1000w's or 600w's

Hello everyone...

Let me start by saying I have mostly grown outdoors. I have decided that I would like to try a indoor grow. I will be using a 10feet x 14feet space. My first thought was to run 4 1000 watt lights, 16 plants under each light.

Like I said this will be my first time trying a indoor grow. Most of my friends use the 1000 watt light and thats why I was thinking of going that route... but now I have been thinking of trying the below...

I was wondering if I put 2 600 watt lights over each table of 16 plants if that would produce the same quality and quantity as one 1000.

What are the pros and cons of 600watts vs 1000watts?

Thanks so much in advance for all the info!!!!

well 2 600 watters is more lumens than a 1000 watter. But a 1000 watt can do a 5x5 area alone where as a 600 watt is I think 3x3 but you could push it to 4x4. I have a 1000 watt in a 5x5x6 tent, its about 3 feet above my seedlings, I absolutely need a box fan blowing over the plants to push the heat away and up to the extractor fan or they get crispy, but this might be because I have a round 4 foot parabolic reflector that "helps" keeps the heat down towards the plants. You won't need a box fan for a 600 watt, just an oscillating fan will work to strengthen stems. Marijuana isn't so bad with the heat, but it killed one of my tomato or pepper seedlings, not sure which one it was yet until they all show what they are. Also with a 1000 watt I have to water my seedlings in rockwool every day due to the heat. The soil orange tree I have in there is watered every 2 days where as in the window it is watered once a week.

Personally I like saying I got a 1000 watt system. It just sounds powerful.

2-600's.....

Thanks Nusky for the reply!!

I will be growing in soil and this area in question will only be a flowering area. The vegging and cloning is a seperate area/room.

I could run the 600's side by side based on the 3x3 coverage area to cover a 6x3 area or so... I was thinking that by running 600s I could keep the temps down and keep the lights closer to the plants so they could use more of the lumens. Is my thinking correct, the closer the light to the plant the better?

I agree with the 1000 watt system sounding more powerful!!!

Thanks Jesus of Cannabis!!!!!

will the 2 600s produce the quality flower as the one 1000?

the closer the light is the more dense the plants will be, but as long as the heat is in check also. You could always use cool tubes on all your lights, hook them all up together with venting and vent it all out with one fan. If you did that with a 1000 watt you could get really close, but with 600s and cool tubes you could get even closer. It's really up to you as to what you want to do. I'd bet that most of the "big name" grow ops use 1000 watt lights though

edit: comparing 2 600s to 1 1000, 2 600s would win

Thanks again Nusky!

Would the 1000 penetrate farther?

more yield with 2 x 600.

Why dont you look into one of those dimmable hps/mh systems? Then that way you can see what works best for your operation and adjust accordingly. Just a thought.

Rrog said:

Would the 1000 penetrate farther?

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Yes, they do. Which light to use depends on how long you plan to veg and how tall you plan to finish. 600W lights are slightly more energy eficient but if you're growing tall plants you want the bigger lights. I use 1000W lights, personally, but if I change my growing style I might switch lights the next time I replace balasts.

The OP could get away with 600's based on his plant density, he can't grow them very tall that close together.

Hope that helps...

if ur growing trees i suggest 1000 watter or even 1500 watters... if your doing smaller plants/ to medium sized 600w are perfect... i notice like a 5% less yeild with the 600w vs the 1000wers but ur energy bill is like 40 percent less... all in all 600wer are the best bang for the buck!

you can have the 600's closer to the plants/more lumens.

jjz said:

if ur growing trees i suggest 1000 watter or even 1500 watters... if your doing smaller plants/ to medium sized 600w are perfect... i notice like a 5% less yeild with the 600w vs the 1000wers but ur energy bill is like 40 percent less... all in all 600wer are the best bang for the buck!

Click to expand...

did the 1k make them more dense?

I run 2-600w in a contained cabinet grow. They're more effecient and it's easier to cool than 1-1000w, meaning I can get them closer. someone mentioned cool tubes, those are on the top of my upgrade list. If you have proper ventilation, you can sit 600w cool tubes less than 12" above your plants. 1000w will have to be farther away, once again making it less efficient. You can get the same results with either, it's just which is more cost effective. And 2-600w wins that battle.

(2x600)x cool tube + lst/scrog = ftw

Look at this depth chart. 2x600w would cover more area, but 1x1000w penetrates deeper. Each has their advantage/disadvantage. Hope this helps!


View attachment 1859696

That's a sweet chart but it doesn't include 600w, or hps. I can't find a more complete one anywhere though. The 1000w will penetrate further from the same height, but you can get the 600w's closer, making it even more efficient for the wattage. If you look at the 400w on that chart, it's first "optimal distance" block is a higher lumen reading than the 1000w.

I apologize, here is the HPS chart. You can extrapolate to get 600w. You are absolutely correct, just weigh the pros and cons for your grow. Happy growing!


[video]http://www.thctalk.com/gallery/data/500/HPS-Light-Distance-Chart.jpg[/video]

mike91sr said:

That's a sweet chart but it doesn't include 600w, or hps. I can't find a more complete one anywhere though. The 1000w will penetrate further from the same height, but you can get the 600w's closer, making it even more efficient for the wattage.

Click to expand...

Here is another diagram...

Nice! Surprising that the 430 is the most efficient honestly. Just my take on it, efficiency is usually the goal on any indoor grow with limited resources and trying to keep costs down. So why would you want to run 1-1000w that costs almost near the same as 2-600w's, which are each providing more lumens anyway? 20% higher power consumption, twice the light intensity. Just makes sense to me. Unless you wanted to grow monsters and not trim undergrowth or provide side-lighting, I guess.