3 600w or 2 1000

In a 8x8 room would you rather run 3 600s or 2 1000s?
Im more on the 3 600w side just because 1 more coverage point but the 2 1000s would put off 40 thusand
more lumens. I will start flowering my plants at about 10 inchs tall they will end up about 26 inchs i will be
growing as many as i can fit on shelfs

Why not (2) 1000s and a light mover? That way you can get 3000 watts of coverage, give or take a watt.

the thousands will yield more than the 600's.

You'll have more surface area with the 600's and penetration isn't an issue in vertical grows with 600's. Heath always used 600's for a reason. He's pretty much the vertical grow god.

i would personally go with three 600's, but thats just me. not entirely sure if two 1000's would yield more, i wish there was a side by side thread or some 1000 watt ballasts so i could see for myself

berkman858 said:

Why not (2) 1000s and a light mover? That way you can get 3000 watts of coverage, give or take a watt.

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Sorry man, a light mover is not a photon multiplier. It's just a mover... If I'm filling up a swimming pool with a hose, moving it around doesn't make it flow faster.. Movers were popular when lights cost 5-600 bucks a 200 dollar mover was attractive.. But today you can get another light for that much and be doing (in your case) 33% better. Light is energy, you can't get more out of it by moving it.

OGEvilgenius said:

You'll have more surface area with the 600's and penetration isn't an issue in vertical grows with 600's. Heath always used 600's for a reason. He's pretty much the vertical grow god.

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Hail Heath! A hydro king indeed! Some years ago he gave me his approval to do a vertical with 5-600w in a 9' x 9'. I used 4-44 gallon rubbermaid brute pails a la dwc using 8" round air stones driven by a Danner 100w pond pump. This was my first grow. The light penetration is incredible with vertical, but even with 3-10" CanFan high output fans, the heat was insane. Pentration with vert is great, heat build up is too. To answer your question, use a reflective floor by laying down a 3/4" foam board with an already laminated mylar reflective coating ( PolyShield 4' x 8' x 3/4" thick ) and put that stuff on your walls too. Not the mylar foil roll, just the foam board mylar will do. Use 3-600w to spread light out more with the added value of 3 smaller, more manageable hot spots ( area around bulbs ). Try to keep the babies as close to the floor as possible. Done this way, your entire room essentially becomes one big walk-in light fixture and with the babies close to the reflective floor, they get one hell of a jump start. The foam floor might get a tad abused over time but it is easy to replace as long as you don't use any glue to hold it down.

I would run 3 600 watt lights in your situation. Using 3 bulbs will make the canopy fuller and happier. If you could use 4 600 watt lights your room would be sexy as hell.

Yea i will be using 3 600s and add another 1000w hps if im able to manage the heat its summer time here but started
raining today out of nowhere im in norcal

full of purple said:

In a 8x8 room would you rather run 3 600s or 2 1000s?
Im more on the 3 600w side just because 1 more coverage point but the 2 1000s would put off 40 thusand
more lumens. I will start flowering my plants at about 10 inchs tall they will end up about 26 inchs i will be
growing as many as i can fit on shelfs

Click to expand...

I think a lot of it depends on the diameter and the height of your specific grow area.
My particular setups work best with two 1000s, they consist of six 32" x 72" racks, I found that anything taller was to hard to manage and gave me a smaller diameter grow area.

You should take under consideration your desired distance between the lights and the plants, and remember that unless the racks/shelves are mobile as your plants stretch, your total grow area shrinks.

Making my setup expandable proved crucial to better yields and healthier plants. Just like flat grows, as your plants grow taller, your lights are raised to accommodate the growth, the same basic principles work with vertical.

Either way, best of luck to you.

berkman858 said:

Why not (2) 1000s and a light mover? That way you can get 3000 watts of coverage, give or take a watt.

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2 light movers, and he can have 4000w?? JK

4 x 600 watt air cooled lights and one Soleus 14000 BTU A/C would be able to harvest 4-6 pounds and should cost about $300 a month to run.

Irie Genetics said:

4 x 600 watt air cooled lights and one Soleus 14000 BTU A/C would be able to harvest 4-6 pounds and should cost about $300 a month to run.

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Can you please give specifics on how this is done or refer me to a thread so I can see how its done? Thanks!

Here is the basic idea...
Use 4 air cooled reflectors.I like magnums because they are low profile but I also like daystars because they are smaller. The room is 8 x 8. Draw a chalk line and divide the room into 4, 4X4 squares. Hang one light in the center of each square. Now you have great light coverage for the room.
Now you need to duct and vent the lights. You have a few options here. I will try to explain my setup for you...
I am running 4, 1000 watt lights in a 9X14 room. I have Magnum XXL 6" reflectors. My ducting is kinda like this...
Standing in a corner I have 39" tall Carbon Filter(Phat Filter) with an 8inch flange... On top of the filter fits an 8inch Vortex blower... the blower sucks air thru the carbon filter so that my stank doesn't get out of my house. Okay... After my Filter-Blower is a Y Duct. This Y duct is 8inches and splits to 2, six inch ducts. So now it's Filter, Blower,Y...
From the Y duct I have ducting going to a light on each side, then ducting to a second light on each side THEN another Y duct bringing my ducting back to one piece. My final Y is two 6inch ducts back to 1 six incher because my basement window is tiny. Now it looks like this...


insulated ducting-AIR COOLED REFLECTOR - insulated ducting-AIR COOLED REFLECTOR - insulated ducting-
FILTER-BLOWER-Y Duct- =Y DUCT=Ducting out of window to outside...
insulated ducting-AIR COOLED REFLECTOR - insulated ducting-AIR COOLED REFLECTOR - insulated ducting-


Using an 8inch blower creates a ton of suction. You'll need to let air into the room OR add CO2. I simply cut 3, 4" holes in my wall and used Dryer vent covers to stop the light from entering/exiting. Cut these low to the ground because the cooler air is low and heat is higher in the room. Now you have 4 lights kicking out lumens and heating up the room. You have an 8inch vortex blower moving the heat from the bulbs out of the room AND simultaneously bringing in fresh air thru the passive intake holes we cut earlier.
If you leave the vortex blower on constantly it will ALSO remove humidity from the room. Fresh air is crucial. Removing the Humidity and heat will prevent mildews.
IF you live in Canada you're done. But... If you live in most places you are gonna need an air conditioner. I like the portable A/C units on wheels. I found a 14000btu unit by SOLEUS that has a Heater, Air Conditioner AND a dehumidifier all in one unit. I only run the A/C part and my room stays 77 degrees all day long. Today it was 102 degrees outside and I kept my garden cool with one A/C and 4 small fans.
I use the same window to duct my AC out of the house thatI have the lights ducted out of. I put the Air Conditioner at the opposite end of the room as the intake holes we cut and the Filter/Blower combo. This makes the blower suck the cool air across the room evenly. Now people are gonna tell me that I am sucking my cool air right out of the room with my blower... YES I AM! But this has an advantage... I use my cool air to keep my bulbs even cooler. Im passing Air conditioned air thru my carbon filter which makes it more effective, then the cool air goes over my bulbs and helpe cool the room.
For my ducting to get out of the house I used a piece of Blue Foam Insulation Board with a HIGH FIRE RATING. I cut it to the size of my opened window, taped it SECURELY as the blower and air conditioner are going to fight and creat a vaccuum in the room. Then I cut the 6inch hole for the light ducting and a 4inch hole for the AC ducting and cover the ENTIRE piece of insulation with black tape to keep the light in and the sun out.
This is a whole bunch of jibberish and I hope you folow so far...

Here is another attempt at a diagram...



o-Passive intake hole
ducting-REFLECTOR -ducting-REFLECTOR -ducting-
FILTER-BLOWER-Y Duct- Air Conditioner on the floor or raised on cinder blocks to get cool air above canopy X =Y DUCT=Ducting out of window to outside...
ducting-REFLECTOR -ducting-REFLECTOR -ducting-
o-Passive intake hole

I have the AC unit right under the Y that brings the ducting back together. This is getting more confusing. Let me know if this helps at all. Oh yeah. I use a powerbox with 4 timed plugs and 2 constant plugs to run my lights and AC all on one timer. Ask more questions if you need... It's LATE...

my attempts at diagrams failed. it got realigned when i posted... Sorry dude.

3 600s cover a 3x9 - 4x12 area.... 2 1000s cover a 5 x 10 - 6 x12 area.....you get alittle more grow area with the 2 -1000

Hey Full of Purple,
I bought the bull shit of 600 producing 90% of the light of a 1000. I did the exact thing you are asking. My experience has been that my 2 old magnetic 1000 far outperformed my 3 digital 600. And a light mover doesn't create photons but it does decrease shadows, I am a big fan of light movers. So I would say buy LEDS put them on a light mover! but i get that is not for everyone so 2 1000 with good air movement.
Sidd

And 1000w will be obv. brighter. And more UV. And def will penetrate.

Why the hell do people advise buying reflectors in the vertical grow section? Reflectors are always a horrible waste of money unless you don't have room to do something vertical (rare).

eDude said:

Sorry man, a light mover is not a photon multiplier. It's just a mover... If I'm filling up a swimming pool with a hose, moving it around doesn't make it flow faster.. Movers were popular when lights cost 5-600 bucks a 200 dollar mover was attractive.. But today you can get another light for that much and be doing (in your case) 33% better. Light is energy, you can't get more out of it by moving it.

Click to expand...

You "can" you cover larger area and give the plants light from angles a stationary can't, movers work my friend not for the reasons you believe. Movers don't double your yeilds but add to it and quality to boot. And they work forever my first one is still going strong, light rail is the ish.