I finally went HPS, question...

ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Ok so i finally bought a 1000w MH/HPS setup. its currently in the mail. Ive been growing for a while now using 650w of CFLs, which was fine for me really, but ive reached the peak of what i can do with them and realized im never going to get the denseness i want in the buds.

My question is how far away from the plants should i hang the 1000w light? My dilemma is its a closet grow, and the section of closet i setup my grow has 2 tiers of wire shelves.



Im thinking im going to have to take down a section of the shelving. Its working good for me up till now because i keep my vegging plants under 6500k on the top shelf and my flowering plants under 2700k CFLs on the bottom. You think if i kept the shelves up it would be a problem? The light should make it through and to the plants, but that just seems silly to me.

So my main question really is how far should i keep the light away from plants, and also if anyone has any tips or advice for HiD lighting please share. Thanks
 
justugh

justugh

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
Ok so i finally bought a 1000w MH/HPS setup. its currently in the mail. Ive been growing for a while now using 650w of CFLs, which was fine for me really, but ive reached the peak of what i can do with them and realized im never going to get the denseness i want in the buds.

My question is how far away from the plants should i hang the 1000w light? My dilemma is its a closet grow, and the section of closet i setup my grow has 2 tiers of wire shelves.



Im thinking im going to have to take down a section of the shelving. Its working good for me up till now because i keep my vegging plants under 6500k on the top shelf and my flowering plants under 2700k CFLs on the bottom. You think if i kept the shelves up it would be a problem? The light should make it through and to the plants, but that just seems silly to me.

So my main question really is how far should i keep the light away from plants, and also if anyone has any tips or advice for HiD lighting please share. Thanks
Click to expand...
hey man

ok first off CFLs and HID there is no comparing the 2 really

first off i am sorry the shelf is gone u need to plants all to be on the same lvl .........a hid think of it like a footprint a 1000w is great for a 5x5 footprint u will get about 30 inches in depth of light

ok things to plan out
1 your air path ......hid lights have a lot of heat so a cool tube or vented hood is needed and large amount of air movement 400cfm
1a ducting path
1b where u are plug and mounting the fan
1c your intake for the air ....passive intakes are double the size of the exhaust so a 6 inch ducting would need a 12x12 open path for cool air to flow in
2 cooling the plants.....u are going to need a form of cool air blowing on the plant (MH bulbs are 40% ir heat and Hps is about 70%) your going to need to remove that from leaves and flower to adviod heat stress
3 your strains height ....if u grow natural u want to have different strains of same heights if u grow one that is short then the rest it gets less lumens .......SCRoG method can counter this
4 as for height refer to the pics
MetalHalide_chart.jpg HPS_chart.jpg

5 to get a thick buds on the plant 50k lumens ........personally exp i know u can with with in 6 inches of the light before bleaching of the plant pigments happen
5a the lower parts of the plants trim them and remove any bud sites (they are sucker flowers taken them off gives more power to upper flowers)
6 your plants are going to explode they will not react like they did under CFLs they will get big fast
6a keep up on the water amount they will use more due to the ir heat and the power of the light
6b feeding them is going to become more important with the more power they have then need more food ....so each strain the first time u run it will be a baseline plant ....learn to feed that strain and push it more each plant after that will increase in yield thickness and over all gooey
7 with the system u have there is a 3 type of bulb out a finisher ..........it is UV and 10k light this thickens the flowers more and forces them to make more resin to protect from uv .....a lot of us use them for the last 10 days or so of flowering

anything else u need to know
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
justugh said:
hey man

ok first off CFLs and HID there is no comparing the 2 really

first off i am sorry the shelf is gone u need to plants all to be on the same lvl .........a hid think of it like a footprint a 1000w is great for a 5x5 footprint u will get about 30 inches in depth of light

ok things to plan out
1 your air path ......hid lights have a lot of heat so a cool tube or vented hood is needed and large amount of air movement 400cfm
1a ducting path
1b where u are plug and mounting the fan
1c your intake for the air ....passive intakes are double the size of the exhaust so a 6 inch ducting would need a 12x12 open path for cool air to flow in
2 cooling the plants.....u are going to need a form of cool air blowing on the plant (MH bulbs are 40% ir heat and Hps is about 70%) your going to need to remove that from leaves and flower to adviod heat stress
3 your strains height ....if u grow natural u want to have different strains of same heights if u grow one that is short then the rest it gets less lumens .......SCRoG method can counter this
4 as for height refer to the pics
View attachment 3464034 View attachment 3464035

5 to get a thick buds on the plant 50k lumens ........personally exp i know u can with with in 6 inches of the light before bleaching of the plant pigments happen
5a the lower parts of the plants trim them and remove any bud sites (they are sucker flowers taken them off gives more power to upper flowers)
6 your plants are going to explode they will not react like they did under CFLs they will get big fast
6a keep up on the water amount they will use more due to the ir heat and the power of the light
6b feeding them is going to become more important with the more power they have then need more food ....so each strain the first time u run it will be a baseline plant ....learn to feed that strain and push it more each plant after that will increase in yield thickness and over all gooey
7 with the system u have there is a 3 type of bulb out a finisher ..........it is UV and 10k light this thickens the flowers more and forces them to make more resin to protect from uv .....a lot of us use them for the last 10 days or so of flowering

anything else u need to know
Click to expand...

Wow man, thanks a bunch. I did not expect anyone to go all out in helping me out. Much appreciated

So that chart has a pretty wide range, 10-36 inches as optimal distance. From your experience what do you keep yours at?
 
green217

green217

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
Wow man, thanks a bunch. I did not expect anyone to go all out in helping me out. Much appreciated

So that chart has a pretty wide range, 10-36 inches as optimal distance. From your experience what do you keep yours at?
Click to expand...
Just depends on your plants and how far you want to spread out the light. Personally I usually set my light at 24" and move it up when it gets around 16"-18".
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
What should i do with the 650w of CFLs i have? Should i use them as supplemental side lighting?
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
What should i do with the 650w of CFLs i have? Should i use them as supplemental side lighting?
Click to expand...
You can try side lighting but you'll abandon that after you see what the hps will do. The cfl's just don't penetrate and evoke the same budding response. I use them to start and veg my new seeds and clones
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
For you, Being new to HPS......Start at 20-24 inch's and reduce that to around 18 slowly if you find the need to experiment......
Strain dependent, 16 - 20 is my sweet spot......It simply takes time to learn.

Doc

Say @justugh Nice posting.....BTW, that guy in your avatar,,,,I know him from somewhere.....:mrgreen:
 
G

GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
What should i do with the 650w of CFLs i have? Should i use them as supplemental side lighting?
Click to expand...
I use the two ginormous 65 actual watt CFLs around the house. 1 in garage and one in a clamp lamp I can move around. The little ones just put in a box with packing popcorn to replace existing CFLs. It takes a while, but they do burn out.
 
justugh

justugh

Well-Known Member
Dr. Who said:
For you, Being new to HPS......Start at 20-24 inch's and reduce that to around 18 slowly if you find the need to experiment......
Strain dependent, 16 - 20 is my sweet spot......It simply takes time to learn.

Doc

Say @justugh Nice posting.....BTW, that guy in your avatar,,,,I know him from somewhere.....:mrgreen:
Click to expand...
it is doctor hooka .......ep 191 5 20 secs in .......the only time any doctor breaks out and admits smoking hash ....he uses it to escape guards
 
VIP Grower

VIP Grower

Member
ebcrew said:
What should i do with the 650w of CFLs i have? Should i use them as supplemental side lighting?
Click to expand...
If your going to scrog, I would use them as supplemental lighting underneath the canopy. And turn them on 15 minutes before the 1000 watt goes on to jump start their metabolism. In the Netherlands, the experienced growers do it, it helps increase your yield also.
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
VIP Grower said:
If your going to scrog, I would use them as supplemental lighting underneath the canopy. And turn them on 15 minutes before the 1000 watt goes on to jump start their metabolism. In the Netherlands, the experienced growers do it, it helps increase your yield also.
Click to expand...
thanks keep this in mind, scrog is next on my list
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
VIP Grower said:
I want to jump start my scrog but I'm self conscious of my utility bill. LED is the way I will light it up. If you have the money, invest in an LED light for underneath the canopy.
Click to expand...
LED is still too expensive for me, i got a great deal on the HiD setup, and will be a step up from my CFLs.
 
hotshotisdashit

hotshotisdashit

Well-Known Member
Congrats EB on your new hps setup. I see you finally pulled the trigger and ready to get going. Start a journal and I'll definitely follow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top