First Grow - CFL -Too Much HEAT

Cloudian

New Member
Greetings Everyone,
Long time lurker and first time grower/poster here seeking some friendly advice with my grow setup. I am about 1.5 months into my grow and almost two weeks into flowering, but I am having issues keeping my box cool. I have a feeling it has to do with my air intake because everything else should definitely be sufficient. Here's my grow setup...

Custom Built Box - 3ft front 2.5ft side 4ft Tall
Lights - 4 x 85w 6500K CFL and 6 x 40w 2700K CFL
Air- 6' x 12' Intake Hole and 8 inch 400CFM exhaust Fan

Here are some pictures...I was thinking about putting some air holes either on the floor or side wall at the bottom
 

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Here are my suggestions:
  1. Put some ventilation holes in the board that holds your CFLs.

  2. Paint your board bright flat white with something like Kiltz primer. This will reflect light onto your babies instead of being absorbed as heat.

  3. Standard white light CFLs like you are using have approximately 40% wasted light (green). This wasted light ends up as heat. Try WeedBulbs.com... which have no such waste. If you are interested, I can send you a discount code.
 
I see your thermometer is right above the lights, move it down to the canopy area, otherwise you're measuring the temp of the lights more than anything, since heat rises. I didn't notice exactly where your intake is, but it would suggest keeping it as low as possible. If it is, for example, half way up, and your exhaust fan is on top, your fresh air will come in and get pulled straight to your exhaust. Another option is to put a fan next to your intake blowing the cool air down. You shouldn't have temp problems with that size exhaust fan in such a reasonable size box. Hopefully something i mentioned is helpful!

Keep us updated.
 
Also, a fan directed at the lights cools them a lot. I have a fan blowing just across my lights and it brought temps down at least 4 degrees.
 
I agree with Tommy. Move the thermometer. Plants look good. Let them tell you if they are OK. If you get leaf margin roll then worry.

Looks good. Keep it up.
 
Last edited:
Greetings Everyone,
Long time lurker and first time grower/poster here seeking some friendly advice with my grow setup. I am about 1.5 months into my grow and almost two weeks into flowering, but I am having issues keeping my box cool. I have a feeling it has to do with my air intake because everything else should definitely be sufficient. Here's my grow setup...

Custom Built Box - 3ft front 2.5ft side 4ft Tall
Lights - 4 x 85w 6500K CFL and 6 x 40w 2700K CFL
Air- 6' x 12' Intake Hole and 8 inch 400CFM exhaust Fan

Here are some pictures...I was thinking about putting some air holes either on the floor or side wall at the bottom
I think your problem could be that you C Run warms and brights at once.. The C warms put off more heat. You might have too many bulbs
 
Thank you everyone for the comment..I have done some work to the box and made sure there are no more air leaks other then the air intake and it has significantly improved my temps. The temperature stays below 80 now during peaks hours. I am currently at day 21 at the 12/12 cycle, the plants seem to be quite healthy other then some burns from touching the bulbs for too long. Few close ups of the best plant, ill add some more soon.
 

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Hey everyone! I need some help ASAP. One of my plants developed some bud rot and i've attempted to remove as much of it as possible. The plants are on day 54 of flowering and I am debating just harvesting it early to avoid any more infection. The top of the plant seems to have matured way earlier or it may be infected but i am not pro so I can't really tell. What should I do?

I plan to start flushing asap and i will soon have a jewelers loupe to inspect the buds. My other three are very healthy and strong and seem much denser then the one with bud rot.
 

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Look into adding another intake lower in the box. It will help move air over the plants do they don't build up moisture and rot. Or add a circulation fan to keep condensation from building up in areas of stagnant airflow.
 
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