lights
- Thread starter bullyboy
- Start date
hazey grapes
Well-Known Member
i thought a 600 can cover at least 4x4 or even 5x5 as 400w are half heartily rated to 4x4 often. i'll be using 1 each halide & sodium in my next grow (and report on any differences in clones grown at the far ends of the screen through the middle) with a SCROG screen 19" under each light with light diffusing reflectors flush to the edges of the 3' or less squares for each light. i've had plenty of coverage using just 1 of each in lower open grows. reflecting as much of the side radiated light back on the plants as possible is a lot of free lighting.
i should think of a way to mount upwards reflectors under the plants . THEN i'm inclined to think chrome poly is as effective as flat white for coverage. i'd have to design reflector slats to fit in between rows of stalks to do it, but, yeah... i can just screw ledges to drop the reflectors on to the bottoms of my SCROG screens. it's fussy, but efficient. OH! if i make upside down Ts wide enough for stalks to pass through, i can just slide the reflectors in from the sides! the reflectors could also serve as drop cloths during harvest with some material bridging the gaps in the reflectors. during growing, the slats would allow air circulation. it's like building a 2nd light enclosure around the screens. it should help with light leakage too.
a little fan pulling air up on a flat reflector between the lights would use convection to cool the grow chamber down. i bought some kind of 10" black "turbo" fan that looked like one that's supposed to be quiet and it howls like a box fan. if you could get a box fan to run at 1/2 low speed, you'd have some really quiet circulation. those ion fans are quiet, but i wonder how much air they move and they aren't cheap. an old tin fan is probably quietest.
no fan at all? i could turn the gap into the intake for my milk crate carbon scrubber and intake air at the hottest source instead of at the opposite end of the room from a light. a pyramid shape might add some venturi effect to the air flow too even if the air takes a 180 at the scrubber's intake. something lower profile like 2 rows of planks would be easier to build around though.
i should think of a way to mount upwards reflectors under the plants . THEN i'm inclined to think chrome poly is as effective as flat white for coverage. i'd have to design reflector slats to fit in between rows of stalks to do it, but, yeah... i can just screw ledges to drop the reflectors on to the bottoms of my SCROG screens. it's fussy, but efficient. OH! if i make upside down Ts wide enough for stalks to pass through, i can just slide the reflectors in from the sides! the reflectors could also serve as drop cloths during harvest with some material bridging the gaps in the reflectors. during growing, the slats would allow air circulation. it's like building a 2nd light enclosure around the screens. it should help with light leakage too.
a little fan pulling air up on a flat reflector between the lights would use convection to cool the grow chamber down. i bought some kind of 10" black "turbo" fan that looked like one that's supposed to be quiet and it howls like a box fan. if you could get a box fan to run at 1/2 low speed, you'd have some really quiet circulation. those ion fans are quiet, but i wonder how much air they move and they aren't cheap. an old tin fan is probably quietest.
no fan at all? i could turn the gap into the intake for my milk crate carbon scrubber and intake air at the hottest source instead of at the opposite end of the room from a light. a pyramid shape might add some venturi effect to the air flow too even if the air takes a 180 at the scrubber's intake. something lower profile like 2 rows of planks would be easier to build around though.