Help with Lights?

coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't try and fit a reflector bigger than your tent, for one they can have sharp corners and most important they get hot.

I would go for the bigger tent. You don't have to fill it the first grow, then upgrade lighting to 315cmh when you want.

Just search ebay for " Variac fan speed controller" there are many brands, but essentially they are the same. Not cheap though, Maybe try and find a second hand one. They look like a big plastic brick with a dial on and are about as heavy as a brick.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
Ok so I won' force it in either. I'm not entirely sure if it even fits a 250w I know it does the 315w. I'll search that controller now. I don' want to large of a tent as I believe what I see from You tube videos that a lot of the light gets wasted. Even though a 6x6 tent running 1000w, there is still only a number of plants you can put in that space so essentially I don' think having a 6x6 and a 1000w would be more beneficial than having a smaller tent and bulb and more of them. Maximising the grow space. But that' just my opinion from what I've watched on YouTube. Of course it's more power output lol. But i would rather smaller and more focussed myself.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
I wouldn't try and fit a reflector bigger than your tent, for one they can have sharp corners and most important they get hot.

I would go for the bigger tent. You don't have to fill it the first grow, then upgrade lighting to 315cmh when you want.

Just search ebay for " Variac fan speed controller" there are many brands, but essentially they are the same. Not cheap though, Maybe try and find a second hand one. They look like a big plastic brick with a dial on and are about as heavy as a brick.
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Hi mate. Could you tell me, would I need a 315w ballast to go with this bulb? Also what HPS would you use to go with the 315w CMH. Iv'e tried looking on eBay and there don't seem to be that many options for 315w bulbs. I've asked if I could send back my 200w cfl's as I worked out 5000 lumens per foot not square foot lol. I bought the bulbs at 12000 lumens each thinking 2.6 foot by 2.6 foot , the 6 inches around the sides wouldn't really be used, and 10000 lumens would be enough. But I've requested I send them back and Ive purchased a 250w metal halide, 250w hps with 250w ballast and a timer for lights in a kit only thing that wasn' wasn't in the kit was the metal halide but I bought it from same seller anyway. Even the cfl' were from that seller so I hope they will agree. I will buy a bigger tent for that karma reflector and use it in conjunction with my 315w's. I'm no longer going to keep it under my stairs not with those bulbs. They'll be to hot for my liking lol.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
EvansInUK said:
Hi mate. Could you tell me, would I need a 315w ballast to go with this bulb? Also what HPS would you use to go with the 315w CMH. Iv'e tried looking on eBay and there don't seem to be that many options for 315w bulbs. I've asked if I could send back my 200w cfl's as I worked out 5000 lumens per foot not square foot lol. I bought the bulbs at 12000 lumens each thinking 2.6 foot by 2.6 foot , the 6 inches around the sides wouldn't really be used, and 10000 lumens would be enough. But I've requested I send them back and Ive purchased a 250w metal halide, 250w hps with 250w ballast and a timer for lights in a kit only thing that wasn' wasn't in the kit was the metal halide but I bought it from same seller anyway. Even the cfl' were from that seller so I hope they will agree. I will buy a bigger tent for that karma reflector and use it in conjunction with my 315w's. I'm no longer going to keep it under my stairs not with those bulbs. They'll be to hot for my liking lol.
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A 315 cmh or any cmh is a different ballast. Most of them are square wave ballasts, but not all are. There are not many bulbs, HPS and MH are totally different bulbs that will not work on a CMH ballast and a CMH will not work on a normal ballast.

For bulbs you want a Philips , they do a few but two are popular, the spectrum is so good you could use either for both veg and flower. They are not cheap though.
Here is a link showing the two common bulbs. This is as cheap as you can get the CMH kit.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maxibright-315w-Daylight-Kit-Philips-315w-CDM-Bulbs/302128084290?_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIM.MBE&ao=2&asc=52344&meid=75456747a30e453fa3dadb1a857e64c8&pid=100623&rk=3&rkt=6&sd=252985616227&itm=302128084290&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
Ah right ok. So regardless of what ballast the 315w is running I still need a different one for the hps at flowing. What would you recommend for the flowering stage after using a 315w ceramic metal halide, I mean would you still use a 250w, or 400w or even higher? I read somewhere it should be like 65000 lumens for flower, and around 30000 for veg. I know it's all par measurements now but this was like a complete online guide and it appeared very, very old although most of the written methods are almost the same now just the writing and pictures were old quality and text was not so complicated. It was using foot-candles and lux. Minimum was 35000 lux and maximum was 107,500 lux. Which is roughly 65000 odd lumens when I used a Google translator. Albeit another translator said 45000 lol but that asked for an angle reflection so I said 180* But it's More like 120* From a reflector I think So ..... It mught have been me that had the calculations wrong before it gave me answer.

Ok so that offers a flowering bulb as Well So that' alright. Would you take both 315w or would you go for just the veg bulb and then take up to a 400w/450w for flowering?
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
EvansInUK said:
Ah right ok. So regardless of what ballast the 315w is running I still need a different one for the hps at flowing. What would you recommend for the flowering stage after using a 315w ceramic metal halide, I mean would you still use a 250w, or 400w or even higher? I read somewhere it should be like 65000 lumens for flower, and around 30000 for veg. I know it's all par measurements now but this was like a complete online guide and it appeared very, very old although most of the written methods are almost the same now just the writing and pictures were old quality and text was not so complicated. It was using foot-candles and lux. Minimum was 35000 lux and maximum was 107,500 lux. Which is roughly 65000 odd lumens when I used a Google translator. Albeit another translator said 45000 lol but that asked for an angle reflection so I said 180* But it's More like 120* From a reflector I think So ..... It mught have been me that had the calculations wrong before it gave me answer.

Ok so that offers a flowering bulb as Well So that' alright. Would you take both 315w or would you go for just the veg bulb and then take up to a 400w/450w for flowering?
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If you go with the 315cmh then use it for both veg and flower. I veg using the flowering bulb. So its up to you if you get both bulbs. They put out a lot of light for the wattage. Better than a 400w hps i think.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
Hello guys. Ok so next set up.. I'm worried about heat. I want buy a reflector name/brand not importance but it's lenth is 33.30" by 28.20" so what size tent would you recommend for this setup? A 3 foot tent is 36" and a 3.5 foot is 42".... so do you think the 36" would be to close and the reflector to hot or should it be Ok? I currently have a different setup but I decided to switch from under my stairs and have it in my garage instead. So fancy a little bigger setup. It's only for 1/2 plants at most.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
EvansInUK said:
Hello guys. Ok so next set up.. I'm worried about heat. I want buy a reflector name/brand not importance but it's lenth is 33.30" by 28.20" so what size tent would you recommend for this setup? A 3 foot tent is 36" and a 3.5 foot is 42".... so do you think the 36" would be to close and the reflector to hot or should it be Ok? I currently have a different setup but I decided to switch from under my stairs and have it in my garage instead. So fancy a little bigger setup. It's only for 1/2 plants at most.
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I couldn't delete that. I have chosen 400w instead as I want the lumatek super lumen feature, is it better to run this at super lumen or buy a 600w and lower it to 450 it's more than enough for 6.76m2 tent. Also how many plants
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
I assume you mean feet and not 6.76m2 ..
If you run it on super lumen you need to manually turn it up. Let it start at 400 and crank it up to 440 or whatever after 15-20min every time it turns on.
Im struggling to understand what possible tent you have that is either 6.76m2 or 6.76ft2.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
I assume you mean feet and not 6.76m2 ..
If you run it on super lumen you need to manually turn it up. Let it start at 400 and crank it up to 440 or whatever after 15-20min every time it turns on.
Im struggling to understand what possible tent you have that is either 6.76m2 or 6.76ft2.
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Sorry to much typing and reading today it's 0.64m2 or 6.76sqft

Maths say "micro formula that 393-424w is enough, or if you go by 400÷6.76 it's 59w per foot sq. Was hoping a cool tube and super lumen would be better so I can just switch with a 400w mh. But then I.read that 600w dimmable to 450w is better that 400 running at 440, so I'm confused because I think 600w mh in my tent will burn everything.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
EvansInUK said:
Sorry to much typing and reading today it's 0.64m2 or 6.76sqft

Maths say "micro formula that 393-424w is enough, or if you go by 400÷6.76 it's 59w per foot sq. Was hoping a cool tube and super lumen would be better so I can just switch with a 400w mh. But then I.read that 600w dimmable to 450w is better that 400 running at 440, so I'm confused because I think 600w mh in my tent will burn everything.
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Cooled hoods make a massive difference but I would get a hood over a tube. Probably wont make much difference in such a small space though.
I don't see a problem with 400w in that space. But my old 600 digi dims had 400-440-600-660 options so if you can get similar then you have options.
Thing with dimming is you should use the correct wattage bulb for that setting. But if you boost and say have a 400w bulb set at 440 and don't manually turn it up each day after its fired and warmed then you might lose a bulb in a few days.
It happened to me a few times so I stopped boosting.
If you run a 600w bulb at 400-440 it changes the spectrum and shortens the bulb life but the chance of burning them out is much lower than when boosting a bulb.
I don't even know if MH bulbs can be dimmed or boosted like hps. So do a bit of research on that.

Sorry if ive repeated anything I have already said earlier. Just woke up.
 
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EvansInUK

Well-Known Member
Hey Corey, that's the issue I don't think MH can be dimmed, so would force me to run a 600w in a 6.76sqft tent I think it's to much as 400w is pushing almost 60w per sq foot. I read somewhere that cool hoods can cause fire with ducting, you ever heard of this? I will post a link now of the hood I fancied.... I want run a cool tube and have air blowing in , into the bulb and back out the other side, rather that sucking air out, as well as having a floor fan, 1 or 2 clip on fans about half way up and my filter, extractor at the top.

Here is the general idea of the hood

https://thehydrostore.co.uk/maxibright-goldstar-air-cooled-reflector-5-7117-p.asp

With an A.c. unit blowing cold air in and back out the other side of my tent lowering bulb temperature hopefully a fair bit
 
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