What would you do??? (Grow room configuration)

i am just looking for opinions on my new setup. I have a pretty good idea what i plan on doing, but am looking for different perspectives that could possibly influence my decision.

Background: i have been growing for 15 years. I currently have 5 grow cabs! I am going to merge 2 to simplify my operation and be a bit more efficient. My current cabs are;

Flower Cab #1- 3'x3.5', 600 watt HPS

Flower Cab #2- 3'x3', 400 watt HPS & 300 watt LED

Flower Cab #3- 2'x3', 400 watt HPS

Male Flower Cab- 1'x2', 90 watt LED

Veg Cab- 1.5'x2.5', 200 watt CFLs

I just purchased a 4'x4' tent. All of my other cabs are DIy closets, but decided to try out a tent this time.

My plan is to take down flower cabs 2 & 3. I will then use the 2x 400 watt HPS for the 4x4 tent. My other option is I have a 1000 watt HPS that I am not using at the moment. What would be better? 1x 1000 watt or 2x 400 watt? I am leaning towards the 2x 400s but was hoping for some input. Maybe I am missing sometging for pros vs cons.

* i have 2x cooltubes and a large air cooled hood

** cost is not an influence. I know the heat that a 1000 kicks out. I am also aware the cost of bulb replacements and maintenance.

I started hanging my bulbs vertically, without any fixture more complex than the socket itself. I used mesh fencing material to create a vertical trellis, distance from the bulb based on wattage used determined diameter.

Two 600W HPS lamps run vertically would do a great job of lighting such a cylinder some four feet in diameter (12.5' circumference) and four to five feet high.

It would be like a cabinet grow, only the plants are climbing the walls...

ttystikk said:

I started hanging my bulbs vertically, without any fixture more complex than the socket itself. I used mesh fencing material to create a vertical trellis, distance from the bulb based on wattage used determined diameter.

Two 600W HPS lamps run vertically would do a great job of lighting such a cylinder some four feet in diameter (12.5' circumference) and four to five feet high.

It would be like a cabinet grow, only the plants are climbing the walls...

Click to expand...

I have thought about a vert grow, but think i would rather stick with what I know and I know it works. Thanks for the input

if you use the 1000 and keep the cabs you'll have more bud and more work.

if you use the 400s and toss the cabs you will have at least the same amount of bud but less work
(you gain one square foot with the tent so on paper you should get that much more bud all else equal, but...paper aint real world.)

if you use the 1000 and toss the cabs...i dont know how much bud you'll have but less work

you said you wanted to simplify...id go with whichever light setup grew the most with your experience and break down the cabs.

2-400's is more efficient. Less heat. If heat is no issue. A 1000 will get you more weight in theory. Since watts is weight. But could lead to more problems than its worth imo.

My thought was the 2 400s will give me better distribution of light and a cooler tent.... I average 10-12 zips from each 400 and 16+ from my 600. I have only used the 1000 for a week but the heat was way to intense for my 3x3, so I shut it down and went back to my 600

easy, id do the 2 400s with those numbers. You could probably get your weight up with the 1000 but I wouldn't want the heat issues.

about 62 watts of LED and 600 watt HPS turned to Superlumens on the Lumatek (more than 600 watts).. so about 800 watts including fans for this setup.

This is a 4x4x7 tent

You'd probably want to use a cooltube with the 1000w vs the 2 400w.. Should be similar efficiency (cooltube loses light but the 1000w hps is higher efficiency to start with).

but as you can see a 600w with a few LEDS or CFLS in the corners is enough.

BeastGrow said:

You'd probably want to use a cooltube with the 1000w vs the 2 400w.. Should be similar efficiency (cooltube loses light but the 1000w hps is higher efficiency to start with).

but as you can see a 600w with a few LEDS or CFLS in the corners is enough.

Click to expand...

My 600 is being used in my other cab. I have that cab dialed in and running very smoothly...

No point in going out and buying another ballast when I already own the 2x 400 watt and 1 1000 watt digital ballast

amgprb said:

My 600 is being used in my other cab. I have that cab dialed in and running very smoothly...

No point in going out and buying another ballast when I already own the 2x 400 watt and 1 1000 watt digital ballast

Click to expand...

The 400w will have better coverage but less potential. You will want an even canopy with the 400w option. With the 1000w you can just move taller plants to the sides. if you are scrogging or doing single strain then the 400w option is surely better. if you are doing a mix of indicas and sativas perhaps the 1000w will better suit your style.

Depends how you can manage heat and canopy with the reflectors you have