That is really a nice post and you gave the nice explanation. Keep posting on different topics. It will increase the interest to learn more.
I found this: http://www.ppg.com/coatings/matthewspaint/forfabricators/environmentalsolutions/Documents/hr_white_sellsheet.pdf Matthews Paint Channel Letter Paint Enhances Brightness and Eliminates Hot Spots Advantages: • Better for the environment with a VOC level of 0.16 lbs/gal (about 20g/L). • High reflectivity with an LRV of 96+. • Enhances brightness and eliminates bright spots. • Can be applied directly to properly prepared steel (cold rolled or hot rolled) and aluminum. • Ready to spray from the can. • Hides faster with less coats. • Dries fast. • A true “White†coating. • Based on an acrylic resin rather than a vinyl one, making it more durable. • Will not yellow.
I lived in the Bahamas for a while and saw a lot of drug runners doing their thing. You ask why spend millions and not your electric bill? They probably figure a cave getting thousand dollar electric bills will tip people off anyhow. In the Bahamas, they were usually running coke, so the profit and weight is different, but basically, they'd ditch boats, houses and planes because they were all cheaper (or stolen) than the cargo. And, it's easier for a guy to ditch the whole cargo and live to fight another day, than try to save the product. Maybe times, these guys would land in a shallow water area, take out the cargo (worth millions) then buy another plane. Maybe these guys thought they were going to get found eventually, so why pay the bill?
hey guys! New grower with a quick noob question! Ok, So im very closet to finishing my 2x2x3 box and planting my first couple Beans! Im just stuck on a few things... First, I plan on using a 150w hps light and making the DiY Cool tube. Will this one light be enough? and should i add any other lights with this one?
no...its probably metal tape and its not even as reflective as aluminum foil...at all. its got way too many creases. seriously, mylar is the best cheapest way...its like 20 dollars for a 8x6 piece where i get it. so its fairly inexpensive...
HA! just now saw the date on that my friend. lmao. my bad. i had medicated and tried to be smart. take it easy man
@[member="jcj77d"] Hello for the Kool Seal White Elastomeric Roof Coating can this be painted on if some mildew has already formed or do i need to kill the mildew first? I have a shed made of plywood and need to dry out the room and then paint or do something to prevent the mold or mildew in the room.
I used a PAR meter and found that my wall reflected around 50 PAR; after i covered them with mylar they reflected 3 to 6 times the PAR. I always use mylar now.
Dear shike I've used this are reflective insulation stuff so I seen by personal experience it does work and it is 98 or even more reflective than most other form of reflective surfaces Sent from my HUAWEI H881C using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Oh dear, none of this is based on facts is it??? If so please provide sources. Truth is Aluminium foil reflects up to 98 % of light and heat, (that is why they use aluminium in the reflectors you have your HIDs housed in....) Mylar, Foylon etc are good but not much in it except its loads more money. This aluminium scare mongering is rarely backed up with facts and sources, just for the heads up i have grown for 20 years and still my best ever grow is with tin foiled walls. Happy growing Oh and a cheeky link for you guys to scan, some sources provided there too!! http://www.420magazine.com/forums/frequently-asked-questions/213161-foil-vs-mylar-truth-accepted-faith.html
Flat white paint is the best. There are several reasons I say this: 1. Hanging anything over the interior surface of a grow room traps moisture and leads to mold, mildew etc 2. Mylar, foil, things like that create hot spots. 3. Diffused reflectivity is more efficient than direct reflectivity. 4. Using an antimicrobial/fungal flat white paint is even better. It's cheaper than Mylar, foil etc. 5. Several coats of this kind of paint will make the walls easier to clean with light bleach spray for disinfecting the grow room. 6. Looks a hell of a lot better. Just my two cents from research I've done and experience I've had. Nothing worse than a mildew and mold invasion you don't see until it's EVERYWHERE! -growtender
Good points well made growtender, just hate people stating opinions as facts. White paint is great for all the reasons mentioned before, certainly expensive Mylar or black white material is not a necessity.
If you use antifungals properly, that's not an issue, anyhow. I use an automatic watering system, and every week, I mix Greencure into the feed reservoir for the sprayer system. But admittedly, most folks aren't equipped to do this...some because of knowledge, some because of expense. Plain old white paint is a no no, though.... White paint reflects VISIBLE light well, but not IR or UV wavelengths, which the plants need in some amounts. UV, it reflects somewhat better, because it's low wavelength/high energy, so ANY reflection still has enough energy for penetration. But if you don't get enough IR reflected, it's already low energy/short wavelength. And the stuff that DOES reflect IR well is expensive as hell (usually because it's the "farraday cage" type paint, with a high amount of copper in it, and is naturally blueish, so getting it in white is added expense). If you have enough heat just from lights, not because it's an indoor grow and the house is warm, this isn't an issue. But if you get too much heat between the lights and the house, then you have the added expense of cooling... As a result of all of this, I prefer to use strips of mylar and aluminum dowels...you bend the dowels so that when you glue the mylar strip's edges to it, you get a convex effect, to minimize "hot spots" (somewhat like a store's security mirrors, if you were to cut a vertical strip about 6" wide from top to bottom through the center out of it for use) on lower walls, and tightly stretched full spectrum white sheeting from the hydroponics store (been so long since I bought it, I've forgotten the manufacturer and name of material) along the ceiling, and normal pure white outdoor semi-gloss paint on the walls from about halfway up the wall to the ceiling. Outdoor latex paint because it cleans easily, and is resistant to fungal buildup (you're entirely right about it being important, even if you have a good system for consistent use of antifungals direct to plants). Like most things having to do with growing, HOW you do it is usually a matter of personal taste, most people's "how *I* do it" has sound reasoning behind it, but some weaknesses to it, or aspects overlooked because, let's face it, ain't nobody who knows ALL the stuff necessary to do "the perfect indoor grow". Plus nobody out there has identical conditions in their grow area, no matter if they're next door neighbors, or one lives in a 120 year old tiny little place with a broom closet basement, and the other in a brand new mansion with a 4000 sq foot finished basement with the best "high efficiency indoor climate controls" money can buy. So read up on how others do it...take their opinions with a grain of salt...but if they can deliver the SCIENCE behind their opinions, be a little less critical...you'll find the things you recognize as needing to be addressed, and multiple ways to address them. Depending on the knowledge and skills you have OUTSIDE the field, you'll even come up with some solutions of your own, and start giving your own opinions on threads like this, of "the most effective way" (and, if you're an asshat know-it-all who's always certain that their way is the ONLY way, you'll be claiming you have the "only right way" to do it...a patent falsehood, since there are about 2,439 solutions to most relatively simple problems).
To be fair flat white paint does reflect some IR and UV, and plants only need some anyways. And I'm talking about all the properties of using flat white paint. Reflectivity is not always the most important aspect to this decision, especially since your lamp and hood are the most important parts of your lighting system. Wall reflect-ability is simply an added bonus and does not account for more than maybe 10% of the light received by the plants. Ease of installation, price, ability to clean, and prevention of mold and mildew all play into it. Diffused light is way better than strict reflection for even distribution of light, which matters way more than the possible 10-20% difference in UV/IR reflection. Couple that with hotspot potential and general pitfalls of cleaning and anything other than flat white paint seems to beg for higher cost of maintenance. In short I think the hassle of cleaning, possible hot spots, and risk of mold and mildew growth certainly outweigh the small advantage of using something that reflects a negligible amount more UV/IR than paint. Just wanted to retort in defense of flat white paint for those hemming and hawing over the decision. I think a realistic approach to building a grow that seriously takes ease of maintenance into account can yield a more productive garden than fretting over very negligible truths about methods of setup. The most important thing in a grow is YOU! If you construct a garden that's hard to maintain, you take the focus away from growing. -growtender
Yup...and I've even said to some folks that switching from a room already painted white is a "last major upgrade to worry about" issue. But if you're going to rely on white paint...supplement IR and UV a bit. Honestly, you should supplement UV a bit, anyhow, according to the most recent research (and plain old common sense, if you look at wildlife in areas where the plants grow best naturally...they typically do best in areas where the wildlife, if raised as a "pet" require UV augmentation to be healthy, indoors). Most easily done with a handful of "reptile UV bulbs", in my experience. Low watt, low intensity, plenty of results (UV is high energy...very little goes a long way).