units. All of the exhaust fan management is done automagically by such units. There's several makers of these controllers, but all of them cost a
MOTZA. Most I've seen are $1000-2000 or more. CO2 equipped ops should run at 29C max.
The nut is that they are the very best at holding your room at 1500ppm, replacing gas when exhaust blowers must run and only applying gas duing lights on. These automated controllers cost a lot going in but they are the surest way of getting the best benefit from the gas and will cut your CO2 refill costs to the minimum.
You can get simpler tank-based systems which apply gas via timer settings but don't sense the level. If the blowers have run, the gas is gone and the 'dumb' controller doesn't know to add more.
Combustion-based CO2 generators (LP or natural gas, some alcohol burners) are usually not suitable for small ops due to the amount of heat they make. Their operation alone will trigger exhaust blowers. Aircon will keep the gas in the room but cost you a packet for the aircon to shift the combution generator's heat outside. Combusters work best in glasshouses or large warehouse grows.
Chemical reaction (yeast/sugar, vinegar/baking soda) CO2 generators are simply not worth fiddling around with. You don't know how much gas they make and control of gas concentration is impossible.
Have fun.
do you have to have a clone box
Oh yeah. Clones need very tight, stable temp control to give you reliable and predictable rooting times. They also need to be kept warmer than the mother plants. Mums should run 24-26C. The clonebox should be 28-30C with a 30C heat mat.
you know any online stores that sells good vent. parts?
Hardware stores seem to be as good an option as any. I'm not well placed to make recommendations unless you're in Australia.
what do you need a fan and some ducting for ventalation?
im not fimliar with flouros what size and how many i need?
For the clonebox, which should be around the size of a 2-drawer business filing cabinet, an 80-100mm fan up high on the wall or on the top will do. You'll need a thermostat set for 30C which can directly switch your line voltage to the fan.
The clonebox will need a screened cool air intake hole placed down low, which you can partly or mostly cover up when ambient temps get cool. I use traditional 24" (18W) fluoros in my clonebox- there's 3 twin-tube fixtures hanging by open-link chain from the ceiling of the clonebox. You could alternatively put a few lamp sockets on a piece of timber and put perhaps 4x large CFLs in them and hang that above the plant area.
So, I guess just pull the good side off, and hang it asap with no sides? Like your DIY Reflector? I'm probably going back to bed, but it will get done today and updated in my journal. I have electric worries as well. I am running an indoor ac in the room to keep things cool. High Temps have been a problem. The AC n HPS may blow the switch. I will let you know later. When the compressor kicks on, it dims the floros now.
I don't think I'd worry about removing the other end bit on your reflector. Might make it easier for you to bend the reflector to get the light best distributed, tho.
I would expect lights on the same circuit to flicker when an aircon compressor starts. Just make sure you are using only HD rated extension leads if any are needed and that you are not exceeding the current rating of the power outlet you're using to run the grow.
Hey Al, quick other question. I'm sure you are familiar with HTG Supply.com What do you think of their cool tube?
Cooltubes is cooltubes. 150mm glass tube, aluminium collars on either end for duct fitting. Shop for the best price for the size you want, lengths vary from 300-800mm (long ones for 2 tubes) but most all are 150mm (6") dia.
Al,
Any recommendations on smart switch timers?
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It runs one ballast for every 2 lights, effectively never letting the ballast turn off.
No massive draws of juice for umpteen ballasts and no real signature of regular "suspicious" draws.
I can't see the advantage of attempting to run 2 lights off one ballast. The 'massive draws' you suggest are about 50% over running current for about 15 sec while the arc is striking. The cost of one ballast per lamp is a lot less than a $700 high current, fast switch for the globe side of the ballast.
Power companies don't have the ability to peer down your power line to see the load changes you suggest, unless you have a 'smart' digital kWh meter which can record usage patterns and then be queried remotely. If you have Ye Olde Glasse Jarre power meter with spinning disc, the only information the pwr co has is how many kWh you've used since the last meter reading.
so al I want to give my clones and res. h202 50% hort. grade but for some reason they were pulled off the shelves of every hydro shop in california what should I do cant find it anywhere. How do I use the 3% from walmart. All Im feeding my clones is water @5.0 ph with 2 teaspoons of compost tea for every gallon. Help.
Oh I live on a property that has its own well.
I'm not in California so I can't help you with why H2O2 would have been withdrawn from sale. I'd shop around a bit to confirm or deny that info. It sounds a bit unlikely. H2O2 is a hazardous chemical but poses no environmental risks, which is the usual reason stuff gets banned in Cowlifornia.
You may have to order it online, but many shippers won't transport hazchems. Postal services usually don't, couriers usually do.
You can use 3% pharmacy grade H2O2 at 17ml/litre of nutrient. If you have a large tank of nutes to treat, this get excessive pretty quickly.
However, I'm not sure I'd use H2O2 with organic nutrients like compost tea. I bet it foams a lot when you add the H2O2- that's what it does when it contacts organic waste matter or simple microorganisms/pathogens.
. Then, I just switched to ph water @ 5.0 with compost tea to feed my clones and no nutrients till I put them on the ebb and flow table.The other pic of clones have only been feeding water @5.0ph with 2 teaspoons of compost tea for every gallon. Can you get an idea of what I should do by my pics? Thank you!
