umm.. best light distance from center of bulb to foliage?

JD_85

JD_85

Well-Known Member
so long story short, ive got two plants that out grew their environment. they are about 83" tall after the stretch with the pot. and 46" is the lowest viable branch..so my question is, if i make a vert. circle with a cage. how many inches should i keep plant matter from 1k. and how many inches should i keep plant matted from a 400 watt?
ive got an extra 1k and an extra 400w that i will try to do a cage with.
 
pilsung

pilsung

Well-Known Member
if you use a 20" fan under the bulb it'll make a wider column of air that hit's the plants with cool air making it possible to get girls closer than you could with a smaller fan with out burning them.
i was using 10" fans for a couple runs and had to keep girls too far back and got very airy buds as a result. switched to box fans and can get them within a foot of a 600 without issues.

100_5482.JPG

you can't tell in the picture but the air also makes the bulb swing in a small circle that helps light penetration to the plants as well. good luck with your girl.
 
JD_85

JD_85

Well-Known Member
pilsung said:
if you use a 20" fan under the bulb it'll make a wider column of air that hit's the plants with cool air making it possible to get girls closer than you could with a smaller fan with out burning them.
i was using 10" fans for a couple runs and had to keep girls too far back and got very airy buds as a result. switched to box fans and can get them within a foot of a 600 without issues.

View attachment 3506353

you can't tell in the picture but the air also makes the bulb swing in a small circle that helps light penetration to the plants as well. good luck with your girl.
Click to expand...
thank you for the info Pilsung.
as you can probably tell this my first vert. i usuly wouldnt jump rite in but, after the stretch, there was no way to fit them in a 5x8 with the others. so i had to tare down my veg room and convert into a make shift bud room. ill try to get some pics up in the next day or two
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I've been at this awhile and I've worked my way up to 30W/ft². Each step up gets better quality and quantity, but I'm not a big fan of the extra power used.

I'm up to between 3800-5100W now, and I think that rather than continuing to throw more HID lamps at the problem, I'd try LED. Soooooo... CXB3590 here I come! I can get DE level light intensity levels with less than half the watts. Just what the doctor ordered...
 
Kush Killington

Kush Killington

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I've been at this awhile and I've worked my way up to 30W/ft². Each step up gets better quality and quantity, but I'm not a big fan of the extra power used.

I'm up to between 3800-5100W now, and I think that rather than continuing to throw more HID lamps at the problem, I'd try LED. Soooooo... CXB3590 here I come! I can get DE level light intensity levels with less than half the watts. Just what the doctor ordered...
Click to expand...
How is w/ft^2 calculated in a circular set up? watts/surface area comes out to a loow number. But then again i guess the parameters for a vert grow are diff for a horizontal. 50w/ft^2 flat = ?w/ft^2 vert

Sir KK
 
JD_85

JD_85

Well-Known Member
so this is what i have so far. its kinda like a red headed step child. vert is not my forte just yet. i hardly have enough time to take care of the main bud room and what was my outdoor plant. i work a lot of overtime and my wife works when i am home so i can watch my boy.
so far this has been the worst in 7 or 8 years. enough with excuses
 

Attachments

ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Kush Killington said:
How is w/ft^2 calculated in a circular set up? watts/surface area comes out to a loow number. But then again i guess the parameters for a vert grow are diff for a horizontal. 50w/ft^2 flat = ?w/ft^2 vert

Sir KK
Click to expand...
Watts per square foot is calculated the same way vertically as it is horizontally. My panels are 6' tall x 4' wide = 24 ft². Four panels in a silo = 96 ft².

3 x 860W CDM = 2580W/96ft²=26.87x .95 efficiency factor (significant bounce area at top and bottom, it's covered in panda but it's not perfect) = 25.5W/ft² effective.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
JD_85 said:
so this is what i have so far. its kinda like a red headed step child. vert is not my forte just yet. i hardly have enough time to take care of the main bud room and what was my outdoor plant. i work a lot of overtime and my wife works when i am home so i can watch my boy.
so far this has been the worst in 7 or 8 years. enough with excuses
Click to expand...
1. Put up white panda film on your walls
2. Put some wire fencing or netting up against the walls, outside the panda film so you can...
3. Use vine clips and lengths of soft tie to train the plants up and back against the trellis.
4. All the normal rules of gardening still apply.

I see nothing wrong with your plants that vertical growing might have caused...
 
Kush Killington

Kush Killington

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Watts per square foot is calculated the same way vertically as it is horizontally. My panels are 6' tall x 4' wide = 24 ft². Four panels in a silo = 96 ft².

3 x 860W CDM = 2580W/96ft²=26.87x .95 efficiency factor (significant bounce area at top and bottom, it's covered in panda but it's not perfect) = 25.5W/ft² effective.
Click to expand...
Hm so my circle is roughly 46" across, 36" tall with 3 stacked 400ws. Cylinder SA = 2pi • rh + 2pi • r^2.
Drop the 2pi•r^2 (no top or bottom to cylinder)
So: sa = 2pi • 23(36)
= 2pi • 828"
= 5202.477in^2
= 36.128ft^2
Divide into watts
1200/36.128 = 33.215w/sqft not including light loss to efficiency.

So id say ~30w/sqft
Hm id like to see atleast 50 but id b hard pressed to cool all that light. For now i gotta get my training down. I tried to keep growth flat to the screen but damn my bitches stretch. Ran outta screen so jus had to let em grow outward. Think ill jus do a dubble harvest and let the shaded stuff fill in.

Sir KK

Bruuh gotta get me some of those cdms!
Wat kinda ballasts they run on? Any recommended distributors? Kinda btus those things put off?
 
Kush Killington

Kush Killington

Well-Known Member
JD_85 said:
so this is what i have so far. its kinda like a red headed step child. vert is not my forte just yet. i hardly have enough time to take care of the main bud room and what was my outdoor plant. i work a lot of overtime and my wife works when i am home so i can watch my boy.
so far this has been the worst in 7 or 8 years. enough with excuses
Click to expand...
Its a great start thou. Vert is kinda awkward at first. The thing i struggle with most is training. Since i dont take clones (limitation reasons) all my plants are a lil diff so its hard to train everything evenly. Itll all come wit time thou

Sir KK
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Kush Killington said:
Hm so my circle is roughly 46" across, 36" tall with 3 stacked 400ws. Cylinder SA = 2pi • rh + 2pi • r^2.
Drop the 2pi•r^2 (no top or bottom to cylinder)
So: sa = 2pi • 23(36)
= 2pi • 828"
= 5202.477in^2
= 36.128ft^2
Divide into watts
1200/36.128 = 33.215w/sqft not including light loss to efficiency.

So id say ~30w/sqft
Hm id like to see atleast 50 but id b hard pressed to cool all that light. For now i gotta get my training down. I tried to keep growth flat to the screen but damn my bitches stretch. Ran outta screen so jus had to let em grow outward. Think ill jus do a dubble harvest and let the shaded stuff fill in.

Sir KK

Bruuh gotta get me some of those cdms!
Wat kinda ballasts they run on? Any recommended distributors? Kinda btus those things put off?
Click to expand...
The 860W CDM lamps themselves cost about a Franklin, but they run on magnetic thousand watt ballast set to MH. Only. They also run in the vertical position. ONLY. But the ballast is cheap and so the whole setup is a big cost saver.

http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmea860.htm

In the donut you describe, don't run thousand watt HPS unless it's on a mover, diameter is just too small. Three 600W HPS would be badass... but two 860W CDM would kill it!

The heat is 860W, so between a 600W and a thouie. It's all the same heat once the environmental control system sees it.
 
Kush Killington

Kush Killington

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
The 860W CDM lamps themselves cost about a Franklin, but they run on magnetic thousand watt ballast set to MH. Only. They also run in the vertical position. ONLY. But the ballast is cheap and so the whole setup is a big cost saver.

http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmea860.htm

In the donut you describe, don't run thousand watt HPS unless it's on a mover, diameter is just too small. Three 600W HPS would be badass... but two 860W CDM would kill it!

The heat is 860W, so between a 600W and a thouie. It's all the same heat once the environmental control system sees it.
Click to expand...
Fo sho bro thanks fo the advice. Im definately lookin too upgrade. My ballasts and bulbs are old as shit. Dont think ive ever replaced one except wen bulbs burn out and i had one ballast explode (internally).

Sir KK
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Kush Killington said:
Fo sho bro thanks fo the advice. Im definately lookin too upgrade. My ballasts and bulbs are old as shit. Dont think ive ever replaced one except wen bulbs burn out and i had one ballast explode (internally).

Sir KK
Click to expand...
The CDM lamps produce a really nice quality of light, you'll enjoy working in it compared to HPS or MH. The ladies love them; I'm getting really nice frost. They produce well, maybe 15% less than HPS- but then you're saving 15% on power usage, so efficiency is a wash.

The only way to really upgrade is to go to COB LED; I'm not sure about the new ballast being the secret weapon for the similar tech 315W LEC lamps to be so much better.

I've had a few capacitors fail in my magnetic ballasts over time; replacing one is not a difficult or expensive fix.
 
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