400W or 600W which is better?

Thanks for checking this out. So I'm moving pretty soon and looking for a house or apartment where I can live happily and grow. My town is pretty expensive, so size and privacy are going to be an issue for sure. I'm only looking at apartments or houses where I don't split utilities, the landlord does not live in the main house in back, etc. I'm not sure what the potential grow situation holds but I'm factoring the technology I will require into my search.

I stopped by my local grow shop and was pretty stunned at how loud the 6" and 8" Vortex fans were! Sound is definitely going to be an issue. They had a silencer there and I know a charcoal filter will help. I read a killer sticky post earlier today about home made boxes that cover the fan and further limit excess noise.

There are many factors to consider when setting up a grow room, but most posters know the size of their grow room. I don't. Sorry for the long description, now to the question. 600W is all the rage, they are in high demand and are more expensive than 1000W. I see a LOT of posters who love their 400W setups. Given that I'm not going to find a place that will accommodate one or two 1000W HPS lights (because such a setup runs hot, requires lots of air flow - loud, sucks electricity) what is the difference between 400W and 600W?

More specifically, how important is a 600W over a 400W setup? I am choosing the place I will live based on this answer. If I'm going through all of the work to find the right place and commit to a year lease, should I choose the room size to accommodate a 600W or is 400W sufficient? Keep in mind, it could be 2 400W's or 1 600W depending on the size of the room. I just heard that penetration is an issue, I want to hit those lower branches! Can a 400W system deliver results?

No opinions? Can I get some good bud with 400W setup? Shameless bump but curious for some thoughts! Thanks

i got a 400w in a closet. 6" PC fan works good for exhaust outside and very quiet.
I didn't get 600w cuz i didn't know how hot lights get and decided to go with lower wattage.
I wish I got 600w back then, more light always better.

600 All the way. You don't need a 6" fun you can make due with a cool tube and a 265 cu fan just fine. If you get the right bulbs you can get 88000 + lumen's. A standard 1000w hps is only 110000 and spendy bulbs are like 140000. The biggest problem most growers have is not enough light. There is nothing more disappointing than fluffy airy weed because you didn't have enough light. A 600 watt ballast is like 165 bucks on eBay.

Grown with a 400 watt.


Grown with a 600.

Both are great, the 600 is a bit more efficient but twin 400's beat a single 600 any day. The 400 is a bit easier to manage the heat, plus it sucks less juice. Prune off the lower branches and you won't have to worry about penetration, the plant will compensate by making the upper colas grow larger.

NoDrama said:

Grown with a 400 watt.

Grown with a 600.

Both are great, the 600 is a bit more efficient but twin 400's beat a single 600 any day. The 400 is a bit easier to manage the heat, plus it sucks less juice. Prune off the lower branches and you won't have to worry about penetration, the plant will compensate by making the upper colas grow larger.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys for both posts and dude great pics, appreciate that. Everyone does! The take away here is two 400 watt lights is the way to go. Cheers.

A 600 watt light puts out twice the light as a 400, is more efficient, and has better light penetration. But, two 400's are better than one 600 because they cover more area effectively. I personally love my 400's(I have 3, plus a 600), but would also love to replace them all with 600's(1000's are even better) if heat and electricity weren't issues. Anyway...400's put out enough light t be well over 3500 lumens per square foot,(LSF) which is plenty to get nice dense buds. I'm getting about 6000 LSF directly under the bulbs, and the plants fill out really nice. The 600 is set to get the same LSF, but covers a little bigger area. Basically, go as big as you can, and the results will be a little better with each step up.

go with the 2 400 watters so you can perpetual grow. 1 hps for flowering and one mh for vegging.

I say go with the 2 400w lights, as others have stated it does give you more coverage, also like the previous person said you could do a perpetual grow if you wanted. Im currently just running 1 400w hps and am getting good results so 2 would be awesome.



Its kinda hard to tell in this pic but this bud is a good 8in long and a fat potato in width.