As some of you know i was selected to do the hydro comparison grow by LEDGirl as part of her promotion on this site. I wish coco was still considered hydro as setting up a comparison of two individual 2x2' light footprints using other hydro methods isn't the easiest thing in the world hence the delay in me starting my test. If i'm going to do something i'm going to do it right.
I've noticed that most complaints people have is that people aren't using true 2x2 foot prints or that there could be light overlap or leakage so its not a valid comparison etc... because of this i thought it'd be best to run each lamp in its own dr80 2x2x5 tent.
This creates a number of problems.
First you have the vertical height constraints. I considered trays with remote reservoirs but due to the limited space of my sealed 85f 1500ppm growroom i couldn't locate the tents next to each other.
A video tour of my growroom sans plants so you can get an idea of how much space is at a premium
Additionally, plumbing the darkrooms meant lifting the sites high enough to exhaust the exhaust/cord holes a couple inches off the ground sacrificing precious vertical height with wasted space underneath so even bato buckets would be sitting rather high in the tent not to mention that i'd have to do a dtw with that setup. Building a reservoir under each tent and a structure for the tent to stand on above it was too much work and one tent is so tight in the closet it has to be built inside the closet or else it won't fit.
I needed inspiration. I needed to get in a side by side of mind.
One of my Lifesaver beans from B.O.G. was feeling the same way.
So the first problem was height... i had to get a hydro setup that didn't take up excessive vertical space. I didn't even really have room for a remote reservoir in the room and remember these are two 2x2 tents; i don't think a 2 site ebb & grow would be worth it. Aeroponics is ok but i didn't think 2x2 trays would be worth the effort and expense not to mention the problem roots might have later in flower. The rainforest setups were interesting but expensive; they are also sorta tall. Then i thought about the under current buckets and how nice it'd be if they had a single unit setup. Well a phone call later and i had two buckets that needed nothing more than an airpump to run; not only that but they can share the same airpump saving on valuable electrical draw as you'll see in a minute.
The systems are made by current culture and, like most of their products, this one revolves around massive amounts of dissolved oxygen. I'll be using dutch master gold line nutes for this grow as i've had success with them in systems utilizing high levels of d.o. in the past.
With that out of the way it was time to solve the problem of cooling; or rather the problem of cooling a 400w ushio conversion metal halide bulb powered by a lumatek ballast in a 2x2ft tent.
The led tent has a passive intake with a small 4.5" ecoplus axial fan for all its air exchanging needs.
The hid tent is another story. I finally was able to get temps stable using the following.
and..
That's right; a 6" vortex for exhaust and another 4" vortex for intake. Temps are stable and conditions are ideal for plants; overkill for a 2x2 but it is what it is.
As far as the comparison goes i'm using a brand new bulb.
The strain is Purple Wreck from a cut floating around cali and they were planted with love in the 5.5" netpots.
And so here we are....
LED On Day 1
LED Off Day 1
HID Day 1 (I'll take off pictures once i switch to a hps bulb)
Now i need a well deserved joint 
I've noticed that most complaints people have is that people aren't using true 2x2 foot prints or that there could be light overlap or leakage so its not a valid comparison etc... because of this i thought it'd be best to run each lamp in its own dr80 2x2x5 tent.
This creates a number of problems.
First you have the vertical height constraints. I considered trays with remote reservoirs but due to the limited space of my sealed 85f 1500ppm growroom i couldn't locate the tents next to each other.
A video tour of my growroom sans plants so you can get an idea of how much space is at a premium
Additionally, plumbing the darkrooms meant lifting the sites high enough to exhaust the exhaust/cord holes a couple inches off the ground sacrificing precious vertical height with wasted space underneath so even bato buckets would be sitting rather high in the tent not to mention that i'd have to do a dtw with that setup. Building a reservoir under each tent and a structure for the tent to stand on above it was too much work and one tent is so tight in the closet it has to be built inside the closet or else it won't fit.
I needed inspiration. I needed to get in a side by side of mind.
One of my Lifesaver beans from B.O.G. was feeling the same way.
So the first problem was height... i had to get a hydro setup that didn't take up excessive vertical space. I didn't even really have room for a remote reservoir in the room and remember these are two 2x2 tents; i don't think a 2 site ebb & grow would be worth it. Aeroponics is ok but i didn't think 2x2 trays would be worth the effort and expense not to mention the problem roots might have later in flower. The rainforest setups were interesting but expensive; they are also sorta tall. Then i thought about the under current buckets and how nice it'd be if they had a single unit setup. Well a phone call later and i had two buckets that needed nothing more than an airpump to run; not only that but they can share the same airpump saving on valuable electrical draw as you'll see in a minute.
The systems are made by current culture and, like most of their products, this one revolves around massive amounts of dissolved oxygen. I'll be using dutch master gold line nutes for this grow as i've had success with them in systems utilizing high levels of d.o. in the past.
With that out of the way it was time to solve the problem of cooling; or rather the problem of cooling a 400w ushio conversion metal halide bulb powered by a lumatek ballast in a 2x2ft tent.
The led tent has a passive intake with a small 4.5" ecoplus axial fan for all its air exchanging needs.
The hid tent is another story. I finally was able to get temps stable using the following.
and..
That's right; a 6" vortex for exhaust and another 4" vortex for intake. Temps are stable and conditions are ideal for plants; overkill for a 2x2 but it is what it is.
As far as the comparison goes i'm using a brand new bulb.
The strain is Purple Wreck from a cut floating around cali and they were planted with love in the 5.5" netpots.
And so here we are....
LED On Day 1
LED Off Day 1
HID Day 1 (I'll take off pictures once i switch to a hps bulb)
Now i need a well deserved joint 
