630w CMH for a beginner?

Hey guys,

Looking to get the basics down with my first indoor grow. Thinking of doing a 4x4 or 4x5 space. Electric here isn't cheap and I'm indimidated by LED's as I've never grown indoors before or done much training of any kind. There's also the initial investment. The 630w CMH that uses two 315's looks like a good way to go for me.

What do you guys think about that light in a space that size?

Anyone recommend a budget friendly 630w CMH?

What will I need in terms of room height? Would over 7 ft be a must if I wanted to do a sativa?

Afraid of dropping a lot of cash now only to realize I want to grow differently later once I get the hang of things.

Thanks

High rama108

A 630 would do nicely but I would prefer two 315s so I had the option of just using one at a time if I didn't need full power. Cost a lot more I imagine tho. You would have better coverage in a 4x5 with two smaller lights than one big one as well.

I use CFLs and now a DIY LED bulb rig for vegging small plants then up the power to a 400W MH until they get a nice size then into the flower room under a 1000W Hortilux Super HPS. Wishing I had a 600W to fill the gap but I get by.

I have 3 - 400W HPS ballasts as well as the 400MH and 2 - 1000W. One MH only and one MH/HPS. All are older magnetic coil and core ballasts.

Power is expensive here too so if I had no lights I'd probably be doing a DIY COB setup. Lots of good info here how to do it and they save a lot of juice and still grow great pot. My flower room is down in the basement where it's always cool so I don't need A/C which saves a bunch. That's something for you to consider as well.

I'm not sure about the 315s whether you can get the separate parts or have to buy the hood/ballast combo units. I prefer separate parts so the hood is much lighter and I can have the ballast outside the grow room to cut down a bit on heat. I often use my light rail to extend the area a light can cover and tho it can handle the weight it should last longer with just a lightweight open hood and bulb hanging off it.

With the CMH you have both a grow and bloom bulb in one so you save a bit there. If you get it, get a spare bulb too if you can. Sux waiting for a replacement if a bulb blows.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS. I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as some are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

Good luck and good growing!

One other factor to consider on the height for your space is the type of growing system you plan to use.
If your looking at hydroponics be sure to account for the height of the reservoir etc.

I am partial to Hortilux products myself but if you choose to go the COB route I know someone looking to sell some Single Cob/Driver modules if your looking to save some $ and willing to buy second hand. Feel free to pm me if interested

I agree with the previous comments that you should snag 2 - 315w. it will give you better spread and you can choose to only run one. a single 315 van cover a 3x3 area. and you can hang them 18 inches above canopy and not have really much heat. I've been flowering out eith cmh and have had stellar results . I know have a 5x5 tent with a 630cmh. and a 4x4 tent with a 315w cmh and 200w led. You can find some decent cheap cmh units. just start with 1 315 for veg. then fire up your 2md one when you get to flower

No QB comments... huh.

I would pick 2 315s before the dual 630 lamp, and I would pick a double ended 630w bulb before the dual 630 lamp.
With these cmh, you will get better output when the bulbs are sitting vertically rather than horizontally. 2 seperate 315s (I would recommend the sun systems) would beat out a lamp containing 2 315's horizontally in one hood, in every aspect of you ask me. A double ended 630 would have more penetration but put off more heat. 2 seperate 315's will cover more grow area with a little less penetration.

Whatever you go with make sure it adverises low frequency square wave technology, and if you really want to do yourself a favor, don't get a model holding the bulb horizontally or one with two bulbs in one hood.
Good luck.

No1up said:

No QB comments... huh.

Click to expand...

Because he's asking about cmh... not qb...
If he was asking about qb, then I'm guessing there would be replies concerning qb's.

You know thats not true.. lol ive read toooo many post about cmh that turn in to qb within the first 3 post. Lol

No1up said:

You know thats not true.. lol ive read toooo many post about cmh that turn in to qb within the first 3 post. Lol

Click to expand...

Yeah that's my point. It's a CMH question.
So why do people feel they need to start talking about a different kind of light?
I have nothing against led's, they're awesome.
But if someone asks about a cmh, and all you got is qb, then that means you have no say.
There's an led section where people are tickled pink to talk qb, they can go there and talk qb.
Chances are it helps the OP in no way.

I was so confused I just ended up getting both a 315 cmh and a 260xw lol

So I just finished my first full run under the Nanolux 630cmh. Using 2 3100k phillips bulbs in a 5x5 tent. I upgraded to a 5x5 from a 4x4 right at flip to flower so the tent was roughly 2/3 full. Had a total of 6 plants with plenty of extra space. I chose to grow southern oregon seeds Blueberry and Lemon OG From feminized seeds. After just finishing up trimming and jarring up. each plant was pretty damn consistent with yield. each plant yielded roughly 4 ozs. 12 large sized jars with 2 oz each. 1 small jar on the top with 1 oz. Grand total of 25 ozs. = 700 grams.
700÷630w= 1.11 GPW. These lights really need a couple runs to dial in. I had some practice with it on my last run whem I first purchase it. and found the sweet spot to be 30 inches from canopy. All 6 phenos are what i would consider top shelf. I won't really get to review the terpene profile and potency characteristics for at least another 3 or 4 weeks. Blueberry is one of those extended cure strains that I feel needs a good 45 - 60 day cure for the best terpene profile and potency

growin-Jables said:

So I just finished my first full run under the Nanolux 630cmh. Using 2 3100k phillips bulbs in a 5x5 tent. I upgraded to a 5x5 from a 4x4 right at flip to flower so the tent was roughly 2/3 full. Had a total of 6 plants with plenty of extra space. I chose to grow southern oregon seeds Blueberry and Lemon OG From feminized seeds. After just finishing up trimming and jarring up. each plant was pretty damn consistent with yield. each plant yielded roughly 4 ozs. 12 large sized jars with 2 oz each. 1 small jar on the top with 1 oz. Grand total of 25 ozs. = 700 grams.
700÷630w= 1.11 GPW. These lights really need a couple runs to dial in. I had some practice with it on my last run whem I first purchase it. and found the sweet spot to be 30 inches from canopy. All 6 phenos are what i would consider top shelf. I won't really get to review the terpene profile and potency characteristics for at least another 3 or 4 weeks. Blueberry is one of those extended cure strains that I feel needs a good 45 - 60 day cure for the best terpene profile and potency

Click to expand...

Have you grown under LED? Any comparison?

No1up said:

Have you grown under LED? Any comparison?

Click to expand...

I've grown under a decent blurple . 450w. viparspectra. and no there's no comparison to cmh what so ever . cmh out performs all aspects

growin-Jables said:

So I just finished my first full run under the Nanolux 630cmh. Using 2 3100k phillips bulbs in a 5x5 tent. I upgraded to a 5x5 from a 4x4 right at flip to flower so the tent was roughly 2/3 full. Had a total of 6 plants with plenty of extra space. I chose to grow southern oregon seeds Blueberry and Lemon OG From feminized seeds. After just finishing up trimming and jarring up. each plant was pretty damn consistent with yield. each plant yielded roughly 4 ozs. 12 large sized jars with 2 oz each. 1 small jar on the top with 1 oz. Grand total of 25 ozs. = 700 grams.
700÷630w= 1.11 GPW. These lights really need a couple runs to dial in. I had some practice with it on my last run whem I first purchase it. and found the sweet spot to be 30 inches from canopy. All 6 phenos are what i would consider top shelf. I won't really get to review the terpene profile and potency characteristics for at least another 3 or 4 weeks. Blueberry is one of those extended cure strains that I feel needs a good 45 - 60 day cure for the best terpene profile and potency

Click to expand...

Rock and roll man!! good job! Im very very impressed !!!! I've seen a lot of grows online and in person and I hope you are proud of yourself man!!!! good job!!!

I've been doing some CMH's for a couple yrs and other mixed lighting for personal and business test reasons and still learning after lots of mistakes and great learning curves lol!!!!

Would you mind taking a little extra effort and giving us a very detailed breakdown of your nutes,water temp and how often you feed them
EC/PPM, CO2, temp/RH, and min/max temp/RH lights on and off, air flow intake exhaust cycles, what are all of your notes? additives?

how long did you veg for after you got your clones to root?
what kind of plant training did you do?
pot sizes
brand of light, bulb, ballast
what is your base water and whats its EC/ppm?

Thank you very much, I'm trying to put together good stuff for getting us CMH growers to be the best we can be and get our plants to their genetic potential which is why I'm so curious to know how you setup your grow.

i hope i get as good as results in the next 5-10 weeks as you man!!!!!!

Ill try to document as much as I can, but to be perfectly honest. I have a very VERY simply set up and training / feed regimen....

Start off with feminized seed in fox farms happy frog soil. little bit of perlite and worm cast mixed. I use 23w 6500k cfls to veg them first few weeks. Then I transplant them into 1 gal soil pots of half happy frog and half ocean forest with perlite and worm cast. I then throw them under a 315w cmh. Phillips 4200k. And veg them for another 4 weeks. I only use straight filtered water with 1 ml mammoth p in veg every watering. I watered every few days or so.

Training wise I top once at the 4 node. Then train the branches. Once some girth has been added to the stalk. I split the stalk at " Y " to focus energy off of the main stalk and into all the other branches. I flipped to flower at week 7 veg. Transplant the same day into 7 gal soil pots of fox farms ocean forest and perlite and worm castings. I have two 3100k Phillips bulbs in my nanolux 630cmh. I start feeding with General organics bio bloom and bio Bud first week of flower. Starting at 25% strength.. I usually stay around 25 - 50% strength up until week 5ish. reason being is I feed almost every watering. Ive found that I get far better results giving it little bits of food at a time. Vs heavy feeding and possibly slightly burning and slowing down growth some then water , water. repeat. I always maintain green healthy plants all the way through flower. Now I supplement Calmag and Epsom salts every other waterings with my feedings. I also Add in Grandmas unsulphured molasses along with my calmag and Epsom salts. Usually 3 ml of cal mag and 1/4 tsp per gal of Epsom. I also added Mammoth P into my feedings this last run which really seemed to make a difference in quality yield and overall health of the plant. I start with 1 ml for first 3 wks of flower. then bump up to 2.5 ml wks 4,5,6. Then wks 7 and 8 I go heavy and give it 5 ml per gal. I flush twice the last week before cutting down. Hang for 4-5 days in the dark tent at 75 degrees and 60% RH

Enviornment: I didn't use any co2 what so ever. Again, I have such a simple simple set up, its incredible I get the results I do. I have a 5x5x7 tent. With a 36 inch tower fan for air circulation. 4 inch inline exhaust fan and 4 inch inline intake. my temps usually range from 60-78f. Rh sits around 35-55%. Not sure if I left anything out but im at work at the moment so let me know if theres any other questions

rama108 said:

Hey guys,

Looking to get the basics down with my first indoor grow. Thinking of doing a 4x4 or 4x5 space. Electric here isn't cheap and I'm indimidated by LED's as I've never grown indoors before or done much training of any kind. There's also the initial investment. The 630w CMH that uses two 315's looks like a good way to go for me.

What do you guys think about that light in a space that size?

Anyone recommend a budget friendly 630w CMH?

What will I need in terms of room height? Would over 7 ft be a must if I wanted to do a sativa?

Afraid of dropping a lot of cash now only to realize I want to grow differently later once I get the hang of things.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Unitfarm is fine for budget.For your grow area, it needs UFO led 320 or UFO lite 600....both are expensive but longer lifespan....

growin-Jables said:

So I just finished my first full run under the Nanolux 630cmh. Using 2 3100k phillips bulbs in a 5x5 tent. I upgraded to a 5x5 from a 4x4 right at flip to flower so the tent was roughly 2/3 full. Had a total of 6 plants with plenty of extra space. I chose to grow southern oregon seeds Blueberry and Lemon OG From feminized seeds. After just finishing up trimming and jarring up. each plant was pretty damn consistent with yield. each plant yielded roughly 4 ozs. 12 large sized jars with 2 oz each. 1 small jar on the top with 1 oz. Grand total of 25 ozs. = 700 grams.
700÷630w= 1.11 GPW. These lights really need a couple runs to dial in. I had some practice with it on my last run whem I first purchase it. and found the sweet spot to be 30 inches from canopy. All 6 phenos are what i would consider top shelf. I won't really get to review the terpene profile and potency characteristics for at least another 3 or 4 weeks. Blueberry is one of those extended cure strains that I feel needs a good 45 - 60 day cure for the best terpene profile and potency

Click to expand...

Is there reason in particular you thoguht you needed to make the switch from a 4x4 to 5x5 tent? Was the 4x4 limiting?

I'm going to be doing a 4 plant 630w cmh grow and have heard people suggest everything from 3x3 to 4x4 to 5x5. I'd love to hear your advice on this. From your experience what have you found to be the sweet spot for that 630 cmh?

I would suggest starting with a single 315w CMH and see if you have any heat issues. That way you know you can scale up to 630w with no issues.

Also, two 315w LECs appear to be better than a single 630w unit, from what I've read on here btw

2 315s still dont penetrate well at all. the 630w is where it's at for flower . I moved up to a 5x5 so I can grow more plants....