So I have about 10 of these 400 watt MH lights sitting in my shed they used to be used in a arena they look like this and my grow space is roughly 8' * 6' so my question is how many should I be using to cover this area ? I read somewhere that a 400 watt hp would cover 3'*3' and a 1000 watt would cover 4'*4' but that confused me a little because 400 watt hp -produces 36000 lumens -suppose to cover 9 feet^2 -4000 lumens a foot^2 1000 watt hp produces -110000 lumens -suppose to cover 16 feet^2 -6875 lumens a foot^2 so is I guess my real question is how much light can the plants use before it just starts getting wasted ? also I have 2 other minor simple questions, 1)I noticed that when looking up lumens produced that it had a initial and a mean lumens produced, I know my lights are old so should I be replacing the bulbs to get optimum efficiency? 2)do you guys think that the housing the lights are in will distribute the light evenly enough over the space I have or should I make a better reflective housing ? Thanks in advance to whoever takes the time to answer
Usually the maxiumum effieciency is gone withing the first 200h of the lamp life. ballasts play huge roles on the lamps life and quality of life. Id buy some spares, change maybe a couple lamps but keep them in case your other lamps fry.. spares are really nifty. Just as long as you have good reflective material e.g. mylar (8x6 about 15 bucks of mylar). you will cover the space. First make the place reflective because heat might play an issue( cant hang as many lamps as you want) I´d put 1 lamp per 1.5-2 feet. Be careful of foliar spraying if you dont have cooltubes.
My system will be aeroponic so foliar spraying shouldn't be a problem and ill find a way to hookup a inline fan if heat becomes a problem. and I just wasn't sure if the housing these lights are currently in would disperse evenly over the canopy Thanks for your input thou if anyone disagrees with his 1 light per 1.5-2 square feet please challenge
Take off the diffuser and put the lamps 12-18" from the canopy. Get new bulbs when you get the chance. If you want to get good buy hoods and rewire the ballast so its not even in the grow room, basically a long light cord to the mogul socket and reflector.
if you have 10 i would strongly suggest a vertical grow hanging the lights downwards gives you all from the bulb. not hard to setup an aeroponic stadium grow. STRONGLY ENCOURAGE IF YOU HAVE THE LAMPS like the professor said take off those diffusers,they're shedding light
Yea when the bulbs are vertical I notice they do more work vs half the light on one side of the bulb like most horizontal reflectors. Even bare bulbs hanging down inside the plants kicks ass big time. Probably the cheapest and best way to go.
well if im going to be doing a stadium grow what do you guys think of this for my stadium so to speak I did 6 rows of plants on a 2:1 incline because the more vertical I get it the more surface area I can take advantage of
make it remember to build the end of the grow place so it also has growth, not just the sides Get the best possible reflectant so equal light is distributed. fan from the bottom to keep the stale air moving have fun! Make sure you can move your body in to inspect your bebbes
Next time you do a grow try building benches for soil or pvc for aero by hanging the lights ive been able to get 1g per w on a 1000w hps grow with 33 plants in a 4x4 tent.
I have an old vertical 1,000w magnetic MH and have grown stadium style in a big room and harvested some amazing harvest. I dont use tents at all, I have space for real grow rooms. right now im running 2,000w over my hydro plants, would love to do an Aero/NFT hybred type grow. View attachment 1590805 View attachment 1590806
First off, if it's a MH ballast, you have to buy some conversion bulbs to turn it into a HPS for flowering. This is the first lamp I used and my friend is still using it 11 years later. It is real simple to convert that ballast into a remote super clean ballast. Remove the bell reflector from the ballast. Separate the ballast halves (a few screws on the side). Buy a medium duty extension cord (the length your need to be remote) and cut the end off about 2' from the end (you will use the scrap to connect to the hood). Slide the extension cord through a "1/2 or 3/4 In. Liquid Tight Strain Relief - Plastic" then attach the wires ends (wire nuts) to the same place the old mogul was attached to inside the ballast. Make sure you find a place to attach the ground, or make a place with a sheet metal screw. Bring the halves back together around the strain relief (will fit like a glove) and tighten the strain relief so the wire is snug. Attach the scrap end to a cool-tube or any other reflector (get a cool-tube), Now you have a remote ballast and a hood that you can unplug. Very cool and it will work great for a closet grow. This type of ballast is weather resistant and bulletproof. I wish I still had pictures of the ones I made. Peace, R.
Lookin good, but tents are better for reflection in general. Id drop the white fan so it blows from down up at the light, you can lower it a bit more get better penetration. Also I think its decent to use a tent if your renting the place your growing in. Dont like fucking places up
I use whole rooms. I have lots of lights 4,000+ watts of lights im not using right now. Tents are to cramped for me, ill just add lights till everyone is happy. Reflected light gives back little to nothing, id rather have the free flow of air. We own a couple houses, I have a nice one sitting empty that would make as good grow house but it is 100 miles away. too far to fuck with, we would need a live in gardener to tend it and I will not bring dirt in my house, indoors is hydro only.