Project Big Blue Bastard - 100 watt UV ioniser

Originally Posted by nongreenthumb

eBay.co.uk: 240VAC IONIC BALL AIR PURIFIER IONIZER BREEZER W OZONE (item 220113811487 end time 22-May-07 07:00:00 BST)
I got one of these when i started growing.

I think it works along the same lines to what your saying and for its little size it is quite effective in odour control and so far I havent felt compelled to buy anything else, I may well invest in a carbon scrubber aswell once i start flowering all these clones i got growing.

The item you cite is a corona type. As mentioned up this thread, corona types produce HNO3 and should not be used in grow room air, only in the exhaust ducting- and then only if air is vented directly to outdoors to avoid any corrosion damage to steel building parts.

However, these really small corona units don't really make much O3- or HNO3. Probably not enough to worry about for humans, plants or steel. They're actually usually rated to produce less than 50ppm O3 as part of being safe to use around people. They'll de-scent ordinary room air but can't usually handle a lot of airflow.

It's easy as pie and VERY cheap to cook up a SERIOUS corona ioniser, something which may have -50kV on the emitter and perhaps even a positively charged dust collection plate nearby with some filter paper on it. Just build the diode & capacitor stacks as shown in the link. Just gotta vent the thing straight to outdoors.

Originally Posted by nongreenthumb

T Rex 100 watt flood active UV heat bulb
I dont know if these would be useable? I'm just unsure about the heat, although i think it would only be subtle because its for reptiles.

Great for snakes and lizards, I'm sure. However, the IR component isn't needed for killing scent. This lamp will use a lot of power to make the IR. Might suit the request for UVB, tho.

One bit of scientific terminology which is getting corrupted through the often tawdry marketing efforts for small ionisers is the term 'negative ions.'

Ionisers work by adding an electron to an O2 molecule, giving it a negative charge and allowing it to form O3 (ozone)- temporarily. O3 is a negative ion of oxygen. There's no particle by itself known as an ion; 'ion' describes temporary electrical charge states of molecules or atoms. The 'negative ions' emitted by ionisers are mainly negative ions of oxygen- ozone.
Corona ionisers also ionise nitrogen, producing oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which we know mixes with humidity to form nitric acid (HNO3) as an aerosol.

It's hard to believe that these items are otherwise sold for improving human health. Ozone itself is poisonous to humans, in fact, it is a carcinogen. Ionisers for use in living spaces are thus limited by product safety regulations to making less than 50ppm O3. There's a legal limit on the very 'negative ions' said to be beneficial.

It seems silly to pay for a device to aid your health with the claimed benefits of being 'showered with negative ions' when those ions, aka ozone, are actually a known carcinogen.

Ionisers are very good for de-stinking and disinfecting areas where people generally are not hanging around breathing for too long.

Other claims about ionisers' assistance to human or plant health are highly doubtful pseudoscience, out there with pyramid power, magnetic blankets and copper bracelets.

im not trying to jack your thread or anything like that, but you seem to have looked into UV lighting quite a bit. haveing said that im sure you know what/why im lookin for a lamp with a good UVB reading.
i really havent found many weed grows or weed growers that use extra UVB lighting, and there may be a reason for that. but on the other side of the coin i havent found any research on UVB lighting for general plant use either. so maybe its kinda over looked.
ive read a bunch on how plants grown outside is stronger than the same strain grown indoors. and how UV rays are what cause this. UVB are mostly responsible as they are the stronger of the UVB rays. UVB is what you get sunburns/tans from. the plant makes resin to fight off the UV rays, so outside makes for stronger pot.
assumeing all that is right, if you added a UVB light source to a grow room where it would just come on for alil while each day of the flowering phase you might be able to get stronger buds indoors. and if that did work whos to say by makeing the light stay on alil longer each day than the day before the plant wouldnt just go crazy and turn into a huge pile of THC??? lol
anywhoo, what do yall think? worth a shot or not?

Originally Posted by th3bigbad

i really havent found many weed grows or weed growers that use extra UVB lighting, and there may be a reason for that.

I think the reason for that would be lack of any double-blind, conclusive study that UV-B increases resin content.

HID lighting by itself produces a fair amount of radiation across the entire UV spectrum segment. My 1000W HPS lights make enough UV to destroy UV-unstabilised plastics in the grow room in a few months.

With HID lighting at least, I wouldn't bother with UV enhancement. If I was looking for more UV, I'd certainly not choose that incandescent IR/UV floodlight from a couple of posts back. The IR would be a pretty bad thing for the plants.

Right, I've had some inquiries lodged with a lighting supplier about ballasts and UV tubes... but while I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I recall that I have some spare 35 watt UV tubes for my Ozonair 5000 units and I bought a twin 36 watt workshop fluoro fixture some weeks back which I have yet to install.

Seems to me that the 35 watt tubes wouldn't be too bothered by the extra 1 watt per tube that the workshop fixture ballast would allow through the UV tubes.

Gonna have a go at running the UV tubes on the workshop light ballast and see how they work.

coool, let us know what happens please!!!!

What ever happened to this thread! Keep posting your updates guys!