Are side lights or a light rail (mover) necessary??

Would it be even necessary to have side lights if im using a 600watt HPS in a 4 feet deep, 3 feet wide and 6 feet high??? Thanks

i wouldnt use side ligting, just try to get an even canopy. that railing imo would be a good idea, i would only span it about 10''

swishatwista said:

i wouldnt use side ligting, just try to get an even canopy. that railing imo would be a good idea, i would only span it about 10''

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Maybe if i move but i just looked and the light movers are only in 6 and 8 foot lengths that also come with extensions to make them longer!! Dont have the room now but maybe later!!! Thanks i was just wondering about the sidelighting as i was reading about some where else!!

IMHO In most cases side lights do not lead to enough increases in yield to cover the wattage they use if they are used with the intent of incresing bud out put below the main canopy. About the only time they are productive is when they are used to supplement short wave length shortages caused through a HPS light set up. Then they mainly increase the yield due to increase plant vigor and health brought about by the more balanced light spectrum. Even then it is not really so much side lighting but lighting placed at the antisipated canopy level at budding or it is placed just below that level. Therefore it is really more in the form of supplemental top lighting rather than side lighting. There is such a thing as vertical Scrog Grows where side T-5 or CFC lighting is beneficial during early vegative growth but really is not very beneficial versus the operating costs once budding starts. With these grows plnts are grown around the perimeter walls of the rae and the HID lights are hung vertically in the center of the open area in the center of the grow area. Seems to work realy well with taller plants like sativas or heavy sativa crosses.

IMHO The only real benefit to light rails is with grow layouts where your using a very high wattage light over a long rectangular area rather than a square area or slightly rectangular area. A fixed large bulb like a 1000 watt light does not provide even Par over the total square footage of along rectangle like it can that it can when used with a light rail. Say you are lighting with a thousand watt light and you want to provide an even PAR over and area through appling 50 watts per square foot of average lighting. That would be easy with a 1000mwatt lamp and a cheap reflector for an area of say 4' by 5'. But lets say your grow area is 2.5 foot by 8 foot. No reflector could likely work with a single 1000 watt bulb to provide that coverage when the light is fixed. However, a l1000 watt light and a cheap reflector used with the light track could easily provide good even coverage. A light track does not increase the area a light can cover it just allows a light to cover rectangular areas with a single light. The total area it covers though remains the same. There is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to lighting because PAR is not accumalative. You still need the PAR that comes from that 50 watts or 60 watts per square foot. A light track is improperly used when a grower thinks he can gety more growth by covering for example 40 square foot instead of 20 square foot with a single 1000 watt light. Even given the previous example four 250 watt lights will out perform the 1000 watt light on a track. However the capital investment difference is significant and unless your growing for money the pay back period is not all that quick with multiple lights. About a year on a four 250 watt versus one 1000 watt setup for payback. Shorter if your a high yield clone based grower with aeroponics, CO2, water cooled lights, air conditioning etc.

Moving your light 10" on a rail is damn near pointless. No rails, but side lights wouldn't hurt.

you are running 50 watts of hps per sq foot. IMO light movers are useless, if you have room for one, then you have room for another light.
If you could deal with the heat, another 400 watt HPS would put you upto 83 watts per square foot, which is nearing maximal. But if your just looking to spend money, maybe invest in an air cooled reflector, air condition, CO2 sensor and delivery systems.

more light or more CO2 are the best ways to increase yeild IMO

True Stoner said:

Would it be even necessary to have side lights if im using a 600watt HPS in a 4 feet deep, 3 feet wide and 6 feet high??? Thanks

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In the past I have seen a lot of people who use a lightrail by putting the lamp super close to the plants and covering a wide area with a small number of lights. Someone in my local medical grow community explained a better way to use them to get more even yield off of his plants.

When he uses a light rail he keeps the lights up high, as per height one would use without a rail. The rail only moves the lamps a foot or so back and forth. Just enough to move the light so the back sides of the plants also receive some direct light. This way the plants are always get full coverage and are always getting full light. The light is always directly above the plants. Doing this means you never have to rotate and turn your plants to get even growth. He swears it has increased his yields.

I started using a light mover for a couple of reasons. I started growing double the amount of plants and so needed more light. But if I added another 1000 watt sodium-or two-my electric bill would go way up-and the heat in the room would be unreal. So I installed two separate light movers,and am having excellent results. I am in my fourth week of flower,and the girls look as nice and full of bud as ever-despite the fact they are not directly under the light full time. The mover has an adjustable delay-so I have them stop at each end for a full minute-then they travel slowly to the other end,stop for a minute,and travel again. I think light movers are very efficient,and am glad it's what I decided to try-it works!

understandable, how a light mover might increase your yield. but if your already running 80 watts per square foot like you should be(cmon guys atleast 60 wtaas per sq foot)

Plain and simple these lights do produce alot of heat, but air conditioning also produces alot of cold. Easiest way to up you yield is ALWAYS more light until you get to 80 watts per square foot.( personally i use 60 of high pressure sodium and 20 watts per sq. foot of zoo grade UVB Mercury Vapor Lamps. My UVB levels are equivalent to that of the the sun. Ive tried adding MH into the mix(25%) and my yield dropped considerably, but just under the MH.

PAR is not accumalative. The only davantage to a light track is it allows you to use one large light to cover an area that would other wise take two lights to get even lighting. It does not allow you to cover more area though. For an example. To cover an area with even lighting intensity that is 2 foot by eight foot would typically rewuire that you use four 250 watt lights. However with a light track a single 1000 watt light would works very neraly as well. A single 1000 watt ballast/reflector/bulb and track would cost a lot less to purchase than 4 sets of 250 watter lights. ie a track is simply a tool used to better spread your lighting, not to use less lighting.

Good reason is to save electricity, I would use one so I can have more room and one light still. ~