That's quite the comprehensive shopping list for a first effort. Looks like you've got all the parts.
How is your water? Will you need an RO unit too?
When I look at your pics, it seems to me that you've built a light for a rectangular tent, not a 5 x 5 square tent. How does the light distribution look if you lower the light to 2 feet from the floor?
Haha, yeah it's quite a list, just figured I'd go big or go home
I haven't researched much on RO and when it's actually needed, I'll read up on that. My tap water is around PH 6, and 200 PPM...so I'm thinking it's not that bad?
I had the same thoughts on the heatsink size, a fellow over at grasscity forums by the name of Tbone Shuffle, who seems to be quite the expert on QB's (he really is), told me that this size heatsink was actually better than the square one. My original plan was to purchase the square one but the folks at HLG apparently stopped selling them, I emailed them and they also recommended this one for a 5x5. I'll lower the fixture to 2' and take some pictures.
welcome to the forum first off
and I see a couple of the guys covered pretty much everything over night and while I was deleting spam this morning. but ill add a few things..
1) yeah that's completely normal for a "a" type.. my bad 135w kit using a 120-54a can go to 134 watts and dims to 75ish at the minimum..
2) 55c or lower is great.. 60c not bad.. my little slate 1's were hitting over 70c when I was using the -c2100 but now they only get 1450 ish ma each and are running a lot cooler in that 55-60c range the extra heat from the driver makes it harder to dissipate the board heat.. a great way to help this is running a remote driver... mount it somewhere with easy access off the heatsink ( out side grow area even if heat is a issue ), and run a longer lead from the driver output to the boards input..
3) exactly what WR said
4) exactly what SB said
5) I'm in same size tent using a 480h-54 with 6 QB's. ( viewtopic.php?f=11&t=56&hilit=it%27s+alive got to jump to page 4 I think for the 6 board upgrade ) for veg I like 24-30" full power.. for flower I drop right to 16-18" on day one.. and slowly move the light up with the plants as they stretch.. in my situation it seems I can control the stretch by doing this.. the last 3-4 runs they ended up right where I thought it would.. just above the scrog net.. I'm thinking I'm over saturating them with light and not running co2, they can't use it all so it kind of stunts them... just my country boy theory
6) my seedlings and cloner are about 4' or so away from my 135w qb kit I use for a veg light outside of my tent.. I just kind of move them off to the side at first.. if they can take more I move them over/ up a little.. til they on point with rest in the area...
7) I haven't had a slate 6 yet, but if it's the same size holes as a slate 1 or 2, they going to be really small.. I'll see what I can dig up.. but I'm guessing even the keyring sized ones are just barely to big.
again welcome
Holy fuck that's a beast fixture you have
I'm seriously thinking about mounting the driver outside the tent since my temps are high enough as it is where I live...and it would help me shave off a few inches from the top.
Thanks a bunch for the reply! Lots of valuable info
...a great way to help this is running a remote driver... mount it somewhere with easy access off the heatsink ( out side grow area even if heat is a issue ), and run a longer lead from the driver output to the boards input..
I'm going to set the driver up outside my tent today, where do you recommend I mount it? Wood, metal, just put it on the floor?
Also if you do find out what carabiners or clips I can use for the Slate 6 let me know! Since now I'll be able to put the fixture at least 6" higher. Ease of movement is a big plus, I'm currently using rope ratchets and they're pretty easy to manage so I would just change the carabiner on the light end to a smaller one or clip. By the way, my fixture is weighing 22 pounds, minus the driver I'm guessing it will be around 15.
"I haven't researched much on RO and when it's actually needed, I'll read up on that. My tap water is around PH 6, and 200 PPM...so I'm thinking it's not that bad?"
My water is 280 ppm (on the 700 scale) and pH 8.1. I grew with it (in straight perlite in Hempy buckets) for a couple of years before switching to RO. Where I noticed the most difference was in my ability to flush the plants at the end. It's tough (yet weirdly doable with RO and Clearex) to get the root zone cleaner than the water flushing it. I noticed that Clearex worked a whole lot better when used with RO too.
Also my use of pH down has gone down dramatically. I had been using about 21 ml in a batch, now it's less than 2 ml.
When I first tried final flushing with tap water, it took almost the whole 2 weeks of flush to get good plant deterioration. With pH'd RO, it's 5 to 6 days. I have to be careful not to overdo it or the yellow will recede into the buds and make trimming a real pain.
"I haven't researched much on RO and when it's actually needed, I'll read up on that. My tap water is around PH 6, and 200 PPM...so I'm thinking it's not that bad?"
My water is 280 ppm (on the 700 scale) and pH 8.1. I grew with it (in straight perlite in Hempy buckets) for a couple of years before switching to RO. Where I noticed the most difference was in my ability to flush the plants at the end. It's tough (yet weirdly doable with RO and Clearex) to get the root zone cleaner than the water flushing it. I noticed that Clearex worked a whole lot better when used with RO too.
Also my use of pH down has gone down dramatically. I had been using about 21 ml in a batch, now it's less than 2 ml.
When I first tried final flushing with tap water, it took almost the whole 2 weeks of flush to get good plant deterioration. With pH'd RO, it's 5 to 6 days. I have to be careful not to overdo it or the yellow will recede into the buds and make trimming a real pain.
With RO, I add about 300 ppm of CaliMagic.
Your water is not that bad, it can still be used as is, but could be beneficial to use RO to eliminate any possible issues from your tap water!
My tap water is around 70-80ppm, and have never had the need for RO, though i have an RO setup still sitting in its original packaging.
I read somewhere if you have above 500ppm tap water, then its nessesary to use RO.
I would experiment and see how it goes!
...a great way to help this is running a remote driver... mount it somewhere with easy access off the heatsink ( out side grow area even if heat is a issue ), and run a longer lead from the driver output to the boards input..
I'm going to set the driver up outside my tent today, where do you recommend I mount it? Wood, metal, just put it on the floor?
Also if you do find out what carabiners or clips I can use for the Slate 6 let me know! Since now I'll be able to put the fixture at least 6" higher. Ease of movement is a big plus, I'm currently using rope ratchets and they're pretty easy to manage so I would just change the carabiner on the light end to a smaller one or clip. By the way, my fixture is weighing 22 pounds, minus the driver I'm guessing it will be around 15.
Thanks!
a piece of wood, mounted on the wall, building a special electric box with dimmers and meters in it etc they all work.. I wouldn't leave it on the floor though.. the key is mount it so it can't move and disconnect wires.. also at a height that makes it easier for you to dim it..
I just noticed some carabiners have similar sizes to the screws/bolts we use.. I'm assuming the M5 sized ones will fit a M5 hole on our slate heat sinks
"I haven't researched much on RO and when it's actually needed, I'll read up on that. My tap water is around PH 6, and 200 PPM...so I'm thinking it's not that bad?"
My water is 280 ppm (on the 700 scale) and pH 8.1. I grew with it (in straight perlite in Hempy buckets) for a couple of years before switching to RO. Where I noticed the most difference was in my ability to flush the plants at the end. It's tough (yet weirdly doable with RO and Clearex) to get the root zone cleaner than the water flushing it. I noticed that Clearex worked a whole lot better when used with RO too.
Also my use of pH down has gone down dramatically. I had been using about 21 ml in a batch, now it's less than 2 ml.
When I first tried final flushing with tap water, it took almost the whole 2 weeks of flush to get good plant deterioration. With pH'd RO, it's 5 to 6 days. I have to be careful not to overdo it or the yellow will recede into the buds and make trimming a real pain.
With RO, I add about 300 ppm of CaliMagic.
Thanks for the info on RO! Will make sure to read more on the subject.
a piece of wood, mounted on the wall, building a special electric box with dimmers and meters in it etc they all work.. I wouldn't leave it on the floor though.. the key is mount it so it can't move and disconnect wires.. also at a height that makes it easier for you to dim it..
I just noticed some carabiners have similar sizes to the screws/bolts we use.. I'm assuming the M5 sized ones will fit a M5 hole on our slate heat sinks
Awesome! I'll probably mount it directly on the wall for now. I ordered some heat shrink tubing for the wires so it stays neat and organized
As for hanging the light, I think I'm going to get some M5 eye bolts and nuts for the heatsink and attach carabiners to the eye bolts. Seems like a good solution...With the driver off the heatsink how close can I get to the top of my tent? You think 6" is still safe?
Hi. New here, new to indoor growing, new to QBs.
I got 2x QB288s on clearance and bought a HLG C2100 driver to go with them.
I have also been wondering about the hole sizes on the Slate 2s, as I need to buy hardware to mount them. I think I read somewhere that M4s were needed, so your M5 hardware may be too big to fit.
Can anyone confirm hole sizing on the slate 2s?
Thanks.
but ill add a few things..
