Average distance of 1000w light to canopy

just wondering what the average distance everyone is at right now im a lil over 2 feet fromthe canopy and the girls seem to love it runnin a 1000w hps hortilux temp at 74 relative humidity 33

Back of the hand test.

hold the back of your hand at the canopy level for 20-30 seconds if it doesnt burn your hand it wont burn your plants

I have my plants about 12" from the glass. Some branches and leaves are really close. I can get to about 6" from the glass before hitting that bubble of heat.
Running a 1000w Eye Sunlux HPS, 400cfm fan with speed controller on low, and a CoolSun 6 reflector. Using a 4" Axial fan as intake (around 200cfm). Have a 16" oscillating fan and a 6" vortex fan for circulation in the 5x5x7 grow tent. Plants are on 2.5 foot tall "picnic" tables.

Canopy temperature is around 2 degrees warmer than the intake temperature. The temp will swing from around 60 degrees on the coolest nights to around 78 degrees at the highest. Most days (now) I stick around 75 during lights on and around 68 lights off.

Mine are kept closer than 18" with zero problems.

the closer the lamp, the smaller the canopy.

if a lot of light is shining on the walls, its wasted, if its too close that much shadows appear, its wasted too. (the plants further away receive less then)

find the balance.

the average size that we use is 5 to 6 feet depending on the strain. a goal of 50w per sq foot in ideal for yield in my opinion

At 5' from plants your plants must stretch like hell?

i put my lights close as possible, my air cooled hoods are about a foot away, and my parabolic hoods are just about the same. i dont seem to have any problems with them burning so they will stay like that.i run the same bulbs also , with 1000 watt 240v

sso said:

the closer the lamp, the smaller the canopy.

if a lot of light is shining on the walls, its wasted, if its too close that much shadows appear, its wasted too. (the plants further away receive less then)

find the balance.

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I agree. I like to have the light hitting the walls at least 1-2 feet above the plants to make sure some light is going to reflect back to the other side of the outer row of plants. there's a balance there, not too high, not too low. If you have a lot of space between your plants and the wall then never mind... I've had mine 3-4 feet above my plants and haven't seen that much stretch. Maybe since my strains are naturally more bushy.. sour diesel and blue cheese. I'm no expert by any means but it seems like a 1k is intense enough to not cause a lot of stretch unless the room is real big with no reflective sides to bounce the light back.

my $.02