Cooltubes or open Reflectors ???

Im interested in peoples opinions regarding cooltubes or open reflectors, i personally use open reflectors and wont change, however, im open to hear others thoughts.

Basically my logic is as follows;

Cooltubes - lose lumens through the glass, however you can keep lights lower to growth tips.

Open Reflectors - higher lumen output, however cannot lower to much.

Id prefer to have the intensity of lumens and keep lights further away, node spacing doesnt change either way, so anyone else that has any input or advice please id like to hear....

The lumens savings is re.ally minor. Get a cool tub. Also the farther your light is from your plants causes a decrease in intensity by a factor of. I'd rather have a cooler hood I could keep close to plants than a hotter (and slightly brighter hood) that you'd have to keep at a greater distance from your plants (which ultimately is like using a less brighter light).

thanks man, appreciate your opinion.

bump anyone elses input?

i use an open reflector, keeps my temps bang on in my room, a cool tube would lower them too much

Some people have to use one or the other because of the space they are growing in.....so it's not the lumins that sway people, it's the temp control.....

One handy thing about a CoolTube is you can run CO2 without having to turn off your exhaust ventilation system so it isn't sucked out before the plants can make use of it.

What Oldreefer said.

good point bricktop

hhmmm, Solid point made by Brick Top, im just thinking if i change to cooltubes, ill have to run 2 sets of ventilation, 1 for internal tent, plus the lights, i mean, i wouldnt need intense ventilation for the internal as the cooltubes ventilation itself would keep internal temp low and stable while lights on, but its another cost and db's adding to the system. Im still not convinced cooltubes are much of a benefit yield wise or efficiency wise.
Thanks to all that have replied to date, appreciate your views and opinions.

chrono said:

hhmmm, Solid point made by Brick Top, im just thinking if i change to cooltubes, ill have to run 2 sets of ventilation, 1 for internal tent, plus the lights, i mean, i wouldnt need intense ventilation for the internal as the cooltubes ventilation itself would keep internal temp low and stable while lights on, but its another cost and db's adding to the system. Im still not convinced cooltubes are much of a benefit yield wise or efficiency wise.
Thanks to all that have replied to date, appreciate your views and opinions.

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I have known people with CoolTubes with enough ventilation running through them that they not only did not need any other ventilation for their grow room but the leaves of their plants could touch the glass tube and not be cooked. If you can remove enough, or all, the heat put off by the light why would your grow room get so hot that you need added ventilation?

If you are concerned about enough light for good yields you can purchase a 1000-watt CoolTube and I have seen them that will hold two 1000-watt bulbs, or two bulbs of other wattage.

If you are concerned about light dispersal, then maybe you should consider a conventional reflective hood but with glass enclosing it. They basically work like a CoolTube. The heat is trapped inside the hood and with adequate ventilation through the hood your grow area remains cool.

Maybe something along the lines of a:


Close Window AIROFLOW Reflector

The innovative AiroFlow is the finest air-coolable reflector available. The AIROFLOW comes with built in 6” cooling flanges for super efficient, straight-through cooling capabilities. All ALUMINUM construction allows the AIROFLOW to be strong yet very lightweight and it will never rust. The AiroFlow also includes a built-in 5KV socket and 15’ cord set, as a result, no wiring is required. A tempered glass lens is standard and the reflective insert is high efficiency 95% reflective textured aluminum for excellent light distribution without hot-spots.

I'm preparing to build my own grow tent/room and step up to HPS from my current cfl. I've been curious about the cooltubes. If running one, wouldn't a large PC fan be enough to vent your tent(provided it's not TOO big. I'm planning on 4dX8wX7h)? My math tells me that with two 120cfm fans that I already have I could get a complete air exchange roughly once every 50 seconds.

Brick Top, i hear you about the ventilation, at first i thought same thing, well i wouldnt need internal intake and exhaust, temps would be down, very true, however wouldnt it still be most beneficial to still have some sort of fresh air flow moving through the tent, i cant imagine the stagant air inside a enclosed tent could be a good thing, even with a oscillating floor fan inside, the air would become stale wouldnt it, this could turn into rot etc, cuase rapid humidity increases, ???? just a question so i can understand.

I have a 400w hps cooltube setup and an open hood 400w & 1000w hps setup.....The cooltube setup was lots more expensive to set up as it had to be stealth along with odor free....I have 2 4" vortex fans , one each for exhaust and intake although I usually run them very low speed acording to ambient temps..... The cooltube is inside a small tent while the open hood systems are in a 12 x 18 room with a fan moving air....so far, I'm impressed with the cooltube results and wish I had a larger tent! I currently have some nice autos under each with the ones under the open hood stretched a lot more as those open hood are HOT.....the plants under the cooltube are compact and thick with growing buds.......Under the "right" conditions, I prefer the 1000w......but the cooltube allows me to adjust all conditions.....

Oldreefer said:

I have a 400w hps cooltube setup and an open hood 400w & 1000w hps setup.....The cooltube setup was lots more expensive to set up as it had to be stealth along with odor free....I have 2 4" vortex fans , one each for exhaust and intake although I usually run them very low speed acording to ambient temps..... The cooltube is inside a small tent while the open hood systems are in a 12 x 18 room with a fan moving air....so far, I'm impressed with the cooltube results and wish I had a larger tent! I currently have some nice autos under each with the ones under the open hood stretched a lot more as those open hood are HOT.....the plants under the cooltube are compact and thick with growing buds.......Under the "right" conditions, I prefer the 1000w......but the cooltube allows me to adjust all conditions.....

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Thank you for the info, that helps, can i clarify that inside the tent, your not using any ventilation, only venting the cooltube, and do youhave a fan inside the tent, could you elaborate a little more please.

I live in a cold climate, if I vent from outside air it could be really cold. Can I run this air through an enclosed hood.

chrono said:

Brick Top, i hear you about the ventilation, at first i thought same thing, well i wouldnt need internal intake and exhaust, temps would be down, very true, however wouldnt it still be most beneficial to still have some sort of fresh air flow moving through the tent, i cant imagine the stagant air inside a enclosed tent could be a good thing, even with a oscillating floor fan inside, the air would become stale wouldnt it, this could turn into rot etc, cuase rapid humidity increases, ???? just a question so i can understand.

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I've never been a tent grower so my mind does not think in those terms, so yes some air movement would be good, but it wouldn't need a great deal, not like a regular sized/cfm ventilation system ... unless it is a very large tent.

Brick Top said:

I've never been a tent grower so my mind does not think in those terms, so yes some air movement would be good, but it wouldn't need a great deal, not like a regular sized/cfm ventilation system ... unless it is a very large tent.

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So the air exchange I mentioned with the PC fans would be sufficient? Since you don't tent grow, I take it you have a room that allows adequate ventilation?

chrono said:

Brick Top, i hear you about the ventilation, at first i thought same thing, well i wouldnt need internal intake and exhaust, temps would be down, very true, however wouldnt it still be most beneficial to still have some sort of fresh air flow moving through the tent, i cant imagine the stagant air inside a enclosed tent could be a good thing, even with a oscillating floor fan inside, the air would become stale wouldnt it, this could turn into rot etc, cuase rapid humidity increases, ???? just a question so i can understand.

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Hey Chrono...I believe the term your looking for is passive intake! If you are drawing air out of a room with open vents at the bottom it will subsequently draw fresh air into the room at the same time.

So for example....cool tube set up with an open end and ducting on the other. Draw air over the bulb and out of the room keeping the bulb cool, and pulling air out of the room at the same time. Fresh air then will be sucked into the room via the open vents of the room/tent, or any "crack" in the wall for that matter. That is how the air will recirculate.

NOT good for use with Co2. Unless designed properly.

Hope that helped a bit...Long time since I contributed! lol...

oxfordbp said:

Hey Chrono...I believe the term your looking for is passive intake! If you are drawing air out of a room with open vents at the bottom it will subsequently draw fresh air into the room at the same time.

So for example....cool tube set up with an open end and ducting on the other. Draw air over the bulb and out of the room keeping the bulb cool, and pulling air out of the room at the same time. Fresh air then will be sucked into the room via the open vents of the room/tent, or any "crack" in the wall for that matter. That is how the air will recirculate.

NOT good for use with Co2. Unless designed properly.

Hope that helped a bit...Long time since I contributed! lol...

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thanks, i understand passive intakes, however like you suggested in a tent setup running co2 its pointless, also, need to keep in mind without some sort of ventilation internally, i cant remove odour, i need a centrifigal fan internally to scrub the air inside tent. It seems that 2 ventilation systems would be required.