Lighting intensity question for vert cooltubes

First off i ordered two 6in cooltubes and these things are great, i run lil clamp on fan on top shooting down and cools my 1000hps just fine...also aids in hanging a towel over the light when working in the tent as it is scorchingly painful to the eyes..

So im only veging for now, mothers and what not... I am wondering if turning down the ballast to 75% to keep the 1000w HPS a lil cooler is affecting the intensity of the light (because i know it is...) enough to hinder growth in veg, the clones are doing just great in a vert setup and the mothers seem to show no signs of stress as i had them vegging w a 400w MH at first and then switched them to the HPS when the cooltubes arrived. I had to give back the MH bulb to friend before he tried to make me pay for it...lol..the switch increased the growth rate w in a week for sure btw

1. So my question is does anyone have any experience with growing a big bulb at a lower intensity?
2. What's your experience in veg vs flower for this method?

At 75% intensity i can hang a meter right against the glass on the outside of the cooltube and only register 79degress...then the other meter says the room is at 75-80...pending on whether the woman turns up the ac or down...hehe

Yes In have but why are you blowing "down on the bulb as heat rises so why not aid that action with the fan and exhaust thru the top I do works great now as to running 25% less you have less heat you know and of course less light If your plants are doing well keep it simple right? I am blasting 1200cfm out the tubes and temps are 72 w/o ac. I have 600's on now as I get closer and 1k's do throw a lot more heat. I flower wih the most hps light I can get within temp ranges. More light more growth. doing a stadium but building a uc. Veg n aeroflos. Running heri x ghost, og 18, RKS, heri x bubblegum.

it would be better to just buy a 600 to veg with.

You don't want to make a habit of running your bulbs dimmed. The dimmer is more for just hardening off seedlings/clones or lowering temps on a hot day

Badmf said:

Yes In have but why are you blowing "down on the bulb as heat rises so why not aid that action with the fan and exhaust thru the top I do works great now as to running 25% less you have less heat you know and of course less light If your plants are doing well keep it simple right? I am blasting 1200cfm out the tubes and temps are 72 w/o ac. I have 600's on now as I get closer and 1k's do throw a lot more heat. I flower wih the most hps light I can get within temp ranges. More light more growth. doing a stadium but building a uc. Veg n aeroflos. Running heri x ghost, og 18, RKS, heri x bubblegum.

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nice, tnx guys, would be nice to see your project, i have a simple stadium, well, one level but these Johnny st clair Indica vipers are just stretching like mad, they have great arms naturally w out cropping too.. got two mmother beasts and ten kids around...
I'm hooked onthis vert thing...been reading all your guys posts and threads, thanks for feed back.

almost forgot, i know about running the fan up but have been busy and lazy and haven't got one yet so i just put one w a clamp on top and then i can use the clamp for the towel because it fits the diameter perfectly..
Then i had a theory that it would help move the warm air back up through the canopy and hwat not w other corner fans shoting upward..
Do i want cooler air running through the bottom or does it make much of a dif, these really don't mind so far...(other mother is an RKS)

Only mentiond it as heat rises and is easier to remove imo from the top many folk are just runnin bare with slow fans up to a exhaust at the ceiling which won't work for me as I do co2. I would rather be a lot more cool and have co2 than a bit more lumens but thats me I can always remove tubes and go bare for a while as I have taken indoor grow into the Sun for uv and Sun power works well but you must have a balcony or backyard without neighbor vision. Smell was very strong. Some folks don't like the dimmable ballsts I think they just don't get it, use less power when you are veggin and increase if desired in bloom. I also run a small fan on my ballasts and my air pump is out of the room so no co2 gets into the nute mixture. Good Luck

I like ballasts you can dim. When I want them to stretch I dim the lower light while keeping the top on full. With vertical you want the whole screen to be green.