Evening 420,

Been growing some hollands hope indoors in my d.i.y drobe. At the minute i am 5 weeks into flower and am using a 200 watt red enviro in reflector above plants and 200 watt blue hanging vertically beside plants. I am on the verge of upgrading my flowering light and have been looking at this http://www.hydro2005.co.uk/product_info.ph...products_id=629.

At the moment my temps are averaging between 27 and 30 lights on and about 21 lights off, and although i am curious to know could i expect less heat from this lamp compared to the 2 200watt enviros? Or would i be requred to install a cooltube? I would like to avoid going down the cooltube route and as i am grwing in a small drobe i think 250 hps would be more than sufficient for my grow size.

Would that lamp be ok and would it reduce my temps do u think?

sm0ke

what ventilation have you got?

your temps are go up with a hps sp your gonna need a fan and cf.

Sorry, should have pointed out i am currently using a rvk 4" fan and CF for extraction

Anyone?

Going from 400 watts (assuming the enviros actually consume 400 watts) to 250 watts (300 inc ballast) should reduce temps a fair bit. Putting the ballast outside should save you a degree or two.

The 30 inches width is a bit of a stretch for a 250, but it should be pretty sweet (at 66 watts PSF) if you optimise the canopy profile.
A 400 watt HPS at 106 watts PSF would be something of an overkill though I can't really say much myself with a similar watts PSF

I haven't ever felt inspired to fork out for a cooltube myself. I would suggest considering it for a later upgrade if you find warm air getting trapped under the reflector.

You need to bear in mind that with one lamp in place of two less intense ones, you lose maybe 6 inches of height.

What sort of extraction do you have ?

Thanks for the reply, i was planning on puting the ballast outside the drobe to help things along. Losing 6 inches of height isnt a problem as the drobe is quite tall. Would the lamp in the 420 store that i mentioned in my original post do the job? Or should i consider something else? I reckon 250 will be more than enough and should put the enviros to shame.

I'm a cheapskate myself and instinctively choose the cheapest option

I couldn't say where I would place my own 12 year old lamps on the quality scale .. the cannatronic has a better reflector .... which you could add later in any case.

My own reflectors get bent all over the place and I even use tin foil to modify the light spread.

I 've been using a 250 budget light out of the 420 store for a good few months and i'm well chuffed wi it..I was thinking about a cannatronis but they seem way over priced for a light.I also think it will lower your temps a littlle as mines rarely gets over 26 degrees when i use the 250 alone.The only thing is in a few months you'll be wanting something bigger. you can always use your 250 for vegging if this is the case.

Hi JGP

I had planned to use my 200 wat blue enviro for vegging and flowering using the 250 hps. As i am only growing 4-5 plants at a time and using a small drobe, would 250 not be more than sufficient and return a good yield? The general concensus around here seems to be a 250 hps will outperform 400 watts enviro.

Quite honestly I wouldn't bother with the enviro after 14 days. 21 at the most. (based on using 20 watt CFLs at 1 inch from seedlings)

I may be squeezing a bit more out of my small space by using high light levels (i.e. the equivalent of 400 watts in your space).... but there's the law of diminishing returns ...

If 4 ounces per crop is sufficient for your needs, (compost) the 250 watt lamp in your space should be very cost-effective. Electricity costs at 13p per unit £50 per grow £10 per ounce.

Based on my experience, a 250 watt lamp will be ideal for the second two weeks if you ever find a bigger space and buy a bigger lamp.

I had a small cupboard once and I invested in a cooltube a little pricey but its amongst the best things I have bought I use 2 four inch extractors on it one runs all the time the other on a stat and switches on when the temps get to about 80 this keeps my temps 75-80 on all but the hottest of days.

I would buy a 400 W light if I was you as you will defo regret buying a smaller light in the future.

The trouble is it's addictive ..

Once you've grown with a 250 you can't go back to fluorescent ... once you've grown with a 400 (or 2 x 250 in my case) you can't go back to a 250 ......

I enjoy growing, but there's a limit to how fast I can smoke it ....

I have a 250 with a cooltube and although I,am also a bit of a cheapskate I think they are superb , it is cool enough to touch and hardly contributes to temps at all , I would say they actually save space ,cos you can have them right up to the top of the drobe/tent .trust me you won,t regret it ,get one

Thanks everyone,

I think a 250 with cool tube is the way to go for me. At the minute i am using a 4" rvk fan and CF for extraction. If i go down the cool tube route, i am assuming i will need another fan..can my current setup be adapted or will i need to get another fan with the cool tube and light?

Thanks

sm0ke

I may be wrong but i think the filter fits on the end of the cooltube so not only does it filter your growroom but it cools your light and enables you to get the light closer to the plants.I'm thinking about one myself so i shall be watching this post with interest.

yeah ,I have the filter then the tube then the fan outside the box ,thatway it stops so much dust gettin into the cooltube

I use two 4 inch fans on mine one air in the other air out as mentioned above its cold in the winter and temps drop too low with both fans on if I were you I would buy a 6 inch for extraction and use the 4 inch on the cool tube

Sounds like excellent advice..my only concerns are with noise, using 2 fans would create some racket. At this minute my missus is just about tolerating my antics and another fan may just be the final straw. Will have to give it some serious thought. Do the cooltube setups come in kits ie.. fan, ducting, lamp, cool tube and ballast?

Could my 4" fan setup be adapted to accomodate a cool tube without the need for an additional fan? At the moment i am using pasive intakes and would be happy to leave it like that instead of using a fan for intake.

Maybe the missus won't like it but your ladies need it moise or not a 4 inch fan really isn't a lot a larger fan is quieter when running at a slower speed so best bet is invest in over the top extraction it will be worth it in buds what ever it costs you sorry but thats how it is

''You reap what you sow''