Easy Question for someone who knows more than me......LIGHTING

Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
I have a situation where I am setting up a spot for 3 mother plants in an area about 2x4 8 foot ceiling all 3 in 15 gallon pots, my question is as far as lighting goes I have an opportunity to use either a 250-400 watt metal halide switchable (was hoping the 250 would be enough for 3 mother plants I can do the 400 but trying to keep amps down too..) in a hood with 6" vents air cooled..... OR I have a deal I rigged up a while back that holds 8 23 watt cfl bulbs 6500k says they are equivalent to 100watt bulb so I guess that's 800 watts, not air cooled? I don't know hence the question I have. Which would you use????

Thank you....
 
D

~Dankster~420

Well-Known Member
To answer your question with that # of Mothers all that much light isn't required you could get by on less. However, more doesn't hurt. If I where you I would use the 400 watt MH. Hell I use CMH + LED + HPS (at times) on my flowering ladies. They seem to really like the mixed spectrum's :)
Jeremy13 said:
I have a situation where I am setting up a spot for 3 mother plants in an area about 2x4 8 foot ceiling all 3 in 15 gallon pots, my question is as far as lighting goes I have an opportunity to use either a 250-400 watt metal halide switchable (was hoping the 250 would be enough for 3 mother plants I can do the 400 but trying to keep amps down too..) in a hood with 6" vents air cooled..... OR I have a deal I rigged up a while back that holds 8 23 watt cfl bulbs 6500k says they are equivalent to 100watt bulb so I guess that's 800 watts, not air cooled? I don't know hence the question I have. Which would you use????

Thank you....
Click to expand...
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
which would you use? I cant use all of it due to amp restrictions. I would have to do a electrical job to run more than 400 watts, how about the MH set at 250 and then the "ghetto chandelier's" as I've seen them called as well...... cause my understanding is the cfls all 8 of them would pull less than 2 amps..... so with mh and cfls be 4.5amps or so and I could pull that off, or just use the cfls or just the mh at 400 or 250 lol I still don't know
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
Jeremy13 said:
which would you use? I cant use all of it due to amp restrictions. I would have to do a electrical job to run more than 400 watts, how about the MH set at 250 and then the "ghetto chandelier's" as I've seen them called as well...... cause my understanding is the cfls all 8 of them would pull less than 2 amps..... so with mh and cfls be 4.5amps or so and I could pull that off, or just use the cfls or just the mh at 400 or 250 lol I still don't know
Click to expand...
you are saying to go with the 400w halide correct?
 
D

~Dankster~420

Well-Known Member
However, more doesn't hurt. If I where you I would use the 400 watt MH.
Jeremy13 said:
which would you use? I cant use all of it due to amp restrictions. I would have to do a electrical job to run more than 400 watts, how about the MH set at 250 and then the "ghetto chandelier's" as I've seen them called as well...... cause my understanding is the cfls all 8 of them would pull less than 2 amps..... so with mh and cfls be 4.5amps or so and I could pull that off, or just use the cfls or just the mh at 400 or 250 lol I still don't know
Click to expand...
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
im under the impression that a 250 bare bulb is going to emit a lot more heat the those cfls right? so maybe the 400 due to I would want to air cool it plus I already have a really cool hood lol, I do want to keep heat down as well..... I could be wrong buy thinking 400 air cooled should emit about the same as all 8 of those cfls no? Lets say you are in an area you would like to keep heat down as much as possible.... then what would you use :)
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
Jeremy13 said:
im under the impression that a 250 bare bulb is going to emit a lot more heat the those cfls right? so maybe the 400 due to I would want to air cool it plus I already have a really cool hood lol, I do want to keep heat down as well..... I could be wrong buy thinking 400 air cooled should emit about the same as all 8 of those cfls no? Lets say you are in an area you would like to keep heat down as much as possible.... then what would you use :)
Click to expand...
and would just a 250 through the hood be enough for optimum growth?
 
D

~Dankster~420

Well-Known Member
depends on if you have your area cooled or not. Or a cool tube. https://www.google.com/search?q=cool+tube&oq=cool+tube&aqs=chrome..69i57l2j69i65j5l3.1816j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8 that would really help out allot imo. Yes they produce a considerable amount of heat during the summer months running 24/24 or 18/06. Im telling ya, you will like & the results would turn out better if you went 400 over the CFL. just my opinion though. NO CFL hater here. Hell I use um on my seedlings.. haha
Jeremy13 said:
im under the impression that a 250 bare bulb is going to emit a lot more heat the those cfls right? so maybe the 400 due to I would want to air cool it plus I already have a really cool hood lol, I do want to keep heat down as well..... I could be wrong buy thinking 400 air cooled should emit about the same as all 8 of those cfls no? Lets say you are in an area you would like to keep heat down as much as possible.... then what would you use :)
Click to expand...
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
it is switchable so I can try both and see 400 is almost twice as much as a 250 so I can definitely imagine more penetration being better for healthy growth
 
Jimdamick

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
I just started a mother plant section in my grow room, and I'm using after research, 2 - 4 lamp, 2' bulb T5 HO fixtures for 4 plants ( 2 under each light) and they are screaming nice ( LA Con, Cotton Candy, Blue OG, and Serious 6) The fixtures draw 1.3 amps per, and are 2' by 1.5', which means they take up a small area, with hardly any heat to worry about. For even light distribution, they are great. 1 fixture would be great for 2 plants, and the way I figure it with the cost of running the lights, pack it with even 3. Mothers need hardly any light to grow well enough for their purpose, which is to grow clones, not bud. You can get the fixture on Amazon, but each one cost's around $90, but I figure I'm into it for the long run, need the best lights available, and will save the money on power draw. I pay for them by selling a 1/2 a oz anyway. ( let the consumer pay for them). I would use the 400 for growth, and use the CFL's as a accent light, personally.
 
Jeremy13

Jeremy13

Member
jondamon said:
Your cfls equivalent wattage is not the wattage you pay attention to.

8x23w=184w. Not 800w.


You could get by on the 250w MH over 3 mothers but it all depends on how many clones you need and how often you need them.


J
Click to expand...
That is something I needed to know..... obviously a huge difference in what I thought they were doing,,,,,,
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
Jeremy13 said:
Its a 2x4 area so I guess 8 square feet and at 50 watts per square foot I think the 400 is the only option
Click to expand...

Like mentioned already it will depend upon how many clones you require from each mother and how often you require them.


The 400w will veg them fairly quickly producing quite a good number of clones quite quickly.

The 250 will veg them slower producing a modest amount of clones in a reasonable amount of time.

Just the cfls alone, positioned well rather than hung from above would veg them slowly producing a lowish number of clones per plant but keeping the mothers easily controlled.



J
 
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