PL-L or 2' T5 for Rubbermade?

[HandsomeVulture]

Did not see these reflectors posted in this thread, though I do know they've been posted elsewhere on these forums.

http://www.coollights.biz/cool-lights-biax-reflector-p-39.html

$7.99 for a reflector that houses 2 pl-l lights. I'm personally getting 220 watts of lights at 3000k and a ballast from 1000bulbs and these reflectors. Not counting shipping I'll come in around $100 to get everything.The reflectors are Miro like all the other reflectors I've seen mentioned with Pl-ls. However, I've read elsewhere that Miro does not reflect UV at all, but could use some confirmation on this.

 

[LEDGro]

I read that also on grasscity. I was not sure how useful UV actually was. Last I checked it was up for debate but I am not on top of the latest developments. Is UV really that important? Could you supplement with reptile bulbs or UV LED's? For a first grow I am not going to worry about it, but I always like to learn more about this hobby.

 

[fatigues]

I read that also on grasscity. I was not sure how useful UV actually was. Last I checked it was up for debate but I am not on top of the latest developments. Is UV really that important? Could you supplement with reptile bulbs or UV LED's?

You'll get PLENTY of UV. It comes off of the bulbs. If it isn't getting reflected off of the reflectors (and some UV isn't) that doesn't mean the UV coming off the bulbs directly on to your grow is mystically cancelled out.

Re: CoolLights reflectors. I linked to a link of em. Problem with that company is their shipping cost. Reflectors are cheaper than AH. Shipping and handling? Not so much

 

[LEDGro]

So UV is good for the plants then?

 

[HandsomeVulture]

Yeah, I know it isn't canceling UV, just not reflecting it. And for me the shipping at that site quoted me $10, so even though it's a third of the total cost seems fair enough.

 

[ScrubNinja]

UV is the bomb for plants - look up plasma lights, there is an amazing amount of discussion on uv on those threads. It's not so great for young plants but once they can handle it, fire away imo. Keep in mind that miro reflectors seem great but it's not like you'd buy them for a cfl grow. They're not a neccesity is what I mean. There's no extraordinary need to increase reflectivity more than any other fluoro. If you have the money, go for it. But just having pl-l, you're ahead of the game.

 

[LEDGro]

Alright! I probably will go with the reflectors because they don't add a significant cost. As for the UV light is adding a reptile bulb or 2 on the sides a worthwhile addition? I don't think I will have the space on the top in this build but the sides are open.

Do you run the UV for the same amount of time as other lights or for a reduced amount?

 

[HandsomeVulture]

UV is the bomb for plants - look up plasma lights, there is an amazing amount of discussion on uv on those threads. It's not so great for young plants but once they can handle it, fire away imo. Keep in mind that miro reflectors seem great but it's not like you'd buy them for a cfl grow. They're not a neccesity is what I mean. There's no extraordinary need to increase reflectivity more than any other fluoro. If you have the money, go for it. But just having pl-l, you're ahead of the game.

Plasma has me all sorts of excited, and not just for growing purposes. As good as LEDs are, plasmas are supposed to be even more efficient.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Vulture, I'm really excited for plasma too. I doubt they could come down enough in price though. The plasmargon guy who "contributes" to a lot of the plasma threads claimed he would have a 250w style for $900 but he's been banned everywhere and I havent heard anything despite it being past his ETA. The dutchies on opengrow are doing great work exploring the new lights (and their uv content). They have a test supplementing the plasma with red LEDs as well.

LEDGro, Me personally I'd grow it with no uv so you can tell that the uv is making a difference when you do it. This will also give you plenty of time to read up because I know that very few people use uv supplementation on the micro forum. Myself included. And it's a subject that's rather up in the air, not a lot of hard facts. But we can say for sure that one aspect of trichomes is to shield the plant from UV rays. Also, the ball on top of the trichome is like a lens that focuses the light for absorption. So personally I would want the uv bulbs overhead where it will be hitting trichs.

The old school (your) way is to run the uv for a short time in the middle of the day - midday is when the sunlight has the least atmosphere filtering the rays, and uv is at a peak. After reading up on it and seeing all the trich pics, I would be more inclined to go new school and use a light that outputs uv all the time, such as cmh, or plasma if it wasn't so expensive. My own belief is that CFLs put out a ton of uv depending on brand but UV is a negative in home lighting - it causes skin cancer etc, so nobody is in a rush to prove that. I've never actually found a spectral chart for my CFLs or investigated any others, so I have no idea what they look like.

I'm unsure how much uv PLLs put out but if we trust spectral charts, mine put out zero, and they're not as frosty as CFL so I tend to believe it. So if you find a pll that puts out uv, I would consider that for flowering. (Note: not uv-c which is more dangerous than regular a or b, and I believe it's mainly b that we as growers want, but read up on that shit, I'm no expert and it's potentially life threatening)

 

[LEDGro]

Thanks for the UV info. For the first run I am not going to bother with it. I am still looking to work out the carbon filter and weather to use a pc fan, I posted those questions in the PC fan thread of your though.

I downloaded sketchup and quickly made a rough representation of my planned setup. Ignore the T5 looking lights, they were just an available model. I would like peoples opinions about the spacing of my screen from the plants and if I have enough headroom for a decent little grow. Here is what I came up with:

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hey bro, that's far more headroom than you'll need. One thing to note is that you'd want (imo) either the lights raisable, or the pot+plant+screen raisable. If that's the case then you have plenty of room. Another thing - just over 4 inches from soil to screen, probably not enough. Picture under the screen when it's filled with stems, and then imagine you have to access under the screen right at the back (2ft away). I don't have my tape on me but I'd suggest a gap more like 6". But as far as the top gap goes, you can grow em very close to the lights and you would be a good grower if you got 15" colas

 

[LEDGro]

Ok so I will raise the screen area to around 6" or 7". The container will open from the top so I will be lifting out the tub & screen to get to the plants for regular maintenance and watering.

My plan was to have the screen connected to the tub and then possibly adding some rope handles to the sides of the screen so it would be easy to pull the whole thing out.

The way I was planning to deal with the distance from the light is going to be simple. I am just going to put some boxes under the tub to keep the distances optimal.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Ahhh I get it, yeah that sounds good. I saw the sketchup and forgot all about rubbermaids, lol. Yeah the more access you have to a scrog, the better. There's a lot of training and trimming to do.

 

[LEDGro]

Yea it is. I am fairly adept at training. I have been working with square foot gardens and vertical gardens for a while now. This year I grew tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, peas and cucumbers all on a 8'x5' vertical screen.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Nice, was that indoors? If so, what sorta lights and did you have lights both sides of the screen?

 

[LEDGro]

No all outdoors sadly. I have never done any type of full indoor grow. I found a good rubbermaid model in sketch up so I am going to try and get a better looking updated model up.

 

[LEDGro]

So I have been working in sketchup and have come up with a more accurate design. Check it out:

 

[ScrubNinja]

It looks fantastic, dude.

 

[hgl]

yeah! I subscribed!

Thanks for the advice in the thread I made... I think I'll go with PL-L !!!

 

[maryjohn]

If you are bound and determined to use a square roughneck style container and you intend to scrog, you should strongly consider having your container "upside down". The lid becomes the base your plants will sit on (I am assuming you intend to grow in soil/less medium and not hydro). You may want to put weather stripping on the base lid edge so you get an air-tight seal for odor control.

Reason: You need to be able to get under your screen easily - and that's not going to happen very easily if your plants are sitting down inside this tub. Better to have the main tub of the container act as a "lid" you can take on and off of your grow.

the modular scrog is an elegant solution to this problem: