570W CFL in 87x35x85cm

[hisser]

Hi micro enthusiasts I'm currently growing Auto flowers in a micro setup, 2x Blue Streak 8 weeks old, and 3x Sour 60 4 weeks old, all females.

Some specs:

The "Chamber" Dimensions:
Height: 65cm
Width: 87cm
Length: 35cm
Volume: 6.8 cubic feet

Pots:
2x square 20x20cm. 5 liters. Blue streak
3x soda bottles. 24cm long. 2.25 liters. Sour 60

Lights:
1x 125W CFL 6400K
1x 120W CFL 6400K
1x 125W “nested flower” CFL 2700K
4x 50W CFL 2700K
Total = 570W CFL

Airflow:

120mm AC powered fan for exhaust
2cm height intake opening across the bottom of the chamber (87cm).
26cm X 14cm passive intake area at the middle bottom.

Growing Medium:
Coco + perlite.

Food:
Miracle-Gro Tomato Plant Food
Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster
SuperThrive
Epsom salt
Carob molasses


Please follow the link in my signature which leads to the grow journal in the auto flower sub-forum. if you're interested.

Here are some pictures:




Cheers

 

[hisser]

A typo in title, should say "87x35x65cm" instead of "87x35x85cm" sorry for that.

 

[Nicoli]

Great setup.. but you should really get some "real" strains in there and take advantage of the potential yield you're losing out on.

 

[hisser]

@Nicoli
Autos are real too I really believe in them and find them very practical, hopefully in this grow I'll get good yield AND potency under CFL's in a short amount of time.

Cheers

 

[cork144]

looks real good, still dont get why you havnt made some reflectors, alot of light being wasted there


but yea, all looks good man

 

[hisser]

looks real good, still dont get why you havnt made some reflectors, alot of light being wasted there


but yea, all looks good man

Thanks cork, I'm using white matte as a reflector.

 

[thehappyguy]

the closer a reflector is to the source, the less space light has to travel through thus stronger light reaching your plants

just saying

 

[hisser]

the closer a reflector is to the source, the less space light has to travel through thus stronger light reaching your plants

just saying

If I'm gonna use a reflector it has to look something like this:



I guess I would use white matte too... would this be better?

 

[ScrubNinja]

How about individual reflectors like drink cans or something? Foil plates? Yeah I would paint it white too. I liked that other cfl you used to use shaped like a daisy, kind of looked like a ceiling fan. Anyway, lookin' good. Grow on.

 

[hisser]

ScrubNinja, yeah I used to like that lamp too, it was 6400k though.
Thing is if I place reflectors on the lower 50W cfl's some light will be blocked from the top side CFL's, the only reflector I can place without having any hotspots is on the middle lamp.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Well the answer is obvious! Just use clear refle...

Errr okay never mind :

 

[hisser]

lol

 

[hisser]

I guess this would be the best reflector, with the least hotspots/blindspots...

It has to be done the ghetto way



What do you guys think? any suggestions?

 

[ScrubNinja]

How about relocating the lights so they're all on the same level?

 

[hisser]

That's a great idea ScrubNinja, but they won't fit next to each other with the current layout, kinda crammed up, specially on the left side, it might work if I relocate all of them except the one in the middle, and put the side fans a bit lower... but that will take hours of work since the sockets are screwed & drilled into the wall behind them, but for sure will give more light & make it easier to create a reflector it might have to wait for the next grow. Thanks a bunch Ninja!

 

[irie4i]

I would cut a can into reflectors for each bulb, and use a big pie plate for the middle bulb. Though with a horizontal bulb and the white box you're probably getting reflected light anyways; I wouldn't worry to much about it. I would though, try to keep that little clone bottom left about 4" from those lights, though.

sup ninja

 

[hisser]

@irie4i
Thanks for the advice m8, That plant in the small pot is a test subject, it won't flower I guess since its not auto and I'm running lights on 24/0.. whats funny about it is, its been always at that distance, it got about 7 nodes now and the distance between each node isn't more than 1", even the first node is close to the soil level, so I guess I'm having a good reflection already and should not worry about it...

Cheers

 

[ScrubNinja]

Yo Irie! Just maintainin' bro Good to see you delurking.

I had this crazy idea about getting those foil bbq tins. Hmmm, not like a plate, but like a rectangular plate with high sides like you'd get ribs in or something...idk. Anyway, stick them to the roof and the sides would be angled. Sort of like this where O is the bulb

\___/ O \___/

and the other bulbs would be under the flat part of the bbq plates. But that's kind of out there as far as ideas go.

 

[exploziv]

great set-up. looks so nice with all those different shape cfl's.
good luck!

 

[hisser]

ScrubNinja, Thanks man, I was thinking of using foil plates too and make something parabolic in shape, would be easiest to do, I'm kinda worried if I use better reflectors it might raise heat even more... that's why I better delay the thing till the current grow ends, as I'm planning to separate the lights from plants with glass & put 2 exhausts instead of one, this might make me able to grow in summer too since heat outside affects the grow room.

exploziv_gbb,

Cheers