New Closet DIY Cool Tube T design

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
Hey All, I am finishing up the transformation of a 5'x6'x7' closet. I have had trouble with heat in the past using 2 400w HPS in a different closet. So i made a cool tube for them. the glass is those Bake a Round things you can git on Ebay. I got 2 of em for 40 bucks. I got some 4 inch duct at Lowes and went at it. It is cooled by a 4 inch inline 200CFM fan. Works great you can put the back a your hand on the glass as long as you want. I used a Y in the duct to also hook up to a vent in the ceiling. I hoped it would suck out the smell, but it's not powerful enough. I am planning on getting an 8 inch 670CFM fan to pull out the roof. Does anyone have experiance with this? Will it keep the smell down? I'll post more pics when I get the plants situated. Later....
 

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Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
Thanks, it's workin pretty well the way it is. I don't see the upside to changin it. I can get the plants way closer than before and the temps in the room dropped several degrees. Also the way it is I can change bulbs without much effort.
 

Ztelthy

Active Member
Ha! Thats the 1st time I've seen someone use a 'T' connector, mad props man! do you have 2X 400W HPS in those bake-a-round tubes?? I wanted to ask : have you fixed the lighting to the shelf or can the lighting rig be lowered to suit smaller plants ? Good job though man..really like it :) - ZTELTHY :leaf:
 

SativaMe@420

Well-Known Member
Great job, I complement your ingenuity, are those 400W lamps? If so I would highly recommend replacing one of the HPS with CMH (Ceramic Metal Halide, Phillips MasterColor Retro White to be exact) but you don't have to take just my word for it: (--->CLICK HERE<---) (--->AND HERE<---) Keep up the good work and remember to keep us posted.
 

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the replies. to answer ?'s. They are both 400 watt, the light is fixed to the shelf. It's the only way I could think of to use the lights and reflectors I already had. I use stuff from around the house to raise and lower the plants. I have used MH and HPS together before. I've been thinkin bout doin it again. Is CMH different than MH? I have a 4" 6 bulb t5 on the other side of the room. I am using it for flowering for the first time. Been readn bout using aquarium bulbs to emulate LED spectrum. I ordered some red bulds to add to what i have. I'm interested in what the yeild will be with the T5's.Above the T5 I have an area for cloning and vegging. got a 2 bulb T8 for teh DIY bubble cloners and a 2" 4 bulb T5 for veggin. I'm usin the area above the cool tube for dryin bud it works good no direct light and plenty circulation. It's pretty coll haven everything in one closet. I'll do some updates on the T5 flowering as it gets interesting. --Thanks again, later
 

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er0senin

Well-Known Member
wow dude super clean organized growroom!
And a real awesome job rebuilding it mate.

how do you give you flower area full darkness when lights of?

restecpa :clap:!
 

SativaMe@420

Well-Known Member
I have used MH and HPS together before. I've been thinkin bout doin it again. Is CMH different than MH? I have a 4" 6 bulb t5 on the other side of the room. I am using it for flowering for the first time. Been readn bout using aquarium bulbs to emulate LED spectrum. I ordered some red bulds to add to what i have.
Yes CMH is different that MH, ITS WAAAY BETTER!!! Check out the links in my post (#9) and you'll see why, the spectrum's they produce will outperform MH & HPS all day long. This is the best place Ive found to get Philips MasterColor CMH Retro White bulbs, not the cheapest but because they Pre-Burn all their lamps your bulb is guaranteed not to fail, these lamps have a high initial failure rate so if you buy from another retailer and the cermets seal isn't seated properly it will fail and your out the price of the lamp. If your interested to learn more about CMH, which in the opinion of many a seasoned growers are the best horticulture lamps on the market: (---CLICK HERE<---) You mentioned that you've been reading about aquarium T5 bulbs to emulate LED spectrum's, not sure if this is what you've been reading but this thread has a lot of information regarding that, the OP (pr0fesseur) has been experimenting with lots of combinations of bulbs so I would ask him what bulbs you should get (--->CLICK HERE<---).
Would you be willing to try an experiment? I have been wanting to see a comparison between HPS vs CMH for a long time, just keep using HPS in both your cool tubes for the remainder of this grow, harvest and then document everything you can, wet weight, dry weight, bud to leaf ratio, density, resin & trichome production etc. Then for your next grow do EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS THE FIRST, same strain, same medium, same nutes, same EVERYTHING, except this time change one or both of the HPS bulbs to CMH, for a true comparison you would change both to CMH, however Ive heard that CMH works best with HPS, either way this would be a great comparison and could finally put to rest the argument of which is best. So what you say, are you ready and willing to collect scientific data for the betterment of indoor cannabis cultivation????????
 

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
wow dude super clean organized growroom!
And a real awesome job rebuilding it mate.

how do you give you flower area full darkness when lights of?

restecpa :clap:!
Thanks man but give me a few weeks it wont be quite so tidy then lol. The veg area is about 1/4 of the room, its above the 4 foot T5. I have 2 black table clothes each folded to 4 thicknesses. I just unroll it at lights off. if I'm not around my wife does it
 

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
Yes CMH is different that MH, ITS WAAAY BETTER!!! Check out the links in my post (#9) and you'll see why, the spectrum's they produce will outperform MH & HPS all day long. This is the best place Ive found to get Philips MasterColor CMH Retro White bulbs, not the cheapest but because they Pre-Burn all their lamps your bulb is guaranteed not to fail, these lamps have a high initial failure rate so if you buy from another retailer and the cermets seal isn't seated properly it will fail and your out the price of the lamp. If your interested to learn more about CMH, which in the opinion of many a seasoned growers are the best horticulture lamps on the market: (---CLICK HERE<---) You mentioned that you've been reading about aquarium T5 bulbs to emulate LED spectrum's, not sure if this is what you've been reading but this thread has a lot of information regarding that, the OP (pr0fesseur) has been experimenting with lots of combinations of bulbs so I would ask him what bulbs you should get (--->CLICK HERE<---).
Would you be willing to try an experiment? I have been wanting to see a comparison between HPS vs CMH for a long time, just keep using HPS in both your cool tubes for the remainder of this grow, harvest and then document everything you can, wet weight, dry weight, bud to leaf ratio, density, resin & trichome production etc. Then for your next grow do EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS THE FIRST, same strain, same medium, same nutes, same EVERYTHING, except this time change one or both of the HPS bulbs to CMH, for a true comparison you would change both to CMH, however Ive heard that CMH works best with HPS, either way this would be a great comparison and could finally put to rest the argument of which is best. So what you say, are you ready and willing to collect scientific data for the betterment of indoor cannabis cultivation????????
Hey SativaMe, Yes I did see that thread on T5's, thats what got me to thinkin bout using different bulbs. Which is part of the reason the betterment of indoor cannabis cultivation regarding CMH will have to wait till later lol. I spent my allowance this week on T5's. Also wondering if my digital ballasts will start CMH? I am looking forward to seeing the results of flowering under T5's and will report on that.. Later Man.
 

SativaMe@420

Well-Known Member
Yea I understand, gotta do what ya gotta do, right now the Phillips MasterColor CMH HPS Retro White bulbs are on sale at the site I linked to (Post #12) for only $35 (400W=$35, 250W=$36 as of 8/22/12) that's a really good deal considering they outperform the spectrally enhanced Eye Hortilux Super HPS bulbs for half the price, if you can afford it for your next grow I would really give it some consideration. Interested to see what T5 bulb combo you choose and how they perform, if you ever want to beef those up do a search for over driving T5's, you can increase the wattage of the bulbs by adding more ballasts, I watched a vid where a guy doubled the wattage if his bulbs and they were VERY BRIGHT, I would assume that would shorten the life span of the bulbs though, I don't know... anyway, looking forward to seeing how this progresses, post some more pics when you can please.
 

SativaMe@420

Well-Known Member
Do you know if my digital ballast will run CMH?
Unless its specifically made for CMH then no, it will destroy the bulb, if you don't have a CMH specific digital ballast then your only choice is HPS magnetic, however you can use a switchable magnetic ballast as long as its set to HPS.
 

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
Update for new closet. Got 2 400 watt HPS on one side and a 4' 6 bulb T5 on the other. The first pic is under the T5. The next 4 are my Bonsai Experiment. These are plants I couldn't bear to kill so I left them in 4" pots and am gonna see what happens. Didn't have room for larger pots. They are 16 days in 12/12 now. Not lookn too bad. Last but not least is Crazy Miss Hyde from Samsara Seeds. This one is bout 3 feet high and 3 feet round, has bout 20 large bud sites. Can't wait to see what she yields. Crazy Miss Hyde and the plants in red pots are 26 days in 12/12.
 

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Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
I use curtains on the doorway to my closet. Today I made a vent for the doorway. I can put the curtains on topof the vent and the room gets plenty of fresh air. Also it's light tight. The drawing is a top view

vent.jpgvent2.jpg
 

Saldaw

Well-Known Member
Ha! Thats the 1st time I've seen someone use a 'T' connector, mad props man! do you have 2X 400W HPS in those bake-a-round tubes?? I wanted to ask : have you fixed the lighting to the shelf or can the lighting rig be lowered to suit smaller plants ? Good job though man..really like it :) - ZTELTHY :leaf:
lift plants individually with brick or something to keep them all at the same height :)
 
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