Reflective...? Advice plz!

[My Name is Mike]

It's really personal preference, simplicity and budget.

White paint + anti-fungi = budget friendly and simple

Any reflective material = not simple, not budget friendly compared to its peer(white paint)

Personally, I have a sound deadening mat thats reflective. In the lower 60% of my cab, I wrapped walls with reflectix using double sided commerical tape and sealed all the seams and edges with aluminum ducting tape to prevent anything getting behind it. Will it prevent it? Idk, but that's what I did to also gain an insulation property of it. No regrets.

 

[jonsnow399]

Actually, what I prefer is to use fanfold insulation, and use reflectix type bags I get for free on them. Very lightweight mobile walls, easy to clean or replace. No mold worries, they could be painted white if preferred, but the difference in reflectivity would be insignificant. It can also be folded up for storage if need be.

 

[BigHornBuds]

@Dr.Who

I pretty much agree with you thats why my walls dont have the orca
(except the mold issues if properly installed i dont "think" it would be a problem.)

My reasons for considering it was the fact that after you apply it you "shouldn't" have to worry about repainting as often (mines needs a new coat for example ?

Now i dont know how many scrubbings would start to wear the product though (one of the reasons its not on my walls)

My main reason for wanting it was how well it Diffused the light (might have just been marketing) but the vid impressed me.

It would be hard in my mind to get a wall to diffuse the same way with just an orange peel type paint surface.

All that said i couldnt justify the shipping to get the product for the few percent that you would gain....
but in my mind little gains add up like cents to a dollar

The kicker is i mi g ht have found a product that does the same thing but for 20 bucks for a sheet cheaper then repainting every other year.

No science to back it but my eyes noticed a huge difference in how much light will reflect back off the surface.

Anyhow
Not the gospel just my 2

You bring up a good point about re-painting
It only last so long n can be cleaned so many times .
I was getting to the point in my room that I needed to do something.
I run a perpetual room, can’t paint again.
I removed 25% of the room, and put up Orca. I’ve been working on this sense Friday, still not done.
They claim that in a room with 4 lights adding orca is like adding another light.
If one room was plywood n the other was Orca , I would agree with that 100%
But if you compare it to a flat white painted room , It’s not like adding another light .
Is it better then flat white paint. YES
It cleans easy, but will melt, don’t put hot venting on it.
Before in my room, there were like “bright spots” now the light is more even.


Other films have to be very tight with no wrinkles, or it will make focus points .
Orca doesn’t have to be tight .
Is it worth the price , Time will tell.

The room almost seems a little less yellow too.
But who knows , I’ve been smoking mind numbing amounts of hash trying to finish it.

 

[Cold$moke]

Nice after this run is done im going to try my orca alternative much cheaper and more durable.

Hopefully it reflects as good as the ones on the floor are now

 

[Cold$moke]

You bring up a good point about re-painting
It only last so long n can be cleaned so many times .
I was getting to the point in my room that I needed to do something.
I run a perpetual room, can’t paint again.
I removed 25% of the room, and put up Orca. I’ve been working on this sense Friday, still not done.
They claim that in a room with 4 lights adding orca is like adding another light.
If one room was plywood n the other was Orca , I would agree with that 100%
But if you compare it to a flat white painted room , It’s not like adding another light .
Is it better then flat white paint. YES
It cleans easy, but will melt, don’t put hot venting on it.
Before in my room, there were like “bright spots” now the light is more even.


Other films have to be very tight with no wrinkles, or it will make focus points .
Orca doesn’t have to be tight .
Is it worth the price , Time will tell.

The room almost seems a little less yellow too.
But who knows , I’ve been smoking mind numbing amounts of hash trying to finish it.
View attachment 4096774

Wtf. How hot is your vent air?

 

[RayRay747]

you could go to lowes and get reflective bubble insulation, same effect better than paint and cheap.

This is exactly what I have in my grow space. cost effective and works. easy to clean as well too.

 

[BigHornBuds]

Nice after this run is done im going to try my orca alternative much cheaper and more durable.

Hopefully it reflects as good as the ones on the floor are now

Tyvek?
The vent wouldn’t burn u if you put your hand on it but it’s warm. Made the orca stick to it.
Doesn’t matter it’s gone now.

 

[DailyBlastin]

my only question is why not just get a tent? Ive experimented with panda film and reflectix as well but the end result is always sub-par to a good ol' grow tent. .

 

[jonsnow399]

my only question is why not just get a tent? Ive experimented with panda film and reflectix as well but the end result is always sub-par to a good ol' grow tent. .

tents are big bucks

 

[BigHornBuds]

tents are big bucks

What country do u live in?

 

[RayRay747]

my only question is why not just get a tent? Ive experimented with panda film and reflectix as well but the end result is always sub-par to a good ol' grow tent. .

I mostly thought of using reflectix as a way to control my environment. My temps and rH stay where I want them to be and they are very consistent. There are def better options for reflectivity but for the $ and for the insulation aspect of it its worth it. Now if i had a bigger space dunno if its worth spending the extra $ to get orca or any of the higher priced materials. Tents cant compete with a home built space but they are worth it if you have a limited budget, space and lack the skills to build one.

P.s. not saying you dont have any skills or anything...lol. just wanted to put that out there as I know sometimes comments can be misinterpreted the wrong way.

 

[Cold$moke]

Just look at orca look
At what it does and how it does it

Reflects light but a very diffused light (imo better then mylar grow tent stuff)

Now im not saying what ive found works as well as orca as i dont have a light meter or app on my phone yet.


But by my eyeball meter the material does "brighten" the room noticeably.

Ill be adding more after the room is clear.

Not tyvek. But i thought white frogskin would be damn near the same stuff.

The material im talking about is in hard sheets not a flexible cloth.

But i dont want to recommend it till i havr tried it out at least

 

[Cold$moke]

my only question is why not just get a tent? Ive experimented with panda film and reflectix as well but the end result is always sub-par to a good ol' grow tent. .

How so ? Ive grown in panda boxes before just fine not sub par at all.

Tents depending on material might diffuse the light a little better thats about it.

Cause i can make a panda tent that is light tight

Most grow tents ive seen still allow light in the zips and other spots unless you have a nice one

 

[RayRay747]

How so ? Ive grown in panda boxes before just fine not sub par at all.

Tents depending on material might diffuse the light a little better thats about it.

Cause i can make a panda tent that is light tight

Most grow tents ive seen still allow light in the zips and other spots unless you have a nice one

This is the major reason I built my grow box. 4x4x6.7(lol) my basement ceilings are short.

I can say it most likely cost just a little bit more (maybe 15% more) plus the time it took to build it but well worth it. My temps and rH stay dialed in and are pretty consistent.

 

[RayRay747]

Just to give an idea of my weekly temps and rH since I’ve flipped to 12/12. The red spots are times I go in to the grow space to rotate, water, foliar feed, etc. but nevertheless, my environment is pretty predictable and I credit that to the reflectix insulation and box design/workmanship lol...

 

[420producer]

cant lose with this method... i like D/Es

 

[DailyBlastin]

so let me just clarify that when i said things like panda film and reflectix are sub-par to a tent i meant in terms of overall finished quality and presentation, i have built plenty of my own 'tents' using varies materials, and they do work just fine, but they're typically not as resilient as a real tent (walls tear or break easily) and are usually an eyesore to look at, a real tent has a much more professional appearance to it, maybe its just because i'm OCD and need things to be "my way" but in my experience ive never built a tent or space that i liked more than a real tent, not to mention the materials to build one are typically just as much as buying a tent.. after i bought my first 4x4x7 tent (for only like 90$ on amazon) i was real upset with myself for the several hundred i had spent in materials to build my previous spaces. now i have two 4x4x7's a 4x2x6 and a 2x1.5x2 and ill never go back to building my own just my $.02

 

[jonsnow399]

so let me just clarify that when i said things like panda film and reflectix are sub-par to a tent i meant in terms of overall finished quality and presentation, i have built plenty of my own 'tents' using varies materials, and they do work just fine, but they're typically not as resilient as a real tent (walls tear or break easily) and are usually an eyesore to look at, a real tent has a much more professional appearance to it, maybe its just because i'm OCD and need things to be "my way" but in my experience ive never built a tent or space that i liked more than a real tent, not to mention the materials to build one are typically just as much as buying a tent.. after i bought my first 4x4x7 tent (for only like 90$ on amazon) i was real upset with myself for the several hundred i had spent in materials to build my previous spaces. now i have two 4x4x7's a 4x2x6 and a 2x1.5x2 and ill never go back to building my own just my $.02

To each their own, I didn't get around to it this year but before next winter I'm gonna make an 8x8 room out on foam insulation. Cheaper or as cheap as a tent but much more insulated than any tent. As far as looks, I could care less. I'm the only one who's ever going to see it anyway. (I hope, lol)

 

[DailyBlastin]

To each their own, I didn't get around to it this year but before next winter I'm gonna make an 8x8 room out on foam insulation. Cheaper or as cheap as a tent but much more insulated than any tent. As far as looks, I could care less. I'm the only one who's ever going to see it anyway. (I hope, lol)

obviously idk where you live, maybe insulation is a bigger factor for you than it is me, my tents are all indoors and the house is insulated so no need for the tents to be insulated themselves.. and im the only one who sees mine too but again im OCD so i need things to be and look professional and organized. to each their own i suppose

 

[jonsnow399]

obviously idk where you live, maybe insulation is a bigger factor for you than it is me, my tents are all indoors and the house is insulated so no need for the tents to be insulated themselves.. and im the only one who sees mine too but again im OCD so i need things to be and look professional and organized. to each their own i suppose

yeh, In my case i need the insulation. other than that I use the fanfold for walls, cheaper than any tent, easier to set up or take down, can be easily moved to any shape or config you want.