First time grow, quick question

[mmmdankbuds420]

i'm still planning on what i want to buy for my grow and i have a good knowledge of what i'm doing already through research and discussion with growers, but anyways, i want to use an umbrella reflector with the painted white aluminum and i was wondering if anybody knew how reflective this is compared to bare aluminum reflectors? and also one more quick question. The bulb is vertical because of the umbrella shape, other reflectors like air cooled hoods have the bulb horizontal. would this affect the amount of lumens or how the light is spread to the plants? Thank you very much to anybody that takes the time to read this and help an aspiring grower out. Peace out!

 

[Seamaiden]

Hi. I use the vertizontal parabolics, the umbrella reflectors that hold the bulb in a horizontal position. I believe, but don't know for certain, that this does have a significant effect on the light. First, only half of the bulb is facing the plants, the other half is facing the reflector. That means that the other half of the photons being produced (and that's a very rough estimate, of course) are actually being reflected back to the plants. I believe it's also safe to say that reflected light is reduced in intensity.

The spread of the parabolics is quite different from the only other hood I've used, a Hydrofarm I believe it is (it's been YEARS now), and I feel it's a better spread.

Considering costs, etcetera, I can see how the coliseum method has gained in popularity, using bare bulbs hung between plants. No lumens lost to anything, but Sea could end up breaking bulbs or burning herself, so for me it's better to keep them out of the way.

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

Makes sense. Thanks you very much for you time and knowledge. So just to double check and make sure, your happy and would suggest using the umbrella reflectors? and sorry about my lack of vocabulary but what is the coliseum method? lol. thank you so much!

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

O, and does the vertical or horizontal position of the bulb compared to the hood/reflector make a differance? because i looked up the kind of reflector you were talking about and the bulb is horizontal and the reflector i'm interested in has the bulb vertical. I would imagine if the bulb is hung vertically from the reflector most of the lumens and all that good stuff would go out sideways having to be reflected off of the reflector diminishing the strength of light? Or am i overthinking this a little bit? haha. Thanks again!

 

[Seamaiden]

Look up vertical or bare bulb growing, then you'll see what I mean about the coliseum. I've never done it, only read about it, but it makes sense. It's hanging the bulb, vertically, in between plants, and interspersing bulbs and plants so that as much light being emitted is being used as possible. (I sure hope that sentence made sense.)

I would recommend the open parabolics for anyone who doesn't need to cool the room. Mine is in our basement and it's usually pretty cold in there, and keeping things warm enough was a huge problem until I went with the parabolics. As far as spread and such, IIRC the Adjust-a-Wings are supposed to be the best--but again, I'm not sure how well that would work if cooling is an issue for you. The parabolics can be a bit of a pain in that they are bulky, depending on what size you get (I can't remember if mine are the 3' or 4' hoods).

Again, I think that there must, logically, be some loss of light if fully half the bulb is facing the reflector when it's in the horizontal position and is only getting to the intended location by bouncing (reflecting), because we know that photons are lost. Make sense?

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

ahh ok. makes sense. i'm going to be using a 4' x 8' tent with 2 1000's. I know these will produce a bit of heat, but i will be using a 500 c.f.m. exhaust fan, exhausting out my basement window. That should (in theory) be enough to evacuate my tent twice a minute so do you think i should be ok without using air cooled hoods? Again i'm in my basement as well. O and another question i just thought of, i'm just going to be using air from inside the room for intake into my tent, is this air gonna be fresh enough? or should i try to figure out a way to exhaust and intake from my window? Thanks again for takin the time to help out a noob. lol.

 

[Seamaiden]

Yes, but only to a degree. If it's very warm outside then there would be a limit, obviously, as to how much cooling could be achieved via ventilation only. The volume 2x/min is quite adequate, IMO. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to allow air from the room to be what's used for the intake unless your home is very well-sealed up has a problem already with fresh air and such.

My pleasure, I'd like to see you pull off a good grow. I like seeing people succeed and do well, achieve goals, etc. :)

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

ok, thank you so much for helping me out. I'm still just in the planning stages, but its an operation that will be a for sure once i finish funding lol. but i really appreciate your interest in seeing me succeed. There will definitely be plenty of pictures and updates once i get growing, and i definitely look forward to further conversations about what i can do to improve and what not, but thanks again and i really appreciate the time you have given me. have a good one, lookin forward to future chats!