Bare bulb or Air-cooled Hood?

[greenops]

Hey guys,

I would like to hear your opinions. I always had higher temps in my grow cabinet using only 250w HPS so i already had to use a cooltube in my first grow. Bare I got temps from 27-33C (when it's warm outside).

I'm using an aircooled hood now (24-26C) and since its winter i was wondering if i should take off the glass to allow more lumen out.
If temps get too high i would have to increase the distance from currently 12'' to i dont know what. With the increased distance, i'll be losing lumens too.

Which one is better?

 

[Green Supreme]

I pay for lumens, therefore like to use as many as possible. There is no doubt for me, bare bulbs it it. The deciding factor would be the ability to cool. Good luck. Peace GS

 

[greenops]

Thanks. My thought is with bare, i would probably have to increase the distance from canopy to light... and with distance i will be losing lumen also. I just dont know which gives more lumen, Aircooled hood and 12'' distance, or bare and a distance of 15-20''?

 

[Green Supreme]

I use bare bulbs and keep the plants 6-10 inches from my 1000's. Back to the cooling part I mentioned. The idea is not to use the bare bulbs and have to put them further. Peace GS

 

[MacGyver420]

another thing to consider is the fire risk and the risk to yourself of having bare bulbs; i know people who have burned the shit out of themselves accidentally touching a bare 1000 watt bulb its no joke.

for me; for safety reasons i dont use bare bulbs; i just clean my reflector's lens with contact lens cleaner regularly and they are sparkling clean.

 

[Green Supreme]

You only burn yourself a few times before you learn there is hot bulbs there. I have also done other things to combat this in big rooms. I made moguls with an on/off toggle{Don't try this at home kids) and shut it down ahead of where I wanted to work. Have also put bulbs on pulleys to raise them out of the way. Probably won't help with a tent. Just letting ya know how it can be dealt with in a larger setting. Peace GS

 

[MacGyver420]

Have also put bulbs on pulleys to raise them out of the way.

damn that's a slick idea dude

 

[spunion]

I'm bare bulb vertically with a 1k right now. Tops out around 79-80f if my furnace is kicking out a lot of heat on extra cold days. Usually around 70-75. Going to buy the biggest hood I can find when it warms up outside though.

 

[Bob-Zilla]

For a single 1K application or any single bulb for that matter,the avg gardener will achieve higher yields with a reflector versus bare.

 

[greenops]

sorry i misused the term "bare".. I meant that i'm still gona use the reflector of the hood, i was just thinking of removing the glass in the hood. And i did that last night... the temps didnt increase by much, so i'm happy bout that.

 

[Bob-Zilla]

sorry i misused the term "bare".. I meant that i'm still gona use the reflector of the hood, i was just thinking of removing the glass in the hood. And i did that last night... the temps didnt increase by much, so i'm happy bout that.

In that case, your plants will enjoy the extra 10% of light

 

[mg75]

i have found from first hand experience that unless you do high plant numbers or large trees, vertical bulbs did not offer many benefits than a proper horizontal garden. canopy management is essential in both. don't think that if you hang a bulb vertically, your plants will kick out an extra 50%... it involves a lot of planning, trial & error, and usually LST which will require longer veg time.
once you dial your vertical setup in... then the hoods will be history.

 

[VAtransplant]

Just throwing this here since I was searching for bare bulb experiences all evening...

I have a three foot dual socket cool tube set up vertical with a dedicated fan sucking through it and venting in to my well-ventilated attic. The fan is running a little over 200cfm. I also have a stanley blower on low pulling through a scrubber and venting out of the tent. Only running one 600w HPS

Temps with this setup were ~79 to 81. I went bare bulb this evening and left the fan setup the same - not scrubbing the air that was formerly pulling through a cool tube and out the tent (not stinky yet) and the temp went from 81 to 79 and has stayed there.

It's SO much brighter in there - my cool tube was frequently getting dirty inside and it was a pain in the dick to clean it - three feet is too long to reach in through the top where I have removed the unused socket to reach all the way down - and if I disconnect the bottom I have to take the socket out to clean.

This is going to rock until summer. So much happier.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

- my cool tube was frequently getting dirty inside and it was a pain in the dick to clean it -

Get/Build a hepa filter for your cooltube intake.... no more inside cleaning. Best bet would be to have a cheapo pre-filter that you can change... keep from having to change the expensive Hepa all the time.

Stay Safe!

 

[fredcdobbs]

I use bare bulbs and keep the plants 6-10 inches from my 1000's. Back to the cooling part I mentioned. The idea is not to use the bare bulbs and have to put them further. Peace GS

are you still around? do you mean to say that without a cooltube you keep yer plants that close?...just want to be sure.