All the cool tubes I find are 6" and 19" tall... these won't fit in a 2' x 2' grow cab when I add ducting to each ends.. are there any options that are smaller and shorter?
I can't do that because a cooltube 6 is 19" long and adding a reducer to both ends will make it far larger than 2 feet. My grow cab is 2' x 2'
There may be an air-cooled hood (rather than a cool tube) that is shorter. DK specifically, you'll have to hunt, but that's where the internet is a great thing. If you can't find one, you could always consider mounting a cool tube diagonally in your space...
you dont have to attach the reducer directly to the cooltube, you can duct it out at 6" a 90 degree bend and then attach the reducer vertically and go straight to the filter from there.. same thing with the fan on the other end
I think what he is saying is that the cool tube takes up 19 of his 24 inches in width, so he has only five inches total, or only 2.5 inches on each side, for clearance of an intake and an exhaust pipe. Can't fit a 6" or a 4" in a 2.5" space. That's why I suggested a diagonal mounting, that cab would have 34" from corner to corner, so a 19" cool tube would have 7.5 inches of clearance on each end.
ok, i get it.. well if the cabinet is that damn small.. that means its smaller than alot of the bigger reflectors are.. i'd say a cool tube isnt even neccesary, just make the whole cabinet a "cool tube" by using a regular batwing style reflector and just mount a decent 4" exhaust fan to the back of it. at 170-200 cfm the fan will evacuate the air so fast that it'll never have a chance to get hot in there. ..just like a cool tube.
My cab is not much bigger, and you can't just make the whole cab into a cool tube if you are facing heat issues.
sure you can. pose this experiment for you.. take a cool tube reflector and disconnect the ducting.. then place your hand inside the refelctor.. wouldnt you say the reflector is experiencing "heat issues?" now connect input and exhaust ducting to the reflector, turn on the exhaust fan and taaaddaa heat issues solved.. his grow cabinet is tiny.. its like 2x2x4 .. thats almost the size of XXXL reflector. im just saying if he just takes his cabinet and adds a 200cfm exhaust fan, as long as the ambient temps are like 70 degrees he should be able to keep the cabinet temps well below 85
And I'm just saying that I actually have a 2.5x2.5x4 cab, and I actually ran a HID that was not air-cooled in there (so treating the whole cab as air-cooled by your definition) with a fan rated at well over 200 CFM, and then I actually switched out for a cool tube and actually saw temps drop significantly. Not theory, actually happened. The OP very well may be able to keep his temps in range without an air-cooled hood and ambient temps of 70F. But that's not to say that from a ventilation standpoint you can treat the entire 16 cubic feet or so of his cabinet the same as the 1 or less cubic foot that an air-cooled hood takes up. It's a much larger volume and needs to be considered as such.
Same dilema here. I'm going to use the same size tent and I can't find an air-cooled hood or tube that will fit! So is there such thing as a 4" cool tube? Is there such thing as an air-cooled hood that is no wider than 18", from vent to vent(to accomodate a 6" duct hooked up to one side)? I have my mind set on having a functioning air-cooled light in this tent. I've looked everywhere and I'm assuming the OP has too. Help us pls!
I have spent hours searching for 4" anything, besides fans and ducting, and filters, there's not much. I've found 4" aircooled optional reflectors but you have to buy a kit to put install the ductwork, and I couldn't find anywhere on the site that had the glass for any reflector that didn't come with it. 6" & 8" stuff is pretty common. I've never seen a 4" cool tube. Good Luck!
i saw someone before here on GC that cut up a couple glass vases and duct taped them together and made his own cool tube.
plsfoldtnx, Like I said earlier, I'm in the same dilema. I couldn't find a 4" cool tube. But, what I did find(finally) is a 4" air-cooled reflector that will fit in our tent perfectly. Here ya' go: 4" Air-cooled reflector I ordered mine today