Just read through most of this and its beautiful. Looks like you've got your setup up pefectly fine tuned. Im going for my first grow soon (still scrapping supplies together) and I plan on using a 250watt hps with cool tube. What is the cfm rating on the fan you cool your light with? Also have you considered a vertical grow? I am to maximize yield per my space. But great job, I hope to one day have a setup that even slightly resembles yours.
Hey, thank you very much! Very kind of you...
Actually, I am in fact vert! LOL. I switched mid-way through the journal to make the best of the lumens I have.
I started the journal with a 250 horizontal, but found it to be a much better setup after installing a 400w and going bare-bulb vert.
I am not sure on the cfm rating on the fan I use, as my setup right now is a few smaller fans blowing upward over the bulb, and a "vornado" fan pushing the heat up and forward towards my window that exhausts the heat. (There is also a cheaper window fan that pushes the air out from there.)
Back when I was using just the 250w cool tube hps I just used a standard floor fan blowing through the tube and a smaller fan going over the canopy and I was golden...so you should be good to go.
What kind of space are you working with?