2 x HPS 600 in a 4x2x2

[herby]

Just wondering what would be the best way to set the lights up in the main bloom tent, the plan was to have 3 plants going in there but 1 went hermie so i only have 2 in there now, so each one has 1 x 600Whps above it, However my next grow im going to go for 3 again, or maybe even more but im not sure how to go about placing my 2 600w lights...

As in the picture, i had them kind of shining light between the pots on each side in an attempt to get even coverage on all 3 plants, Apart from getting another 600w light in there what could i do and how can i place them? I cant get anymore lights as this run has cost me over 1,000$ in power bill for 105 days ( that includes the vegging period ), and its already borderline UN-affordable .

 

What about some of those "Light movers" that sit on rails and move the light back and forth?

should i just move them higher so the light spreads out more ?
leave them as they are?

 

[merl1n]

Got a question for you Herby.

In your title you say "....in a 4x2x2" Is that 4x2x2 metres? And you are running 2x600w? If this is correct I'd be saying you need more lights. There is a calculator up in Cannaversity(Tab at the top of the page) and with those dimensions its saying you need 2152watts minimum and 3444 w as optimum. And you'd be right, that could end up a wicked nasty power bill.

Another option would be to partition your space make your area more appropriate size for your lights. This would also improve the light reflection off the walls of your space.

Are you SCROGing you plants? Or do you just let them grow. SCROGing them helps to maximise the use of the space, spreads the plant out.

Some of those light movers can be bloody expensive, I enquired years ago. FARK. No thanks. Prices have highly probably dropped since then but I didn't bother. So, I've made a simple ghetto manual mover, Its a old galv iron pipe, with a whole drilled through it exactly in the middle. In that hole is an ''I'' bolt, And a bearing at the bottom. The pipe sits on the outside casing of the bearing, I've had a mate weld the outer casing of the bearing to the bar. This gives a nice smooth 360 degree rotation of the rig, then a washer and 2 nylex Non slip nut , locked together so they don't come lose. A rope goes through the eye and through a pulley in the roof, giving me the ability to raise and lower the whole rig. From this rig I can easily hang 4x600w HPS and rotate them a full 360 degrees. Every  day I move the lights around, works well

Getting the balance right can be difficult, but I've got a few flat stones sitting on top of my light shades, which balances them out. Another hint,  use chain to hang your lights (Not rope, rope can melt, steel chain won't.)secure your lights to the pipe, use a pin thru the chain, thru the pipe, to stop the lights moving on the pipe, cos if they become unbalanced everything slides to one end. DOH, OHH FARK

 

Just some ideas

 

Merl1n

[herby]

Got a question for you Herby.

In your title you say "....in a 4x2x2" Is that 4x2x2 metres? And you are running 2x600w? If this is correct I'd be saying you need more lights. There is a calculator up in Cannaversity(Tab at the top of the page) and with those dimensions its saying you need 2152watts minimum and 3444 w as optimum. And you'd be right, that could end up a wicked nasty power bill.

Another option would be to partition your space make your area more appropriate size for your lights. This would also improve the light reflection off the walls of your space.

Are you SCROGing you plants? Or do you just let them grow. SCROGing them helps to maximise the use of the space, spreads the plant out.

Some of those light movers can be bloody expensive, I enquired years ago. FARK. No thanks. Prices have highly probably dropped since then but I didn't bother. So, I've made a simple ghetto manual mover, Its a old galv iron pipe, with a whole drilled through it exactly in the middle. In that hole is an ''I'' bolt, And a bearing at the bottom. The pipe sits on the outside casing of the bearing, I've had a mate weld the outer casing of the bearing to the bar. This gives a nice smooth 360 degree rotation of the rig, then a washer and 2 nylex Non slip nut , locked together so they don't come lose. A rope goes through the eye and through a pulley in the roof, giving me the ability to raise and lower the whole rig. From this rig I can easily hang 4x600w HPS and rotate them a full 360 degrees. Every  day I move the lights around, works well

Getting the balance right can be difficult, but I've got a few flat stones sitting on top of my light shades, which balances them out. Another hint,  use chain to hang your lights (Not rope, rope can melt, steel chain won't.)secure your lights to the pipe, use a pin thru the chain, thru the pipe, to stop the lights moving on the pipe, cos if they become unbalanced everything slides to one end. DOH, OHH FARK

 

Just some ideas

 

Merl1n

 

Thanks for the reply , yup its a 4x2x2 meters, I didn't scrog but i did tie down , once i tied down they needed to come out of the 1.5m tent cause they were way to wide, 3 plants tied down is very tight in the 4x2, i could put more if i just interlock all the branches of each plant though.

 

The light movers are around 250$ now, pretty damn pricey indeed!, i use steel chains and metal hanging hooks to raise and lower the lights as needed.

 

As for the "2152watts" of lighting required for that grow space thats a big jump from 1200w, I will try partition the space of with some myler or panda film but i dont think it will work because as i said above once i tied down the plants i ran out of room very quickly...

 

My first grow consisted of :

 

Vegging x 3 plants with 500 watts of CFL along with my 90x3W, it came to around 650-670watts @ 18 hours for 48 days ( + 100-150w for fans n stuff )

Blooming x 3 plants with 2 x 600W of HPS for 56 days ( so far ) for 12 hours

Over 1k$ worth of power bill so far and its not over yet, i estimate it to get to at least 1400-1500$ by the end of the bloom cycle....

 

So far ive only use my LED for vegging of my other 3 plants which i just started and ill see if i can use the LED only for vegging this time and save alot of power ( its 90x3w ) but only registered 165W of power on meter, so if i save alot of power on the vegging period maybe i can get 2 x 1000W hps for bloom instead and it might end up either cheaper or the same? ...