Kali Mist CFL Scrog Grow Journal - 05-19-13

CrimsonBlitz said:
I love the bill being passed in colorado and washington.
For a thousand bucks you can either grow OR sell
Passes at the end of this year if all goes well.
Click to expand...

Don't you mean the legalisation in those 2 states?

Isn't it legal from January there?

What $1000 for what?

Lovely looking scrog, btw.

Coming along peachily :)

Great story too.

Plusreps :xmas:
 
Good morning and good weed everyone. I did some shopping around yesterday to make a new DIY CFL setup, couldn't find a container with the dimensions I was looking for, gonna try a few more places in the coming days. I wanted to ask some reflective questions to you cfl pros out there, I know there's quite a few of you lol :)

If I built a 36" x 11 1/2" x 7" and attached mylar to the inside with a piece of acrylic over the bottom. Would I get best burns from having 90 degree angles? Are CFL's even powerful enough to cause a heat burn from a hotspot? Would a white tubaware type reflector with smooth rounded corners give me better light reflectivity than a square like box with mylar?


My idea so far is to get 8 2700k 42w 2800 Lumen CFL's per 15" with a few 6500k 32w 2000Lumen CFLs in between for a balance spectrum.


Right now my idea is cut wood to 36" x 11 1/2" then 2 more sheets 36" x 7" and finally 2 more 11 1/2" x 7".
Glue mylar to the 5 boards with 3M glue then put some screws in to hold the mylar in place. ( I noticed excessive heat causes mylar to peel with 3M)
Precut 2" holes ( for sockets) every 3" - 3 1/2" down the center of the board 36" x 11 1/2"
Silicon in weather proof sockets
Cut out one 4" hole on both 11 1/2 x 7" boards (to attach hose to suck out hot air)
Screw all 5 boards together
Wire all the sockets together.
Put In Y sockets and CFLs
Cut acrylic and fit it over the bottom opening to seal the ballast. predrill holes to screw it together.
Hang the ballast on 80lb light movers
Attach hose to both opening then to inline fan
Mount carbon filter on the exhaust end of intake instead of the inside

My construction skills suck, that's all I got for now

Think it'll work? Ideas? Thoughts? Would love to hear from you guys :Namaste:
 
Heres my 2 cents. Cfls dimish greatly as distance increases. This said and hood type reflector is gonna be more effiecient than nothing. The Best shape for a reflector is the umbrella shape. But they are virtually impossible to vent and cool. This is why you see the regular hoods in big grow with HPS bulbs.
i think CFL's can cause hotspots if they are kept at a close distance. Ive seen my girl cowering from the lights when the cola gets too close.
i really like the mixed spectrum idea, Ive beenusing it myself to give a more natural envirnment. I cant commet on the build, as I was lucky to find a bookshelf with convienent holes to adjust my lighting hieght.
:):):)
 
Hi spimp, thank you for chiming in, very much appreciated. By U style reflector are you referring to those wing reflectors? They've been getting a lot of praise. Yeah, I'm trying to modify the setup if I build it of wood to have a U shape, its pretty tough with only 12" wide space to work with. I may bend a piece of cardboard in a triangle glue it into the corners and cover with mylar to give a more U shape. I'm not happy about all the light being lost due to my cabinet doors being wide open from heat build up. my room is super bright and reeking as a result. To be honest I'm not sure if my S&P can vent out the air from the ballast with a CArbon filter attached. I'm guessing I'll have like 50-80CFM of pull left after carbon filter to exhaust the ballast and grow cabinet

Should of gotten an S&P TD-150S 333/230CFM silent operation instead, live and learn. Time and time again I've learned it's usually best to get the biggest size you can afford - tv aquarium lights grow cabinet etc. waste so much upgrading lol sorry venting.
 
google umbrella hood and you will see what I mean. But any added reflectivity is +++ in my book. :)
As for scent, the best thing Ive seen out there is ona gel. Several good growers use it and praise it as being the best scent remover out there. Its not too expensive either.
As for your exhaust, If I understand correctly, your pulling air from a passive intake? If you have 6" of forced exhaust, you need someting like 12" of passive intake or else the fan wont blow out all it can. :):)
 
Wish I bumped into you sooner spimp, could of saved me hours of heartache researching stuff you already know so much about :)

Ooh those, I saw an hour long video about growing and it touched on reflectors. Said the umbrella reflector is the best for an even spread of light on large grow spaces. Their huge too, definately don't have any plans on purchasing an umbrella reflector till cannabis is federally legalized lol. I'm thinking a DIY wing reflector might be the next best thing, if I can figure out how to make one lol.

I have a negative pressure environment one 1" and two 2" holes for passive intake.
total CFM 130 which cuts in half with the scrubber attached.
4" intake/exhausting my fan. I believe 1 more hole would cause me to lose my negative pressure environment and my seal which light proofs everything.

I ordered ona pro gels based off fish cakes recommendation. They work miracles as everyone said. I feel the smell they produce to be nauseating. I don't plan on using them till the smell starts escaping the bedroom, hasn't yet :) Soon, I hope if I can get temps down (my CFL's burn like hell lol) Then I can shut the doors and my carbon scrubbers can do their jobs. 0 smell at night with doors shut. I've been using ground coffee and replacing it every few days. Works well in masking the smell so far.
 
If you'd chime in on your thoughts with the 2 videos spimp, would be great. I really like the way you think and your very knowledgeable. Respect bro :)

The design I really want to build out is similar to the DIY in the first video, The second video is nice too but I feel the cuts on the reflector is to spread out light and not as direct.

Its incredible that hes getting 60,000 lux at 1" distance and 40,000 lux at 2" from 6 23w CFL's. As a comparison his 400w HPS puts out 80,000 lux at 1ft. I found it interesting Lux droped 25% from the first inch and 33% second inch.

Hopefully if I can build this into sort of an airtube I can keep it at 1-2".

3:30 shows the buildout 4:50 shows the finished result.

[video=youtube_share;NFzIP_TN75A]
[/video]

second video I'll share if anyone is interested, I only read the description for an idea of Lux produced with a similar reflector to video 1

EDIT: just watched the second video not bad good info

[video=youtube_share;KoaFJETyECg]
[/video]
 
Thank you Stickey and welcome. I love DIY - so much fun, I particularly enjoy solving problems trying to make it all work lol

The more I read about HPS the more I want one lol their the bees knees, every journal I read of people who made the switch saw instantly better results. I can't invest much more for awhile though. It's like theres a hole in my pocket with this hobby lol

I'll check out your journal, thanks for the invite :)
 
CrimsonBlitz said:
If you'd chime in on your thoughts with the 2 videos spimp, would be great. I really like the way you think and your very knowledgeable. Respect bro :)
Click to expand...

:Namaste:

Heres my take. I wish I saw thought considering how close my setup is, this slight modification would have been awesome. :)
Heres my lights with only 4 on each side, now its 6:
04186.jpg


I coulda mounted this reflector under the power strip with plastic straps. Damn. Good find sir.
:bravo:
 
CrimsonBlitz said:
Wish I bumped into you sooner spimp, could of saved me hours of heartache researching stuff you already know so much about :)

Ooh those, I saw an hour long video about growing and it touched on reflectors. Said the umbrella reflector is the best for an even spread of light on large grow spaces. Their huge too, definately don't have any plans on purchasing an umbrella reflector till cannabis is federally legalized lol. I'm thinking a DIY wing reflector might be the next best thing, if I can figure out how to make one lol.

I have a negative pressure environment one 1" and two 2" holes for passive intake.
total CFM 130 which cuts in half with the scrubber attached.
4" intake/exhausting my fan. I believe 1 more hole would cause me to lose my negative pressure environment and my seal which light proofs everything.

I ordered ona pro gels based off fish cakes recommendation. They work miracles as everyone said. I feel the smell they produce to be nauseating. I don't plan on using them till the smell starts escaping the bedroom, hasn't yet :) Soon, I hope if I can get temps down (my CFL's burn like hell lol) Then I can shut the doors and my carbon scrubbers can do their jobs. 0 smell at night with doors shut. I've been using ground coffee and replacing it every few days. Works well in masking the smell so far.
Click to expand...
3. READ READ READ. completed journals, how to's, whatever. PART OF SPIMP'S 5 GOLDEN RULES
 
Couldn't agree more guys, reading is knowledge, knowledge is power. I probably spend 2-4 hours a day reading up on cannabis as of 3 months ago lol. I still feel like I haven't even cracked the surface of it all. Recently discovered molasses, gonna have to incorporate that in my next grow :)
 
Quick update. All 3 plants buds appeared to swell 10-15% yesterday morning. This morning the buds on all 3 plants packed on a ton of weight. My guess is about 30% overall and about 30-100% per branch. The internode on the tops where the buds were tight against the branch have developed their own stems, new development that happened over night. the pics will follow later this evening.
 
CrimsonBlitz said:
Good morning and good weed everyone. I did some shopping around yesterday to make a new DIY CFL setup, couldn't find a container with the dimensions I was looking for, gonna try a few more places in the coming days. I wanted to ask some reflective questions to you cfl pros out there, I know there's quite a few of you lol :)

If I built a 36" x 11 1/2" x 7" and attached mylar to the inside with a piece of acrylic over the bottom. Would I get best burns from having 90 degree angles? Are CFL's even powerful enough to cause a heat burn from a hotspot? Would a white tubaware type reflector with smooth rounded corners give me better light reflectivity than a square like box with mylar?


My idea so far is to get 8 2700k 42w 2800 Lumen CFL's per 15" with a few 6500k 32w 2000Lumen CFLs in between for a balance spectrum.


Right now my idea is cut wood to 36" x 11 1/2" then 2 more sheets 36" x 7" and finally 2 more 11 1/2" x 7".
Glue mylar to the 5 boards with 3M glue then put some screws in to hold the mylar in place. ( I noticed excessive heat causes mylar to peel with 3M)
Precut 2" holes ( for sockets) every 3" - 3 1/2" down the center of the board 36" x 11 1/2"
Silicon in weather proof sockets
Cut out one 4" hole on both 11 1/2 x 7" boards (to attach hose to suck out hot air)
Screw all 5 boards together
Wire all the sockets together.
Put In Y sockets and CFLs
Cut acrylic and fit it over the bottom opening to seal the ballast. predrill holes to screw it together.
Hang the ballast on 80lb light movers
Attach hose to both opening then to inline fan
Mount carbon filter on the exhaust end of intake instead of the inside

My construction skills suck, that's all I got for now

Think it'll work? Ideas? Thoughts? Would love to hear from you guys :Namaste:
Click to expand...
Good weed Crimson:)
nix the mylar it will most likely melt from the heat of the lamps. paint your reflector with flat white paint instead. its more reflective too.
 
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