HELP! 600watt HPS heat issues

[420Cndee]

I have had my air cooled 600watt hood for about 2 weeks now and I have it hooked up to my cloudline T6 fan I figured this would be more than adequate to exhaust heat after reading tutorials on here but my 5x 3 tent keeps hitting 78 degrees unless I have the hood around 24-30 inches. when I check with a lux meter at 30" I am still getting around 45,000-55,000 is this enough or how accurate is a lux meter really? Big bud is around 6 weeks definately flowering now and purple hulk is around 5 weeks. I know 78 maybe isn't too hot but by the end of the day just b4 the lights go out they look dry and wilted and crunchy I thought it may be something else but after they sleep the next morning they look great again. I know this probably looks like a lot of babbling but I havent had time to get on here to post questions and I dont have pictures at the moment. I have a 16 year old special needs child that has been a terror the last couple weeks this was the x factor I was worried about when I started this I have way too many irons in the fire now.

 

[growell]

how many lights in tent how u got cooltube hooked up any pics

 

[ChadWestport]

What light were they under before this, was it LED or another HPS? Switching spectrums / intensity can take the plants a little getting use to.

Is your digital ballast dimmable?

HPS let off a lot of radiant heat from the IR, which is pointed directly down at your canopy. What is the temp of the lung room your tent is in? It might be beneficial to try and chill that and bring it into the tent through an intake. Air-cooled hoods are great, I used one for many years along with my AC T6 fan. I usually would only have a 5 degree difference between the outside room temp and the canopy level.

 

[420Cndee]

It is dimmable I had it at 250 before I got the air cooled hood. ambient temperature in the tent is always around 73 the room the tent is in is always around 65 even right now with the tent popped wide open the room stays at around 66 and my canopy temp is 75 now but that's at 30" with my fan on 7 any closer and they start looking crispy. I was thinking just keep the tent popped open in the day and run the fan on high. I will still try to get pictures of everything when I can. Or should I just dim back down to 440 watts or will that even make much difference? i do have an intake also coming from the room next door it stays around 65 to 66 also my biggest problem is my daughter lives in the basement so I can only drop the heat so much lol. And if it gets too cold downstairs it gets cold up here too so idk I knew going into this the 1st time was going to be lots of trial and error I just don't want to start screwing up now that my one plant is starting to show buds all over the stems. Exciting! and Scared! It just seems so odd bc if I stand in the tent and close it it doesn't feel too hot and the hand test over the plants doesn't help bc I can leave my hand over them forever but yet my plants seem to say otherwise. ofc I cook for a living and maybe my arms and hands are just de-sensitized.

 

[420Cndee]

I did just switch from the MH bulb to the HPS less than a week ago and being a new grower these are brand new bulbs. I have read that can make a difference if so how much though and for how long?

 

[420Cndee]

[No message]

 

[420Cndee]

There is also a picture of that bent stalk on the purple hulk bc she was stuck under the coco and I had to replant her and she was all bent and that just never went away. I cant get pictures in natural light yet I had to hurry and get those lol we are like prisoners in our own home with this kid. Don't need him in the grow room there would be nothing left he devastates everything.

 

[bboyfromwayback]

It’s hard to tell from the pic but is the duct feeding your light coming from the filter inside the tent? When I use HPS I run two fans. One is your standard tent exhaust for heat and humidity, the other one is for the hood and pulls cold air from the grow room straight across the light and vented outside.

 

[ChadWestport]

600w is definitely a lot of power / heat for a 3 foot area, but the 5 foot size it is great for. So it's half ideal, half not. Try going to the 440 setting and see if you get more than a 4 degree drop. It will also offer less intensity to the plants, which right now they may benefit from. The switch from the metal halide to an HPS shouldn't be too big of an issue but a switch from 250w to 600w will take a bit of adjustment. You're doing the right thing, the light is far above the canopy. That is awesome you are starting to see some buds

Another thing I think of whenI hear about crunchy leaves, is soil Ph. Have you been monitoring the Ph of the water / nutrients you have been adding?

 

[420Cndee]

I will dim the light at least for now to 400.
I meant 400 not 440 lol.
I have been checking Ph it has been pretty consistent between 5.8 and 6.2 I was just using the test solution so always tried to keep it in the yellowish around 6. I now have a cheap Ph pen I have been double checking with the solution.
I do just have the one fan. carbon filter>fan>light>duct>outside
I have an intake fan the main purpose was to try to keep the tent from sucking in so much with the fan up on higher speeds that did work along with opening a flap.

 

[420Cndee]

Like I said it just seems odd bc like just now I checked on them and its just b4 the light is gonna turn off they look like they are like man its been a hot day today then before I leave for work the lights been on for a couple hours I check them they look nice and happy and perky again.

 

[ChadWestport]

If you are in soil, I'd raise the input Ph a little bit maybe 6.5, but if you are in coco, that is a good range, I prefer more towards the 6.2 or 6.3 side.

At the end of the day, the plants are probably tired, they've been getting some pretty intense light. I don't think you are exceeding your DLI (Daily light intake) limits, but its not terribly uncommon for them to be less perky right before lights out.

When I ran my air-cooled hood, I had the filter, fan, light, exhaust set-up identical to yours.

 

[ChadWestport]

Oh, I also noticed if I run my fan on 3 or if I ran it at 6, there was no lasting temp difference. Should give that a shot and see if the colder air from your intake lingering in the tent a little bit longer cools things off a little bit.

 

[420Cndee]

Ok thanks for all the advice a lot of things to think about and try.
Yes I am in coco and I was thinking my next feeding should be closer to 6.5 as the last 2 times I watered my runoff ph was on the lower side around 5.6-5.8 both times so maybe my coco has been sitting more in the 5.6-5.8 range too long.

 

[ChadWestport]

My brain would follow that logic as well. The run-off from coco IS useful and can be used to adjust feed or Ph.

 

[420Cndee]

[No message]

 

[420Cndee]

There are the lady's this morning in Natural light

 

[420Cndee]

I think they might be looking a little dark and curled down around the leaf edges but they only seem to look like that to me under the hps with the blue glasses on. Idk lol.
Now I am overthinking everything.

 

[growell]

What is your light ducting connected to i would have a fan blowing cold air across it or sucking air across it what ever easy then i would have the end outside also i would get another fan blowing cold air in the bottom of tent u should have 2 fans one sucking and one blowing thats without your hood but your plants look good in pics i think thats your issue only 1 fan mate

 

[420Cndee]

I turned the ballast down to 400 when the lights went out. This morning I was able to move the hood down to around 14" above them.
Canopy temp is holding around 74 with my fan only on 5 now.
getting closer to 60,000 with a lux meter now.
I do have an intake fan sucking air in at the bottom of the tent. i think it may be like @ChadWestport said maybe the 3' is just too narrow to try to run it at 600 if I open my tent all the way up temps drop to 72-74 but yeah close it up and its up to 78.