2X400hps or one 600W hps??

5' by 5' grow tent ... but only 4/5 plants ...

is one 600hps going to be enough light or will they be a lot better off under 2 400w....

grow space proably 4' by 4'

and is 2x400w in that tent... would it be dangerous ..ie.. too hot for the tent ... or plastic sheeting?

Day to Daze said:

5' by 5' grow tent ... but only 4/5 plants ...

is one 600hps going to be enough light or will they be a lot better off under 2 400w....

grow space proably 4' by 4'

and is 2x400w in that tent... would it be dangerous ..ie.. too hot for the tent ... or plastic sheeting?

Click to expand...

You'll do just fine with 1 600 watt with a hood that can have an exhaust fan attached to it. 2 400 watt is a waste of energy & $ and will heat things up more. The space is too small for them IMHO.
Why only 4-5 plants? Veg them 3 weeks after cloning and then flower them to reach a height of 18 inches(1/2 meter) I'd grow 9 in there at least. You'll need good venting and circulation though...Good Luck!

KingInDaCloset said:

You'll do just fine with 1 600 watt with a hood that can have an exhaust fan attached to it. 2 400 watt is a waste of energy & $ and will heat things up more. The space is too small for them IMHO.
Why only 4-5 plants? Veg them 3 weeks after cloning and then flower them to reach a height of 18 inches(1/2 meter) I'd grow 9 in there at least. You'll need good venting and circulation though...Good Luck!

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My plan was to grow and store 4 strains each time ( so i have a nice collections of strains for whatever mood im in, i want to grow them nice and big )

but i need to cover the set up costs with my first grow .. i was thinking big bud ... you realy think 9 would fit? and with a 600w... im not sure which size buckets to use .. i was thinking 11L.. at least then with 6 plants i could grow about a lb. (still not enough to cover set up mind)

either really, both are better then the 1000 watt. the closer you can keep it to the plants, the better.. without heat stress of course. id probably go for the 600 basically because of price and energy, although we are using a 400 watt for a 2X4 room with 10 plants, and it is more than enough light. Hope i was helpful, check out my grow and let me know what you think if you feel like it. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/294700-my-second-400w-closet-grow.html

if you plan to grow them big 600 is what you will need, 400 watt light only penetrates 24 inches

Day to Daze said:

5' by 5' grow tent ... but only 4/5 plants ...

is one 600hps going to be enough light or will they be a lot better off under 2 400w....

grow space proably 4' by 4'

and is 2x400w in that tent... would it be dangerous ..ie.. too hot for the tent ... or plastic sheeting?

Click to expand...

I would go with the 600w

1 600 = more efficient

i like the 600 here...

I recently built a new 5.7x5.7 box and its using a 600watt digital lumatek. Provides enough light for canopy coverage, but I do think 2 400watters would cover it slightly better. I don't think the change would be big enough to have the hassle of dealing with two lights, extra heat, plus cost of electricity though.

yeah it would be a lot of hassle having to worry about 2 lights
600 it is then ... cheers ..
i havnt had a ballast before... will that come with the light if i find a decent one online .. or are they seperate?

if its air cooled and you want to put money into 2 400s that would be sick. 1 hps and 1 mh would do better than a 600 obviously. but for a 5x5 space AND only 4/5 plants id do a 600 watt in a blockbuster hood. perfectly square for equal coverage. sog or something similar just with more small plants id actually recommend 2 400s. i mean its not that much heat. my 400 doesnt put out much heat at all. and air cooled theres NO heat from the lamp. but like my gf said earlier. just dont get a 1000 lol and you will be happy with any decision you make.

there are package deals. but i wouldnt look for those. if i were to buy everything for a light setup in a 5x5 tent. id buy a 600 w bulb(i use ge lucalox or w.e). galaxy/lumatek digi ballast. and any sunlight supply air cooled hood. blockbuster is square like i said. but all sunlight supply hoods are bad ass. its gonna be pricy to a point. a good 350. rough estimate

ievolution said:

either really, both are better then the 1000 watt. the closer you can keep it to the plants, the better.. without heat stress of course. id probably go for the 600 basically because of price and energy, although we are using a 400 watt for a 2X4 room with 10 plants, and it is more than enough light. Hope i was helpful, check out my grow and let me know what you think if you feel like it. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/294700-my-second-400w-closet-grow.html

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yeah nice plants ..
you mean 2 x4 meters or feet? feet would be pretty crowded right?

mabie i can hang 1 or 2 smaller lights down in the folage too if the plants are too spread out..

2x4 feet. you can fit more plants in any area than your thinking. your gonna get more premium buds out of more small plants over less large plants. therefor paying for your setup like your wanting. and big bud is a great plant for yield lol. the colas get huge on salmon creek big bud. its amazing

ievolution said:

2x4 feet. you can fit more plants in any area than your thinking. your gonna get more premium buds out of more small plants over less large plants. therefor paying for your setup like your wanting. and big bud is a great plant for yield lol. the colas get huge on salmon creek big bud. its amazing

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Yeah ill probably start with 6-9 Big Buds in the 5' by 5'. then if all goes well ill do the same again but with a large mixture of strains for my collection ..

after that mabie ill try SOG ... doing that i could even fit around 25 in the 5'5' aye?

in a 4x4 tray you can fit 16 3 gal smart pots. u could fit a LOT more than that in a 5x5 room if you were in smaller pots. in my 2.5'x4' tray i have 10 3 gal pots. id probably run about 12 3 gal pots. just to get really good light to the bottom. flower about 16-20 inches. it all depends on what your looking for. what size pot you gonna use anyway. and is there gonna be a tray in your room? is it hydro or soil

yeah sorry i forgot to say ..
It will be hydro ..
i marked out the space on the floor so i can get my head around the actual size....
i want to grow 9 plants . i dont want to get too carried away i just need a good crop to cover the costs... say 9 big bud at around 2.5oz a plant under a 600w thats going to be a good lb and a quarter ... if i got rid of all that i should be looking at around 2k (which is what im using as my budget)

i want nice tallish but not too bushy plants .. evenly spread i dont want them to be touching each other, too much anyway ... beacause i would like to hand a light or two below the canopy if its needed.
ill be using a table with the resovour uderneath... height wont be a problem as im going to have it ceiling hight.

for the pots i was thinking of not using a tray ... but instead plant ina 3 gallon pot with holes in the base which is fitted into a 5 gallon pot .. and the drainage tube will be about half inch from the base of the larger bucket to keep a little water in there between feeds. the roots will grow out of the 3 gallon and hang into the small puddle in the 5 gallon.. hopefully then there will he a hug space for the roots to grow.

Day to Daze said:

5' by 5' grow tent ... but only 4/5 plants ...

is one 600hps going to be enough light or will they be a lot better off under 2 400w....

grow space proably 4' by 4'

and is 2x400w in that tent... would it be dangerous ..ie.. too hot for the tent ... or plastic sheeting?

Click to expand...

Dont listen to everyone, 2 * 400watt will allow the lights to be closer to the plants as well as giving better distribution of light and less heat spots. It also means they can be individually adjusted if some plants are taller than others.

Trust me, although the lights will be slightly less efficient ( lumens per watt) than a 600 watt they will provide muuch more even growth.

If your convinced on using HID lights than you should think about some side lighting, striplights or cfls. This will help penetration, producing more buds throughout the plant .

Remember to use good reflective material to optimise all the ligh being produced which will increase penetration and efficiency.

Hope this helps

Hopefeild

bobbyhopefeild said:

Dont listen to everyone, 2 * 400watt will allow the lights to be closer to the plants as well as giving better distribution of light and less heat spots. It also means they can be individually adjusted if some plants are taller than others.

Trust me, although the lights will be slightly less efficient ( lumens per watt) than a 600 watt they will provide muuch more even growth.

If your convinced on using HID lights than you should think about some side lighting, striplights or cfls. This will help penetration, producing more buds throughout the plant .

Remember to use good reflective material to optimise all the ligh being produced which will increase penetration and efficiency.

Hope this helps

Hopefeild

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I would use MH for the veg and Hps for the flower... i changed my design to 9 plants in a 4'4 or 5'5 space... using tomato cages so they dont grow too wide.... 2 400 watt would be better i suppose but electricity might cost more right? amd with on 600 the buds would grow better... i was hoping that one 600 would be enough if i had the plants all close together mabie a little side lighting too ... .
2 400's will cost more to set up, electriciy, ballasts etc... i dont want to spend a huge amount to set it up ...

its a had decision ive heard so much god things about both ways ...

Day to Daze said:

I would use MH for the veg and Hps for the flower... i changed my design to 9 plants in a 4'4 or 5'5 space... using tomato cages so they dont grow too wide.... 2 400 watt would be better i suppose but electricity might cost more right? amd with on 600 the buds would grow better... i was hoping that one 600 would be enough if i had the plants all close together mabie a little side lighting too ... .
2 400's will cost more to set up, electriciy, ballasts etc... i dont want to spend a huge amount to set it up ...

its a had decision ive heard so much god things about both ways ...

Click to expand...

I used a 400w in a 2x4 closet and now i'm going with a 600w and the 400w in a slightly bigger space. If i could go back in time i would have just gone with the 600w originally.

you can also get those dimmable ballasts - lumatek has one but the cost more $.

I read somewhere in this thread you wanna have 5 mums going to keep 5 strains? haha you must be copying me... Im using a 200w CFL to keep them under when they grow up. I had 3 under before and it produced way to many clones so i figure 5 should do fine.

I hope this is helpfull - but go with the 600w you will be happy happy happy instead of just happy with the 400w