1000 hps vs. 2x 400 hps?

9inch bigbud tells everyone it's the intensity and penetration of the 1000 watter that does the trick. Then he proceeds to show everyone and tell us again that it's intensity and penetration. Someone tell me what is so hard to understand?
The intensity of the single 1000 watt buld allows penetration deeper into the foilage, this allows the plant to use more light. And hows that you say>>>>>...... he canopy can only use so much light, put 1000000000000 lumens on the canopy alone and it will only process what it can and the rest will go to waste, but allow the intensity of those lumens to force their way down to the forest floor or in our case the crop base and the rest of the plant will be able to process more of the light. It turns out to be a matter of square footage, one leaf can only process so much light, two can process more, three can process more, and so on and so forth.
The intensity of the 1 1000 watt buld is most definitly stronger than the 2 600 watt bulbs. Try this little experiment get 2 60 watt bulbs and one 100 watt bulb. plug the two 60's into a lamp, turn them on and look at them. Now replace the 60's with the single 100, turn it on, and look at it. Which was harder to look at. That's right boys and girls the 100 has more intensity than the 2 60's combined.

So, more intensity = deeper penetration = more photosynthesis, because more of the chlorophyll gets access to the light. The deminishing returns only applies once the entire plant (top to bottom) has been saturated with all of the light it can handle, and it turns out that for most plants the saturation point is between 3000 and 9000 lumens...

Hope this helps and isn't to discumbobulated......

O' and if it's not blatently obvious, I would recommend the 1000 watter, especially for dwarfs, or bushy sativas.

iivan740 said:

The intensity of the 1 1000 watt buld is most definitly stronger than the 2 600 watt bulbs. Try this little experiment get 2 60 watt bulbs and one 100 watt bulb. plug the two 60's into a lamp, turn them on and look at them. Now replace the 60's with the single 100, turn it on, and look at it. Which was harder to look at. That's right boys and girls the 100 has more intensity than the 2 60's combined.

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.....sorry but this is not true.

The 2 600s is a LOT more light than a single 1000w. But a single 1000w is more than a single 600w.

BCtrippin said:

.....sorry but this is not true.

The 2 600s is a LOT more light than a single 1000w. But a single 1000w is more than a single 600w.

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The only way the combined intensity could be greater is if they were combined within the same space. I do not remember all of the techno science behind it, but the basics are this. every single emission of light had to fight its way away from its source. The stronger the force holding the light to its origin the harder the fight to escape, thus the stronger the emission (higher intensity). the 600 watt bulbs individually do not have the power to produce emissions intense (strong) enough to rival the intensity of the single 1000 watt bulb. When you combine the two bulbs you do get more lumens but you do not get more intense stronger) light. The 600 watt lights together still only produce individual 600 watt streams, the two streams can come together but they will never actually combine to form one cohesive unit. It will always be 600 watts, only more lumens produced by more 600 watt sources. The 1000 watt light will always produce more intense (stronger) light.

Lumen (L) is a unit of standard measurement used to describe how much light is contained in a certain area. Or L=I/S

Light intensity (I), fundamental feature of the source of radiation is given by the lighting flux F which is emited in a specified way by a unit of solid angle W, in other words, the lighting power of the source which is expressed in watts.
Or I=F/W

lighting flux (f) is the power (energy per one unit of time) of the lighting energy which is measured according to its visual effect.

The steradian (s) is the cone light that is given off from the source which lights 1m² of a dark surface in a meter radius around the source.


Anyway there is more science if you need it check out a quantum physics text book or 5 or 10. For this discussion it all boils down to this: 3 400 watt or 2 600 watt bulbs will never have the penetrating power of 1 1000 watt bulb. This is definitively true, period end of story. For the purpose of growing plants in general, the deeper the light can penetrate into the plant the more photosynthesis the plant can generate.

If you can keep the plants from being burned or cooked, then a single 1000 watt bulb will be a better producer every time. Assuming everything else is in order.

BCtrippin said:

.....sorry but this is not true.

The 2 600s is a LOT more light than a single 1000w. But a single 1000w is more than a single 600w.

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I reread your post and I agree with you, 2 600 bulbs will indeed produce more lumens (based on bulb output) than a single 1000.... However I believe that the intensity of said bulbs favors the 1000 watt buld, and I believe that the intensity is what penetrates the canopy...

ive your doing a s.o.g. grow which is best for yield anyway 2 600s will beat 1 1000 easily. who grows purposely tall plants indoors anyways. besides coverage there more efficient with electricity.

bicycle racer said:

ive your doing a s.o.g. grow which is best for yield anyway 2 600s will beat 1 1000 easily. who grows purposely tall plants indoors anyways. besides coverage there more efficient with electricity.

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You guys are missing the point...the 1000w outperforms 2 600w's.

You can add enough CFL's to get the same lumens as 1000w light and it won't perform as well as a 1000w light.

Light intensity from a single source is much better. Light isn't perfectly additive. There is a lot of loss there. Grams/Watt I'll bet you can do more with a 1000w light than 2 600w's.

Even in a SOG you're going to get a better yeild out of a 1000w light than 2 600w's. At least that's what I've gathered from people who grow using both setups.

You can speculate all day long as to why the 2 600w's should be better, but it won't make it true.

2 600w lights that put out 96,000 lumens each don't put out 192,000 lumens together. Grab a light meter, try it.

And especially if you compare the 1000w at say 24" to a 600w at 24". Theoretically if light was additive the 600w would be more intense...but it ain't, try it.

no not if your growing short plants indoors particularly s.o.g. grows i understand light penetration that argument does not apply to shorter grows. 2 600s lumens apprx 190000 1 1000 lumens apprx 150000. 40000 more lumens from the 2 600s and they are more efficient and cooler. the better choice for plants under 3 feet.

bicycle racer said:

no not if your growing short plants indoors particularly s.o.g. grows i understand light penetration that argument does not apply to shorter grows. 2 600s lumens apprx 190000 1 1000 lumens apprx 150000. 40000 more lumens from the 2 600s and they are more efficient and cooler. the better choice for plants under 3 feet.

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Try it with a 1000 before you make that claim. Many SOG growers will tell you that your yields will be higher with 1 1000w light still.

I agre that the #'s work in your favor, but it doesn't really add up to the 190,000 lumens...check it with a meter

yes i understand but with the 600s you have 2 points of light so light energy on the outskirts of the grow will be better. the choice should be based on square feet of your grow and type of grow. one is not superior to the other in all applications it depends on a number of factors.

bicycle racer said:

yes i understand but with the 600s you have 2 points of light so light energy on the outskirts of the grow will be better. the choice should be based on square feet of your grow and type of grow. one is not superior to the other in all applications it depends on a number of factors.

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That won't matter becasue the overall light intensity that you are able to achieve will be less. With the 1000w light in the same time period in the same space with the same environment (temp, RH, airflow, etc) will produce more. I'm just sayin....try it.

the "smaller plants" will just be bigger, fatter and pack on a lot more weight. The 1000w light will also be a little higher and with the correct reflector will cover your space just as effectively.

Now if you have narrow reflectors and aren't setup properly for the size of your space then it's true, you CAN achieve higher yeilds with 2 600's, but it's only because you had the wrong reflector on your 1000w.

i dont agree there are applications for either 2 600s or 1 1000 one is not better than the other in all ways. ive used both.

bicycle racer said:

i dont agree there are applications for either 2 600s or 1 1000 one is not better than the other in all ways. ive used both.

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Do what you want to do. I've never seen 600's outperform 1000w's, not even two of them. The only reason I would run 2 of them is one reflector with 2 bulbs, on MH and one HPS. Other than that...nah

I ran 2 x400w's this last grow and it basically looks like 2 400w grows, not 1 800w grow.

So yes, if your goal is to have 2 600w grows more power to you, but if you want thicker, danger, heavier buds, 1000w all the way and your yeild will LIKELY be higher with 1 1000w light.

my bud density and trichome production is great i get the best out of any strain i grow and my herb as good as anything i see at high end dispenserys. to each his own. peace

laserbrn said:

Do what you want to do. I've never seen 600's outperform 1000w's, not even two of them. The only reason I would run 2 of them is one reflector with 2 bulbs, on MH and one HPS. Other than that...nah

I ran 2 x400w's this last grow and it basically looks like 2 400w grows, not 1 800w grow.

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...what exactly is a 800w grow suppose to look like?? I would imagine it would look like a couple 400w grows...

2 x 600w can EASILY outperform a single 1000w any day of the week. If you cant grow more with 2 600w vs 1 x 1000w then you have issues.

Not only does 2 x 600w put out a Lot more lumens, with less heat you can get the bulbs closer to your plants and make better use of those lumens.

laserbrn said:

You guys are missing the point...the 1000w outperforms 2 600w's.

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You really don't understand light do you?
1200w total from 2 more efficient bulbs is going to be more light than a single 1000w.

Of course 1000w will produce more bud than a 600w but what is your $/gram cost? Will the smaller amount produced by the 600 cost less per gram to produce than the 1000? Absolutely, that's what efficiency means.

So what if your 1000w produces more. Some people don't need the absolute most but are happy to get enough, and not pay as much to get it.

mindphuk said:

You really don't understand light do you?
1200w total from 2 more efficient bulbs is going to be more light than a single 1000w.

Of course 1000w will produce more bud than a 600w but what is your $/gram cost? Will the smaller amount produced by the 600 cost less per gram to produce than the 1000? Absolutely, that's what efficiency means.

So what if your 1000w produces more. Some people don't need the absolute most but are happy to get enough, and not pay as much to get it.

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Haha...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

The only reason to run a 600w instead of a 1000w has nothing to do with the cost. $/gram is better with a 1000w light than a 600w light, hands down.

The cost difference between a 600w and a 1000w light is something less than $20./mo depending on your current area. For me it would be $18.57 more to run the 1000w light, but do what you want...haha.

laserbrn said:

Haha...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

The only reason to run a 600w instead of a 1000w has nothing to do with the cost. $/gram is better with a 1000w light than a 600w light, hands down.

The cost difference between a 600w and a 1000w light is something less than $20./mo depending on your current area. For me it would be $18.57 more to run the 1000w light, but do what you want...haha.

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Dude how is $/gram better with a 1000w vs a 600w. Thats absurd.

600w run more efficiently putting out 98000 lumens at 600w vs 126 000 lumens at 1000w.


If you think 1 x 1000w light can out perform 2 x 600w then you seriously need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what your doing wrong.

laserbrn said:

Haha...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

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Your not suppose to say that....THEN respond...

BCtrippin said:

Dude how is $/gram better with a 1000w vs a 600w. Thats absurd.

600w run more efficiently putting out 98000 lumens at 600w vs 126 000 lumens at 1000w.


If you think 1 x 1000w light can out perform 2 x 600w then you seriously need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what your doing wrong.




Your not suppose to say that....THEN respond...

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Talk to anyone has grown with both. They will tell you that the 1x 1000w light out performs 2x 600w's.

And you are crazy if you think a 600w light is less $/gram than a 1000w light. Also, 1000w lights put out 140,000+ lumens. Don't make them seem worse than they already are.

The 600w uses less energy, but you get a significantly lower yeild. You will simply get a lot more grams for the 20 extra dollars per month. How can you even attempt to deny that?

laserbrn said:

Talk to anyone has grown with both. They will tell you that the 1x 1000w light out performs 2x 600w's.

And you are crazy if you think a 600w light is less $/gram than a 1000w light. Also, 1000w lights put out 140,000+ lumens. Don't make them seem worse than they already are.

The 600w uses less energy, but you get a significantly lower yeild. You will simply get a lot more grams for the 20 extra dollars per month. How can you even attempt to deny that?

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You are seriously going to claim that 1 x 1000w will out perform 2 x 600w?

That is absurd. That has to go down as the most Ridiculous Claim of the Year. I have grown with 2 x 600w before upgrading to 2 x 1000w. I can honestly say I can grow a fuckload more with 2 x 600 then 1 x 1000w.