Gavita pro 1000??

Thinking of switching to gavita pro lights anybody have any experiance with them?

They're nice but you can't air-cool them so your A/C has to do all the work.

It's my understanding they shed considerably less light therefore less cooling requirements. Anyone own one that wants to chime in?

I'm currently thinking about pulling the trigger on 12 of them for a new room. In terms of a flower light, the design makes ALL the sense in the world. The do put off less heat than a standard digital ballast as they are more efficient. Air cooled hoods are pretty stupid when you get down to it.. well, not stupid but they certainly don't make sense for bigger, more commercial style grows. Mainly because they result in a loss of light due to cooling of the arc tube, dirt on the glass, the precense of the glass itself, and the fact that the reflector gets drity more quickly. AC hoods are good for tents or small rooms but I have never been happier after getting rid of all thet stupid ass ducting and fans and constantly cleaning the glass on AC reflectors. THere is something to be said for just hanging your lights and then turning the AC on.

THe only real problem I see with them is that there is not a MH or more blue spectrum bulb you can buy to better veg with them.

Less heat... Sp

I've read a grow journal on a diffrent site with gravita pro and gravita LEP technology (google it) I'm very impressed! I've seen these lights at my local hydro for about 350. I think the energy use on these will def make a huge diffrence in electricity. I wouldn't stress too much on heat, I'm sure any one with the intention of using 1000 are aware of heat so I'm sure u will be on top of that.
One last thing, I'm not sure if thes gravitas pros use their own bulb or if they are universal, so be aware of that.

How much less heat do they put out?Lets say I replace my current hoods, will I have to upgrade to a larger AC or will my current work just fine?

The ballasts give off less heat. The bulbs are still going to be hot as hell. I decided against them basically because there is only one bulb you can use and it's an HPS. Rock star bulb..but not having a MH option for finishing veg is kind of lame

Legally, are these supposed to have better light than HPS or simply cooler ballast?

Apparantly, they do have pretty rock star bulbs. They have pretty damn high PAR ratings. Its unfortunate that the "big bad" grow bulb comanies like hortilux will not publish their PAR values, but in my professional experience, companies that design things specifically for the industry generally do a better job designing things. Not withstanding the PAR ratings, the bulbs are double ended which apprantly reduces internal vibration and increases bulb life. They are showing only 5% PAR loss after a year, so you can probably get 2 years out of the bulb.

On aother note, the hydro shop had some of these and I asked them about them and the first thing he said was HOT, god damn HOT.

Something to think about. You have to realize that operations that utilize these are larger greenhouses that naturally vent off heat.

Just adding up the fact that there is only one bulb, they run pretty damn hot, and they are kind of pricey I decided against them. My plan is running 600w AC hoods without AC venting in one of the flower rooms (8,400 watt) with a 3 ton AC. And bare 1k vertical bulbs in the other flower room..naturally vented.

Good news. Thanks. I'll just stick with HPS

mrje said:

Thinking of switching to gavita pro lights anybody have any experiance with them?

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Its my understanding that the gavita pro 1000 uses a duel bulb ? N what makes it a duel bulb is 1. The bulb uses plasma wich hits the full spectrum better then any other bulb and is different from MH/HPS so its great for both veg and bloom & 2. Its backed by a HPS bulb to enhance the PAR. So plasma plus HPS = duel bulb.

BobHolland94 said:

Its my understanding that the gavita pro 1000 uses a duel bulb ? N what makes it a duel bulb is 1. The bulb uses plasma wich hits the full spectrum better then any other bulb and is different from MH/HPS so its great for both veg and bloom & 2. Its backed by a HPS bulb to enhance the PAR. So plasma plus HPS = duel bulb.

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I was interested in DE and never made the switch. I opted for CMH. The reason is from what I understand you need a good bit of height because there needs more space between the canopy and the lights. I never figured out whether it was bulb heat or power? But I'm running with 12 inches of space now at the end of stretch. So anything extra would have to be taken from the plants! And that's not an option I liked.

goldberg71b said:

I was interested in DE and never made the switch. I opted for CMH. The reason is from what I understand you need a good bit of height because there needs more space between the canopy and the lights. I never figured out whether it was bulb heat or power? But I'm running with 12 inches of space now at the end of stretch. So anything extra would have to be taken from the plants! And that's not an option I liked.

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Could it be infrared?

Like I said I'm not sure. I know I read that was the case before I got serious about them. When I decided I was going to try either the DE or the CMH but wasn't sure about lower watts (315) nor did I want to simply trust posts. Since many people try to grow but they all don't grow well. I decided to call my local store. He's 2 hours away and I bought all my gear from him when I started. He's always been good to me and steered me straight. He's NEVER tried to sell me ANYTHING. His given his opinions and more than a few times saved me money and aggravation. So I asked him what he thought about DE first. His response was clear they're great lights BUT unless you've got 11 foot ceilings he wouldn't advise buying them. I didn't ask if he was being fascious because the point was clear. I know the tent I was looking to put them in has 7 foot limit including the fixture! The room only has 8 foot. My other area I have in the basement might have 5-6 more inches. So that eliminated that.

So then I asked about the CMH. I was told everyone who bought them from him was happy with them. He said I'd notice an improvement in the plants in both stages over my digital ballasts. He also said that most people are replacing 600s with one of them. Their yields were equal or a bit better and the product was denser and without the glass between the bulb and the plants the trich production would also be a bit better.

So obviously I went with the CMH. In veg I absolutely noticed. The nodes were closer together and the side branched were really improved. The first run was flowering but the plants started under digital so I'm not counting it. But the flowers were nice. Right now I'm on week 5 of a batch that will have started and finished under them. They just started showing nice pink color on the pistols.
This is a northern lights. I won't be able to compare weights because these plants were much smaller than I usually initiate flower on. But I had no choice I had females that needed to be flipped. They were getting tall. When I spaced them for the flip I had extras. So I needed to take over this tent and turn it to flower.

The only thing I've noticed is humidity. I'm not sure if it's because of the bare bulb or my house. I've got gas heat and there are times when my humidity in the house gets down to 30%. On occasion a few points lower. So I've had to put a humidifier not only in the tent but also at the end of the intake duct. Which I run to and out a window when I can. When it's as cold as it is now. I just crack the window to allow fresh ventilation. But below at or near freezing temps is LOW in moisture content. The warmer the air the more water it can hold. So when that mixes with my warm dry air. It's not helping the problem. But I'm glad I bought them. I dropped from 1200 watts of light down to 945 and from everything I can see so far. My results will be improved all around!

BTW. I'm not saying I didn't have low humidity in that tent with the digital ballasts. Because it was low. But it SEEMS lower now and I noticed the leaves started getting damaged from it.

goldberg71b said:

I was interested in DE and never made the switch. I opted for CMH. The reason is from what I understand you need a good bit of height because there needs more space between the canopy and the lights. I never figured out whether it was bulb heat or power? But I'm running with 12 inches of space now at the end of stretch. So anything extra would have to be taken from the plants! And that's not an option I liked.

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It's light intensity on the Gavita's. I had a friend who tested it out and he kept his canopy temps at about 75F and the Gavita at about 2 feet above the canopy and it was too much for his strain. He found a little over 3'(1 meter) worked perfectly. if you stack them in rows the overlap means you get a good coverage on 5' by 5'

Pretty much the best light on the market, if you have the cash then get one. Unless you're 30 Celsius ambient