Things to Know About Lighting
- Thread starter roosterfish
- Start date
danno48
Active Member
I've got a 400w ballast rig that came with 400w HPS bulb. Went to Home Depot and got a 400w MH light to start my grow. Just screwed it into the lamp holder and everything seems to me fine. Ballast gets hot, but I think it's a digital ballast that should allow me to use either bulb as long as its 400w. Is this correct? Right now my 1 week old seedlings are under the 400w mh (about three feet above them). I've been advised not to put seedlings under mh, but they seem very happy this way. When should I switch over to the hps? I assume when I decide to flower.
wangyunan
Active Member
due to the size of my veranda and the environment surrounding it, to be too bright at night would be a huge risk for me to take. I got a 250w high pressure sodium which looks not very suspicious from outside. Problem is I got 11 plants in an area about 1 m2. I mean that I know my lighting is kinda low, so I shrinked the area and packed all my babies in that SQ METER to get'em as close to the light as they can. By the way this's my first time grow weed, 11 white russians from serious seeds, so I need to know that if my way is "Okay"
?? Or I should just simply enlarge the space between them?
?? Or I should just simply enlarge the space between them?To the OP: The guy saying you should ideally have 4 400's and a 150 is correct. Many people consider 50 watts per square foot but you can do fine with 40. Above 50 watts a square foot and diminishing returns sets in quickly.
Danno48: Don't try to cut costs too much especially on lighting. I know they are expensive but a Hortilux or Sunmaster bulb is better for growing and are worth every extra penny they cost. Don't assume your ballast will work with either MH or HPS. There are switchable ballasts and special MH bulbs designed to work in an HPS system. You want to keep the temp in the 70's for those seeds if you can, definitely under 80 degrees. A 400 watt light is overkill and puts out a lot of heat. And the seedlings are fragile. You can get fluorescent light fixtures and grow bulbs that are cheap from Home Depot but get the grow bulbs at a grow store, I wouldn't use the ones Home Depot sells. These fluorescent bulbs create very little heat. You can allow your babies to grow into and touching the fluorescent bulbs. You don't go to HPS until flower however you can do the entire grow from veg to bloom with either HPS or MH only.
Study the grow stickies in the forums. I see so many beginners that could do much better with just an hour or two of their time. The difference between a beginner and an experienced grower using the exact same setup and strains can be 4 to one for yield. Just learn about PH and nutes as well as how much nutes and you will do much better with the health of your plants and it will make a big difference in yield.
Danno48: Don't try to cut costs too much especially on lighting. I know they are expensive but a Hortilux or Sunmaster bulb is better for growing and are worth every extra penny they cost. Don't assume your ballast will work with either MH or HPS. There are switchable ballasts and special MH bulbs designed to work in an HPS system. You want to keep the temp in the 70's for those seeds if you can, definitely under 80 degrees. A 400 watt light is overkill and puts out a lot of heat. And the seedlings are fragile. You can get fluorescent light fixtures and grow bulbs that are cheap from Home Depot but get the grow bulbs at a grow store, I wouldn't use the ones Home Depot sells. These fluorescent bulbs create very little heat. You can allow your babies to grow into and touching the fluorescent bulbs. You don't go to HPS until flower however you can do the entire grow from veg to bloom with either HPS or MH only.
Study the grow stickies in the forums. I see so many beginners that could do much better with just an hour or two of their time. The difference between a beginner and an experienced grower using the exact same setup and strains can be 4 to one for yield. Just learn about PH and nutes as well as how much nutes and you will do much better with the health of your plants and it will make a big difference in yield.
okayimreloaded
Member
good looks cuz i was very confused when it came to the lighting
letitgrow77
Well-Known Member
My ole lady forgot to plug my lights back in this morning! They have been in 18/6 for a month now, and they went a soild 8 hours without lights, they had just come off thier sleep cycle about an hour before she unplugged. Think this will have anykind of impact? And i have fixed this problem so its not going to happen again.
Stalwart
Well-Known Member
Hi I'm Stalwart from OG and I signed up here a couple years ago but not posted but back at it so I'm baa-aack! I used to say check the light with your palm over the top of the plant and it should feel like a tropical sun ie a bit warmer than most USA'ers maybe S. Fla but not around wherever I am! LOL
urbangrowereastend
Member
Hi I have 8x 250W cfl's. 4x 27k and 4x 65k from plug and grow. I have used sumate reflectors and have put 2 of them right next to each other to cover a 4sq. ft area over each amazon aeroponics set up. So far they have produced 14 inches of growth in 30 days with very tight and compact internodal length. I am now 3 days into flowering and have had another 3 inches of growth. I grow in the spare room of a flat in the city and wanted a low heat and electricity consuming light set up.
So far the temps have been easy peasy to control and the growth albeit veg has been great, I was worried about out and out light penetration issues but am now more confident. They seem to be doing really well but lets wait till they start flowering, the buds are what matters.
I know I have more than most cfl users but they do seem to work really well.
So far the temps have been easy peasy to control and the growth albeit veg has been great, I was worried about out and out light penetration issues but am now more confident. They seem to be doing really well but lets wait till they start flowering, the buds are what matters.
I know I have more than most cfl users but they do seem to work really well.
9867mike777
Well-Known Member
That should be plenty for vegging. In fact probably overkill.
budling357
New Member
I second that!Thanks for this valuable info on the lights.
annahasier
Member
why no induction lamps here? 166.6 lumens p /watt and not even a mention. ck out the utube indagro videos and see the pics of the grows.
zeropercentthc
Member
I don't know anything, but I'd use 5x5 of it for a 1000w MH vegging/cloning tent, and three 1000 watt HPS lights for the rest open space. If going by the common general suggestion of 50 watts per sq ft, you'd be looking for 4,500 watts total. Likely you'd need some big powerful ventilation with cool air intake, or an AC unit though I suppose. Though just to start with I'd go for 1000 watt HPS for flowering and CFLs for vegging and work from there. Get a 30 amp line set up to a light controller with a relay for your 1000hps if you're using a 1000 watter though.
Oneton
Well-Known Member
he's right he, dont know anything. 1x 1000w hps does 10x10
zeropercentthc
Member
That's only 10 watts per square foot. Could you link me with information suggesting that? Of the dozens of grows I've seen posted, in cases where they provided wattage and area, the lowest I'd seen were 25 watts per sq foot. Most aimed towards 30-100 watts per sq ft. The first post of this thread suggests using at least 4000 watts for a 10x10 area (4x4ft for one 1000w HPS)