DD,

Add a little Physan to your tray water and you'll never have an algae
problem.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
..
"dd" wrote in message
...
In article , Rob Halgren
wrote:

Well, I've installed the 2 400 watt mh lights and I don't think
I'll need any
supplementary lighting afterall.
snips here and below
Check again in a few weeks, it will drop a significant amount.
Not
so much that you need to worry about it, but the bulbs do have an
initial burn in period (like fluorescent tubes). It will still be
plenty bright in there.

I replace my 400 watt MH bulb every fall. It does not burn during
the
summer months because the plants are summered outside. When I
replace
the bulb, I follow this procedu Catts and their crosses that
have
just finished summering outside go under the fixture, which is
about
3.5 feet to 4 feet above the humidity trays and is next to a
south-facing window. (By this time, they've set sheaths, which
continue to develop with no danger of burning.) New plants or
windowsill plants get moved to the side of the fixture so they don't
burn-- they also get light from the windows. After a month, they can
be
brought in closer to the HID light.


Also found I don't need a heater either.

Yep, the light puts out a lot of heat. Because I have many humidity
trays and a room set off from the rest of the house, I have no
problem
with humidity. Humidity trays DO work in an enclosed environment.
This
morning, it is 6 degrees F. outside, with relative humidity in the
50s.
The relative humidity inside the orchid room is 75%, just from the
humidity trays. The downside of using humidity trays is that they
get a
lot of algae and require dumping and cleaning (about every 10 days
for
me). You might be happier with a fogger--it will certainly save
time.

That is a fortunate (or unfortunate) side effect of the big
lights.
For some systems (Hydrofarm, for sure) you can get manufacturer
designed
powered venting. Like dryer vents with a fan... Makes it look
more
space-agey in your basement. Remote ballasts help too, if your
cord is
long enough to reach outside the plant room. I've not had a
problem
with excess heat in the several years that I've had my current
setup,
due to the location of the room in the basement. But if you are
getting
up to 91F in the winter with your setup, you will want to consider
venting some of that heat out of there. Be creative, a dryer vent
and a
muffin fan will solve a lot of problems....

The humming of a ballast is, to me, VERY annoying. Because my
office
is also "the orchidarium, " I had an electrician drill a hole in
the
floor, replace the short balast cord with a long one, and put the
ballast box in the garage below, where I can't hear it. It's on a
timer, so I don't have to horse around with going downstairs to turn
it
off and on. The ballast box also puts out heat, which I don't need,
and you probably don't either, so putting the box in the garage was
a
good solution.

DD