seems that there are a lot of myth and exaggerations regarding grow lights. your local hydro shops or garden center can tell you what the most popular lights are and that's usually a good indication of what works well.seems that the more money people spend on their lights the more they love them and defend them.your ideal of going with a time proven approach seems like the best way to deal with your situation.I've heard waaay too many controversial topics on people saying CMH, or Gavita are better than HPS, MH lighting setups. They never come to a final conclusion..
Apparently you can get away with 315w of light from a CMH, and still pull the same numbers from a 600w Air-cooled HPS. According to statistics the CMH has 4x PAR but I don't know if that's a myth or true..
I was going to buy an Air-cooled Hooded 600w MH, and then possibly switch that out for a 1000w HPS during flower,
Can somebody offer me advice on what I should buy for the area I have?
Cheers
Did you see any real differences between using COBS and HIDS? I've checked on Alibaba you can get those chinese cob lighting units pretty cheap. But I've already bought both MH and HPS 600w grow lights ready for my raptor hood when it arrives.
They work very well, use little more than 1/2 the power consumption as my 1K's and they run cooleer as well. Its a win/win/win for me. Im happy with mine so far & the plants love it.
That's why I opted for 600w for now, and when winter is here I'll use 1000w's. Sound like a good plan?
looks like you have a good set up. be careful with those cheap chinese leds. they tend to be very inefficient and have short life expediencies. good quality leds will cost a little money. can't tell you how well they work. as a PU MMJ grower they are way outside my budget but I know from experience that the cheap Chinese units are junk. my mars hydro started loosing diodes after 2 weeks and my 2g11 CFLs with an inexpensive plusrite ballast outperformed them.you chose a good setup. don't second guess yourself.lights are only one part of growing a good crop.Did you see any real differences between using COBS and HIDS? I've checked on Alibaba you can get those chinese cob lighting units pretty cheap. But I've already bought both MH and HPS 600w grow lights ready for my raptor hood when it arrives.
Ordered this bad boy too
"The awesome Dominator XXXL grow light reflector from Sunlight Supply is the largest air-cooled reflector in the world, and is ideal for those needing a large spread of light even when suspended at a low height.
This is THE ultimate air-cooled reflector for 600watt and 1000watt lighting systems.
Constructed to the highest quality using photometric data, it has 95% reflective textured German aluminum interior, which offers excellent reflectivity and diffusion. Completely sealed - features double gasketed glass and hinged frame to hold glass tightly in place."
@mauricem00 is right on point with his last comment regarding lights being one part of getting a good crop. Theres plenty of guys runnin 600's pulling equal to 1K's....and for half of the power consumption. You have to have some knowledge behind your equipment to do well. If you are running S.O.G in 4x4 like you said, the 600W ballast and the XXXL air cooled hood is perfect for you and I would anticipate you to do well with it.
Hey Hydro,
Too early in to really tell, but its not been a "side by side" so to speak. The grow I am using the led cobs for now is basically a pheno hunt so I didnt "grow" the way I normally would have done it had I been going for a solid full crop/yield. As for growth, it doesnt seem too far off from what I would have gotten from my hps so far. Good light penetration, frost and bud stacking so far. I'm only running 400W of led so I cant really compare to a 1K, but its doing a fine job so far. I honestly expect it to do very well at a fraction of the energy used and heat produced. I think another 200W bar added to my light would make the difference of exceeding my 1000W hps though in a 4x4ish area. Nothing is seeming "airy" at all as of yet, but Im only 4 wks into flower.
What strains have you chosen dude?
So I bought some.
Hey man, have you not seen one of growmau5s youtube vids, I'm sure there is one where he does one set up with a strain under hps and then shows the next with same space and strain with equal watts at the wall of cobs, possibly the older cxb or cxa 3070s
What do those lights offer that a HPS doesn't?
COBs offer WAY less wasted energy converted into heat. give a much better spectrum. AND give you a much more uniform spread.
it would work perfectly just cut to fit your space and you could get away with a much smaller rez,, say 40 gallon, maybe less..
Where can I get some of these already built? How much more would it cost me compared to what I was going with, and how much better would the yield at the end be? I know you can't be exact because of other variables, but for example 10%-25% more?? Or is is purely based off efficientness, and not so much on the yield part. But more so energy consumed, and less light-spread
