i have 11 autos under a 600 watt hps i have a wing reflector and about an 8 inch diameter house fan cooling it attached directlly to the wing blowing off the heat above the plants. the problem is my plants are showing signs of heat problems, leaf edges are curling up. my humidity is between 40 and 60 and there is no fans blowing directly on the plants. do i neeed an air cooled reflector?
And what do you have for an exhaust fan? From my experience (I run a 600w), I could not keep temps in range without and air cooled hood. I think that unless your setup is in a cool basement and you have a good extraction fan, air cooled is almost necessary when running 600w in a small area. Put a thermometer right at the canopy and measure the temp there.
I have a 400 watt doing the same...drying out the tips of the buds...it is 6 inches away though....ran out of height space....I did reposition my fan though, to blow away heat from bulb....think I will definitely get a clip fan to adhere right on reflector
Blowing hot air around the area won't change the temperature. You need to exhaust air out of it through the top and bring cool air in through the bottom Keep your canopy no higher than 30℃, the rest of the area doesn't matter. You can get by without an air cooled hood, but you have to make sure your ventilation is good enough. Plus it makes a difference what temperature the air is that is coming in to the area