Pineapple Chunk & piff bag seeds now grown to seedlings.. I need a quick fix (PICS)

So for those who don't know, my last baby grew really tall a few days after sprouting... then collapsed under her own weight.

This time around, as you can see, the seedlings in the hot pod propagator are kind of bending. I thought of putting more dirt in the peat cups to help strengthen and balance the bottom part of the stems but any other ideas? These things are delicate and I don't want to touch and mess around with them too much, as you can see I finagled a way to prop up one of the propagator seedlings but that won't last to long since their growing extremely fast.

Also, when should I transplant from the seed pod? All seedlings are currently 3-4 days old.

600w dimmed to 300w right now
63x30x30 grow tent
one 6' inline 240CFM fan blowing exhaust out from directly under the light.

Also keeping a humidifier in the tent to manage my consistently dry and arid environment. Any and all help is of course greatly appreciated.

Also, will two 4" fans run quieter than one loud 6" fan? I can't take the noise level of these fucking 6 inchers. Thanks guys

Well as for the seedlings stretching that's completely normal, especially if the light source it too far away or not strong enough, I would recommend you use a fluorescent light of some kind for the first week or two and keep it within a couple inches, a 1 or 2 bulb T5 works fantastic for seedlings/cuttings but you could just use a CFL, if they stretch too much you can just re pot them and fill the soil to just under the seed leaves, the stem below the soil will eventually grow roots, once they have their first set of true leaves then put them under a HID but raise it a couple feet for the first few days and lower it gradually. Just FYI: Running a bulb under its rated wattage (dimming) will drastically decrease its life span, running a bulb over its rated wattage could cause it to catastrophically fail and possibly start a fire, I recommend running your bulbs at 100% and just raise the hood as necessary. Now as for the noise of inline fans, I totally hear you (pun intended), I have a 6" 430 CFM and without ducting attached it sounds like a fucking jet engine, lol, well maybe that's a little dramatic but you get my point, anyway, there are several ways to combat noisy fans, you could buy a duct muffler on eBay: (-->CLICK HERE>--), you could build a soundproof box for your fan, however its a bit of work, you'll need access to tools and if you don't do it right you might make the sound even louder, what I'm going to do with my 6" fan is wrap it in this Armaflex foam sheet insulation: (-->CLICK HERE<--) A guy on another forum who works in the commercial HVAC industry wrapped his 6" inline fan in it (Pictured Below) and he said even standing right next to it you really have to listen to hear it, that's good enough for me. Whatever you decide good luck and keep us posted.

Why would running a dimmable ballast on a lowered setting be a fire hazard? Isn't it that what it is intended for?

Also, my fan looks like this : http://www.amazon.com/LEDwholesalers-GYO2402-6-Inch-Hydroponic-Booster/dp/B003YFADW8

The mufflers I've seen are for the other odd looking fans.

I've also noticed I get drastically different temperature/rh readings depending on the placement of the thermometer. Is there are a correct way to put it?

JonTheBaptist said:

Why would running a dimmable ballast on a lowered setting be a fire hazard? Isn't it that what it is intended for?

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Its not the ballast that's the problem, its the bulb, a 600W bulb should only be run at 600W, when you run a bulb lower than its rated wattage not only will it produce a different spectrum that its rated for but it will also drastically reduce its life span & lumen maintenance, HID bulbs aren't designed to be run over/under their rated wattage's, the purpose of a dimmable ballast is so you can run different wattage bulbs on the same ballast, so a 600W Lumatek dimmable digital ballast can run 250W, 400W & 600W bulbs, you can run a 600W bulb lower that its rated wattage safely, however like I said it will drastically reduce the life span of the bulb and run at a different spectrum that its rated for, running a bulb at a higher wattage than its rated for can cause it to explode, thus the fire hazard.

JonTheBaptist said:

Also, my fan looks like this : http://www.amazon.com/LEDwholesalers-GYO2402-6-Inch-Hydroponic-Booster/dp/B003YFADW8
The mufflers I've seen are for the other odd looking fans.

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The fan you have is a duct booster fan, depending on the model/brand those things can be noisy as hell for some reason, if your going to use a 600W HID then your going to have a hard time keeping temps in check with just that booster fan, 240CFM isn't much when you need to vent 600 watts of HID heat, if you have the means I would HIGHLY recommend that you get a 6" inline with at least 430 CFM, good ventilation/airflow is very important if you want good results, if you need to get the best deal possible then check out Craigslist, mostly used but that's fine for an inline fan especially at a good price, if you have the money to buy new then check out eBay: (-->CLICK HERE<--)

JonTheBaptist said:

I've also noticed I get drastically different temperature/rh readings depending on the placement of the thermometer. Is there are a correct way to put it?

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Yes, you should put your thermometer in the middle of your tent at canopy level, ideally you should have a digital thermometer with a remote sensor on a wire, this is the one I have and it works perfect: (-->CLICK HERE<--) It takes two readings, In & Out, In reads the temp around the actual unit, out reads the temps from the sensor, so put the sensor in the center at canopy level and put the actual unit on the wall of the tent in the middle, this way you'll get the canopy temp and the ambient temp of the tent.

The fan you have is a duct booster fan, depending on the model/brand those things can be noisy as hell for some reason, if your going to use a 600W HID then your going to have a hard time keeping temps in check with just that booster fan, 240CFM isn't much when you need to vent 600 watts of HID heat, if you have the means I would HIGHLY recommend that you get a 6" inline with at least 340 CFM, good ventilation/airflow is very important if you want good results, if you need to get the best deal possible then check out Craigslist, mostly used but that's fine for an inline fan especially at a good price, if you have the money to buy new then check out eBay: (-->CLICK HERE<--)

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How about this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120mm-38mm-...?pt=US_Computer_Case_Fans&hash=item27cd629790

And will it be extremely loud? Could I get a muffler for it?

JonTheBaptist said:

How about this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120mm-38mm-...?pt=US_Computer_Case_Fans&hash=item27cd629790

And will it be extremely loud? Could I get a muffler for it?

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Unfortunately that PC fan is no where near strong enough to vent a 600W HID, not to mention their usually loud as hell, if you were planning to grow a couple plants in a cardboard box with CFL's then two of those would probably be OK, for what your planning however, sorry bud it just won't work. I take it that your on a budget, lots of us are so I know how it is, just save up your money until you can buy a 6" 400-450 CFM inline fan, you can get a decent one off eBay bran new for around $70 W/free shipping or you could spend a week or so looking through the Grow Equipment AD's on Craigslist and I guarantee you'll find one at a very decent price, anywhere from $30-$100 depending on the brand/model, some brands/models can be upwards of $200 bran new so keep that in mind. If noise is a major concern and you absolutely need something quiet then these are the quietest inline fan's on the market, their quality is also excellent, albeit a little pricy but totally worth it: (-->CLICK HERE<--)

SativaMe@420 said:

Unfortunately that PC fan is no where near strong enough to vent a 600W HID, not to mention their usually loud as hell, if you were planning to grow a couple plants in a cardboard box with CFL's then two of those would probably be OK, for what your planning however, sorry bud it just won't work. I take it that your on a budget, lots of us are so I know how it is, just save up your money until you can buy a 6" 400-450 CFM inline fan, you can get a decent one off eBay bran new for around $70 W/free shipping or you could spend a week or so looking through the Grow Equipment AD's on Craigslist and I guarantee you'll find one at a very decent price, anywhere from $30-$100 depending on the brand/model, some brands/models can be upwards of $200 bran new so keep that in mind. If noise is a major concern and you absolutely need something quiet then these are the quietest inline fan's on the market, their quality is also excellent, albeit a little pricy but totally worth it: (-->CLICK HERE<--)

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First and foremost thanks for taking the time to thoroughly answer all my questions. However, if a PC fan wouldn't be enough - would 3 do the trick? That would equal to a fan with the settings you are suggesting, though I'm not sure if there will be a difference or not.

JonTheBaptist said:

First and foremost thanks for taking the time to thoroughly answer all my questions. However, if a PC fan wouldn't be enough - would 3 do the trick? That would equal to a fan with the settings you are suggesting, though I'm not sure if there will be a difference or not.

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If your planning on running a 600W HID then I don't think those PC fans are going to be sufficient enough, if you have enough of them I'm sure it will work but it's not very practical and won't be nearly as efficient as a decent inline fan, like I said I recommend a 6" with at least 400CFM, that would keep your temps in check a lot better than any PC fan, have you checked Craigslist? I see killer deals all the time, you might have to spend a few days to a couple weeks browsing through the AD's but eventually you'll fine a killer deal, a lot of people try their hand at growing because they think its going to be simple, once they find out its more complicated that they anticipated a good portion of them say forget this and just sell the equipment at bargain prices just to recoup some of their losses, this happens more often than you think and usually to our benefit. You can try the PC fans if you must but I think you would be much better off just saving for an inline.