Sup guys,
I took a couple more pictures of my hood to let you guys see how I put it together. The reflector is just a 6" diameter x 24" length vent pipe I got at Home Depot. It is held open by 2 dowel rods. All I did was shoot a self tapping screw through the sheet metal into the center of each end of the dowel rod. then I took a smoke break....
Then I used a hole saw to cut out 2 holes on the top, 2 holes on 1 side, and 1 hole on the opposite side. For the top ones all you gotta do is screw the "Y" splitters in from underneath the fixture into your sockets on top of the fixture. This will hold your bulbs just fine. Then I took a smoke break....
For the 3 horizontals I went as simple as I could think. I drilled 2 small holes into the top of the fixture above each horizontal bulb. Then screwed in each bulb from underneath into a socket on the outside of the fixture. Once the bulbs were in, I threaded a piece of wire through the small holes on top and around one of the tubes of the bulbs. Then I took a smoke break....
Make sure if you go this route that you are careful not to over tighten on the wire as it could break you bulb (mine seemed pretty damn sturdy though, so i wasn't to worried about it). Once you do this for each bulb your hood is finished and VERY sturdy because of the extra support created by the bulbs being attached. After that I just wired all the sockets up and VOILA! I have also included pictures of the small supplemental light fixture I made. It's much more simple than my main. As far as ventilation goes I have this big ol' box fan on a slant blowing on them at all times. It keeps the temps down pretty well enough so I can keep the lights only a couple of inches from the plants. You can get creative though and maybe add some fans to the ends of the reflector to displace more hot air. Anyway thats about it on my lights. I did have a question on how long I should flush once I get to that point. My last grow I only flushed for 1 week. Would 2 weeks be more benefitial? I suppose it just depends on how quickly the plant uses up the stored energy in the leaves? Hit me back!
P.S. Sorry, I kinda started rambling. It happens when I'm smoking.