A Question On Air Cooled Reflectors

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dpjones

Well-Known Member
I understand the idea behind an air cooled reflector. You seal off the light and run cooler air past it so that the heat from the bulb doesn't effect your growing environment.

What i want to know is how important is sealing of the light and venting it.

I have seen people use these types of reflector and not vent it, does this make a difference in how close you can have the light?

I have a 400w HPS and my first harvest the buds where very light, not dense. I put this down to just making a few mistakes on the way and learning in general.

I'm now week 1 into 12/12 on some WW and they have stretched really badly in the week. The light has not been more than 50cm away from the plants, normally its 45-40. But still there is nearly 6 inches of stretch between some nodes :S

If i had a glass covered reflector would that make a difference in the heat on the plants from the bulb?
 
phreakygoat

phreakygoat

Well-Known Member
sorry to post answerless, but I am going through the same shit... I have seen all types of guidelines for 400w placement, thinking about modding my reflector I have now with a fan on top, currently stonedbongsmilie, contemplating starting to figure it out:dunce:...
 
2cimdma

2cimdma

Well-Known Member
Yep it would make a difference if your plants are stretching. With air cooled reflectors you get get the light a hell of alot closer to the plant. With a light rail I can even have the lights touching the plant as it goes by. As far as venting what do you mean? Do you mean just having the reflector with no duct work or inline duct fan? Yes you could still use the light but its not really gonna do what it was made for. Your going to want a fan to sack or blow the air through. You dont really need cold air coming through cause even room temp air will get the light temp lower. So if you get a reflector get a 4" piece of flex duct and a inline duct fan. Connect the flex duct to the reflector and then the fan to the duct. You dont need to have anything coming off the other side in the way of duct. The shitty thing is generally they are priced really high and then at most places they sell the glass cover seprate. I bought some of ebay for 90 bucks and it came with a cordset and also the glass cover. Shipping was like 15 bucks or something. They are listed for 99 but I offered 90 and they took it. Heres the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280315264814&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
 
pinspot

pinspot

Well-Known Member
It makes a huge difference. If you pull cool air from outside the grow space, threw the reflector and back out of the grow space, you can set it within a couple inches of the plants. I'm pulling air with a 500 cfm inline fan, and I could put my face up aganst the glass, and it hardly feels warm.
I allways get some streching once I go into flower mode. I think thats pretty normal. After around 4 weeks they usuelly stop, and put all the energy into flowering.
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
Hmm thanks for the quick replys got me thinking.

I have been eyeing this http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Grow-Lights-182/Grow-Lights-189/Diamond-Grow-Light-567.asp

Looks prity sexy, I would be going with the 600 watt and putting it in a 1.2x1.2 budbox tent with this ventilation http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Growroom-Products-20/-In-Line-Fans-Fan-Filter-Deals-108/Budget-Fan-Filter-Packages-830.asp

If i got one of those clip on fans and had it pointing directly at the light at all times would that maybe give me a couple more inches of space i could get to the plants.

My WW have streched really badly, its abnormal. Some of the sidebranches cant even hold themselves up and its just all feels very flimsy. Possibly the genetics arnt amazing cos the seeds where cheap. (http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/seedsman-seeds-white-widow-feminized-3071-p.asp)

I wont give my verdict on them yet but i dunno, will this stretch affect the budding to much?
 
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dragun

Active Member
usually fluffy or airy buds means its to hot.can use Stacker to stop streach,just go easy on it.half manufactures recommended dose.
 
pinspot

pinspot

Well-Known Member
dpjones said:
If i got one of those clip on fans and had it pointing directly at the light at all times would that maybe give me a couple more inches of space i could get to the plants.

My WW have streched really badly, its abnormal. Some of the sidebranches cant even hold themselves up and its just all feels very flimsy. Possibly the genetics arnt amazing cos the seeds where cheap. (http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/seedsman-seeds-white-widow-feminized-3071-p.asp)

I wont give my verdict on them yet but i dunno, will this stretch affect the budding to much?
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Honestly, I have not heard of those items you mentioned. Personelly I would stick with the air cooled reflectors. Their just much more effecient in an enclosed area.
Funny you should mention your growing seeds from cannabisseeds.com. I have a few plants growing from that same seed bank. All of the strains I have, WW, Juicy fruit, Cal orange all look exactly alike. I really think their all the same, some type of pure sativa strain. Thats probably why their so streched looking. There were several other guys on another thread that said the same thing. One guy said he flowered for 5 weeks and they just compleatly stopped producing. I think I'm pretty convenced that their a scam now.
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
Hmm thas weird cos attitude have a good rep mostly :S

The items im talking about where just a light, grow tent and some ventilation.
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
pinspot said:
Honestly, I have not heard of those items you mentioned. Personelly I would stick with the air cooled reflectors. Their just much more effecient in an enclosed area.
Funny you should mention your growing seeds from cannabisseeds.com. I have a few plants growing from that same seed bank. All of the strains I have, WW, Juicy fruit, Cal orange all look exactly alike. I really think their all the same, some type of pure sativa strain. Thats probably why their so streched looking. There were several other guys on another thread that said the same thing. One guy said he flowered for 5 weeks and they just compleatly stopped producing. I think I'm pretty convenced that their a scam now.
Click to expand...
They people you are thinking of are a scam. Ditch the genetics and get something else. Even bagseed is better. My nirvana genetics are all spot on. Attitude is good too.

As for problems with stretch... I am a small cabinet grower. I have (finally!) Discovered the power of Scrog. I cannot tell you how much better this has worked for me. I have now gone to a dish design around the bulb so I have about 3+ square feet of flowering space in the 400w hps cabinet. In my other cabinet I am running 220w of compact t-5 on a flat scrog. The plant in the picture was not in the best shape when it went to flower (it had a cal deficiency) I ended up with almost 3oz dry and all the nugs were hard. I highly recommend a screen for controlling height.

 

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pinspot

pinspot

Well-Known Member
SomeGuy said:
They people you are thinking of are a scam. Ditch the genetics and get something else. Even bagseed is better. My nirvana genetics are all spot on. Attitude is good too.

As for problems with stretch... I am a small cabinet grower. I have (finally!) Discovered the power of Scrog. I cannot tell you how much better this has worked for me. I have now gone to a dish design around the bulb so I have about 3+ square feet of flowering space in the 400w hps cabinet. In my other cabinet I am running 220w of compact t-5 on a flat scrog. The plant in the picture was not in the best shape when it went to flower (it had a cal deficiency) I ended up with almost 3oz dry and all the nugs were hard. I highly recommend a screen for controlling height.
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Your scrog looks nice. How ofton do you trim up that under foilage? Do you keep the screen at that same vertical hieght from clone to harvest?
Yea, totally convenced that cannabisseeds.com is a total scam. Thinking their actually all the same sativa strain. I'm growing several other strains from other seed banks as well, so I'm gona let these things go, just to see what the hell they turn into.
 
iloveit

iloveit

Well-Known Member
dpjones said:
Hmm thanks for the quick replys got me thinking.

I have been eyeing this http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Grow-Lights-182/Grow-Lights-189/Diamond-Grow-Light-567.asp

Looks prity sexy, I would be going with the 600 watt and putting it in a 1.2x1.2 budbox tent with this ventilation http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Growroom-Products-20/-In-Line-Fans-Fan-Filter-Deals-108/Budget-Fan-Filter-Packages-830.asp

If i got one of those clip on fans and had it pointing directly at the light at all times would that maybe give me a couple more inches of space i could get to the plants.

My WW have streched really badly, its abnormal. Some of the sidebranches cant even hold themselves up and its just all feels very flimsy. Possibly the genetics arnt amazing cos the seeds where cheap. (http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/seedsman-seeds-white-widow-feminized-3071-p.asp)

I wont give my verdict on them yet but i dunno, will this stretch affect the budding to much?
Click to expand...
I understand exactly what your saying, Im almost finished setting up my closet grow with a 400w cool tube & with 2 partitions for clones & mother plant which altogether generate alot of heat in 1 room. So Ill post pics of the entire cab with close ups of the ventilation system, hopefully the pics will give you a rough guide on which lights/fans you should purchase & how to place them in your grow area. My setup should be finished by the end of the week, Ill PM you with the pics.

ILoveit.
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
mrduke said:
hey SOMEGUY thats the best lookin scrog i've seen you should put that pic in the FAQ's
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Thanks a lot. Here are some shots at harvest of the screen.




And here are some of the new dished setup. I have 2 purple power and 2 blue mystics with over 3sqf of screen. More than double the surface area of the flat screen: (The light is approx between 12 and 14" from any part of the dished screen.)

 

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SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
pinspot said:
Your scrog looks nice. How ofton do you trim up that under foilage? Do you keep the screen at that same vertical hieght from clone to harvest?
Yea, totally convenced that cannabisseeds.com is a total scam. Thinking their actually all the same sativa strain. I'm growing several other strains from other seed banks as well, so I'm gona let these things go, just to see what the hell they turn into.
Click to expand...
I trim after 7 days flower doing about 60% of whats under there and then again at 21 days doing 95% of whats left.

I actually veg normally but top/fim the plant when it is about 5/6 nodes tall. Then I veg it for 2 or 3 more weeks and when the last batch finished I put it under the screen from day 1 flower. As the plant does its sctretch I tie it into the screen. About 1 plant per square foot of screen this way. The big plant in my pics was a mother plant. I could have done two that size easy on that sayme size screen. But that plant was not 100% healthy when I flowered it. But the bud still turned out great.

Sorry about the bad genetics. It set me back months... but now I am on a roll. :)
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
Hmm how did you FIM i tried it on my WW and i dont think they liked it.

Also a diff questions. If i had a 1.2m2 tent 2m tall could i run a 600 watt light with a 4inch inline fan that shifts 285m3 (I guess thats an hour) of air with a passive intake?
 
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