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What do you think about this light?

that was a good beginner summary of lighting, ty.

chili plants
8-15 plants
2x4x7 is the grow tent size
250-350$ to cover the cost of a light for seeds as well.


i have at the moment a MH 400w... i want to return that for something a little different, more of a contained unit with a cooling fan...

anyone have ideas ?

thanks
 
How much do a Cool Tube and a basic blower cost where you live? I'd say some sort HID, but contained and cooled down can get pricey.
 
Omri said:
How much do a Cool Tube and a basic blower cost where you live? I'd say some sort HID, but contained and cooled down can get pricey.
Click to expand...



so many options ! grrrrrrr

ill have to run to the nearest grow shop for more info..

thanks anyways dude.
 
I still say HID, it's just not economic using anything else. a reasonable HPS + Cool Tube + 6500K fluorescent tube would do the trick *generally*... the exact bulbs are again about the budget. still need to know how much for Cool Tube, cause here it costs a lot. like a bulb, lol.
 
Use a fan to get air circulation and no need for the cool tube. I use the heat to my advantage and just regulate air flow. More air flow equals cooler and less warms things up.
 
Pepper Ridge Farm said:
Use a fan to get air circulation and no need for the cool tube. I use the heat to my advantage and just regulate air flow. More air flow equals cooler and less warms things up.
Click to expand...
It's kind of a problem with tents. I mean, mine just gets warmer and warmer, like a greenhouse. I have circulation (IN/OUT), but still... Cool Tube worked it out for me.
 
I can see very easily how a grow tent over heats. I use a walk-in closet with a floor fan outside the room forcing air in and regulated by how far the door is open or shut. The ceiling in the closet has a vent to let the air escape into the attic. Back to the original thread, Mike a 400 watt HID covers 4 ft x 4 ft and a 600 watt covers 6 ft x 6 ft. The latter is 36 sq ft of grow space with 90,000 lumens which will be more than enough. Just about time to start some seed.
 
UnNatural said:
With CFL are the full spectrum 5000k bulbs adequate or do we need 6500k?
Click to expand...

I'll let you know in maybe three weeks! :P

I'm using a 105 watt 5K bulb and today noticed four blooms on a tomato plant. I lost the first blooms but I think that was a water deficiency (couldn't correctly check the water level and it was a foot below what it should have been). But it works great for vegetative growth.

Mike
 
UnNatural said:
With CFL are the full spectrum 5000k bulbs adequate or do we need 6500k?
Click to expand...
Again, depends on the bulb. generally for the 5,500K-6,500K color to occur, there should be a wide enough spectrum.
 
Hotpeppa said:
Hi Omri,

you seem to know quite a bit about lighting, can you give me some advice please...

so here's what i got... a grow tent, tray, pots, and coco coir for the medium... i'm going to hand feed them ( how often i dont know yet as this is my first time, any help with that would be cool as well..lol ), the only problem i have is what light to get for the tent, there are so many to choose and it confuses the hell out of me when you guys start talking about lumens and lux and blah blah blah, i am very ignorant to all that jazz and would just like to know what kinda light would be ideal to just plug in, set it on a timer, and watch the plants from start to finish.... any ideas ?
Click to expand...


The frequency of watering will depend on two things: plant & pot size. You never want to let the coir completely dry out, i say water til water runs out the bottom once every 2-4 days.


As far if you had to have 1 light to grow all the way through...an HPS with one of the grow bulb like omri was talking about, like the hortilux HPS with a cool-tube reflector would do you just fine. I'd still use fluorescents for starting the seedlings though.

best prices i've found on HPS lights is at
www.htgsupply.com

http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

400w HPS with AgroMax bulb & 6" cool tube = $209
 
Hotpeppa said:
i have at the moment a MH 400w... i want to return that for something a little different, more of a contained unit with a cooling fan...

anyone have ideas ?

thanks
Click to expand...

You can get away with a relatively small fan for a cool tube. I've used a cheap wal-mart fan taped onto some dryer ducting connected to a cool tube to cool a 1000w hps. Kept the glass cool to the touch.

I'll pm you pics.
 
The light I'm considering uses an ED17 fitting and 120 volt ballast. There are MH lights that are ED17 and use a 120 volt ballast. Can I use the MH for seedlings and then if I want to use the light this fall for flowering and fruiting switch bulbs?

Mike
 
To be honest I don't know Mike. All MH and HPS bulbs I have used use what is called a mogul base socket which is larger than normal socket. You must also have a ballast that matches the the wattage of the bulb. I interchange my MH and HPS light in the same ballast and light socket. Isn't all electricity in America 120 volt, what you want to match is the bulbs wattage and the wattage of the ballast you use.
 
Hey Mike, I believe you need to match both up. I have a 250w MH ballast that will run 250w mh bulbs - it runs on 110-120v. I believe in Europe you'd need to purchase a 220v ballast.

I know you can't run 70w bulbs on a 175w ballast. If they do fire up I'm sure the life span of the bulb would be shortened tremendously.

Unfortunately I'm no grow light expert. I used to be heavily into coral reef tanks and have owned 8 different metal halide fixtures and several fluorescent supplemental lights. But the common knowledge/rules of thumb don't seem to correlate to plants well - for example we'd recommend a single MH bulb for no more then a 2'x2' tank area. So if you had a 120g 4'x2' tank, you'd need 2 x 250W MH at a minimum to grow stony corals (sps).

In gardening I see recommendations for a 250w MH to cover huge grow area's....
 
lostmind said:
for example we'd recommend a single MH bulb for no more then a 2'x2' tank area. So if you had a 120g 4'x2' tank, you'd need 2 x 250W MH at a minimum to grow stony corals (sps).

In gardening I see recommendations for a 250w MH to cover huge grow area's....
Click to expand...

That probably has to do with the properties of water. For exaple, take a flashlight, in the dark, and shine it on a 45 degree angle into your fish tank. If you look from the side you should see the light refracting. The beam of light will be shifted as it enters the water.
 
The recommendation was based on light penetration, tested by a submerged Par meter in a tank. So yah, the testing just re-inforced that refraction happens I suppose. Cuz outside the 2' area under the light, the Par readings dropped to almost nothing.

As for penetration or intensity, we'd recommend that anything up to 18" deep a 175w mh could handle, over that and up to 24" you want at least 250w, after that 400w. Almost no one used 1000w because of heat issues.

Anyways, getting a bit offtopic, my favorite thing to do :)
 
Bump...

For the new members that have not seen this thread...pretty good discussion of lighting for chiles...
 
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