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I have a 430w Son Agro for flower and a 400MH for veg. I'm in flowering now. I've kept the light between 18" and 24". Good or bad? What would be right the right height? Veg and flower the same?
Keep it as close as possible. I got the same lite for veg. Stick your hand under the lite and see how close you can get before it feels hot. Usually about 12". It will reduce the stretch.
Thanks Capt. well now I know why she stretched so much. I'll move the light down when it comes on again in the morning. Do you think I've lost any bud development with the light being maybe an extra foot away?
It's a vented hood Tex. I have an exhaust fan pulling from the top vent. I have the glass but took it off because someone at the hydro shop said I'd get better results with out it. I believe it's called a super grow wing reflector, made by hydrofarm.
the loss of efficiency is about 10 percent with regular glass. There is a special glass that has a loss of only 5 percent that I saw at a web site but I believe they only sell it as tubes.
with my 600w bulb and glass, I can get a foot closer to the plants. using the formula in cervantes book that halvens the distance and the light is four times as intense. I believe that more than makes up for the 5-10% lumen loss from using the glass. If you don't want to use glass you can get closer to the canopy by using a light mover. The light is moved away before the heat builds up too high.