StinkBud
Well-Known Member
Either will work. I just started using 10 sprayers in my design instead of 8 but I don't really notice any difference.
Harvest a Pound Every Three Weeks!
- Thread starter StinkBud
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StinkBud
Well-Known Member
Lighting was going to be one of my next discussions.
There is no real advantage to growing massive plants indoors because the light can't penetrate the canopy anyway.
And like you say how the lights are setup is just as important as total lumens.
Lumens are non-additive right?
Why is it then plants 4 ft. away receive twice as much light with two lights as they do with one.
I did a test once with my camera set to manual exposure. I spot metered on a center plant that was 4 ft. away from both lights.
I turned on one light and took a reading. Then I turned on both lights and guess what? My exposure was cut one full stop. For you non photographers that means there was twice as much light on the center plant exactly. Weird...
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Ok guys, I'm up late, and have a lighting ??? since we are on the topic. I currently have a 1000w hps. I have a magnetic hps ballast, so I don't believe I can just run a 1000wmh bulb for vegging. I want to get a 1000w blue dual arc hps bulb. I don't know however if this will be financially fesable before I start my grow without delaying it even more, its already gonna be another 1-2 months before I can start. Should I:
1. Go ahead and start my grow with the 1000w hps
2. Start with my florotubes, and maybe some cfl's
3. Wait till I can get the hps blue bulb?
What do you guys think, I know that the hps red I have isn't ideal for vegging, but would it be better then the cfls, and florotubes? Could I run the whole grow with the hps red with out to many worries? Thanks for any feedback as usual!
1. Go ahead and start my grow with the 1000w hps
2. Start with my florotubes, and maybe some cfl's
3. Wait till I can get the hps blue bulb?
What do you guys think, I know that the hps red I have isn't ideal for vegging, but would it be better then the cfls, and florotubes? Could I run the whole grow with the hps red with out to many worries? Thanks for any feedback as usual!
Eharmony420
Well-Known Member
Hey stinkbud, thanks for posting your aerocloner plans! I can follow the plans and still have a good time, saved me the trouble of using my brain. Thats how I built my avatar. So i posting this cuz i alraeady repped you too much. Rockin>
StinkBud
Well-Known Member
Start with the 1K HPS. It will work great!
I'd pick maximum lumens over color temp any day.
Light is what powers photosynthesis. Think of lights like a car engine.
A 1000W HPS is like a Dodge 440 Hemi Cuda.
HO Fls are like those little rice burners with the fart cans on the exhaust.
CFLs are like those little hybrid cars with the electric motor...
So, whether you want speed to go
or speed to grow,
size matters!
DIRTHAWKER
Well-Known Member
Hmm.. i must have missed that drawing beacuse i only put 6 sprayers in my clone and my veg units. (SAME AS FIRST PAGE ILLUSTRATION) Seems to be working great.
offgridgrower
Well-Known Member
stinkbud I have noticed that you have great analogies! btw I want speed to go, so I got a CBR 1000 RR, only max it out twice so far speedo stops at 189mph, lol
StinkBud
Well-Known Member
I ride a Suzuki 1250.
I'm too much of a pussy to go over 125 though...
or too smart.
or too old.
Let's just say all of the above!
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
That is pretty much what I thought, but I was looking at some threads and people were talkin about a red hps being almost useless to veg. It didn't seem that likely that some cfls, could even remotely compare to my light, but I didn't want to end up not getting good veg results. I'm going to scrog this grow, so veg is pretty important. I'm still hoping I can find a reasonably priced blue hps bulb, but if not, at least I know I'm still off to a great start!!
iBLaZe4tozErO
Well-Known Member
I've veg(ed) with hps before so it will work. The blue hps ?? I think the blue version is a mh bulb or mh conversion bulb.That is pretty much what I thought, but I was looking at some threads and people were talkin about a red hps being almost useless to veg. It didn't seem that likely that some cfls, could even remotely compare to my light, but I didn't want to end up not getting good veg results. I'm going to scrog this grow, so veg is pretty important. I'm still hoping I can find a reasonably priced blue hps bulb, but if not, at least I know I'm still off to a great start!!
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
The blue is a dual arc bulb, its hps and mh, but it will run off an hps ballast. I have a magnetic 1000w hps ballast, and I'm under the impression I can't just screw in a regular mh bulb, that I would need to use one of these dual arcs. If you guys agree that I can veg fine under the regualr hps, then I might not spend the money this time.
iBLaZe4tozErO
Well-Known Member
my bad I just read back and was gonna say don't listen to me about blue bulb.
offgridgrower
Well-Known Member
your rite thundercat you cant just put a reg mh in that hps ballast, you would need a conversion hps bulb that would run hps and mh, (both a slightly lower lumens mind you) but you can veg with hps its just not the BEST way to veg, but will work none the less.
and stinkbud that 1250 is a good bike, what year? I have a buddy that took a honda frame and put a suzuki motor on it and called it a honduki! lol
DragonPhoenix
Well-Known Member
Hey Stink - I think there is a law of diminishing returns. Obviously if you have some very low amount of lumens adding another light is going to help. Think of growing 5 plants with one CFL. The CFL only has a certain amount of coverage. Adding more CFLs will help because you are adding more area of coverage. The light dissipates over an area and when you add another light source there may be an overlapping area which received a little light before but now receives a little more due to the additional source. The same goes for HID lighting. If you are adding another light source you would want to position it to have some overlap but not too much.
The example you used was perfect - you were 4 feet away and added another light. If you were 6 inches away and added another light I'd be willing to bet there would be no difference in the metering for the exposure due to how close you were to the source of light. However when you start to move away you are losing intensity and that's when adding more lamps would be beneficial.
I've also got a motorcycle
just got it this past summer and I love to ride. It's a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250rBy the way I just want to be clear I don't know everything (or much of anything). This is just my understanding of lighting and I very well may be totally wrong so talking about this also helps me out.
I may just go with 6 since I'm doing a smaller scale grow anyways! If it doesn't work as well, I'm only a drill away from changing it.
repvip
Well-Known Member
Really love this thread StinkBud! Thanks very much. Already made my first Aero/NFT unit in one day after getting super excited hehe.
Anyway, was curious how some of you felt about energy consumption with the light setups you seem to want--4 600w HPS... Aren't you worried about being flagged by the utility company?
I've ran a 1000w HPS 12/12 and 400w MH 20/4 with a modest increase in my bill, but no problems. Plan on using my other 1000w this round. But 4 1000watters would have to attract attention, wouldn't you think?
Anyway, was curious how some of you felt about energy consumption with the light setups you seem to want--4 600w HPS... Aren't you worried about being flagged by the utility company?
I've ran a 1000w HPS 12/12 and 400w MH 20/4 with a modest increase in my bill, but no problems. Plan on using my other 1000w this round. But 4 1000watters would have to attract attention, wouldn't you think?
StinkBud
Well-Known Member
It's easy to check if you have enough sprayers.
Start the pump. Put your finger in the hole and if it comes out wet then you are good to go.
This test also works on the wife and girlfriend.
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
The energy consumption all depends on the total size of your house, or location. You can figure 1x1000w per 12x12 room that you have in your house. So to run 4x1000, you would want to make sure you are in at least a 3-4 bedroom house. Atleast thats my understanding of what raises eyebrows down at the electric company.