water cooled lights

[Rusty Trichome]

Never used them, but I have used HID lights with my coral reef tank. Mh only...HPS doesn't extend deep enough to work, and most usable spectrum is dispersed in the top couple of inches of the water column.

A couple of things to ponder...

Different wavelengths refract differently.

Light thru a glass (or a curved vessel of water) will have an uneven spread of spectrum.
For instance...red light effectively extends down a couple of meters in the ocean, max. Yet blue light travels for what...100 plus meters or so...?

How much light is caught between the two walls of the cooler-tube?
Would be interested in PAR and spectrum readings from it, tho.

What happens when/if a failure occurs?

How would you cool the heated water for re-use?

[SunnyD]

Supposedly a good way to keep water cool is to run it through an alluminum box, alluminum has the ability to absorb the heat from the water and discharge it through convection easily.

Alluminum has a low specific heat capacity and water has the highest of any chemical so I'm guessing that's why it works so well

[spliffy777]

hi i was thinking maybe a small glass fronted frigde from wal mart with smallish res .drill some holes in glass for the tubes.also i have a friend who said you get more potiency out of your plants with an mh bulb if u use it 2 flower aswell , is this true ?feed bk on this would be great . splif

[SunnyD]

potency depends on a lot of things

Genes
Light
Nutes
Medium
Age
CO2

Too many things other than "type of light"

I've seen better results with HPS here than MH, but that's just me

[Rusty Trichome]

Were you to run it thru a water chiller (aquarium supply shop) or an aluminum radiator of some sort, I could see that may work. But keeping warm water in an aluminum box, you'll have a aluminum box of warm water.

Something that comes up often in the Reef Tank Forums is "what about 'coiling' the supply hose thru a fridge...?"
Well, running it thru a fridge (a very popular subject in the Reef Tank Forums where temperature is life and death for an entire eco-system) will kill a fridge. A fridge motor is designed to come on every once in a while, for very short periods in order to maintain a constant temp. Running a hose thru it in an attempt to cool the water overworks the motor, killing the fridge in a matter of days or weeks. (The heat emanating from the hose tells the fridge to keep running)

For my purposes, I wouldn't get the water tube thingy without at least a 1/10 hp water cooler. 1/10 HP (Mini) Current USA Prime Inline Chiller
The one above is a top-end model, but you'll still pay a hefty price regardless.
Used Equipment forums on the Marine Aquarium or Coral websites, is a good place to find loads of stuff for ones grow...especially if our sponsors don't carry it at present. Perhaps more trustworthy than ebay, too. (Freshwater equipment is lower quality, and may not withstand nutes and additives) :thumbsup:

Jeepers...only 9:45 and I think I've had my fill of coffee, lol.

[Rusty Trichome]

i have a friend who said you get more potiency out of your plants with an mh bulb if u use it 2 flower aswell , is this true ?feed bk on this would be great . splif

Would discard that friend, and find one with accurate info.

HPS can be used for both veg and flower, MH for veg only. You get more potency using proper techniques and equipment.

[Rusty Trichome]

Curious what exactly I said to deserve the negative rep with no explination, Spliffy777.
But rest assured, returning the favor was my pleasure. :jointsmile:

[spliffy777]

im sry rusty i thought i hit a positive feedbk, was ment 2 be positive sry spliff

[Rusty Trichome]

Ahh. Ok.
You really have to go out of your way to screw that one up, which is why I asked.

The rep never bothers me one way or the other, but the lack of comments do.

[Mcnizzlebery]

"also i have a friend who said you get more potiency out of your plants with an mh bulb"

I have been told that useing a mh for flower makes the buds more dense, and have also been told that useing mh+hps is even better then just one by itself.

Water cooled sounds interesting but i would be to afraid of the whole water+electricity thing.