# What is the footprint of 1000 watt HPS?



## Supersoul (Feb 17, 2012)

I have been looking and cant find a specific answer. I got a 1000 watt HPS  with Sun System hood as you can see.
What would the footprint be? Is the footprint the measurement of top parts of your plants (canopy) square footage? Just by looking at the rectangle shape i am sure its not an even square. I got the HPS chart View attachment 2064266and want to maximize my grow space to see what are the areas i need to stay in to get good exposer to the top(canopy) and the mid section of the plants. They are in 3 gallon buckets and from soil are about 26" to 36", I would like to give them a little bit of space also so it can try to get between the leaves


----------



## trichome fiend (Feb 17, 2012)

....I'd roll with a 4x4 with a 1k


----------



## bigv1976 (Feb 17, 2012)

A 1k is reccomended for a 5x5 area. Most people will run 2 for a 4x8 table.


----------



## trichome fiend (Feb 17, 2012)

[youtube]N25Y2DnHBjo&feature[/youtube]


----------



## Supersoul (Feb 17, 2012)

Nice video. In conclusion i got that it depends on the hood and a good guideline is 4x4 or 5x5...is that for the canopy area? the hood is rectangle shouldnt it be more like 4x5 or 3x4? If the canopy is 36 inches away will the middle of the plant get good lighting for it being the middle of the plant? or should i make the canopy closer like 20 inches away so it has 16 inches to find its way to the mid of the plant?


----------



## motul123 (Feb 17, 2012)

You dont want to hang your 1000 watt light close to your plants.. I have 4 of them in my room and hang them about 3-4 feet from the tops.


----------



## phillipchristian (Feb 17, 2012)

From my experience it's more like 5x5 but like everyone said it depends on your plants size, etc.


----------



## lettuceman420 (Feb 17, 2012)

as has been stated something close to 4x4 or 5x5 depending on the distance you keep them from the reflector and reflector design. If you are going to air cool it you can have it much much closer than 2 feet from the tops....


----------



## phillipchristian (Feb 17, 2012)

lettuceman420 said:


> as has been stated something close to 4x4 or 5x5 depending on the distance you keep them from the reflector and reflector design. If you are going to air cool it you can have it much much closer than 2 feet from the tops....


Not sure about the 2' statement here. You never want a 1000w light to be too close to your plants or your sun bleach them. I would say minimum distance is around 12-14 inches. That's only if the heat from your hood allows you. Even if you air cool them you will still have radiant heat from the hood and that plus your ambient room temp will really determine how close you can have them.


----------



## LT1RX7 Drifter (Feb 17, 2012)

if you have the chart then your light years ahead of most of these monkeys, i too have used the chart and it works very well


----------



## uhavealighter? (Feb 18, 2012)

You reflector looks like CAP's Lumecool Reflector which i made a light spread chart for. Every reflector is a bit different but the general rule is 5' x 5' for a 1000w. I would do 2 600w for a 4 x 8 for sure. It is pretty much and even square. All reflector are.


----------



## uhavealighter? (Feb 18, 2012)

This is also equivalent to Hydrofarms Daystar refelctor more light spread charts are available in my sig.


----------



## uhavealighter? (Feb 18, 2012)

Optimal Distanse highly depend on the wattage, but also highly depend on the reflector. the huge xxxtreme hoods can be placed 6" away for a 1000w while our small refelctor must be placed at least 14" away.


----------



## Supersoul (Feb 18, 2012)

Very nice explanation with graphs ...very nice. I made a little visual with it. Now i am guessing that plant 3 & 4 would be the happiest with room to grow. Will the light get to the middle of plant 3 & 4? What do you think about the range for plant 6 & 7?


----------



## motul123 (Feb 19, 2012)

mine are at 4 feet and i have 18" of growth in 4 weeks even at the 6 and 7 place. Very bushy..


----------



## bigv1976 (Feb 19, 2012)

motul123 said:


> mine are at 4 feet and i have 18" of growth in 4 weeks even at the 6 and 7 place. Very bushy..


Just imagine the growth if they were where they should be. I run my 600s less than a foot from my tops so I dont see where a 1k needs to be that far away.


----------



## trichome fiend (Feb 19, 2012)

bigv1976 said:


> Just imagine the growth if they were where they should be. I run my 600s less than a foot from my tops so I dont see where a 1k needs to be that far away.


...I'm right there with ya, I run 600's aircooled and stay about 8-10 inches away, and I don't flip out if the light bleaches a bud or two, the density is worth the very little bleaching that may occur.


----------



## eDude (Feb 19, 2012)

The thing that get's most noobs is that yes, it's a 1k over a 4x4 TRAY.. TRAY not area.. Tray.. When people fill a tray with plants they have them all the way to the edge. and as the plant grows you'll have the plant growing over that edge.. so that in the end you'll be lighting a 5x5 or more area. KWIM this is why tents are 5x5 for 1k and 4x4 for 600.


----------



## uhavealighter? (Feb 19, 2012)

1000w will get 3 feet of penetration usually depending on the density of the plant. the green portion is still a good amount of light. Really for any 1000w light i would do 12 - 3 ft plants. a 4 x 3. your right about 3 & 4 being much happier. thats why light movers were made so you can move the light a couple feet back and forth. light movers weren't made to grow more plants with a single light. They were made to even out the canopy which will alone higher your yield. I guess i put 16 plants at 30" tall for this reflector because of the wide light spread. 

Many growers choose to get those huge reflectors, but I think getting a small, deeper penetrating reflector and adding a light mover to get the even light spread is much better. On big reflector you're losing light penetration for a more even light spread.


----------



## uhavealighter? (Feb 19, 2012)

I did a reflector light chart on this lumesun reflector. a 1000w bulb fits perfectly in it. and it gives you the most light out of any reflector. the problem is though is that the light spread is uneven, so a light mover is highly recommended.


----------



## motul123 (Feb 19, 2012)

When I run them close it withers the fan leaves.


----------



## Supersoul (Feb 19, 2012)

i got this girl and her top bud is 16" from the light View attachment 2069773in the sweet spot directly below the bulb and it looks like its being scotched. View attachment 2069771 As compared to all the other buds that looks like this View attachment 2069772 Im sure its not a good thing and i am thinking about moving the light up to get more coverage. By moving the light up to get more coverage it will cause me to lose some penetration. Why is getting good penetration important since only the top buds are the ones with good quality? I took another pic of under the canopy of the plant with the scortched bud and it is 42" from the soil to the bulb. So im guessing that 6" on the bottom of the plant arent getting the proper lighting since it is out of the 36" rangeView attachment 2069820


----------



## MrStickyScissors (Feb 19, 2012)

if you have a big hood like a xxl or a raptor a 4x4. a smaller hood id say 3x3


----------



## NativeFarmer (Feb 19, 2012)

besides the chart in Q? is supposed to be temp based so ..... operating ambient temp decides distance from light to plant and reflector choice actually decides that and those calculations are based on open para style i also set my room up by that chart and many others.


----------

