Tell Me What You Think The Best Reflector Is And Why.

[Kushnar the curious]

Hey guys I am always curious as to what others think, I've finall got my iPad working so I can post,.

 

My first question to everyone is, when using a 1000 watt bulb per four plants, which reflector do you feel would yield the most?

[Beans]

A bare bulb hung vertically

[Kingdiamond]

A bare bulb hung vertically

Yes this produces the best results but not everyone has a ton of space or the extra money to run a portable ac unit my flower room is 5 x 12 im running two 1000 watters in daisy chained big kahuna grow hoods pulling outside fresh air through both out into the next part of the laundry room going this route keeps the room in the high 60s to mid 70s without aircooling its mid to high 90s .

[pergamum362]

For four plants i wld go with something like in the radiant series..there more for penetration as opposed to light spread but still cover a 4x4 area easily.

[donnachris]

I have an extra sun six inch air cooled reflectors. Their footprint is 8 x 8 which is good for six plants so it woyld be great for dour plants. I am currently flowering two plants under a 1000 watt hps and am expecting four to five ounces on each plant. The fans that i bought keep the light so cool that my plants can get as close as about two inches before they start to get any kind of burn. With the air-cooled i can put my hand as close to the glass as i can get to my 150 watt CFL light. You can search my content and there is links to where i bought my equipment. They are a really great company in Manistique. When i bought the wrong light movers, even though they have a no return no refund unless its their error pilicy, they still exchanged my light movers and didnt charge me ahipping to get the second set to me, which i still have and never used because i didnt really need theem in a roon as small as mine is. So if you need a light mover let me know as I have two of them that I am not using.

[roofratMI]

Beans has it right. No refector is best. Once the light from the bulb hits the reflective surface it degrades the light by at least 5% -20% . The best reflector is no reflector.

[thanks2]

It really depends on your set up. For most medical growers, space is confined, power is limited, and plant counts are small. A vented hood that has some focus is best for a small areas and large plants, like the radiant series as pergamum suggested. For small plants that are spread over a larger area a hood that spreads the light is best, such as the daystar or extra sun. A good reflector, such as the radiant series is 95% reflective. As much as 10% of light can be lost by the glass cover. The lost light can be made up many times over by the ability to put a vented hood closer to the plants.

[michiganmedclones]

You don't need ac to run bare bulb you do need to have your ventilation and air exchange perfect tho. use a honeywell under the bare bulb on low to medium, the idea is to push the heat to the ceiling where it wants to go opposed to blasting the fan on high and having the hot air hit the ceiling and bounce back to your plants. I've seem a 12x9 with 4 1000s bare with no ac high temps were 83-85 on the hottest summer days. Id also vote bare bulb if you can have a low/medium speed consistent exhaust as well as intake to replace the hot air you're blowing out of the room (into your air return through a carbon scrubber will heat your house without needing to spark your furnace in the winter months)

[rockinlespaul]

I don't use a/c and I have two 1000 watt's running open in a 10x10 room.

 

75 degrees

 

45% RH

 

I also have a like new very large hydrofarm enclosed 6" reflector that I would sell cheap. Its like new. I'd sell for a 100 bucks.

[Croppled1]

You don't need ac to run bare bulb you do need to have your ventilation and air exchange perfect tho. use a honeywell under the bare bulb on low to medium, the idea is to push the heat to the ceiling where it wants to go opposed to blasting the fan on high and having the hot air hit the ceiling and bounce back to your plants. I've seem a 12x9 with 4 1000s bare with no ac high temps were 83-85 on the hottest summer days. Id also vote bare bulb if you can have a low/medium speed consistent exhaust as well as intake to replace the hot air you're blowing out of the room (into your air return through a carbon scrubber will heat your house without needing to spark your furnace in the winter months)

 

Thank you for this . Keeping cost down is imperative for patients . Old school knowledge is irreplaceable like trying to use the North side of the home or room in a basement away from normal living spaces when possible if using lamps . I use a 400 watt bulb and have never vented or had to use air in my room but do to having trouble keeping a non interrupted supply I must expand and will heed your advice . I do not use fans in my room like most people suggest to strengthen stalks so my heat does flow to the ceiling I can feel it . My stalks are still strong but I do talk to my plants . I am very positive and encouraging when my health problems are not getting the best of me ;-) !

 

By the way watts pretty much uniformly equal heat so one never reduces heat if they choose a lighting system using a equal number of watts or more . You must be able to create the same amount of light with less to cool . HIDs are the most effecient bulbs per watts spent . Current technology has created digital ballasts that can run HPS or MH as required with dimmable settings that reduce wattage available . When they progress to the point you can use any wattage bulb 400 , 600 , 0r 1000 I will definitely replace my old school dual magnetic ballast system . Right now it seems like a 1000 watt system run at 50% would be compareable to 500 watts but I am not sure if the comparison is valid - I guess that would be a interesting topic for another thread even though people buy both componants usually at the same time .

Edited January 11, 2012 by Croppled1

[CleanD]

Hey guys I am always curious as to what others think, I've finall got my iPad working so I can post,.

 

My first question to everyone is, when using a 1000 watt bulb per four plants, which reflector do you feel would yield the most?

 

 

imo... the 'best' answer has been... it depends.

 

but for what it's worth... it's not the reflector that yields anything. ;-)

[newbie313]

I use bare bulbs and it works well but I am thinking oof grabbing some raptors.

[Honeyoil]

In my small flower room (4x5), I use a vertical double cool tube. I know I am losing a little light, but otherwise, my trees would get light burn.

[pergamum362]

Im gona assume that the guys who dont use an ac in there room and run bare bulb in summer BLAST their house ac in the summer.

[pergamum362]

Still its all a matter of opinion and how you want to do your grow.

[Beans]

Im gona assume that the guys who dont use an ac in there room and run bare bulb in summer BLAST their house ac in the summer.

 

Like a meat locker LOL

[pergamum362]

also I would like to point out that a reflectors foot print can be as big as you want it, but where your gona get more light coverage your gona get less intensity because it has to be farther away.

[rockinlespaul]

Im gona assume that the guys who dont use an ac in there room and run bare bulb in summer BLAST their house ac in the summer.

 

No. As long as you have fresh air coming in your golden. No issues here.

[Kushnar the curious]

Thanks so much for the input guys, I realize I should of been more specific, I'm currently running three 1000 w. 3k sun pulse bulbs for flower, all are in raptors, with a carbon filter at the beginning and an eight inch blower at the end. I have a four inch blower bringing in fresh air.

 

I am in the basement my room size is 15ftx13ft with 8ft ceiling. The temp is 78 lights on and 40% humidity. I'm getting two lbs per light is that a good ratio?

[CaffeineForAll]

Vertical bulbs can produce more with certain strains. However, with no reflector, you lose 50% of your light to the ceiling. Not to mention the stressful effect from the side lighting photo-tropism (aka leaf twist or crinkle). You can run a "bare bulb" horizontally in a reflector either not air cooled, or with the lens removed. You may lose 5% of the intensity to the reflector, but without it you lose 90% to the ceiling.

 

Best of both worlds are 3ft parabolic's, but A/C is pretty much required to ensure proper room temps.

 

I have a real hard time believing any room bare bulb or not can be 85 degrees on the hottest summer day without cooling of some kind. The hottest summer days around here in michigan approach 100 degrees. If you run from outside air, you will get close to that temp even in a basement. Not to mention every watt of power used within the room generates roughly 4BTUS. Now if your drawing 70 degree house air, yea I can see that being done.

 

Happy Growing!

[CaffeineForAll]

Thanks so much for the input guys, I realize I should of been more specific, I'm currently running three 1000 w. 3k sun pulse bulbs for flower, all are in raptors, with a carbon filter at the beginning and an eight inch blower at the end. I have a four inch blower bringing in fresh air.

 

I am in the basement my room size is 15ftx13ft with 8ft ceiling. The temp is 78 lights on and 40% humidity. I'm getting two lbs per light is that a good ratio?

 

You generate 896 grams per 1000 watts, or roughly .9 GPW. If you are growing organically, you are doing a good job. If you are using synthetics w/soil-less mix (promix/sunshine/coco), you have room for improvement, but not much. If you are running DWC/NFT/AERO you have a lot of room for improvement. Closer to 2 GPW in these systems with proper strain selection. 1k's are hard to get great GPW and you'll see 600w guys beat 1000w grows when comparing GPW.

 

Good job either way! I've seen people be happy at less than .25 GPW! @_@

 

Happy Growing!

[pergamum362]

anything close to 1gpw I would say is good, GREAT in a soilless mix.I have a white widow x big bud strain that will do a lil more than that, I have others like grape ape that dont do as good but produce imo a better quality.Love the raptors, winter time i can literally keep them 6 to 8 inches from the tops of my plants with a 1k without worrying about heat stress, sometimes light burn.

[Kushnar the curious]

thank you, i am using roots 707, and house and garden nutes, i think its been said everywhere i read, but its prolly better to switch from the three 1k to six 600's , aside from the extra 600w, there is more light coverage and you can put the light closer to the canopy correct?

[CleanD]

thank you, i am using roots 707, and house and garden nutes, i think its been said everywhere i read, but its prolly better to switch from the three 1k to six 600's , aside from the extra 600w, there is more light coverage and you can put the light closer to the canopy correct?

 

 

nah... it's a size/space issue primarily... if you have it available, go with 1k's. if you have limitations, go w the 6's. the overall lumen:watt benefit of 6's is negligable... the strain you grow, the technique employed, environment... will all make a much bigger difference in how your garden grows. otherwise it's a space restriction issue... 6's cover a 3'x3' (9sqft) and the 1k's cover a 4'x4' (16sqft) well. the most noticeable difference beyond this is depth of penetration... 1k's win all day long. peace.

[I wood]

anything close to 1gpw I would say is good, GREAT in a soilless mix.I have a white widow x big bud strain that will do a lil more than that, I have others like grape ape that dont do as good but produce imo a better quality.Love the raptors, winter time i can literally keep them 6 to 8 inches from the tops of my plants with a 1k without worrying about heat stress, sometimes light burn.

When you use gpw are you talking 30 days or 60?

I am using 2, 1000w cool suns pumping the heat through 6" ducting into adjacent space. I am happy with them, but would not claim they are the best. I am fully organic and consistently get .4 to .5 gpw every 30 days, just wondering how I compare.

Edited January 12, 2012 by I wood