Lighting for a 4 x 8 tent?

[dante76]

need an honest opinion about lighting for a 4 x 8 tent. Right now i have one xtra sun 6 hood with a 1000w.

Is it not sufficient? Someone suggested that i go by the rule of 60w for every sq. ft; other say its just fine.

Would i really need two 1000w or is the reflective material inside the tent in some way make up for the what seems to be a lack of light?

what might i experience if i only use this one hood?

 

[drymouth]

get yourself another 1000w and run both. if you got one and dont wont to shell out the cash or if you plain out jus dont want to run 2? then run 1 1000w on a 4x4 or half the room. or you can always get a light mover and have 32 2 gal and only grow 1ft plants those are your options.

 

[el dub]

Right now, you are sitting at 31 watts/sq ft. Not near enough for flowering, imo.

However, it would be easy enough to set up a smaller grow in that space to accommodate the single bulb you currently own, imo.

lw

 

[dante76]

Question....where does this rule come from? 60W per sq ft?

 

[MacGyver420]

for a 4x8 tent; i personally would run: two 1000 watt bulbs with nice big reflectors;

or

three 600 watt bulbs in smaller reflectors



a single 1000 watt bulb and reflector is really only enough for one side of that tent! good luck to ya

 

[amannamedtruth]

2k side by side. This rule comes from all the experience on this board...

 

[dante76]

gotcha! hmmm...don't know why different hydro shops would tell i would be ok...they just wanna sell me whatever i guess.

I don't wanna run more that one ballast right now so i can guage my energy costs. I'm running twice as much gas for heat and i'm already looking at doubling my electric bill with this one 1000w system.

thanks guys!

 

[Snow Crash]

My first idea to help you is to reroute your ducting and use the heat from your lighting to warm up your house. I did this last winter and had a lower energy bill than my downstairs neighbors. I was running 1,400w+ in lighting, they were running two 1200w in-wall heaters. Seemed like a "no-brainer" to me, why vent the heat when I need it?

Something you should also be considering are the amperage requirements. Two 1000w 110v/120v Magnetic ballasts are actually pulling about 1100w, and around 9 to 10amps each. That would be 20amps just on your lighting. Many traditional residential circuits are only 15amps, and you still have to consider your other electrical needs like fans and equipment. Before you go and spend another $500 on a ballast/reflector/bulb ensure that your electrical wiring will be capable.

If you have an upper limit on how much energy you can pull down the circuit which supplies your grow room then two 1000w systems are probably not in the cards. Although, two 600w systems (digital if possible) are going to total up for around 10 to 11amps. That is almost the same amount of energy used for one 1000w ballast, but with the ability to cover your rectangular grow space and upwards of 180,000 lumens. Using the two 600's would also allow for a little room on your circuit for the extra hardware a grow room requires.

If you can manage a 30amp 220v/240v circuit for the ballasts + AC/Dehuey (typical for washing machines), and a 20amp residential circuit for fans + extras, and you can afford the hardware... Then I say go for it. Every $ you spend on lighting will improve your harvest weight, and over time anything you purchase will pay for itself 10x over.

You gotta pay to play!

 

[AbeFroman]

2k in blockbuster hoods.

 

[Irie_Lion]

i run 2 blockbusters with 600w lumateks inna 8x4 tent and sometimes i use the entire sq ft and sometime its only 6x4...either way its an easy 2+ lbs per harvest.

 

[godric]

I agree with snow crash, you have to watch how many amps your adding to one circuit. If you go to your fuse box it will have a number on the switch (which will probably be 15). If you wanted to go through a dryer 240v outlet you would need a powerbox to split it up so you can run more than just 1 light off of it. Also dryer outlets are usually 50 amps. I'm running 2 600w bulbs in a 4x8 tent right now and I find that to be a perfect amount. Snow crash is right in suggesting 2 600w hps because your going to get more lumens (light intensity) per watt. Hope this helps.

 

[_Dude]

Lighting questions always depend on your setup. If you start with a given space and want to know how to light it, you'll get different answers than if you start with given lighting and want to know how much space to dedicate to it. Assuming max yield is your concern, of course.

So given a 4'x8' space, I'd suggest 2 600s as a minimum, 2 1ks as a standard, and 4 600s as a maximum if you really want to go nuts.

 

[dante76]

thanks a bunch.


since I last commented on this thread, i decided to go with a 4 x 4 tent with my 1 - 1000w system.

just put some of my seedlings under the light yesterday...i'm sure this will work out fine over the next 3 -4 weeks.

 

[toastfighter2]

don't know why different hydro shops would tell i would be ok...they just wanna sell me whatever i guess.

Just be happy that they didn't try to sell you everything in the store. I learned a long time ago(the hard way) that the people at the hydro shore are the last people that you want to ask for advise(in most cases that is).

 

[dante76]

i totally agree! Best to research on your own first. Thank God for forums like IC!