I got a 1000W HPS and I'm told I need a new $60 bulb because this one is old, but it turns on and gets bright.. True? Also have the hood and a duct fan thing but no ducting yet.. I have about a 4X5 room I'm thinking of using it in to flower, is it enough or too much for that space? I also have about a 4X8 room to veg/clone in, should I put the HPS in that room instead? I mostly just want to have some plants ready for spring but might try to flower something in the dead of winter for the lulz because why not.. I didn't want to be an indoor grower but I got a 1kW HPS setup for a bit of car audio work so basically free.. I tested it but just put it up for now.. 4 photo plants in 3 gallon fabric pots in a 4X5 room under a 1000W HPS SCROG'd? Train 4 hard and flower them small or do 2 bigger ones? Probably just going to borrow some of my outdoor "no-till" dirt to bring in for the winter.. Amend it and throw some clover on it in fabric pots.. Thinking about using those reusable cloth shopping bags.. What would you do with these rooms and these lights.. I have about 250 Watts of T8 fluros and some LED action (can do a few 14W 5500K LEDs) in the bigger room right now but am not even running it right now, been setting it up to make clones for spring.. What do?
Always a good idea to have a spare as you will know the pain and angst of a blown bulb use the current bulb as a back up IMO HIDS bulbs go a bit black at the ends Also I follow the Hollywood standard of always using gloves when handling Bulbs it save the hand 'sweat being absorbed into the glass good luck Ps I buy in a conversion bulb... metal halide that fits a hps
I too have heard people replace them after second grow. I don't have a measuring tool to see just how diminished them become. Sent from my KING_KONG_3 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Well this one is like 5 years old and has some blackening by the screw in base so I guess I do need a new bulb and the point about having a backup bulb is a good idea..
They do loose some performance over time but I think people go a little overboard with switching too much. I switch mine out every 2 years or so and have never noticed any big changes. I do not have a lux meter, I'm basing my opinion on yield. I scrog so I have a defined space to fill. When growing a particular strain I get fairly consistent yields. I know I've even had bulbs in for over 2 years, I dont keep track of dates. I usually try to switch bulbs out every other winter but that doesnt always happen.
If you look back in the past posts about HPS growing you'll see quite a few people post about "What happened to my plants?" They used to grow so well and not they're just not doing that great? After a few posts you'll find out the guy hasn't replaced his HPS bulbs in a few years. After a bulb replacement everything wakes back up again. I think that not only does the output degrade but the coatings on the bulb and light spectrum also degrades over time making it grow worse then it's measured output would tell you. Once a year is typical for HPS growers to replace the bulb. Some do it twice as often or every crop.
3-5 Grows is industry average. Keep them for a spare in case one pops but you will get less quality at same watts. One of the benefits of LED is saving bulb costs and much slower degredation