[Al B. Fuct]

Originally Posted by VeoDigital

How do you cool that 1000w hps bulb?

The two 1000s are presently in batwing fixtures, cooled by convection. I have bought a pair of cooltubes but haven't installed them yet. As usual, I should have done it a few weeks ago...

How many clones are under the 1000w bulb, in all 4 trays at one time?
I usualy go by the rule of thumb 10,000 lumens per/plant, should the same be followed when only growing the one cola? or is the per/plant target lower because of the method of only growing the single main cola?

EDIT: After looking more thoroughly I noticed you said you used one 1000w per tray. So basically 20-24 per bulb I assume? At 145,000 lumens per 1000w hps (i used hortilux as the standard) thats roughly 6000 lumens per plant..?

The 10K lumens per plant rule of thumb is a new one on me. Lots of variables in that, including, as you note, plant size. You'll find a figure of 50W of HPS lighting per sf is rather commonly accepted.

Do you use any supplement lighting? UVB/A bulbs (reptisun), or other cfls?

No- adding fluoros to 1000W HPS lighting is like hanging a model airplane engine off your WRX. Waste of time.

HPS lighting produces plenty of UV, all the way down to UVC at 253nm. No need to add more. By percentage in the spectrum, it's equivalent to the UV content of sunlight in most places (except Antarctica, which gets a lot more UV than you want!)

Ive only used soil as my medium, should the ph be 5.3-5.8 even in rockwool and soil after transplanting to 8" pots? or is that just because you use shreaded rockwool floc?

Rockwool is somewhat alkaline and requires the pH of the nute solution be run a bit low to compensate.

Whats your medium of choice after the roots pop through rockwool cubes?

I used to pack the pots full of rockwool floc from bottom to top but I've always thought that floc holds too much water for too long. I've recently started putting just about 1-2" of floc in the bottom of the pots and filling the remainder with Fytocell "flakes" (more like 'crumbs'). My theory has been proven a bit as now the Fytocell gets filled with rootmass, while the floc in the bottom of the pots only has roots around the outside of the floc, where it is most exposed to air. The layer of floc in the pot bottoms is necessary, both to keep the fytocell crumbs from escaping the drain holes and to keep the pots from floating. Fytocell has a very high air content and is buoyant.

I also saw what I thought to be your odor control, like an ionizer air freshener also seen in public restrooms at venues. What is that thing?

It's a UV ozone (O3) generator aka an ioniser. O3 kills scents as well as fungi and bacteria. You can generate O3 with high voltage (corona) or with UV light. HV type ozonators also produce nitrogen oxides, which when mixed with humidity or wet surfaces forms nitric acid. Not nice on plants. If you must use a HV corona type O3 gen, put it in the exhaust air stream only. UV ozonators can be used in plant areas with no trouble. If you notice small yellow spotting on leaves near your UV ozone gen, put it on a timer to run it perhaps only every other 15 min.