Newbie with possible light burn ?

MsJazzy said:

Oh no, now I know. Oops.

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That's the way it is. You need the equipment now, so you go and buy it. Then you find there's some little detail you didn't know about that makes you wish you had bought something different. Or you buy something only to find it's made so poorly it's unusable.

Ugh, yeah!! I keep running into that. I took the light socket out of my old reflector and put it in the new one.. Took a little manipulation.. So I ran ducting to the hood, out the other end of the hood, and out of the tent. My temps are higher than before.. it's approximately 80-82 in there. I have an oscillating fan running in there too. I am confused about the fan.. it's definitely pushing air through the hood and the ducting and out the tent.. but also, it seems like it's pulling air too. The back of the fan has a strong current coming out of it.

You don't have it mounted backwards, do you? Light a cigarette or a joint and hold it 2 foot away from the opening off the fan. Is the smoke going towards the fan or away? You can move it closer to the fan if unsure. Not too close or it will suck/blow the hot ash off. What is the temp outside the tent? Your tent is going to be a little warmer than the room it's in unless you use refridgeration. The top of the tent will be the warmest. You are only concerned with the temp at the top of the plants. That's where you should measure your temps. Hanging a thermometer from the ceiling at canapy height works well. You'll have to adjust the height as the plants grow. The intake for your vent system should be at the top of the tent even if your lights are lower.

Red1966 said:

You don't have it mounted backwards, do you? Light a cigarette or a joint and hold it 2 foot away from the opening off the fan. Is the smoke going towards the fan or away? You can move it closer to the fan if unsure. Not too close or it will suck/blow the hot ash off. What is the temp outside the tent? Your tent is going to be a little warmer than the room it's in unless you use refridgeration. The top of the tent will be the warmest. You are only concerned with the temp at the top of the plants. That's where you should measure your temps. Hanging a thermometer from the ceiling at canapy height works well. You'll have to adjust the height as the plants grow. The intake for your vent system should be at the top of the tent even if your lights are lower.

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It's not on backwords, I am pretty sure. It's blowing air out with a strong current, through all the ducting, and out the other end. I'll try the smoke thing for shits n giggles, just to double check lol. The room temperature is about 74. I have a hygro digital thermometer hanging from the roof of the tent and it's it' sensor is hanging out with the top of the plants. I keep hearing 80-82 degrees is too high but they seem so healthy. Perhaps they grow faster with cooler temps.

MsJazzy said:

It's not on backwords, I am pretty sure. It's blowing air out with a strong current, through all the ducting, and out the other end. I'll try the smoke thing for shits n giggles, just to double check lol. The room temperature is about 74. I have a hygro digital thermometer hanging from the roof of the tent and it's it' sensor is hanging out with the top of the plants. I keep hearing 80-82 degrees is too high but they seem so healthy. Perhaps they grow faster with cooler temps.

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If you have another thermometer, or can borrow one, double check the temp. Unfortunately, a lot of the thermometers and hygrometers are off, especially the hygrometer. I have three thermometer/hygrometer combos and they differ when placed side by side, especially the RH reading. 80-82 won't kill your plants(usually) but may slow or stop the growth, depending on genotype. I use two 600 watters in a 4.5 x 8 tent. I use a 5200 BTU A/C to cool the tent and reservoir with a separate vent for the lights. I use something called an "outlet thermostat" to control the A/C. It is complicated and expensive, but it works REALLY well. My cooling system: 6" fan with carbon filter directly attached > flex duct > intake side of home made two chamber wooden box mounted on window A/C > thru A/C > outlet side of wooden box > flex duct > 6" fan > flex duct > 6" x 4" x 4" duct splitter with one 4" outlet vent towards ceiling, one 4" outlet goes to 4" flex duct > 4" fan > flex duct > reservoir.

Oh wow, that is quite the set up. Too much for this little fish. I think I should get another thermomete though. I sit on the floor of the tent next to my babies and I swear it doesn't feel 80 degrees. I am a baby when it comes to heat and I keep my house at no more than 74, and when I am sitting inside the tent for days, I am very comfortable LOL. Good idea.

I think all those thermometers are made by the cheapest contractors, so quality suffers when you're cutting corners. Even products labeled "made in USA" are often cheap imports. If you don't feel warm in the tent, it's probably not.

I had no idea. I am not even sure where the thermometer came from, it was given to me, but doesn't look like anything fancy.

Mine came with my economy savers pack with my new low flow shower head and sink fixtures. They said help save the planet run your a/c less well I do use cfl's so hey I'm still helping the environment.

I see you DO have one of those four-legged co2 generators.

Red1966 said:

I see you DO have one of those four-legged co2 generators.

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Yes. And he is allowed nowhere near my plants. I left him outside with my plants for literally 2 minutes when I was transplanting a few weeks ago and I came back outside to find my 3' that was given to me, laying outside of the container, torn apart.

As long as he's in the house, he'll still put out co2 that will get sucked into your grow room, then into the tent. Your breath also has a significant amount of co2, more than the dog. A co2 meter would be handy, but they are really expensive. They sell a giant syringe with "gas detection tubes" that is cheaper, but the tubes are $5.00 a piece and can only be used once. As long as your place has a good air exchange rate, you should be fine. Normally, the outside air is 300-400 ppm, in urban (polluted) areas, it will be higher. Below 200 ppm, your plants will stop growing. You should be fine, as far as co2 levels go.

For some reason I thought the c02 was more important for hydro.. I did not know this. I think the exchange must be OK if they are growing. I live alone and just keep the door open to that bedroom, but inside the tent is another story.. It's pretty breezy in there, though. Why do some people people duct from the hood>fan>out the tent and leave one side of the hood open with no duct?

They do that to bring fresh air into the hood. and prolly cheap like me.

It cools the lamp OK and the tent somewhat, but its better to pull air from the top of the tent where the air is the warmest. In short, they're lazy!

MyndMy said:

They do that to bring fresh air into the hood. and prolly cheap like me.

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I wonder if I should do that? Or leave it the way it is with ducting to the fan outside the tent>hood>outside the tent?

Red1966 said:

It cools the lamp OK and the tent somewhat, but its better to pull air from the top of the tent where the air is the warmest. In short, they're lazy!

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Leave it your way as he said those guys are lazy.

Pull air from the top of the tent? Sorry, I am just trying to picture this in my head.

hey... thought id check out your thread... so whats up... just looks like you have some nice clones...

i actually like to call the super silver haze and blueberry combo... silver surfer... but anyways...

the damage you see on them probably had been caused by the person before and just didnt show up till now... as long as the temps on the tops havent been too hot... like mid 90's then you should be just fine...

and for that strain 80-82 is just fine and dandy... providing the nighttime temps drop 10-15 degrees...

just make sure you get the right info from here... as alot of peeps just spout out random crap and it will end up being way too confusing and misleading you for what you should be doing... and or what you are already doing just fine...

Pull cold air in from the bottom, exhaust hot air out the top