How would you light 63"x63" ????

[North34West122]

Just took my new Female seeds grapefruit and c99x out of their 24-hour soak and planted them in damp seed-starter soil under a cool CFl. When established they will go under a 400 mh to veg for at least 4 or 5 weeks. So I've got about six or seven weeks to figure out the new flower room.

As the title says, the space is about 5 feet 3 inches or 1.6m square. My initial thinking is that two 600w lights on a circular light mover would be the ultimate, I will have access to 240v power and can use one of those dual ballasts I've seen at some of the hydro stores. Then I could put a MH conversion or CMH bulb in one and the whole garden would get all the red and blus light it needs. Might it be more efficient to just use one 1000w hps and maybe some floros on the sides for blue light? Would I still want to have the light mover? Since the 1000w set-up is about the same price as one 600w fixture...

Ventilation will be customized to system chosen. If you have had experience with 600w vs. 1000w I would love to hear from you.

n34w122

 

[Jnugg]

I'd go with the two 600w HPS.You get more watts and more lumens.You have a 5' x 5' grow room which is 25 square feet.

50 watts per square foot and 7000 to 10,000 lumens per square foot (lumens for flowering) is a general rule of thumb and with a 1000w HPS you only get 40 watts per square foot and only 5600 lumens per square foot in a 5' x 5' / 25 square foot garden.

With the two 600w HPS you get 1200w and 48 watts per square foot and 7200 to 7600 lumens per square foot in a 5' x 5' / 25 square foot garden.

 

[North34West122]

Hey Jnugg, thanks for the response.

You're definitely right about the more PAR watts getting to the plants the better. I just want to make sure I'm considering everything--the only rig I've personally delt with is a 400. I saw a grow thread on OG back in the day about a guy who was growing six tree style plants around a vertically mounted 1000w bulb and got about 3 lbs per grow. That would be about 50grams/sq ft or nearly 2oz/ft.

And I'm also wondering about the squareness of the space without moving the light there will be pretty dim spots. I also wouldn't mind saving some cash, as our ventilation is going to have to be elaborate and will probably cost $1,000 by itself.

But in the end, more is more and the investment is small compared to returns

 

[Jnugg]

Use a 6" 449cfm inline for cooling the lights and a 6" 449cfm to 8" 700cfm inline for exhuast...$180-$250 for a 6" 449cfm inline and about $225-$350 for a 8" 700+cfm inline....all prices U.S. $

 

[North34West122]

I may not have the luxury of having a separate line for air cooling the lights. The space is within an airconditioned house, and as it happens the house is under going renovation and the ceiling carrying HAVC duct is open so we will put a register directly into the closet. I will probably go with the 8-inch centrifugal fan venting through carbon fliter. And one 8-inch line is all I will get out of the room. My plan is to not shield the light at all and create plenty of air movement between the lights and the tops of the plants. Oder is a huge concern so the venting fan will always be on creating neg pressure in the closet, making the addition of CO2 impractical eliminating another motivation I might have to cool lights separately.

I'll post pics when the decision is made.

n34w122

 

[Jnugg]

Think about this though.Carbon scrubber > 600w HPS > 600w HPS > 8" inline > outside of grow

This way you can both cool the lights and ventilate the room with just one fan while de odorizing the air.

 

[Guest]

Think about this though.Carbon scrubber > 600w HPS > 600w HPS > 8" inline > outside of grow

This way you can both cool the lights and ventilate the room with just one fan while de odorizing the air.

^^^
Best way to do it!!

Bh

 

[RM - aquagrower]

^^^ by doing that you will have neg air pressure in the hoods "post filter" meaning that if the hoods ain't completely air tight you will be expelling a little "untreated" (read stinky) air.

if ya can only get one fan now, you can install a T on the fan, sucking thru each light and exhaust the air thru the filter.

light light
T
fan
carbon filter

after you get thru a harvest, ya can get another fan and run the duel vent systems described above.

good luck and grow safe!

 

[ColoraDro]

nice info right there i was actually looking for example of how to do this becuase my flowering room is under construction as we speak...