Alrighty, Day 25
A bunch of my above posts have been questions and concerns about my new lighting set up, and trying to get a good reflector that works with it. Well, In trying to make one I found that if I was trying to hang the lights with the sides facing down, that I would have to counter the weight to make the reflector balance well as it hangs.
After a few designs here is what I came up with:
I started off just with the standard reflector that you guys have seen in all of my old pictures. Then I cut a 2x4 to the proper length that is the length of the Reflector. Then I took my hole saw and cut 3 holes in the wood and through the sheet metal. I took some nails and nailed them together well.
Then I went ahead and took the "outdoor sockets" that they sell at home depot for 3.88. The ones with the light bulb screw in and then the two wires already attached to it. I got more of those and I bought an 89c extension cable with a decent gauge.
I put those sockets through the holes and it fit like a glove.
Then I took the wiring from the back and spun them all together in some wirenuts
Then I took 2 of my 65W 6500k cfls, and one of my 2700k cfls and set them up.
When I hung the reflector, I still had some terrible leaning and it was not working at all. Then I decided to use the slack from the chain to attach farther forward on the reflector. This created a triangle shape of the chain and gave some upward pull to the sagging front of the reflector.
Now all the lights fit great and the angle on the reflector is really good.
Here is how it is looking from a little farther back.
So far so good, I really like how it looks adn how strong it is.
Next trick is to make a slightly different one for the other tank, I'll do another run through of that when it goes down.
As for my lady, she is doing quite well. There has been a lot more root growth and expansion that makes me very happy. Also, my topping must have worked because I now have 2 small shutes starting to come up and out from the top of my baby. The color is really good now. I was worried that it was a bit too dark for a while, possibly an N toxicity, but I think everything is good now. She is nice and happy I think.
Soooo, what do you guys think?!