Reflector advice. Any help appreciated.

Hey guys, I am just starting out, I will be attempting my first grow as soon as possible. I found a good deal through craigslist and now have an array of items. I will be using a 4' x 2' x 6' grow tent with a 400w mh for veg and a 600w hps for flower. My problem lies in my choice of reflectors. I have three different types to choose from: a reflector tube that allows for cooling ducts to be applied, a simple wing reflector, and an octagonal reflector (pictures included).

My first choice was to use the cool tube because of the limited space, I'm sure these lights will make it quite hot in there (I haven't ran the system with any set up yet to test the temp, but I will in the next day or two). After reading and thinking about it, the cheap cool tube reflector that I have would be very inefficient. So with that in mind, I am looking at the other two reflectors now. I don't have the slightest clue which of the two would provide better light in the space I am working with. I am not against purchasing a different type if it would make a large difference. Any help with this would be awesome.

Also I am a little unsure about how I should ventilate. I have an 8" inline fan that came with it the set, the tent has two 8" exhaust holes on each of the two sides and one also at the top. I will have the tent near a window that I should be able to pull fresh/cool air into the tent from, but would pushing the hot air from inside the tent out of the window be more efficient? I will also have an oscillating fan running inside all the time, and I'm planning on getting another small fan of some sort to work the opposite of the inline one. Sorry for long post, thanks again.

i cant help u decide which reflector you want. thats kinda all preference... but i have input on your intake/exhaust... i have ran both ways when i first started... sucking cold air from the window to cool my light, then blowing the hot air off the light into my room. it was pretty nice in the winter. i didnt have to run my heater, so it was pretty efficient... but during the summer my room would get waaaaaay too hot. so that was when i exhausted the hot air off the light out the window... be careful of smell (if smell is a problem there)... i was always paranoid that way. but it kept the temps waaaaaaaay down

I'd run the cool tube fixture and connect it to flex ducting to the holes in the tent. Connect the fan on one end and a carbon filter to the other end for odor. They make 8" to 4" converters (lowes - home depot HVAC dept.) to connect the flex tube to the fixture. Doing it any other way or using the open fixtures is going to create heat issues.

I ran a 400 HID w cool tube, 4" exhaust, Phresh carbon filter, Rebel 4" 140cfm exhaust fan, exhausted to the attic. 85 degrees in summer with a 73 degree intake temp. Last year I converted to LED (area51) and the 2' x 3' x 10' room runs a steady 74 degrees. Best move I've made since I started growing.

Buddy may I also add that you watch you watch your electricity. That was my biggest concern other than the smell for me. all together the 400w is pulling around 3.5A and the 600w 5A. Thats 8.5A where it is recommended that we only pull around 11.5-12A from our regular wall outlet. Fire is much more a risk than the smell IMHO. As far as reflectors go I was going to use the standard wing reflector until I found the vertical section of RIU. No reflectors necessary... SirSmoke and prosperian are both right. Prosperian's grow area is a little bigger than yours but he's also using less electricity. I have one 600w in a 4x4x7 and it can heat up quickly i mean real quick. Your tent is almost half my size and you have more lighting. I would suggest hooking everything up how you see it in your mind then just running the setup with nothing indie of the tent. Sometimes it helps to see it in place. You have 8in fan what is the cdm rating? You might be able to get away with running that fan on high to exhaust most of the heat but not all. Take this from another new guy man... the reflector matters but not as much as making sure the growing environment is completely controlled. Every grower I've talked to on here brought me back to that fact. Learn the basics fine tune later. The reflectors you have look solid I would run those for now and come back next grow... I have never seen any grower here not change AT LEAST one thing in their grow room between crops lol. Hope this helps.

Huge 16 ounce beer can split work great for those smaller fixtures such as CFL'S & I would say it could be made to work with a smaller HPS such as a 150 watt or so. Just a quick fix though, and or if a grower doesn't have enough $ dough to fork out for a new hood.

prosperian said:

I'd run the cool tube fixture and connect it to flex ducting to the holes in the tent. Connect the fan on one end and a carbon filter to the other end for odor. They make 8" to 4" converters (lowes - home depot HVAC dept.) to connect the flex tube to the fixture. Doing it any other way or using the open fixtures is going to create heat issues.

I ran a 400 HID w cool tube, 4" exhaust, Phresh carbon filter, Rebel 4" 140cfm exhaust fan, exhausted to the attic. 85 degrees in summer with a 73 degree intake temp. Last year I converted to LED (area51) and the 2' x 3' x 10' room runs a steady 74 degrees. Best move I've made since I started growing.

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Thanks for your response, I believe I might revert back to the cool tube idea and see how that works. The amount of less light from the tube would probably be insignificant compared to the heat.

LilT211 said:

Buddy may I also add that you watch you watch your electricity. That was my biggest concern other than the smell for me. all together the 400w is pulling around 3.5A and the 600w 5A. Thats 8.5A where it is recommended that we only pull around 11.5-12A from our regular wall outlet. Fire is much more a risk than the smell IMHO. As far as reflectors go I was going to use the standard wing reflector until I found the vertical section of RIU. No reflectors necessary... SirSmoke and prosperian are both right. Prosperian's grow area is a little bigger than yours but he's also using less electricity. I have one 600w in a 4x4x7 and it can heat up quickly i mean real quick. Your tent is almost half my size and you have more lighting. I would suggest hooking everything up how you see it in your mind then just running the setup with nothing indie of the tent. Sometimes it helps to see it in place. You have 8in fan what is the cdm rating? You might be able to get away with running that fan on high to exhaust most of the heat but not all. Take this from another new guy man... the reflector matters but not as much as making sure the growing environment is completely controlled. Every grower I've talked to on here brought me back to that fact. Learn the basics fine tune later. The reflectors you have look solid I would run those for now and come back next grow... I have never seen any grower here not change AT LEAST one thing in their grow room between crops lol. Hope this helps.

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I'm only using one light/ballast for each process: one 400w mh for veg and then switching to (one of the ballasts have a switch 400/600) a 600w hps. If the heat generated from the 600w is too large I don't mind lowering it to a 400w hps. Thanks for the electricity advice, I tend to over-do things when starting up and that is something I need not forget.

I currently do not know the cdm rating on the fan, the only thing on it that I can read is the vac/amps/hz. It has 120 VAC, 60 HZ, and 0.6 amps.

-Dodge- said:

Thanks for your response, I believe I might revert back to the cool tube idea and see how that works. The amount of less light from the tube would probably be insignificant compared to the heat.



I'm only using one light/ballast for each process: one 400w mh for veg and then switching to (one of the ballasts have a switch 400/600) a 600w hps. If the heat generated from the 600w is too large I don't mind lowering it to a 400w hps. Thanks for the electricity advice, I tend to over-do things when starting up and that is something I need not forget.

I currently do not know the cdm rating on the fan, the only thing on it that I can read is the vac/amps/hz. It has 120 VAC, 60 HZ, and 0.6 amps.

Click to expand...

Oh ok man I misunderstood you as far as the lighting went. Who makes your fan? You can google or bing the company and find the rating. Since you are running only one light at a time you should be fine. I have a 600w with a 6in 400cfm fan and I'm fine. With the larger fan you can get a router speed controller from Harbor Freight for 20 bucks.

LilT211 said:

Oh ok man I misunderstood you as far as the lighting went. Who makes your fan? You can google or bing the company and find the rating. Since you are running only one light at a time you should be fine. I have a 600w with a 6in 400cfm fan and I'm fine. With the larger fan you can get a router speed controller from Harbor Freight for 20 bucks.

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Thanks, I'm gonna pick up the controller soon. So you have your fan connected to ducting and then the light, then out the other side correct? If so, do you have another form of ventilation? Or will the air running through the light lower the ambient temp enough by itself? I will have an oscillating fan running inside, but it seems like the fresh air would never reach my plants from the ducting/cool tube. Should I just get like a small computer fan and place it in an exhaust hole somewhere to blow fresh air in? Also would a carbon filter connected to the ducting decrease the smell even though the air only flows through the reflector?

-Dodge- said:

Thanks, I'm gonna pick up the controller soon. So you have your fan connected to ducting and then the light, then out the other side correct? If so, do you have another form of ventilation? Or will the air running through the light lower the ambient temp enough by itself? I will have an oscillating fan running inside, but it seems like the fresh air would never reach my plants from the ducting/cool tube. Should I just get like a small computer fan and place it in an exhaust hole somewhere to blow fresh air in? Also would a carbon filter connected to the ducting decrease the smell even though the air only flows through the reflector?

Click to expand...

My setup goes as a such... My exhaust fan pulls thru my carbon filter and is vented outside of the tent. I don't have an intake system I work off the negative pressure. I don't exhaust my lights because my light is hung vertical. Most ppl that hang their lights vertical argue that without a cool tube is best. I decided to go without a cool tube and get a circular floor fan to be aimed at the light for cooling. All the hot air off the light is pushed to the top of the tent where my carbon filter is. Kinda like directing the heat and smell to the top of my tent where my exhaust fan/carbonfilter can exhaust the stinky heat. If your carbon filter is not connected it will be useless my man. I would find out the cfm's of your fan and if its high enough... (i would suggest maybe equal or more than 500cfm) you can get a splitter. Looks like a big Y then you can vent the light and you carbon filter.

<---------- light
fan is pulling air from the light and the filter
<---------- carbon filter

LilT211 said:

My setup goes as a such... My exhaust fan pulls thru my carbon filter and is vented outside of the tent. I don't have an intake system I work off the negative pressure. I don't exhaust my lights because my light is hung vertical. Most ppl that hang their lights vertical argue that without a cool tube is best. I decided to go without a cool tube and get a circular floor fan to be aimed at the light for cooling. All the hot air off the light is pushed to the top of the tent where my carbon filter is. Kinda like directing the heat and smell to the top of my tent where my exhaust fan/carbonfilter can exhaust the stinky heat. If your carbon filter is not connected it will be useless my man. I would find out the cfm's of your fan and if its high enough... (i would suggest maybe equal or more than 500cfm) you can get a splitter. Looks like a big Y then you can vent the light and you carbon filter.

<---------- light
fan is pulling air from the light and the filter
<---------- carbon filter

Click to expand...

Okay, so the company's website says it is a 500 cfm, but a couple of reviews on amazon doubt that it really delivers that amount. I understand how I would use the splitter if I had the fan facing outside of the tent, but I heard that it is more efficient to blow cool air over the bulb rather than sucking the warm air from the bulb. If I did it this way I would need another fan then to blow out of the tent into the carbon filter correct? Do you know if the air blowing through the cool tube would smell? Or would it be pretty much air tight and I shouldn't bother worrying about that air's fragrance? Thanks for all the help, I just don't want to go too crazy with multiple fans if I don't need to. I just can't seem to figure out a proper solution using one fan/ducting and a cool tube. Maybe pulling the air would be better so I could use the splitter and pull the air from the tent out?

your better off going on ebay and getting a new mh/hps cooltube for pretty cheap...