Reflector Set-up For 3x6 Trays

[fortphoenix]

My buddy and I are setting up 4 flood trays side by side in his house for a perpetual cycle and we need suggestions! i made 2 diagrams to show our dilemma…

We would much rather use setup #1 because the ventilation would be cleaner looking but the problem with setup #1 is the long side of the bulb would be lined up with the long side of the tray... so i feel like the plants in the middle of the tray between the reflectors won’t be receiving much light

the problem with set up #2 is there’d have to be loose ventilation for when the plants have height differences which id rather not have because it looks messy plus I’m trying to keep the lights as close as possible to the plants which is why i want big reflectors, so the plants don’t block each others light with their shadows.

so should i do setup #1 or #2? and which reflector? the reflector measurements are in the pictures. if theres any other reflectors you’d recommend for my situation let me know!

we’re doing single cola s.o.g with phantom II ballasts and hortilux bulbs and the trays will be no more than 6-12 inches apart

 

[Natural]

I just 'donated' all my raptor hoods and installed these

after a year the heat and bulb exchanges wreak havoc on those weather seals on those hinge types. These are easier to cool and clean..and much brighter. They're actually slightly bigger than Raptors (comparing 6" to 6") although wider than longer. The biggest drawbacks are the sturdiness of the metal reflector and they take about an hour to build. but alas they are 1/3 the cost.

 

[Bannacis]

Set up #2... it will be more efficient for your air exhaust. you can put a little more space between rows.
Set up #1 you will have overlapping light, ok. but two lights on each end will have the outside reflective light on no plants. that's half of #2, And your air cooling will be lacking. plus twice the fans and ducting. and may run into heat problems

I would do #2 less fans...easy air flow. I don't think it will hurt the coverage.

 

[fortphoenix]

I just 'donated' all my raptor hoods and installed these
View attachment 585481

after a year the heat and bulb exchanges wreak havoc on those weather seals on those hinge types. These are easier to cool and clean..and much brighter. They're actually slightly bigger than Raptors (comparing 6" to 6") although wider than longer. The biggest drawbacks are the sturdiness of the metal reflector and they take about an hour to build. but alas they are 1/3 the cost.

i was actually looking at those, the only think i don't like it how the reflector has those 3 bends on each side and isn't totally round. i was thinking of buying one of those glass tubes and attaching an adjusta-wing to it like "al b. fuct" did with his reflectors but which setup do you think would be better, 1 or 2?

 

[fortphoenix]

Set up #2... it will be more efficient for your air exhaust. you can put a little more space between rows.
Set up #1 you will have overlapping light, ok. but two lights on each end will have the outside reflective light on no plants. that's half of #2, And your air cooling will be lacking. plus twice the fans and ducting. and may run into heat problems

I would do #2 less fans...easy air flow. I don't think it will hurt the coverage.

i was thinking #1 would be more efficient because theres less length and bends and the air would only need to pass through 2 lights instead of 2 and i was thinking if i kept the tables really close the side table can catch the lighting. the reason I'm not worried about more fans is because the extra cost of getting 8" reflectors and lights vs getting 2 6" extra fans would be about the same price but the 8" fans use like 3 times the wattage so it'd actually cost more to run 2 8" fans than 4 6" fans. but do you think the plants in the middle of the tray between the reflectors on setup #1 is a reasonable concern or do you think they'd get enough light if i did do it that way? any suggestions on reflectors?

 

[Herb Forester]

What size is the room and how high? Do the trays roll, and are there any walkways, or do you move them apart for service?

 

[fortphoenix]

What size is the room and how high? Do the trays roll, and are there any walkways, or do you move them apart for service?

15' x 10' in a regular room so the ceiling is 7' i believe. the 6x3 is inside measurments the actual tray measurements from the outside are 41" x 76" if worse comes to worse and it seems too tight were just going to do 3 trays and yeah, on wheels, we want to keep the tray close as possible (but still be able to move them with wheels) so we don't waste light

 

[Natural]

i was actually looking at those, the only think i don't like it how the reflector has those 3 bends on each side and isn't totally round. i was thinking of buying one of those glass tubes and attaching an adjusta-wing to it like "al b. fuct" did with his reflectors but which setup do you think would be better, 1 or 2?

honestly..these things throw more light in every direction than a raptor could ever think of. The bends are only diffusing (or bouncing) it somewhat. I looked hard at the wing type tubes..after buying these I have no complaints. I see you are only doing 3x3 per light and I assume that means 600 watts? I need to cover at minimum 5'x5' with these..I use 1k's except for my first transition light, which has a 600 in it and it covers a 5x5 very well. My point is that these hoods seem to throw more light to the sides..but I think with a 3x3 you can bring them in close and you'll get plenty of 'square' coverage. I run mine end to end in rows for less fans to vent. There's a seller on ebay and he sells them cheapest and has stealthy shipping..fed ex with no labels. I don't regret these over any hood or the wing style hoods. The only jump I could make from here is to de or cmh imho
edit: although they are freaking huge..38x29x7..which means you'll have very little ducting to run in between each hood

 

[fortphoenix]

honestly..these things throw more light in every direction than a raptor could ever think of. The bends are only diffusing (or bouncing) it somewhat. I looked hard at the wing type tubes..after buying these I have no complaints. I see you are only doing 3x3 per light and I assume that means 600 watts? I need to cover at minimum 5'x5' with these..I use 1k's except for my first transition light, which has a 600 in it and it covers a 5x5 very well. My point is that these hoods seem to throw more light to the sides..but I think with a 3x3 you can bring them in close and you'll get plenty of 'square' coverage. I run mine end to end in rows for less fans to vent. There's a seller on ebay and he sells them cheapest and has stealthy shipping..fed ex with no labels. I don't regret these over any hood or the wing style hoods. The only jump I could make from here is to de or cmh imho
edit: although they are freaking huge..38x29x7..which means you'll have very little ducting to run in between each hood

yes sir 600w but thats the only thing, idk of should get a giant reflector so when i put it close to the plant tops the hood is big enough to be like covering the entire tray or using a square reflector... and I'm actually looking at the sun systems blockbuster reflector. its a 25.5" square reflector, I'm just a bit concerned about plants being shadowed once i put the reflector a few inches from the plant tops but it does very well on tests compared to other reflectors ()... the only hood tested more efficient was the luxor hood

 

[Natural]

blockbusters are dope...less air mass to vent and less weather seal to go bad. no reason to have lights a few inches above canopy unless that's your ceiling height limit. There's such a thing about too much distance but raising a 600 18" to gain a good footprint is highly acceptable imho..I only bump em about 6-8 inches closer than my 1k's and buds come out dense and weighty. I love the big hoods myself..but I grow 5 foot plants and need a big footprint. The 600 looks kinda silly small in these big hoods..but they do throw the light evenly. Pretty much either will work

 

[fortphoenix]

blockbusters are dope...less air mass to vent and less weather seal to go bad. no reason to have lights a few inches above canopy unless that's your ceiling height limit. There's such a thing about too much distance but raising a 600 18" to gain a good footprint is highly acceptable imho..I only bump em about 6-8 inches closer than my 1k's and buds come out dense and weighty. I love the big hoods myself..but I grow 5 foot plants and need a big footprint. The 600 looks kinda silly small in these big hoods..but they do throw the light evenly. Pretty much either will work

yeah turns out the hydro store i got my "yield master" hood only sells yield master.... and block buster hoods so I'm thinking its a sign from the cannagods to go with the block buster, they sell em for 175 too but I'm just looking at it like i only need a 3x3 footprint out of them so id like to keep them as close as possible (without burning/bleaching them) to the plants so I'm wasting as little light as possible...which will lead to me having nice dense bugs like you lol

 

[Natural]

if you run the long series vs the short series of 2 hoods..consider getting the 8's. even if you reduce for the fan I think it will cool closer to what you need

 

[fortphoenix]

if you run the long series vs the short series of 2 hoods..consider getting the 8's. even if you reduce for the fan I think it will cool closer to what you need

trust me id like too but the 8" fans consume way too much power. a 6" vortex is 66 watts while an 8" is 232 watts which doesn't seem like much of a difference till you factor in 4 of them running 12 hours a day so I'm probably just going to go with the square just because the space I'm trying to light up is square, although it would be nice to have reflectors that spread well incase i ever decide to stop using flood trays

 

[Herb Forester]

I don't have much experience with vented lights, but why not use 1k lamps and just light the whole room instead? #2 does that easily, just place the rows a little closer to the walls than to the rooms' centerline. Quite a bit larger yield potential per sqft that way.

 

[Natural]

I don't have much experience with vented lights, but why not use 1k lamps and just light the whole room instead? #2 does that easily, just place the rows a little closer to the walls than to the rooms' centerline. Quite a bit larger yield potential per sqft that way.

You probably mean DE's right? because 1k hps is more like a 5x5..certainly 2 6's over a 6x6 would beat a single thouie

 

[Herb Forester]

You probably mean DE's right? because 1k hps is more like a 5x5..certainly 2 6's over a 6x6 would beat a single thouie

Not sure what you mean, but I think most of those super wide AC hoods cover about a 4'x5'ish footprint at best (assuming he's restricted to them for removing heat). With that he could use almost all the space, minus whatever along the walls to move around and shift rows. Personally I'd seal it and use 600/750 DEs, or even 600 SE 400v, maybe with supplemental CMH to add color. @fortphoenix where is/are your doors?

 

[fortphoenix]

I don't have much experience with vented lights, but why not use 1k lamps and just light the whole room instead? #2 does that easily, just place the rows a little closer to the walls than to the rooms' centerline. Quite a bit larger yield potential per sqft that way.

power consumption is a concern, unless you mean 1k per table? but if thats what you're talking about id much rather have the light spread more evenly plus i can keep the 600s way cooler and closer

 

[Herb Forester]

power consumption is a concern, unless you mean 1k per table? but if thats what you're talking about id much rather have the light spread more evenly plus i can keep the 600s way cooler and closer

Sorry missed that, yeah 600s will give more uniformity if you can't fill the room. What's your plan for cooling besides the AC hoods?

 

[fortphoenix]

Sorry missed that, yeah 600s will give more uniformity if you can't fill the room. What's your plan for cooling besides the AC hoods?

I'm thinking of getting the blockbuster reflector which is a square reflector that 25.5" on all sides supposedly its perfect for a 3x3 and thats essentially the space each light is lighting. but with the light being square and designed for the light to shoot straight down I'm afraid the outside plants won't get much light if i put the reflector close, which i want to put the reflector as close as i can to the plants without worrying about the plants on the edges getting no light but I'm using an 8in vortex s-line with a carbon filter and a titan controls mercury 4 switch so its always on low idle (which I'm afraid won't work well with the carbon filter) and has a set temp that puts it on full speed when the temp is reached but I'm also going to be using oscillating fans and a/c when its needed

 

[Natural]

don't over think it bro..your plants on the sides will get plenty of over-lap lighting. even with mono-cropping you're gonna have an un-even enough canopy where you'll need to find that happy medium of distance from hood to canopy..several inches is not enough even for glass covered 600's. It will be closer to 18" or more and you'll have plenty of coverage..but like I said before all of these hoods will do a fine job. I've killed yields using 600's and have had them 2 feet above plants.