600W vs 1000W vs 1500W

hi im andy ive been doing alot of reading over the last few weeks and appreciate it all most lights ive seen have no covers i had this free an it has a glass cover it still hot though but i suppose nowheere near as hot without the glass how far away do i keep it ??

So one of my friends works at a commercial lighting company. They are huge and have everything from grow lights to street lights. He owes me a favor and I happen to be moving at the same time. I've been growing and reading the forums for over a decade but I've never gone bigger than 400 watt closet grows and I havent done one of those in years. So I'm moving and one of the things that really caught my eye when we picked out this house was the perfect growing spot. After building a wall I'll probably end up with about 6' x 9'. Here's were the friend comes in, he says he'll give me whatever lights and digital ballasts I want for free but this is a one time only deal. Since I've only got one shot to do it right on lights to start with what should I ask for? I'm not gonna use the whole area for flowering as that would just be too much for me, probably gonna set up a nice 4' x 6' separated area for flowering and use the other space for cloning.
So I know I need one low-wattage MH for my mums, possibly wanting to do SOG so I'd need to be able to pull a shit ton of healthy clones at once. Is 400 Watts MH overkill? I know my hardest thing to deal with is gonna be heat so If I dont need that much veg light it would probably help in heat.
So now that you know whats up, what would you go with?

I'm thinking 2 x 1000 watt would be pretty sweet but plenty out there prefer 3 x 600. Can someone explain the thinking behind this?
I've always heard 1k's are better due to foliar penetration (sp?), would this be the same for 1500 watters? Would 2 x 1500 be better than 3 x 1000 for this reason?
What about a single 1500 on a light mover, would it compare to three 600's?

Just for you, if you had a chance at free lights but had to pick them today what would you go with? Another thing to think about is its gonna be easier for me to ask for two lights versus five (1500 vs 600) and I'd probably save on hoods, ducting, cool tubes, and blower size if I were just doing two lights instead of five.

If you are using 4x6 as the flower room, you only need 1k. A 400w in the veg and clone 2x4 would be fine.

Inline fans through air cooled hoods in a row running 6-800 cfm you should be gravy.

You could do two 600w in the flower room. Up to you. Have fun.

Stoked on the free lights for ya'. Peace.

Whats the point of diminishing returns with more light? All things being equal (especially heat) will 2kw yield more than 1kw in the same space? Would it yield double (doubtful but you see where I'm going here?)

I will be starting with rudimentary Co2 enrichment. Basically I have a 200# empty CO2 tank at work, gotta buy a regulator, fill it, and I would love to be able to automate it but for right now I'll have to do the manual calculations and release it manually. That should raise the amount of light the plants can handle right? Automated CO2 will be my first buy when I can see that it really is worth the money and I get everything else in my grow going well.

damn thats awsome man,shit get as mnay lights as you can, its all worth an arm and a leg, get the best you can

Gotta figure it out by Friday, the possibilities are endless, what if I turn the whole 6 x 9 into the flower room, put a 1500 in the middle and a bunch of 400's around the outside in vertical cool tubes?

.....stoned rambling to self....

So here's the real new question. If horizontal space is the limiting factor would I do better with taller plants and side lighting?

Just got an extra couple weeks to figure out the light situation, will turn this into a growroom design thread, gonna go take some pics of my potential space tonight.

I would go with 4-400w lights for the flower and 1-400w for the veg room sizes listed above. If your getting lights for free, spend the money you saved on a water chiller/ice box set up. you could run both rooms off one 1/4 hp chiller, 6 ice boxes, and a easy to build manifold. That'll allow you maximum control on temps while utilizing your Co2. You can evenly distribute the light extremely well, and get some good bulbs for both veg and flower. There's not a lot of options for 600/1500w bulbs.

-Zoo

600w HPS lights are the most efficient HID in terms of lumen's per watt, figure out a way to use 600s. A 400w in a 2x3' veg area is overkill and will generate a ton of heat, consider a 250w augmented with CFLs. If you can manage the heat of 3 600s in the flowering room go for it - in a space that size you'll have killer buds! But that is a lot of heat - consider HID lighting "heaters that product some visible light". Good luck on a nice size space.

I didnt even know they made 1500w grow bulbs or ballasts............. Isnt 100w pretty much the max the plants can actually use?

theClosetGrower said:

600w HPS lights are the most efficient HID in terms of lumen's per watt, figure out a way to use 600s. A 400w in a 2x3' veg area is overkill and will generate a ton of heat, consider a 250w augmented with CFLs. If you can manage the heat of 3 600s in the flowering room go for it - in a space that size you'll have killer buds! But that is a lot of heat - consider HID lighting "heaters that product some visible light". Good luck on a nice size space.

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Great input. If you have the ability to create an above standard environment using Co2 and premium nutes/grow medium, I wouldn't use a lighting set up that's not at the same standard. I feel the using cfl's vs. HID is sub par the the higher standard established with the Co2/grow mediums. If you can manage the heat through ducting/chilling from the beginning, you thank yourself in the long run. That's my opinion, not in any way intended to insult.

I agree on the 600's. they have the most lumens per watt of energy, the bulbs are a little cheaper, and you can use more of them to cover space instead of moving 1000's. I run 3 xxxl 1000's, and really wish I had 6 600's in smaller reflectors. My flower area is 12x8. There is a lot of area that isn't filled with plants though. I have a 400 in my 4x8 clone/mother room, which I wish was also a 600. It will be soon. Never heard of a 1500 watter. It would be a bitch to find bulbs for that baby.