Is air cooled lighting worth it

Hey icmag i am getting ready to try another grow after i failed at coco coir

My room temps lights on are 27c


Room temps lights off is 21c

The light is 400 watt metal halide


Are these too high and would it be worth buying an air cooled reflector
Too help with heat issues Cheers Freeurmind

Why did your first coco grow go wrong mate?

Mh is predominantly used for vegging cycle, 27 for this time of year is not too bad, if you get a air cooled hood you probably will have to get another fan to run it.

What im getting at is the temps you posted dont scream out too hot in your room, we need more info as to why you think your grow went wrong.

Peace.

I think i over watered i started seeds in pots of canna coco and most died Right away.This time i put seeds in glass of water then i put in wet paper
Today they look black and no tap roots.I am doing this for my insomnia
Too think i will chuck it no more money for seeds.I will wait few more days
See if they sprout

Whats the temperature outside during light on?
This is probably the most important variable

Is the hood mounted in a permanent position or do you adjust the hoods height?
If your hood is permanently mounted its much easier to use smooth wall pipe for the intake and exhaust. It's easier to insulate well and because it's smooth it doesn't require as powerful a fan to move air through, so it's quieter and cheaper to run. It is possible to get the insulated flex hose but I don't like using it. The insulation isn't that great and just because it's flexible doesn't mean it's made to be constantly flexed!

How far away is the hood from where the exhaust exits the room?
If you have a long distance from the hood to where it exits the room then aircooled hoods are less efficient because the exhaust side will radiate heat back into the room before exhausting it. You could insulate the exhaust but insulation can only do so much. Eventually the insulation will heat up.

Do you enjoy doing maintenance or are you more of a lazy grower?
usually aircooled hoods require a glass window to seal the hood off and separate the hot air within the hood from the air in room that your trying to keep cool. This glass will block light when it is clean. Every bit of dust that accumulates on it makes it worse. Filtering the intake is a good idea if not essential but still, the glass will more than likely need cleaning after ever run. The lower the wattage your bulb the more important it is.

I never liked the idea of anything coming between the bulb and plants. It always seemed counter productive. I've seen aircooled hoods used without the glass window. The room had a passive intake and it was exhausted through the hood. If smell is an issue, this setup would require a filter for the hood exhaust.

Normally, when using the glass window with a dedicated intake and exhaust for the hood, a filter is not required as the air in the hood is kept separate from the odor in the room.

Obviously not using the glass and exhausting the room through the hood is not ideal for rooms that use Co2.

Not only is light lost due to the glass window but it's also lost through the air ducts used to cool the hood. The light that enters those holes in your hood is light that won't be reflected onto the plants. The larger the ducts the less the hood will reflect. It might not be much but combined with what's lost because of the glass and it ain't nothing.

When your working with 400w bulbs it's even more important not to waste any lumens.

If it were me, and I was set on using a aircooled hood with a 400w bulb I wouldn't use the glass and exhaust the space through the hood. I would also modify the hood(professionally) so it only had the exhaust duct in an attempt to try and reflect as much light as possible.(don't use tape and burn your house down)

While on the subject of safety, the glass does provide an extra measure of safety as it can possibly keep the red hot pieces of a broken bulb inside the hood. If it gets in the vent and your using metal pipe it's not a prob but if your using flexible tubing.....I can see it actually being worse.

Hey resin lung thanks for all the info.At the moment i am just using a plain old standard reflector I dont no outside temp i think i will try air cooled with fixed position sounds good. I extract into another room i would run 600 watt if i can control the heat thanks again Freeurmind

I am using the small perforated heat shields clipped underneath my lamps.A cheap solution and have dropped my temps at plant level by 3 deg C .

Heat shield

Heat shield

Hort1 said:

I am using the small perforated heat shields clipped underneath my lamps.A cheap solution and have dropped my temps at plant level by 3 deg C .

Click to expand...

I have one of these white with tiny holes clip on to bulb socket cheers i am going to fit it now.

FreeUrMind said:

I think i over watered i started seeds in pots of canna coco and most died Right away.This time i put seeds in glass of water then i put in wet paper
Today they look black and no tap roots.I am doing this for my insomnia
Too think i will chuck it no more money for seeds.I will wait few more days
See if they sprout

Click to expand...

How big were the pots of coco you started in when you over watered?

Was you using any other media like 1 inch rockwoll cubes or jiffy peat pellets or was it straight to coco in a pot for germination?

When you said wet paper did you mean kitchen roll or napkins, and how wet? Soaking is not good.

What seeds are you trying to germinate and where did you get them.

Peace.

Hi yts farmer the pots were 1lt 4ins square pots just soaked and put seeds in.

My new seeds where apeorigin girl scout cookies and white widow


Yes kitchen towel soaked and squeezed out a bit


And a tiny sprinkle of great white


Cheers

I have great success starting my seeds in happy frog. Tried jiffy pellets, they all died. I just lost 40 veggie starts in jiffy pellets. Jiffy pellets hold to much water as does coco. Start the seeds directly into small cups of soil. No need to do the paper towel method, you will damage the tap root, and they will die. I use the little bathroom cups then you can transplant into coco, or what ever you want.

FreeUrMind said:

Hey icmag i am getting ready to try another grow after i failed at coco coir

My room temps lights on are 27c


Room temps lights off is 21c

The light is 400 watt metal halide


Are these too high and would it be worth buying an air cooled reflector
Too help with heat issues Cheers Freeurmind

Click to expand...

What size is your room / tent and what size fan are you currently using? I doubt an air cooled hood will be worth it as temps will start to drop soon, try to open the door / window in the room that your tent is in and i imagine the temps will drop slightly. Also make sure youve got the intake vents open on your tent. Maybe add a small circulation fan to keep heat away from the plants. Are you using a normal thermometer or one with the little probe on it, if so where abouts do you have the probe placed, right under the light, on the ground, half way up?

Is this your first grow? Personally i would go with soil over coco, as soil is more forgiving.

Next time you pop some seeds try and start with smaller pots such as 7 or 9 cm pots, if the soil is dry sit them in a small tray of water then plant seeds. If the soil has some moisture to it then plant seeds then spray lightly with a spray bottle, i find that works great to prevent over watering in small pots.

If you start seeds in a 7/9cm pot then theres no need for great white straight away, once the seedling is established and ready to transplant, then sprinkle great white on the root ball and in the hole your about to transplant in to.

Hopefully some of this info helps, good luck with your grow.

Hi Blazeee i will have wait till i get more cash because i am out of cash after buying all The equipment and and nutrient and 3 packs of seeds i must be worst grower out there
First grow i got seeds to germ but killed them this grow 2 packs of 5 seeds nothing not
One germed Gutted.


My tent is a homebox evolution 4 x 4 with 200mm rvk fitted with 5 step variac controller
I only have it on step 1 as its so loud


Reflector is just cheap standard one with 400 watt metal halide bulb

Thanks for all the info

FreeUrMind a cheap and simple solution to the fan noise is to add a metre or 2 of ducting to the intake and outlet.It made a big difference for me.Use a cheap blanket-the shit grey ones they give you in prison- to rap the fan in .

Cheers Hort1 i only have cheap combi ducting the black stuff going to try acoustic ducting

Yes mate accoustic ducting will make a big difference, just make sure your wearing a long sleeved shirt / jumper as that stuff is itchy as fuck, Also look in to getting a silencer, i have one of those solid ones and it works great to help reduce noise, i havent had any experience with the flexible silencers though.

Nice one Blazeee i will get solid silencer

I've always used jiffy pellets just give em a squeeze so there just damp not soaking and I'd use a t5 light for my young ones and if your just using 1 600 watt for your lady's you should have a fan and filter and that would deal with Temps if needed but your Temps seem fine if that's the correct reading m8 I have a thew themp gages in my room in case ones playing up so I'll see it also getting this environment right in your room is most important