RDWC and LED help needed.

Hey,

I just recently decided to to move indoors after growing outdoors for several years.
I have been looking for a good setting and settled on one.
Now i'm stuck with the following question..

Would it be more beneficial (yield wise) to run 4 plants in an alien RDWC PRO XL (20gal) system inside a 10x10 VS running 8-9 plants in the same RDWC System (9 buckets), same tent.

The lights I will be using..
(when using) 9 pot system: 2x Black Dog Phytomax 400
(when using 4 pot system: 1x Black Dog Phytomax 800

I will be using the scrog method (if that's the best option?)

Which setup would yield more?

Thank you in advance, all help and tips will be appreciated greatly.

Regards.

Using Scrog puts all the plant heights into the same sweetspot so it comes down to umols at the leaf surfaces. Personally I have 3x Black Dog Phytomax400.
The umol output is the same as 1x Phytomax1200. I use three because of self shadowing. A single immobile light source creates shadows behind every leaf the light encounters. Multiple sight sources eliminate or greatly reduce this shadow.
More of the emitted light is used with multiple lights even though the photon counts are the same.

I admit the difference gets small after the second light, three instead of two is not a big deal. But two instead of one can make a difference approaching 5%, which is a big deal.

A well designed reflector and reflective tent combo improves single light efficiency as well, no single solution fits all situations. I have a non reflective child's bedroom for a bud area and multiple lights were much more effective for me than rebuilding the interior and losing all her graffiti since elementary school. Kids write and draw on walls a lot.

Phaeton,

What do you like for adding air to water?? Stones tend to clog up, and in scrog, almost impossible to get at them during flower. I have seen hoses with holes in them, and wonder if those would be better. Do you have any experience or knowledge of them??

Thanks.

@Phaeton Thank you very much, I will definitely read up on shadowing and go with 2-3 lights.

@loc dog Would this airstone clog up as well?

Loc Dog said:

Phaeton,

What do you like for adding air to water?? Stones tend to clog up, and in scrog, almost impossible to get at them during flower. I have seen hoses with holes in them, and wonder if those would be better. Do you have any experience or knowledge of them??

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I flood from the top three times per day. For two minutes before each watering the reservoir undergoes fluming. I aim the hose so the water almost reaches the ceiling and lands back in the reservoir, large amounts of air are entrained fairly quickly.

For systems needing steady full time sources of air I think changing out clogged lines is part of the maintenance schedule, like the air filter on a car.