Attn: Lumatek ballast users

What are your heights off the top of your canopys? My flowering little ladies cant take my lighting and im 25" off the tops w/ sealed hood w/ hi output fan. I see people on here with nothing just straight bulb like 12" away with their 600's ... I just dont know what the problem is. I have 2 Digi lumatek 600s in a/c controlled room thats 3x6x6 and they just dont seem to like it.

How many CFM's is your exhaust fan? You have it hooked up to the hood right? I run a 600W light with a Cool Tube and I can get it within 12", it would be even better if I had a more powerful exhaust fan.

what do you mean cant take it? getting too hot?

Lennard said:

What are your heights off the top of your canopys? My flowering little ladies cant take my lighting and im 25" off the tops w/ sealed hood w/ hi output fan. I see people on here with nothing just straight bulb like 12" away with their 600's ... I just dont know what the problem is. I have 2 Digi lumatek 600s in a/c controlled room thats 3x6x6 and they just dont seem to like it.

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ok.. first off what does this have to do with a lumatek digital ballast?? i have two of them myself, granted they are only 400's which are with the other 1680w of lighting i have in my veg room, and i have NO issue with the light or the ballast.. in fact i can put my hand on the glass reflector under the reflector and its barely warm.. your issues lie somewhere else... pretty much in the exhaust area.. there are two things you could be doing..

1) you are only using the HO fan as your only exhaust fan and your room is to big for it to properly exhaust the air... how big is your room in total cubic feet?? how many cfms is the fan rated at?? do those 2 number match at all?? are you running your duct as effienctly as possible?? the more bends you have in it the less effective it is.. every 90 degree bend can cut fan efficiency by up to 60%....

2) you are pushing more air into your grow room than is being exhausted.. this creates a positive pressure in your grow room.. high air pressure can raise temps... this again goes along with not exhausting enough air in the room tho....

its hard to say because there are somethings about your grow that are unknown.. but i would start removing more air than you are from the room.. get another exhaust fan and pull more air from the room.. if you can afford it that is.. if not trying letting less air in the room so the fan can pull more air out... try re running you duct to make the fan run more efficient.. get and a/c... but it has nothing to do with the ballast.. i have 6 lights in my veg room with a total of almost 2500w.. only 2 of the lights are air cooled.. and although i was running hot temps while i was in the middle of redoing my setup, with only 1 400 cfm i am keeping temps down to 80F now... which feels more like low 70's with the oscilating fans going...

that is a lot of light in that small place. try one light. however are you aure it is light? when my plants get two much light they love it, they just turn white. If it is somethng else like heat or ph then they hate it. Then you notice them unhappy.

Simpson, Im definitly not at all dogging my Lumateks, I absolutly love them. My room is about 108 square feet if my maths right. My fan is a hydrofarm green one I think its good for 400+ CFM. The room itself is A/C controlled so the heat only gets to 84 max. I just put my hands over the tops of the canopy and can feel the intensity of the light (If that makes sense). I was just thinking maybe these digi ballasts were really 30% brighter so maybe when I look and see that people are 10 - 12 inches off the tops maybe they have magnetic ballasts. Im ninty percent sure its the distance of the light over the canopy. top leaves turn zebra yellow / green while anything a bit lower than that and still gets direct light nice and green. PH is flush. Nutes are flush. The last time I lifted the lights to over 30 inches the problem went away. But im for some reason playing hard ball with my ladys telling them they need to suck it up.

Maybe tea tree and golden are right... I do have a small room for that amount of wattage.

Thanks to all for all your help

No this thread was not built by some guy that is all pissed off at lumatek. In fact I highly recommend them. Just a personal problem and I know this.

how is your exhaust set up?? are your lights daisy chained???

regal8r said:

what do you mean cant take it? getting too hot?

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The serrated edges begin to lift up, curling, fan leaves turning 90*, zebra striping.

raise them now! otherwise your buds will be white mine got that way on my first crop. That does not go away.

It is a pity it is 3x6x6. I dont want to say remove light. But that is too much. And for that size fan two 600s is a lot. I have an eight in fan 700 or 800 cfm and my six inch is a lot for it. I dont have air though yet.

I would say two 400s but that is a waste and lacke the pene. I would go with one 600 for now. Or trade them in for one 1000 watter lumatek.

I love my two lumateks.

I use a 4x4x6 spave with one. I do fine so far. 15 inchs up. No bleaching. They pentrate about a foot in before the buds get smaller but thpse were not even with the canopy. So auxins levels and all matter.

yeah, it is too hot that is why the leaves curl. It is too bright that is why they bleach. Those are two seperate levels of problem

heat is the worst. Try an eight in fan for two lights or better yet try tow 6 in fans if you have run both lights.

my crappy eight incher does the same job as my six incher. The eight incher was used. Should ahve cleared that up.

Lennard said:

The serrated edges begin to lift up, curling, fan leaves turning 90*, zebra striping.

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*Could you elaborate on your exhaust system? The fan sounds fairly powerful, but do you have it drawying air over your lamps?

simpsonsampson420 said:

how is your exhaust set up?? are your lights daisy chained???

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Actually sounds really bad but yea and I have a 6" carbon filter off the back of that as well but I played mr scientist and got a board 4' long and had dangling string every 6" and the flow was just about the same

tea tree said:

raise them now! otherwise your buds will be white mine got that way on my first crop. That does not go away.

It is a pity it is 3x6x6. I dont want to say remove light. But that is too much. And for that size fan two 600s is a lot. I have an eight in fan 700 or 800 cfm and my six inch is a lot for it. I dont have air though yet.

I would say two 400s but that is a waste and lacke the pene. I would go with one 600 for now. Or trade them in for one 1000 watter lumatek.

I love my two lumateks.

I use a 4x4x6 spave with one. I do fine so far. 15 inchs up. No bleaching. They pentrate about a foot in before the buds get smaller but thpse were not even with the canopy. So auxins levels and all matter.

yeah, it is too hot that is why the leaves curl. It is too bright that is why they bleach. Those are two seperate levels of problem

heat is the worst. Try an eight in fan for two lights or better yet try tow 6 in fans if you have run both lights.

my crappy eight incher does the same job as my six incher. The eight incher was used. Should ahve cleared that up.

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I wont be using this room any longer after this grow the next will be much larger. I think its just a ton of light. I raised her up another 4 inces today hopefully that does the trick. the room temp is stable 84 but the intensity of the light (again... if "intesity" makes any sense) is definitly high. I think its a combo of all that. Im just having a hard time believing it. Ive never seen it happen. Good job Lumatek.

Cr8z13 said:

*Could you elaborate on your exhaust system? The fan sounds fairly powerful, but do you have it drawying air over your lamps?

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6" x 20" DIY carbon scrubber then two air cooled hoods then exhaust fan (acting as vacuum) Like I said in the response just above this... did a lill experiment and idk it seems to flow really well I think the fan is great. It may be a little low but then the A/C just turns on and fixes it no?

couple pics of my setup are here:

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/183673-coco-grand-daddy-600-hps-7.html

dude 2 lights is ok for a space 1m x 2m x 2m . my room is 3m x 2.5m x2.5m high i have 4 600w HPS i have 2 inlet 200mm fans and 1 500cfm fan exhausting, have A/C and dehumidifier and my temps can spike at 30 deg cel when gas is being injected (fans are off) and the fans remain off for a certian time after a dosage so the gas isn't wasted. Room does get quiet hot but once fans turn on i can watch the temp drop. My lights are around 30cm from tops of buds i have a few that were around 15cm and they went white and crumbled.
Jf i were u i'd Get a oscerlating fan to move the air above canopy about. Prehaps look at getting a bigger exhaust fan if money premits. i heard those lumatek balasts do give 30% more lumans and a better yield and use less power BUT dont think they actually get hotter though. anyway check out my journal if u want might give u a few ideas.

Madazz

Lennard said:

6" x 20" DIY carbon scrubber then two air cooled hoods then exhaust fan (acting as vacuum) Like I said in the response just above this... did a lill experiment and idk it seems to flow really well I think the fan is great. It may be a little low but then the A/C just turns on and fixes it no?
*
couple pics of my setup are here:
*
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/183673-coco-grand-daddy-600-hps-7.html

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Have you checked the temp near your canopy, or are your earlier numbers just the ambient room temp?

Get rid of the reflectors and go vertical next time in the same room with the same lights and I bet it will work out a lot better. I can run my vertical 1000w hps's less than 1 foot away from my plants. Reflectors suck in retrospect. I wish I'd have tried vertical open bulbs long ago.

It seems rather odd that an open bulb twice as close throws less heat, but it clearly does. There is a 1kw bulb in this photo and you can't see it but some plants are nearly 6" from the light.

I love lumatek, dont get wrong. But two
600s in a 3x6 space (18 sp ft) is way too much! Or maybe I just dont understand your measurements. (3x6x6) 3ft wide, 6ft long, 6ft high is how I take it. I use 600 lum to cover 4ftx5ft. And I think its plenty. But thats just MHO. As far as fans go. I think vortex and can fans are over rated and ove priced. Dayton squirrel cages ROCK! My 600 is cooled by a 110cfm plus helps pull air form the room. Yea you may have to McGyver a bit too hook them up. But they do move the air they claim too. Even with static loads!

OregonMeds said:

It seems rather odd that an open bulb twice as close throws less heat, but it clearly does. There is a 1kw bulb in this photo and you can't see it but some plants are nearly 6" from the light.

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This is exactly what im talking about open bulbs are right on top all the time. How do you control the heat in ther OM? Could I just basically have an open intake pumping out the heat? I for some reason cannot fathom the thought of not having an air cooled reflector it seems like it would be impossible to cool. I use GE HPS w/ blue spec bulb.. do some bulbs run much more hot than others?

Cr8z13 said:

Have you checked the temp near your canopy, or are your earlier numbers just the ambient room temp?

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If I were to do this would I put a therm. right on top of the canopy facing up? I remember holding it there for 5 mins right next to a top when in veg and it was the same as where the gauge sets currently (at the canopy tops) but I didnt have it facing up into the light.

Go to 1000bulbs. Com and get u an eye hortilux bulb.. They're da bomb. Wish I could answer ur last ? But I am not sure if they're hotter. If so I wouldn't imagine its by much.