got a quick lighting question

snowolf41

snowolf41

Member
got myself a Apollo 600 watt MH/HPS dimmable ballast. now i have been running it on 50% for some time now and just switched it over too 100% and its wayyyy to bright/hot even with all my fans running and all the vents opened and my window opened. my question is can i keep it at 50% all thru the grow? or would the plants suffer? 50% seems to be bright enough in my tent. i should have gotten the cool tube instead of the wing.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Obviously 50% the light isn't going to compete with 100% unless 100% is too much for the space. How big is the tent? Where are you exhausting to? What do you have for a fan/filter?

Sounds like you have a design issue with your venting or are running a 600w in a very small tent.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
snowolf41 said:
its a 3.5x3.5x5 no filter on it its a small tent kinda overkill on the 600watt
Click to expand...
600w is about the perfect amount of light for that space. I would have gone 400w and added in supplemental light to make up the difference myself, but you can do that later when you upgrade to a 4x4 or bigger. You should be able to run that at 100% for nice results. What is your fan/ducting? If you aren't moving the air at least to a different room we found your problem.
 
snowolf41

snowolf41

Member
well right now i need to get some inline fans to pull the hot air out but i have the front of the tent wide open and my window open to allow all the nice cold new England air in and 2 fans to blow the hot air out. its just a problem when i close it up for when the lights go out
 

Attachments

nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
snowolf41 said:
well right now i need to get some inline fans to pull the hot air out but i have the front of the tent wide open and my window open to allow all the nice cold new England air in and 2 fans to blow the hot air out. its just a problem when i close it up for when the lights go out
Click to expand...
You need 1 inline fan, 1 carbon filter, and 1 duct leading outside or to another room where it will mix with a large volume of climate controlled air before heading back into the grow room. Or you need to seal it up and install AC and humidity control.
 
sunny747

sunny747

Well-Known Member
Yea, you better get a 6" fan and filter.. Vent the hot air out through a window or into another room..

One thing is that if you are running a 600w bulb at 50% it's not really the same as running a 300w bulb on a 600w ballast at 50%? Catch my drift? I think we are supposed to buy less wattage bulbs when running ballasts at lower wattage.. That's what I was told at the hydro store. They told me that bulbs are made to fire at a certain temp and watts to achieve the desired spectrum.. Made sense to me.
 
snowolf41

snowolf41

Member
yeah at 50% i can keep the temps in check so i think i might just do that till i save some money up to buy a inline fan.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
snowolf41 said:
yeah at 50% i can keep the temps in check so i think i might just do that till i save some money up to buy a inline fan.
Click to expand...
Save money, lol, $110 should cover it. Including fan, filter and duct, that is 4" and should be plenty big for your tent.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
sunny747 said:
Yea, you better get a 6" fan and filter.. Vent the hot air out through a window or into another room..

One thing is that if you are running a 600w bulb at 50% it's not really the same as running a 300w bulb on a 600w ballast at 50%? Catch my drift? I think we are supposed to buy less wattage bulbs when running ballasts at lower wattage.. That's what I was told at the hydro store. They told me that bulbs are made to fire at a certain temp and watts to achieve the desired spectrum.. Made sense to me.
Click to expand...
This is correct. Run the bulb at the wattage the mfr intended. Running at fifty percent gives much less than half the light pressure and spectrum suffers. Worse, it will wear out the lamp itself prematurely.
 
sunny747

sunny747

Well-Known Member
I have a 4" fan and filter. It works great. The only issue is that when I wanted to go to an air cooled hood or cool tube they only come in 6" as far as I can tell.. You can always use 4"6" adapters, but they take up sapce. For me it took up enough space that it wouldn't really fit in my tent very well.. Therefore I wish I had bought a 6".. Just something to consider if you ever plan on upgrading at some point
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top