500w mh too far/close from seedlings?

I got 500w mh (1000watt ballast dimmed to 50%) about 3 feet-3 1/2 feet away my my 1 day old seedling. Is this distance too far away? Too close? I figure starting seeslings under a hid lamps it should be quite a bit away and at lowerst output right? I want to move it closer to produce more heat in my crop but don't want to over do it.

you need to put that MH to bed for a while and just hook up a 23watt CFL or two, ...no way seedlings can handle 500watts.

...here is a shot of some seedlings of mine, they are the cups with the 'hats' up top which are temporary humidity domes that come off as soon as the seedlings emerge. ...note that there is NO direct light up top, just reflected light from the bulbs below which also serve to warm the cups above, ...which is more important for my cloners but that's another story.



...here they are after they emerge and have lost their hats and been moved down below and under the lights.



...and a shot showing the bulbs which are PLLs, a newish form of CFL that is remote ballasted, ...i have 3 sockets down there but generally only run 1 or 2, they are 55watters and 165watts is just more light than i need for the job.



peace, bozo

This lamp is all I got, and no option for anything else..

Anyone ever start their seeslings under a 400w-600watter?

if you can't afford to spend $10.00 or $15.00 on your new grow then you might as well scrap the project now, ...growing weed is far cheaper than buying it but it ain't free to grow.

...i found this at a local discount builders supply house for just under $5.00.



...CFL's was all i could afford back then so i grew with them and one nice thing about CFLs is you can add wattage as you can afford it, ...you can often find the 23 and 26 watters in 4 packs for under $10.00 and just as often you can find rebate forms for an instant $3.00 savings so that's roughly 100watts for a bit more than $5.00.



...trust me homes, 500watts is way too much light for day old seedlings.

peace, bozo

Bump.............

View attachment 2894493View attachment 2894494 this is a 4 day old seedling that has been about 6" away from my 400 watt hps in a cool tube.

I would put it further away if you are going to use it, or even dim it down more if possible (I never used a dimmable not sure how dim they can get). The harvest before this I put them under a 600 about 3 days after they sprouted but it was over 4 foot above the plants.

here's another pic that better displays it's relativity to the light. it's been in a rapid rooter and It's only been getting plain water (no nutes)

Spicy8305 said:

View attachment 2894500 here's another pic that better displays it's relativity to the light. it's been in a rapid rooter and It's only been getting plain water (no nutes)

Click to expand...

for seedlings all you need is those CFLs.

peace, bozo

if you're only going to use the mh then just keep moving the light closer as necessary. it isn't too much light its just a waste of electricity. you can move them into full sun too its called hardening off. increase exposure gradually, the process works inside or out.

justanotherbozo said:

for seedlings all you need is those CFLs.

peace, bozo

Click to expand...

I dont know if you notice but I DO have other plants in there that DO need the hps, just decided to pop another seed and add it to my current grow since I ended up with 1 male in the first batch.
peace, dude