I don't see where you credited my writing in your post. That IS theft.

You've also failed to reflect my whole opinion of these water cooled cooltubes:
Also, who is BUDGI and why do most of that user's posts spam up these water cooled tubes?

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Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Holy sales pitch, Batman!

What crap. My air-cooled cooltubes' surfaces- ABOVE the lamp- don't exceed 28C. I can lay my hand on them all day long.



Where the hell are they getting the idea that a cooltube blower takes 3.8 amps (456W on 120V) to run?! The Allvent A60 pushing air through my tubes draws 35W- that's 0.145A (145mA) at 240V or 0.291A (291mA) on 120V. A "1/4 HP chiller" which draws 3.6A @ 120V is consuming 432 watts! That's enough for a 400W HPS!

Don't believe every sales pitch you read!

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Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Holy crap. I made it to the end of this marathon (even though the finish line kept moving further away.) Thank you so much for donating all of your time to this thread and all the info Al. I think I need to read it again and take notes this time.

I had a couple of questions about the AAW reflectors (sorry if I missed 'em.) Do you know why the adjust-a-wings come in two different sizes based on wattage? Wouldn't that have to do more with how much spread you want or is it that the higher wattage bulbs are physically bigger in size?

Thanks again. I really appreciate your level headed, results driven philosophy towards growing, the minimal effort you want to put into it so you aren't married to your grow all the time and all the advice about the gimicky crap that we don't need to buy in order to grow great bud!

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Wanna check out my journal and help me along?
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/61423-my-first-grow-journal-leap-9.html

al need your help yet again, to refresh your memory i am the one with the grow room that is 8'x14'x8' and has the benefit of an a.c. unit. I just purchased a 6" 496cfm blower/fan that i am gonna use as the rooms main exhaust. i know you say yours is on a thermostatic switch and i will buy one but for now all i have is a digi timer, what i need to know is how long should i run the room exhaust and how often? ( until i get the thermo switch )

Thanks for that. Glad you got all the way through the thread. It's a big ask, but I bet you got several questions answered before you had to ask them.


The different sized AAWs are for different sized lamps or for covering lighted space areas of different sizes. Obviously, the larger reflector suits larger grow spaces. You should use the largest ref you can fit in.

400 & 600W HPS tube envelopes themselves are not too different in size, about the same diameter (roughly 80mm) but 600s are about 50mm longer. 1000s are about 300mm long and have a bulge in the middle of the tube's glass envelope, making them about 100mm around their middles.

The large AAWs will suit a pair of 400s or 600s or a single 1000. Naturally, since lumens don't 'add,' using multiple lamps is not a great idea. You don't get brighter (more intense) light by putting more than one relatively dimmer light over the same area. It is light intensity that drives bud production. A rule-o-thumb that works pretty well for HPS light is 50W per sq ft.

A more precise way to decide what lamp to use is to work out the actual lumens per sq metre (lux) that the lamp can lay down, with the lamp-to-leaf spacing figured in. Remember that light intensity reduces by a square of the distance from lamp to leaf. An uncooltubed 600 can be spaced closer to leaves than an uncooltubed 1000, so a 600 can actually put down more lux than a 1000. However, when cooltubes are used, all bets are off. The 1000 wins hands down.

496CFM is a hell of a lot for a 6" blower! Is that figure right? I have a few Allvent A60, 150mm blowers in service; the maker rates the A60 at 192CFM.

Since you have aircon managing your temp, you only need to bring in some fresh, CO2 laden air every so often. You won't need a thermostat for that job. I'm not confident of the actual flow rate of your 6" blower, so I can't really give a solid figure, but I can ballpark you.

You're looking to exchange the room's air volume once or twice an hour during lights-on. If your fan really does move 496 CFM, it will exchange your 896cu ft room airmass in 1.8 minutes. You might run your exhaust blower for 2-3 mins, either once or twice an hour. Obviously, that figure will change if your blower is closer to 200CFM. If it is 200CFM, run the blower for 4-5 mins, once or twice an hour.

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Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Hello Al. First off great thread .. very imformative. I would just like to know your opinion on a system like the Ebb&Grow. Thanks Discount Hydroponics - Ebb & Gro

ya al that's what it says. i just bought it from htgsupply it's a 6" inline centrifigal fan. the ad says:


Control odor and temperature in your grow area with this Grow Bright 6" Inline Fan. Inline fans are perfect for carbon filters, air cooling lighting reflectors or attaching to ducting to ventilate your grow room!

Customers can control odors and keep equipment cool with this compact metal fan. Extremely quiet and easy to install, this 110-watt, 6-inch fan pushes 424 cubic feet per minute.

This fan goes perfectly with the Goblin Charcoal Filter

i do appologize it says 424 not 496

here is an attachment pic of the fan.
thanks again al it's almost all done now and i definately owe it to you

Attached Images

inline6.jpg (2.0 KB, 224 views)

here's another one of the fan

also...bringing in the fresh air ...do i need an intake or will the passive intake resulting from tha vacuum caused by the 6"er be enough?
( if the rating is accurate)

or does the window unit a.c. bring any outside air in while it's running?

Attached Images

fan2.jpg (2.2 KB, 222 views)

Ah, ok- it's a centrif! Didn't know that til here! No wonder it can shift >400CFM.

You can use passive intake, but there has to be a dedicated intake opening- relying on leaks for inbound air isn't wise. Intakes should be near the floor in the room. Passive intakes should be about twice the size of the exhaust ducting.

Use of an intake fan makes the flowthrough much more efficient. You could use a single 6" fan. It can be an axial since intake fans are pushing into a low static pressure created by the exhaust blower. Intakes should be rated no more than about 80-90% of the exhaust blower. This keeps the room at a slightly negative pressure compared to atmospheric. This way, air leakage though any gaps in the room construction is inward rather than outward, meaning all your grow room air & scents are going down the exhaust line and through your carbon filter if you have one. It is also easier to light-trap a single inlet with an intake blower.

Some aircon units have a ventilate/recirculate setting. On 'ventilate' a small amount of air is brought in from outdoors. However, it's hard to tell exactly how much air will move through that small duct in the a/c unit. You're better off periodically running your exhaust blower with a timer.

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Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Hey Al, you said it'd take about three weeks to veg up mums with fluoros right? That's what I'm doing but the stems really don't get very thick. I'm using mixed spectrum right now; would you suggest going completely to 2700K fluoros (As MH/HPS isn't a possibility right now)? That'd be closer in spectrum to HPS (which is what I believe you cited as the source of your thick stems). Thanks!

SF