yea i was wondering what exactly are the cool tubes? do u have to have an enclosed fixture to use them? could u use them with just a reflector? and will u have to hook up a fan to blow through the tube? should u use them with both hps and mh? also i wondering say i had a surge protector and a timer plugged into it, would the timer turn everything on and off that was plugged into it protector, or just what was plugged into the timer? thanks for any help...
A cool Tube is a Cylinder of toughened glass usually pyrex. It runs the length of your long HPS/MH Bulb. It is secured to the light fixture with one end open and the other and attached to some ducting of the same diameter Somewhere in the ducting you have an extraction fan to suck air from inside your room and across the light bulb and into the ducting. This is a good method of keeping a cool grow room/space and having a tidy extraction place for your room. The only problem associated with a cool tube is the fact that any glass put inbetween your bulb and your plant is going to lose about 20% of the Lumen output of your bulb. P.s - A timer will only run what is plugged into it, You want your surge protector to be the first line of defense coming out of the wall, so plug the timer into the surge protector. P.P.S - the best surge protectors are specifically for Home entertaiment systems, these protector usually have a power filter built in, this protects your equipment from any type of surge, ...from electrical strike, or power failure in the area, or whatever... Dirty power can affect your equipment and you don't want that considering what the equipment is growing . To combat this problem you could get a more powerful HPS and use a cool tubeto bring it back to your original lumen output of your bulb. Good Luck