Air cooled hood vs. Cool tube with reflector

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
I have to disagree with the above statements. I used to run 2 Apollo cool tube xxl hoods in my tent with 2 440cfm 6" fans to cool them. I swapped the 2 Apollo hoods for 2 big kahuna monster hoods with a drop down glass. all hoods have 6" openings. I now only run 1 6" 440 cfm fan for cooling the 2 big kahuna hoods. I can also touch the glass while the lights are on w/o getting burned. both systems are 600 watters. and I get a much better light spread with the big kahuna vs the Apollo setup. also with the cool tube I used to get a "hot spot" directly under the tub which required me to run a fan blowing directly under the hood to dissipate the heat so my tops wouldn't fry.

just my 2 cents.
 

mudhead31

Active Member
Don't know about regular hood but I have a cool tube and it cools really well but I question the light spread(and I do have the wings for it)compared to friends regular hoods.
 

kinddiesel

Well-Known Member
I have both. I used to have a lot of cool tubes . I hate then . im currently switching them out with flat glass hood like a raptor xxxl hood for sog. ok the only thing good about cool tubes I have found is they may cool better then flat glass. what I hate about them. the light does not flood evenly all over the plants . you hit your head on that metal and it hurts ! third it take a year and a month to change bulbs I put in mh bulbs in late in harvest . 4 routine cleaning the dust out of the inside again sucks takes for ever. my opinion the glass reflector is better . with 1000 watt or 600 watt flat glass wins . don't get me wrong the cool tube does work. another good thing about cool tubes . you can buy them of ebay for 60 dollars us and they are good for placing in the center of a tomato cage and placing plants around them and grow that way or you can also put a light on top to to get max yields . another bad thing about cool tubes I have found it is much harder to resell them then flat glass reflectors . I buy and sell this equipment daily . the cool tubes just sit in the garage ,
 

DemonTrich

Well-Known Member
I sold my old Apollo cool tube xxl hoods for 75.00 each x2 on craigslist. I think the whole kit was 190.00 shipped :)
 

mudhead31

Active Member
I have both. I used to have a lot of cool tubes . I hate then . im currently switching them out with flat glass hood like a raptor xxxl hood for sog. ok the only thing good about cool tubes I have found is they may cool better then flat glass. what I hate about them. the light does not flood evenly all over the plants . you hit your head on that metal and it hurts ! third it take a year and a month to change bulbs I put in mh bulbs in late in harvest . 4 routine cleaning the dust out of the inside again sucks takes for ever. my opinion the glass reflector is better . with 1000 watt or 600 watt flat glass wins . don't get me wrong the cool tube does work. another good thing about cool tubes . you can buy them of ebay for 60 dollars us and they are good for placing in the center of a tomato cage and placing plants around them and grow that way or you can also put a light on top to to get max yields . another bad thing about cool tubes I have found it is much harder to resell them then flat glass reflectors . I buy and sell this equipment daily . the cool tubes just sit in the garage ,
Kind you put mh in late in flower???what will that do for you???How late???
 

Puffdaddy Kush

New Member
is it the cylindrical shape of the cool tube that creates hot spot? also, i figured the reflector would rival the spread of hoods
 

kinddiesel

Well-Known Member
to me I may be high but I seams to make the plants mature more fast then pumping the hps bulbs also I think it gives some extra crystals to the buds . I do 12 plants at once 2 lights and some times only have 1 mh bulb the mh plants always get amber before the hps bulbs . like I said its a heck of a chance that the past 30 or more harvest the hortilux blue 7200k bulb mature more fast . then the hortilux super hps . but the mh always is finished first . quality seams to be ( slightly ) better I guess it helps the plants mature more fast so they look sexy . that's how you get the weed . when you drop a piece onto a table and you see the sugar flakes falling off . and look at it like a piece of gold . the mh helps . this is my opinion my set up my experience . I also lower humidity and temps last 2 weeks . humidity under 35 % temps at night 60f . I cant lower temps in the day because I run the co2 @ 2500 ppm makes to much heat .
 
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booms111

Well-Known Member
Air cooled hoods are a step up from cool tubes. Cool tubes are for newbies or vert growers to me. I used cool tubes when I first went to 1ks all on light movers, switched to stationary blockbuster hoods yield went up consistently 30%
 
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Cookie_rookie

Well-Known Member
Bump!!!

I'm looking to buy my first thousand watt light

I'm going to be putting it in a 4x4 tent


Should I go cool tube or aircooled?!!?

Thanx
 

chained

Well-Known Member
What do you guys think about the light passing through the glass three times on the first image of the cool tube as opposed to once on the sealed hood? Does it make a difference? In my mind that makes the glass the light has to pass through three times thicker than it needs to be. I wouldnt want the glass on my sealed hood to be three times thicker, now.

(In parts, on the cool tube, light comes out of the bulb and up through the cool tube, reflects off the hood, back through the tube again and out the other side of the tube for a third pass. In the sealed hood it's just one pass)
 

chained

Well-Known Member
This is the choice I made and I've very happy with it. I run a 600w bulb.
I can touch the glass, I also bump my head on it all the freakin' time and I have times where I have to turn off fans because it's too cool in the tent.

I have never actually used a cool tube, when I did the research for what I was going to use I determined a well built, sealed hood to be best choice for me.

:)
 

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