light and heat issues

[jbrand]

I was using a 250w hydrofarm light with the ballast all in one. temps in my tent were running as high as 86 when the room temps were at 77. I just finished my grow and am wanting to upgrade to a 600w air cooled tube sort of light. My tent has vent wholes on both side of the light to run venting from one side, into the light and out the other side. I am thinking of using a vent booster fan 188cfm to pull room air into the light then push the hot air up into the attic where my odor control vent goes.

does anyone have any experience with this kind of set up? would this work to cool off the inside of the tent? any sugestions on a reflector? it seems the tubes would make it easier for the fan to pull air threw.

here are some products i have been looking at
TexasHydroponics&... (http://texashydroponics.com/shop/product.php?productid=2790&cat=55&page=1)

https://www.jollygreenhydro.com/onlinestore/product.php?productid=16876&cat=418&page=1


Thanks guys and gals. love the site, and people.

also here is a diagram of my set up. i never new it would be so hard to write with the mouse lol. thanks again.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/jdown4life2002/setups.jpg

[Goober328]

Both gizmos look very kewlish to me and would be a great acquisition for them with bucks to spend. I have just a regular old cheap aluminum no frills type hood on my 400 watt HPS/MH combo lamp. Seems to work ok. Believe at least some of your heat issues could be resolved with a remote ballast as opposed to the attached ballast you have now which dumps its heat in the grow room. Notice the 400 Watter dont put out much more if any heat than a few 100 watt curly tail CFL's with the ballasts on the base.

Goober

[jbrand]

Yeah I knew the ballast was kicking out some heat. After it being on all day i would touch where the ballast was and could barely hold my hand there for 3 seconds. I know the warm weather is not helping.

See I live in Texas and it gets very hot and humid in the summer. We keep our A/C set at 80 during the day time to help save electricity, and for the dogs. I am wondering how much heat would emit from one of those air cooled reflectors if any at all.

I am really liking the reflector with cool tube from Texas Hydroponiocs. It just seems it would cool alot easier.

Thanks for your input.

J

[irydyum]

Funny, I shop at the same 2 stores you linked and have talked to individuals at both. I will not shop at Texas Hydro again. I have my personal reasons for that decision, but I can say that the customer service at Jolly Green was A+ versus the FAIL at TH.

That being said, one of my boys worked over at Texas Hydro for a minute. I wouldn't purchase any of their hoods or proprietary parts, my buddy told me of the numerous complaints and lack of compassion TH had in regards to them.

If I were you I would pick up something more universal like a Sun System. They make fantastic hoods that are 95% reflective and feel like quality. Not like flimsy bendable sheet metal hoods.

I have air cooled single lights in a tent before as well. I'm assuming it's a 4x4 tent, if so, 186 CFM passing over the light should be sufficient provided you exhaust out of the room the tent is in. This is important. Feeding warm air back into the room where the tent intake is will do no good over time.

Beware anything labeled a "booster". Most of those CFM readings are telling you what size system they can run on, not the true CFM of the booster. You will get what you pay for when it comes to exhaust. Jolly Green has a great selection of fans to choose from.

If you go with a 200cfm fan, you could probably run a carbon filter along with air cooling hoods all in one shot. The people at the store will advise against it, but I have done it successfully before. I wouldn't cool more than one light if you run a filter, but I know those numbers work for one light and one filter.

Best of luck, and I feel your pain on the TX heat:(

[jbrand]

I really dont like TH that much either. Ever time I go there and have a question about something they sell, they always say "I dont know" and never really try to find out for you either.

Thanks for the input

J

[jbrand]

This is the booster fan i was going to use to cool the hood. Its by hydro farm or active air or what ever. I guess before buying it i can ask to plug it in and see how much air it can move.

Hydrofarm - Active Air ACFB6 In-Line Booster Fan, 6" (http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=8102)

[Rusty Trichome]

I grow in the SW desert heat and came up with some pointers that may help with the approaching summer heat:

Dealing With Heat Issues in the Desert (http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/159651-dealing-heat-issues-desert.html)

[jbrand]

Thanks for the link rusty. Alot of great info in that thread. i have one question about the over feeding when hot. you say you water with plain ph'd water some time. how do YOU ph your water?

[Rusty Trichome]

My wellwater comes out of the tap at 7.9 - 8.0 ph. I use (almost) 1/4 tsp of General Hydroponics phDown (phosphoric acid) per gallon of water. That puts my water at about 6.6 ph. (before nutrients)
For my monthly flushes, I use 1 tsp per 5 gallon bucket of water, which puts my water at 6.8 ph.