Hydro vs Soil: What suits my situation best?

[getnasty]

Hope this isnt too large. I intend on allowing slack in the ducting for the door to open. It shouldn't require much. I have no other way to ventilate.

 

[getnasty]

Also, THG, after reading the below quote from another website, I think I'm still going to try your diy cooltube. and it appears I can get a 6" one on ebay.

I have been using a 4" bakearound bread tube as a cooltube for about 2 years now, first with a 400W HPS and now with a 600W HPS...

 

[coloradodreamn]

If anything put the carbon filter up high in the closet above the light. that way all the heat is pulled up and out no matter what. and have all the exhaust come out the top...so flip your design upside down and it will be golden.

Cooltoob's with the socket are only around $125. do yourself the favor and get one. spend the money the first time on the lights and you will never have to again. Buy yourself the Jorge Cervantes Medicinal Grow Bible. Its color coded and is absolutely the best book for beginners. it has a bunch of growroom designs as well as the things you need to look for and just about anything you can think of that will arise...

 

[Locked]

If anything put the carbon filter up high in the closet above the light. that way all the heat is pulled up and out no matter what. and have all the exhaust come out the top...so flip your design upside down and it will be golden.

:yeahthat:

I hve my CF located up high in the right hand corner. Figure it will pull all the hot air.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am the opposite--I like to pull air from near the floor. It can be 20 degrees cooler and cools the light better. I also keep my light stationary and raise and lower the pots. You generally ultimately need to do this anyway to keep an even canopy.

 

[getnasty]

:yeahthat:

I hve my CF located up high in the right hand corner. Figure it will pull all the hot air.

Colorado and Hamster:

How about this?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I don't see how pulling hot air over your light is the best setup if you are wanting to cool your light? If you have 2 fans, I would say that one should be at the top to exhaust the warmer air, but if you have just one cooling your light, IMO you are far better off pulling air from near the bottom of your space.

 

[Roddy]

I'm with THG on the cool air thought...

 

[Hushpuppy]

I would think that in a space that small, it would not make much difference if the exaust is high or low as you have fans in the room constantly stirring the air and keeping the cool and warm air mixed together. Once you get a ballance of intake and exaust with getting the room temp at around 75*, you should be transferring enough air that taking air from up higher shouldn't be too hot to impair the cooling of the light. Just my thinking.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I would set it all up and test it out without any plants in it and see how it is going to work. If it doesn't cool the light enough you can always move it down some until you get it cool enough. The only problem with that is if there is a problem with the higher air being too hot to sufficiently cool the light, then you are going to have a pool of hot air staying up in the top of the space as it will not get pulled out if the exaust hose is set low.

Just a note, if you build your own cooltube, you are still gonna need the ballast to go with it. I have seen some really good deals on EBAY for the cooltubes and ballast combo which includes several things for around $100-$150.

 

[Locked]

I pull my air from up top because I figure that is where the hottest air in the tent is. I never worry about that air being too hot to cool my bulb though....it never happens. With my passive intakes down low I actually didn't want to pick up this cool air instead of the warmer air up top. I honestly don't think it matters much. The temp difference is not that great between the air down low and up high. jmo

 

[getnasty]

Hmmmm. When I finally get all the materials in, I'll get it set up and do some testing. Couple of questions though. Am I just reading the temperature of the room from the digital thermometer/humidity display I'm purchasing when I am taking the temperature readings? Or do I need to measure the heat of the exhaust and/or in the vacinity of the bulb?

 

[Hushpuppy]

Well there is two ways to look at that. You want to maintain a good temp within the grow space (around 75-80* during lights on). And you want to cool the HID light that is running so that it doesn't get too hot and fail prematurely. Unfortunately I don't know what temp you should be trying to achieve on the exaust to sufficiently cool the bulb. I do know that if the bulb is not being cooled well it will reflect in the room not cooling well (in my experience anyway).