cooltube cannot properly spread light

[charlesweedmore]

i use a cooltube with 600W hps in my tent.( 1,2 X 1,2 X 2 metre ) .

i keep the cooltube 30 cm away from the canopy,but the plants on the corners and edges can not get enough light. (i grow 7 plant in 11L pots. plants are 3rd week of flowering)

i will put 4 X 60W CFL bulbs on the corners of my tent .


how do you use your cooltube ? cooltube cannot spread the light properly in my tent.

 

[crozar]

i got same size tent , i ordered a cooltube it will be here soon , i know what you mean i thought about it , but what cooltube do you have ? is this a big cooltube ? or a 400watts Cooltube ?
some people use the 400watts cooltube because its smaller and fits for the 600watts so heat can be taken quicker with the muffin fans , however if yours is big then how big ? 5inches round ? and by the way does it have a reflector wing behind the cooltube to spread light ? or without it ?

 

[DirtySouth]

my tent is 4'wx7'hx9'L,which I have 2 600 hps cooltubes,they spread the light through out the tent.Had to adjust the bat wing,nice-n-tight.

 

[charlesweedmore]

DirtySouth, can you post some pictures ?

And crozar

i use 490mm X 125mm cooltube . 1" = 25mm

 

[BuddyLuv]

cooltubes are notoriously bad for their lighting footprints. You could always dump the 600, upgrade to a 1000 and rais it up about 18 inches from the canopy.

 

[DirtySouth]

My hydro guy suggested this(2 600)because of the size of my tent(see above)the 2 600 would be best .
I have an ebb-n-flo 3x3(1 600 hps)and on the other side of the tent I have some plants in soil(other 600 hps).I have some pics on my camera,unfortantly cant get them up,could some one help post pics?

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

I use two 600 watt cool tubes in my closet and I find that the poor light footprint is because the reflective material is built inside the tube and therefore is restricted in it's size and shape to that of the tube. The reflective material in the cool tubes I use can easily be removed from the tube and placed on the OUTSIDE of the tube. This way you can angle the reflective material any way you want to change the light distribution without moving your lights or rearranging the entire garden. The picture below doesn't really show the application because the lights are not on, but you can see what I mean. The chain that hold the light also holds the reflector in place wherever I want it. This reflector on the outside of the tube has been shifted so that light is being directerd down but also to the left (in the photo) a little bit. If I needed the light to cover a larger footprint in the garden, I would simply flatten this reflective material a little.
By moving the reflector out of the cool tube I am giving up lumens by moving the reflector further away from the light, but it increases the canopy coverage and I can change my light distibution in my garden in about 5 seconds.

Once you have removed the reflective material from the cool tube, you are not bound by the shape of the tube. You can then bend the reflector to whatever shape and light footprint you want.

Regardless of the light footprint, the plants in your garden corners are not going to get as much light as those directly under the cool tube regardless of what hood and reflector you use, since man made lights lose power so quickly over distance. The only way to ensure even growth would be to rotate your plants in your garden daily so that they all get equal time close to the lights and in the corners.

Hope this helps!
Good luck
NYC

 

[Funkfarmer]

Yo NYCD, whats the topsy turvy for?

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

I was experimenting with growing a plant upside down, it is in the journal section as "Upside Down Red Diesel SCROG". The seed plant I was testing showed male, but it lived and grew for over a week upside down before I chopped it. There are going to be a lot of challenges in getting the plants to produce well but I am convinced it can be done
In a limited area with a full garden below anything grown in those would be bonus smoke. Even if you get 10 grams from each plant, it was 10 grams you couldn't grow below. As mentioned since man made lights lose power over distance so quickly, getting as many plants as close to your light as possible would be very beneficial. I looked at the Coliseum and wondered if it would be possible to take a design like that which takes advantage of light being emitted from the bulb in all directions, and turn it on it's side. Having plants below and above would allow you to netter light the tops of the plants and provide an even canopy as opposed to the coliseum which only lights one side of the plants at all times.

It was this experimenting that led to learning about the cool tube reflectors and how easy it is to remove them and manipulate them. For the test it was necessary that I remove the entire reflector and have light coming from the cool tube in all directions. I'm just waiting another few days for some new clones to root and then I will have a plant I know is female for the next test.

Even if I fail miserably, it is a lot of fun trying something new.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hello,

I'm growing in a pretty tight 2 x 4 x 8 closet with major heat issues so I had to go with a cool tube design. I had done grows in the same closet using a 600hps/6 bulb T5 fixture/T12 UVB bulb. The 600w was in an air cooled conventional reflector and a Vortex 630cfm going full tilt couldn't pull enough air through it to keep temps below 80º. Fast forward til now and I have a Quantum 1K with the same other lighting and a cool tube. I now even have a filter before my light in the ventilation chain and I'm able to keep temps at 74-77º - basically 3-4 degrees above the ambient temps in my home.

I don't have to cover much space now but for future use I wanted a cool tube that had some spread. I had my doubts about the cool tubes without reflectors and even the models that have the bat wing style reflectors. I dug around online and found this reflector... I'm not trying to sell these but I love it and it seems to be the best of both worlds... a 6" cool tube mounted in a more conventional style of reflector:

remove the "XX"'s and replace them with "tt" in http

hXXp://www.texashydroponics.com/shop/product.php?productid=2790&cat=55&page=1

I have looked high and low for another source for price comparison but can't find the product anywhere but Tex Hydro. They do have decent prices and decent service although they were a bit slow getting it out the door.

Happy Growing!

 

[charlesweedmore]

ok guys,
i may buy a new reflector in winter but now i have to use cooltube .and reflective material is already outisde of my tube as original

i put 2 X CFL lamps ( 60W each ) on the corners of the tent. CFLS dont block light of HPS because they are on the corners. i also lifted the cooltube roughly 15 cm and it is 40 cm away from the canopy. my tent is brighter now.
i will put 2CFLs more on the other 2 corners.

 

[crozar]

my cooltube arrived , i must pick it up and i will post later at midnight , and if its bad *** i will get me a 1000watts HPS , how come osram got cheap HPS ? are they any good ? my 600watts hps was about 110$ with a contractor and a breaker and the Tube
a 1000watts HPS is about 130$ , are these prices normal or just cheap ?