first off its not overkill, not by opinion or fact. anything bigger than 4x4 should have more than a 1k. a 1k footprint IS 4x4.I ran a 1kW in a 4x4 and found it to be a bit overkill most of the time. If you can grab a 1000w Dimmable to 600w and use the 600 for most of the grow and 1kW just at the end. I'm running a 600 dimmable to 400 in mine and might throw my 1kW on at the end - maybe. Problem I found is getting it high enough from the canopy. 4x4x6.5 with 3.5' tall plants and a 1' thick light hanging down 6" (pretty hard to mount it at the very top) means your light is only 1.5' from your plants. That is pretty close for a 1kW even aircooled.
yes i mentioned that also, make sure the main room is air conditioned.1k is ideal for 4x4. i have two in a 4x8. just get air cooled hood and good inline fan and place the tent in a room that has air conditioning.
Do u run an additional portable ac or window unit? I had 2 4x4 tents with a 1000w hps in each 450 cfm Exaust and 320 cfm intake temps rose above 90f in the tents?
If I tent grew again I would just do a 600 watt and make sure u keep your ballast outside the tent
Not going to argue that the foot print of a 1k is 4x4 but remember that this is in a tent. You essentially have reflectors encapsulating the entire area which greatly ups the lux of the area compared to growing on tables in the middle of a room. Same happens with heat and again keep in mind the low ceiling. A scrog or short sog might work with a 1K but with tall plants you are going to run into problems without AC (I did this and its rough). 2 1Ks in a 4x8 is fairly managable - same volume to light but MUCH more managable.first off its not overkill, not by opinion or fact. anything bigger than 4x4 should have more than a 1k. a 1k footprint IS 4x4.
second, we (as indoor growers) try to replicate mother nature. naturally, the sun gets brighter in summer and less bright in fall. that said, you should be using the 1k during the whole grow but if your gonna dim it, dim it in the end not the beginning.
I had a rise of ~ 15-20 above ambient pulling about 330 cfm through the light. If you are immediately venting to the outside and live in a cool area it is manageable. Remember that if you vent to the room the tent is in the ambient temp will go up as well.Temperature hasn't been a problem so far since it is in my cold garage. I have 8 just starting veg. I actually had to put a heater in there to keep it from being below 60 degrees. The tent requires any 600 or 1000 watt to be air cooled so I'll plan on getting one of those. How much of a temperature rise can I expect with a 1000 watt? This is my first indoor grow so I'm just trying to get something put together
i used to run a 1k in a 4x4 and its easier to cool than the 4x8 with two. yes the sun is brighter in the summer. a 1k footprint IS in fact 4x4, no bigger.Not going to argue that the foot print of a 1k is 4x4 but remember that this is in a tent. You essentially have reflectors encapsulating the entire area which greatly ups the lux of the area compared to growing on tables in the middle of a room. Same happens with heat and again keep in mind the low ceiling. A scrog or short sog might work with a 1K but with tall plants you are going to run into problems without AC (I did this and its rough). 2 1Ks in a 4x8 is fairly managable - same volume to light but MUCH more managable.
I up to a 1k at the end while dropping hours to 10 on. In nature light intensity doesn't decrease significatly at the beggining of winter, just the length of the day. Growing with smaller lights at the begging doesn't lower lumen as the lights are closer and covering a smaller foot print - this just keeps it equal as the plants grow larger and are moved further apart from eachother.
+REP, Eoddom for the idea !Get a 600W with a 4' light mover...js. Light movers are 125 bucks and with the light slowly moving it might come out working better then a stationary 1000W light.