I decided to start w/ the 2 400w I have in flower, air cooled w/ 6" can fan, then add a third. The room will be vented with a 6" hurricane fan and carbon scrubber. Veg will be 2x 4' shop lights for new seedlings and clones. I currently have a 175w that I will use once I establish a mother or two, then probly upgrade to t5's. Will be sog because of height restriction. Last one was 4x8 ebb n flo table under 2000w, also sog, afghani #1, but no longer have that room. Electrical, is not a problem for me, but your concern on these boards is understood. Lot of people get busted to electrical fires.
Lighting options?
- Thread starter Danks2005
- Start date
Glowsticks! No, fireflies in a jar!
Kidding, you have 18.75 square feet of space, and though you need at least 50wpsf min, I'd recommend around 60 to get better results. So 60X18.75 = 1125w. Though 3X400's HPS gets you there, they are not a super efficient light (55K lumens) at 137.5 lumens per watt. By contrast, an Agrosun 600w is 95K lumens, or 158 lumens per watt! Guess which one gives you more light.
So my official, most efficient lighting recommendation is:
2X600W Agrosun 600W HPS bulbs
Pretty much any reflector (since the bulb has an excellent one built in)
Air cooled hoods if you can
two Quantum 600w digital ballasts.
This way you can throw down 190K lumens with 1200w, vs 165K lumens with 1200W (400's.)
Hope that helps.
Kidding, you have 18.75 square feet of space, and though you need at least 50wpsf min, I'd recommend around 60 to get better results. So 60X18.75 = 1125w. Though 3X400's HPS gets you there, they are not a super efficient light (55K lumens) at 137.5 lumens per watt. By contrast, an Agrosun 600w is 95K lumens, or 158 lumens per watt! Guess which one gives you more light.
So my official, most efficient lighting recommendation is:
2X600W Agrosun 600W HPS bulbs
Pretty much any reflector (since the bulb has an excellent one built in)
Air cooled hoods if you can
two Quantum 600w digital ballasts.
This way you can throw down 190K lumens with 1200w, vs 165K lumens with 1200W (400's.)
Hope that helps.
i agree 2 600's
so you don't think the 7.5' is to long for 2 600's, I thought that 3 400's would spread the light better over the longer distance. This will most likely be a sog grow so not over 2' I've got 2 6' air cooled hoods, 2x 400w bulb and ballasts, and 2x 1000w bulb and ballast, 6" can fan, 6" hurricane fan. I am not against buying 600's though, wanted to see what u guys thought before i set it up. Peace.
E
EvilTwin
Hi Danks,
So this space will be your primary bloom area? How big is your veg space? It seems a shame to have to buy 600s when you already have a batch of lights of various wattage.
You ever thought about a mover? Rectangular spaces lend themselves well to that.
Give us a run-down on your whole set-up and maybe that'll trigger some ideas.
ET
So this space will be your primary bloom area? How big is your veg space? It seems a shame to have to buy 600s when you already have a batch of lights of various wattage.
You ever thought about a mover? Rectangular spaces lend themselves well to that.
Give us a run-down on your whole set-up and maybe that'll trigger some ideas.
ET
long closet 8' tall gonna make a top flowering section 4-5' tall, bottom veg/clone area 3-4' tal, same footprint for both. Lots of flourescents in veg hps in flower. will be a staggered harvest sog, every 20 or 30 days haven't decided yet. Yes primary bloom area, want to set up once (i know there will be some tweaking. want to get 1-2 harvests through winter then add co2 and split a/c. I don't want to do a mover just cause i don't feel like setting it up. I also was thinking 3 400's and a 20 day staggered harvest. then the middle light could be raised and lowered for new stretching plants. and outside two can be fixed for plants just fattening up and finishing. 60 day strain harvest one 400w every 20days, and only got to buy 1 400 instead of 2 600's. This ought to hold me over till i can fire up my thousands again....hopefully someday. for now I will be poppin seeds looking for a winner.
THSeeds-The Hog, Sage, Bubblegum
Serious Seeds- Ak-47, Chronic
need to find mother or mothers then will run all one pheno per cycle
THSeeds-The Hog, Sage, Bubblegum
Serious Seeds- Ak-47, Chronic
need to find mother or mothers then will run all one pheno per cycle
Good question, is it a veg room? If so you only need about 25wpsf, easy peasey.
Yeah you shoulda mentioned you already had some gear Danks, so in your case yes, if this is a second flowering room or something then yes use 3X400's, go for it. If you had two 600's already I'd agree with ET and say get a mover.
if you already have 2 1000's i would just use them... you will yield more in the end! maybe start up 1000 then 3-4 weeks later start up the other.. then u got it staggered. sell those 400's for some extra cash, they wont be of any use to you. t5s for the grow room is all you need if your doing it small like that.
So your closets total measurements are 2.5' x 7.5' x 8' correct?
That's 18.75 square feet and 150 cubic feet.I see you want to make the lower half your veg/mother/clone section and the top half would be your flowering section.
since your closet is only 8' tall you can't make the flowering section 5' tall and the veg/mom/clone section 4' tall or vice-versa as that equals 9'....where are you going to get that extra vertical foot from?!
Your options are a 4' tall veg/clone/mother section and a 4' tall flowering section...OR...5' tall flowering section and a 3' tall veg/mom/clone section.
So,you have 2x 1000w HPS and 2x 400w HPS at your convenience already?
2000w would be alot of power to put into a 18.75 sq.foot area letalone one that is only 4'-5' high!
2000/18.75 = 106.6w/sq.foot!
280,000/18.75 = 14,933 lumens/sq.foot!
That just sounds like light burn and bleaching territory,it would be a PITA to keep everything cool,and also sounds like way past the point of diminishing returns.
I'd use the 3x 400w HPS in the flowering section.
1200/18.75 = 64w/sq.foot
150,000/18.75 = 8,000 lumens/sq.foot
That ^ sounds right to me for overall production and ease of operation (keeping temps in check,air-cooling,height restrictions).
For the veg area I think 3x 250w MH's 750w/18.75 = 40w/sq.foot 63,000/18.75 = 3360 lumens/sq.foot
or 2x 400w MH's 800/18.75 = 42.6w/sq.foot 100,000/18.75 = 5,333 lumens/sq.foot
or 3x 2' 8 bulb t5 lighting fixtures 576w/18.75 = 30.72w/sq.foot 48,000/18.75 = 2,560 lumens/sq.foot
You're looking at running 1776w-2000w in just lighting depending on which route you take.Is your electrical up to par for this operation or are yougetting it done?!
1776w/120v = 14.8 amps.
2000w/120v = 16.66 amps.
More then likely your room is set up on one 15 or 20 amp circuit.Rule of thumb with circuits is to not overload one.Safe load is 85% of the total circuit.
15 amps. x 0.85 = 12.75 amps.You would be safe running a continuous load of 12.75 amps or 1530w on a single 15 amp circuit.
20 amps. x 0.85 = 17 amps.You could safely run a continuous load of 17 amps or 2040w on a single 20amp circuit.
My advice is have 2x 20 amp or 2x 30amp circuits installed and wires ran to your room.
I would strongly advise you into air-cooling your 3x 400w HPS with atleast a 6" if not 8" inline centrifugal exhuast fan and a 4" to 6" inline centrifugal or S&P mixed vent for the veg area.
If using 100% Indica or Indica dominat genetics then I would suggest placing rooted clones in the flowering section as soon as they are about 4"-8" tall as Indica and Indica dominant plants stretch 2x sometime 3x there height...Sativa and Sativa dominant plants on the other hand will stretch 3x+ their height.
Figure 6" vertical space taken up by pots.24" for the plants. 6"-12" for the space between the a/c 400w HPS's and the gradens/plants canopy,8"-12" for the a/c reflectors,and 6" for space between the top of the a/c reflectors and the roof/ceiling of the grow closet.
So all in all if you make the flower area 5' tall you'' have taken up 26"-36" of vertical space (6" for the plastic containers,6" between hood and roof,6"-12" between lights and garden canopy 8"-12" for a/c reflectors) leaving you with enough vertical room to run plants that finish 18"-34" tall (12"-24" recommended).
E
EvilTwin
Morning,
Looks like jnugg covered everything.
A light mover with 1k would be perfect for that space...but it would also eat up some of your valuable vertical real estate and they are a complication.
The loss of light efficiency with 400s isn't that much of an issue so if that's what you go with...it should do fine. And like you mentioned...it gives you some added flexibility having three lights in that area.
Good luck with the project,
ET
Looks like jnugg covered everything.
A light mover with 1k would be perfect for that space...but it would also eat up some of your valuable vertical real estate and they are a complication.
The loss of light efficiency with 400s isn't that much of an issue so if that's what you go with...it should do fine. And like you mentioned...it gives you some added flexibility having three lights in that area.
Good luck with the project,
ET
