desertshaman Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Hi All Hoping to get some input here rather than muddling through as I usual do with sometimes sub optimal to disastrous results I am growing with a Carbo air 60 6", system air stratos fan, and 2 315 W CMH lamps, the Agro is in the Sunsystems LEC reflector and the Elite in the Maxibright I have positioned the Carbo air CF at the back - I had originally hung it in the middle however I didn't like how the light hung with this arrangement after a few days so pushed the filter to the back - the ducting is still exiting thru the middle vent though. I have the fan sitting on top of the tent to save space- last grow I had fan and filter both in the tent- the two together just about fit lengthwise and took up a ton of space! Here is the front view of the tent showing the lights and CF+ ducting. I am growing multiple strains and to top it off they are of slightly different ages as many seeds from my original germination did not pop so some of these are 3-4 weeks younger than the oldest. I have propped some of the smaller plants on pots to try and maintain an even canopy. The tallest plants are the blue dream front right and middle of the tent and disco biscuit under the LEC back middle part of the tent. The Sunsystems reflectoris now abutting the CF and both are at their max height with rope ratchet hangers. The plants below are coming way too close to the light so I need to raise the reflector more. I can hang it up on s hooks to give myself a few more inches. However the CF will still block light to the back part of the tent. At the front I have got the maxibright reflector hanging towards the front aspect over the sat dom blue dream trying to take over my tent once again... I will need to raise this more or move it over to one side which wont provide even lighting of any sort... I was hoping for some input from the learned members on here - as to how best arrange the CF and my 2 reflectors to provide optimal lighting and avoid tip burn. The Blue dream is a bit of a kamikaze light glutton and needs her tips bending every evening I feel I am not getting enough out of the 2 lights- the maxibright sits right at the front of the tent - I positioned it this way as BLue dream in the front was too high to get much of the light from the LEC reflector and if I moved the Maxibright more towards the center of the tent, part of the light would hit the top of the LEC reflector which is placed lower and hence light would be wasted Also the LEC is now not high enough due to the CF filter behind it getting in the way! LEC with disco stretching into the light centre of pic . Alternatively I could swap the position of the LEC and Maxibright reflectors- it would mean moving the plants around too which isn't too big a deal but some are trained to the side poles to maximize space utilization and provide support so that might be a pain I thought of having the CF on the ground as one option? Not too keen on having it out of the tent for smell and security reasons. The CF performs flawlessly, I am glad I went for this combo of fan and filter but damn is it large! Think it is more suited for a 1.2* .2 tent. Hope this makes sense - been blazing all day so am pretty high - but I cannot wait to have some home grown again! Cheers all DS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Taking the carbon filter outside the space is fine.....you can push through them. DO NOT put the carbon filter on the deck imo....we are entering spring now and I expect the temperatures to start rising....Your CMH gives out plenty of IR to keep the girls warm. Swap the bulbs.....give the agro (more far red = more stretch) to the shorter girls and use the 4k on the stretchy ones (I only swap out my 4k for the 3K when the bud has set....about 3 weeks into flower. You couldn't have chosen the two reflectors that are the most pain in the arse to put out together....I would just kept the LEC and put LED bars around the sides...farmerpalmer style. (with a little more gap between LEC and bars - I do love the LEC fixture but its made to put a square foot print down) Your LEC should be bang square in the middle of the tent imo A light meter will be the only real way to judge the best hanging positions as you have one vertical one horizontal in two different fixtures.....Hot spots from crossover would be a real concern for me 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 Hi @zen-ken Cheers for the info mate, much appreciated So you would have the fan in the tent and blow out through the CF? Thought I read that is less efficient...or does it not matter? I am a bit confused so forgive me - what is the link between putting the CF on the tent floor and temps? I dont need to lose floor space to the massive CF so putting it outside is attractive...or could I do ducting from tent-CF--fan with both CF and fan outside the tent without smell leaks? I am nervous about this but if it works it would be ideal, equally dont wanna piss about trying different combos 9 hours ago, zen-ken said: You couldn't have chosen the two reflectors that are the most pain in the arse to put out together....I would just kept the LEC and put LED bars around the sides...farmerpalmer style. Haha I wish I had known that! I grew with these two last grow as well. Hmm I do have a spare 100w LED, sPider farmer 1000 that also puts out a sq footprint. I could throw that in. Not the same as bars. Bit concerned about penetration with the CMH given how tall the girls are. good to know LEC should be bang in the middle. What do I do with the Maxibright then is the question. I don't have a lightmeter... Would a different reflector be better? I love the LEC too- it runs so damn cool! Cheers man, thanks again DS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 (edited) 22 minutes ago, desertshaman said: Hi @zen-ken Cheers for the info mate, much appreciated So you would have the fan in the tent and blow out through the CF? Thought I read that is less efficient...or does it not matter? You don't need either in the tent.....you can just straight extract and 'push' the air through the carbon filter......Its not the best way of doing it but it still works I am a bit confused so forgive me - what is the link between putting the CF on the tent floor and temps? I dont need to lose floor space to the massive CF so putting it outside is attractive...or could I do ducting from tent-CF--fan with both CF and fan outside the tent without smell leaks? I am nervous about this but if it works it would be ideal, equally dont wanna piss about trying different combos heat rises and you don't need the extra heat with CMH that LEDs require Quote What do I do with the Maxibright then is the question. I don't have a lightmeter... Would a different reflector be better? what mobile phone have you got ? I fair wager there is a decent enough light meter on it to give you an idea of where you are. Edited March 17, 2022 by zen-ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 Hi mate @zen-ken Thanks again for your reply.. Much appreciated. Okay so I'll try the fan and filter outside the tent as you suggested. Sorry I was being thick about the heat issue...! Duhhh...! I've got a real me x50. I'll look for a light meter app on the Google play store... Unless you have any recommendations? So how would you arrange the two lights I have if the CF is out of the tent? What kind of readings am I looking for? Sorry to be a pain... I'll go browse the boards and do some reading..! Cheers DS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 Also the agro is in the lec btw and other than the stretchy disco it is on the shorter plants... The maxibright has the blue-r light. I get confused with the names of these bulbs... Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 8 hours ago, desertshaman said: Hi mate @zen-ken Thanks again for your reply.. Much appreciated. Okay so I'll try the fan and filter outside the tent as you suggested. Sorry I was being thick about the heat issue...! Duhhh...! I've got a real me x50. I'll look for a light meter app on the Google play store... Unless you have any recommendations? So how would you arrange the two lights I have if the CF is out of the tent? What kind of readings am I looking for? Sorry to be a pain... I'll go browse the boards and do some reading..! Cheers DS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen-ken Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, desertshaman said: Hi mate @zen-ken Thanks again for your reply.. Much appreciated. Okay so I'll try the fan and filter outside the tent as you suggested. Sorry I was being thick about the heat issue...! Duhhh...! I've got a real me x50. I'll look for a light meter app on the Google play store... Unless you have any recommendations? So how would you arrange the two lights I have if the CF is out of the tent? What kind of readings am I looking for? Sorry to be a pain... I'll go browse the boards and do some reading..! Cheers DS You could put the carbon filter on the floor outside......just draw the stale air from the top of the tent. Conversely if you were using LED's I would of suggested putting on the floor in the tent to drag the little heat through the plants. If you want some more reading see https://manicbotanix.com Edited March 18, 2022 by zen-ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Can't you have the filter in the middle? This is a 1.2x1.2 tent with 2xcmh and a 10" beast filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 19, 2022 Author Share Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) Thanks @zen-ken I'll check out those resources. Downloaded a light meter so will get that out once I've got the lights a bit higher and the cf sorted... 14 hours ago, fatboy77 said: Can't you have the filter in the middle? This is a 1.2x1.2 tent with 2xcmh and a 10" beast filter. Hi mate.. Well I tried it in the beginning... Didn't work out that well.. Thing is the lec reflector is so big that I can't have the filter in the middle... It gets squeezed over to the other side as it's pretty large itself. I'll give it a try though tomorrow and see if I can have the shorter plants there and if they get enough light... Thanks for the tip. That is one beast of a filter.. Funny how much bigger a 1.2 *1.2tent looks compared to a 1*1 tent...! Cheers all I'll update in the next day or two when I've made some progress... ATB DS Edited March 19, 2022 by desertshaman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 Hi all So had a good couple of hours sorting out the lights and filter As I thought the CMH would not fit in the space if I put the filter in the middle + it blocked light to the lower plants This is how it looked with the Maxibright and the filter in the middle. This is too big to be inside a 1*1 * 2 tent!! anyways I got it out - and now have the 2 lights suspended from S hooks The blue dream got burnt tips one day before I got S hooks - this is her in the foreground and I have moved the Maxibright shade over to the left for a bit to distribute light. Think I can do this every 2-3 days till I get shorter S hooks to get both lights pinned to the roof...human light rail anyone?:) Below is before the Maxibright lamp was moved you can see the heat stress on the tip View from above Thanks for the help all , ext steps are figuring out the light arrangement, my app gives me lux readings between 10,000 and 150,000 at different plant levels around the tent! Hoping for more even readings once I get the lights a tad higher and overlapping less.... The LEC is positioned just off center - you can see it from the pole position vis a vis the central duct on the tent. With the MAxibright most of the way to the front of the tent. ATB and happy monday DS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertshaman Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) Just an update to this... I have pinned the lights to the top of the tent. Ended up using rubber coated ties they are pretty stable and thin enough to go through the hoops in the reflectors.. I've supercropped the blue dream and smottie and the stretch has stopped. This weekend is the end of week 4... One question though. Bud temperature hits max of 31c in the blue dream buds closest to the maxibright reflector... Root temps are 23 to 24 ambient is 24 to 26 depending on where you measure it in the canopy... Getting ppfd of 500 to 1000 .. Drops of in the edges of the tent but roses when I close the tent so I think it's pretty decent all around with the corners poorly covered due to the footprint of the lec. Need to set this up better next time. Had too much stretch on disco and blue dream which led to issues! My question though is does this high an ir bud temp lead to reduced terps and thc or not? What's the maximum I can get away with? Rest of the buds are 25 to 29 c on the or gun . Plants look happy Cheers all... And happy growing.. E2A.. I've upgraded my intake from 4 to 5 inch. Getting much cooler and much more airflow now. Shall I bring this up to the hottest level Ie closer to the light for cooling but then risk fresh air being sucked out by the nearby exhaust vent?? What do you all think? I'm thinking not for now..! Edited March 31, 2022 by desertshaman E2A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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