Lighting - 3x 600w V's 2x 1000w or digital upgrade

[Buster100]

Hi Guys,

having a good run of late so haven't needed 'the growing gods' help for a while.

 

Currently running -

 

Area - 2.4m x 1.4m x 2m

Pots - 3x 90L(ish) home made

Medium - coco, clay balls

Lights - 3x 600w (18/6, 12/12)

Ventilation - 150 inline intake from external. 250 centrifugal (baffled) with phat filter ceiling mounted

Feed - run to waste

Plants - x2 per pot

Grow style - bend head, bush out to fill room using nylon mesh

Plants - WHITE WIDOW - Sourced from Demon !!! go demon

Timeframe - 4wk veg, 7/8wk flower. 12wk max

Yield - approx 3lb

Nute's - Optimum veg + flower, Boost Accelerator, pk13-14

Res - 220ltr drum auto feed before lights on and after lights off. 1min each feed

 

Ran as quiet as possible as house is full of daughters teenage friends most days and nights haha, very stealthy

 

Currently looking at ways of increasing yield.

 

Looking at pro's & cons of changing to 2x 1000w or upgrading to 600w digital/magnetic

 

I know there would be more light in essence but was wondering what effect that would have on room temperature and also querying the spread of light over my girls as they grow in a line rather than bunched together.

Would this change significantly increase yield as it is only a 200w increase, but I know a little can mean a lot!

 

Other option would be upgrading over the next 2 grows to digital/magnetic gradually ? Seen packages for less than $300 delivered for digital/magnetic ballasts with mps+mh bulbs ?

Do digital really increase the yield significantly or are they designed for more cost effective running, read a lot of contradicting info so thought i'd revisit my community !

 

Thoughts or suggestions welcome, not just on the lights but my whole set up and system.

[Frazz]

Ive had some experience with 1000watters and what ive found is that to get the biggest and best benefit of 1000w over 600watters you need a good deal more height than 2 meters ...

just my opinion

 

[iatd]

Hey Buster.

 

This is going off a general HPS globe. The 600w globe is actually more efficient when it comes to lumens/watt output. The average 600w globe puts out 90000 lumens initially while a 1000w puts out 140000. Three 600's will therefore give you 270000 lumens with an output of 1800 watts where as two 1000's with give you 280000 lumens for 2000 watts. As you can see there is not a great difference between the two options. I have never had any experience with digital ballast's so I can't comment there.

 

TD

[Devilspine]

Id stick with the 600s. 1000s are great, but like Frazz said ,you really want that extra ceiling height to get the advantage out of it.

As for digital ballasts, in my experience, you wont see a significant gain by using them, but there is a small gain from better quality light and a small power saving.

If your gonna lash out on them ,my reccomendation is just not to buy any of the cheap shit brands.

The only other thing id say is i.m.o watering coco should be done while lights are on. I will normally water 2hr after lights on (transpiration before irrigation), then atleast 2hr before lights out. Plants wont use any water during dark period, so best for the coco not to be too wet during lights out to avoid root diseases etc.

Peace...devil..

[Stix87]

hey i just finished my grow with a 1000w in a 1.4x1.4x.2m grow tent one thing i did notice is the light penetration was fantastic compared to all the other grows iv done with the twin 400w hps light

[The Hash Nibbler]

heya Buster =) , I got a tent about 40cm longer than yours , same width and height.....3 x 600wers man-better spread for that size tent, joined end to end in 150mm cooltubes, and scrog the 6 big WW, so they get one 600wer per pot, If ya scrog em, with the cool tubes you'll be able to drop em down nice and close.....as Frazz said, growin trees in tents is a mugs game, so keep em low and well spread. be a cool grow, best of luck. Nibbler. Edited August 7, 2012 by The Hash Nibbler