hps/mh i welcome you

drizzlej

drizzlej

Active Member
Hey all... just wanted to say I decided to make the switch to a 400 watt hps/mh, will be here in a little less than a week! At the moment i'm using 2 85w full specs 6 23w 6500k cfls... between 2 plants ... another waiting under a 2ft 2bulb t5 ho.... with this 400w should it easily be able to grow 3-4 plants? have a 4x4x6.5 tent.
 
yep, genereal rule of thump is a 400W cover 3x3 feet, but also depend if you got a cool tube or hood on ..

and yea 4 plants seems like a good number (under any bulb/hood) but agin, depend on your grow style, you could also do one with a lot of Veg time and training or Scrog or 9 plants in a SoG with 12/12 from seed, all up to you, but no matter what technique you choose, the big down side of growing indoors is light penetrations (Im sure you know with your CLFs) but even HID lights don't provide much light after a few feet

View attachment 2459101View attachment 2459102


also why I think my cool hood is the best investment I have made since I got my 600W HPS as it keep my temps about 5C lower then with out it on and make me able to keep it at 15" now, before with out it I had to keep it +20" away from my plant tops and even then I had a bit of heat stress ..
 
Please keep in mind in my experience a hps does not do what they say.. I use a 600w in a 2.5x2.5x5 area and get very dense nugs on the whole plants because I train them all to be right under the light. The important thing with hps is keep it focused on the plant. Your hps will penetrate about a foot so keeping it cooler so you can get closer will help. Anything under a foot from the hood will grow more airy. I run ac tbrough my air cooler hood to keep radiant heat away and also have fans on the canopy. Doing it right will yield a lot of dense.
 
You can do 1 big scrog grow or 4 small plant. Like a 2 week vegg. 400 are awsome for Vegging, they do a good job of flowering. But once the plant gets a big canopy ur not gonna get much penetration, hehe:wall:, I learned with a 400w MH/HPS.
 

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kvnbeach said:
You can do 1 big scrog grow or 4 small plant. Like a 2 week vegg. 400 are awsome for Vegging, they do a good job of flowering. But once the plant gets a big canopy ur not gonna get much penetration, hehe:wall:, I learned with a 400w MH/HPS.
Click to expand...

Is that how it is with a 400? With my 600 it penetrates the canopy no problem. I have it 2-3" from tops (the glass) and the buds form perfectly a foot deep. It shows it jn my journal.]
 
Rob0769 said:
Is that how it is with a 400? With my 600 it penetrates the canopy no problem. I have it 2-3" from tops (the glass) and the buds form perfectly a foot deep. It shows it jn my journal.][/QUOTE

I own a 25ohalide, 400mh/hps, 600mh/hps, and a 1000mh/hps. I do the same thing with my 600. 2" away from the plant. 600's dont create much heat, they are great for flowering, not so great with Vegg. But my 1000w. I can have my 1000 18" away from the canopy and I still get the same lumens that a 600 puts out at 3". Also, a 1000 will penetrate through the canopy to lower leaves and the soil. Even at 3' under my canopy I am still putting a 1000or more lumens on the top of the soil. I did test with my candlefoot meter!

2012-12-18_10-51-13_2.jpg
$35 at your local grow store. Now ther is some math involved if u want to know the lumens, I just use it for reference.
600hps
dist.----read
0-------60
3"------32
6"------20
9"------12.5

1000hps
Dist.---Read
0------165
3"-----114
6"------86
9"------70
12"----57
18"----34
24"----20

Now at one time I did the math, I did most the math with my 600hps. The reading of 60 was like 75,000 lumens

So I keep my AC 6' xtrasun hood 14"-16" directly above the canopy. I get about a good 4' light spread, and the 3 plants i have in ther now are about 3' square. This is good since I am adding 4 plants a week into flower, from a friend who has too many. He has 2x1000hps and 20 plants
Click to expand...
 
Good to know. Could you please tell me the formula to convert your readings to lumens?


kvnbeach said:
Rob0769 said:
Is that how it is with a 400? With my 600 it penetrates the canopy no problem. I have it 2-3" from tops (the glass) and the buds form perfectly a foot deep. It shows it jn my journal.][/QUOTE

I own a 25ohalide, 400mh/hps, 600mh/hps, and a 1000mh/hps. I do the same thing with my 600. 2" away from the plant. 600's dont create much heat, they are great for flowering, not so great with Vegg. But my 1000w. I can have my 1000 18" away from the canopy and I still get the same lumens that a 600 puts out at 3". Also, a 1000 will penetrate through the canopy to lower leaves and the soil. Even at 3' under my canopy I am still putting a 1000or more lumens on the top of the soil. I did test with my candlefoot meter!

View attachment 2460012
$35 at your local grow store. Now ther is some math involved if u want to know the lumens, I just use it for reference.
600hps
dist.----read
0-------60
3"------32
6"------20
9"------12.5

1000hps
Dist.---Read
0------165
3"-----114
6"------86
9"------70
12"----57
18"----34
24"----20

Now at one time I did the math, I did most the math with my 600hps. The reading of 60 was like 75,000 lumens

So I keep my AC 6' xtrasun hood 14"-16" directly above the canopy. I get about a good 4' light spread, and the 3 plants i have in ther now are about 3' square. This is good since I am adding 4 plants a week into flower, from a friend who has too many. He has 2x1000hps and 20 plants
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
2460047d1272420360-how-far-away-do-u-light-distance-weeeeeed.jpg


Does this help. Look up the math on google dude. It is some serious trig. This is footcandles. But is cool, donniemcm gave me this today in a thread i started. I shall pass it on!
 
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