I am building a new grow room that is 6' x 12' sealed climate controlled room. I am debating back and forth between 3 x 1000W HPS in air cooled hoods or 1 x 1000W HPS with a Light Rail 3.5 12' system. Pros of 3000W System is air cooled - will require less cooling of room More watts / sq ft. This is the system I am used to. Pros of light mover Cheaper up front and operation costs. Light can be closer to plants Better light coverage What do you think I should do? Any help?
well i guess if your used to a multiple light system and your confident you can cool the room enough with three 1000w and of course you can afford the upfront cost of the lights and the bill to run them i think most people would say the more light the better , I have a similar situation ill be growing in a 8'x10' room using 2 1000w switchable ballast i picked up a 720 cfm fan today at the hydro store and a y fitting for both my hoods, i say go with more light i think if its done right it will only increase your yield.
if your used to running 3000w grows I would doubt dropping down to 1000w on a mover would not meet your needs...unless 3k worth of lights was producing too much for you.
My current grow it only 1000W, but it's only a 4' 4' room so this will be an expansion. From the sounds of it you guys don't think a 1000W on a light mover can do near what 3000W can do?
im looking into a light mover also, the chart i saw showed it stretching the coverage from one light to 2. but not from 1 to 3. i ordered one off ebay.
Just give the ducting to the hood some slack and you can still vent the moving one like your other ones.
I am doing a similar set up. I'm going to do 2 1000w HPS with blue spectrum on light movers. Underneath I'm going to have 4 rows of about 6 or 7 plants in each row. 1 1000w is going to be above 2 rows of plants and move right down the line. Then I will alternate the way the movers run. While 1 light is traveling to the left, the other is going to the right. I choose this way so all the plants have light on them at any given time. Then I will Stagger the plants so I will optimize the plant growth. This is all going to be done in organic soil. I will also use a low stress technique to maximize my yeild. In my flowering room I am going to install a co2 tank with a regulator so I can get the quality buds and truely max my yeild. This will be my flower stages of course. Then in another room I'm going to have 2 400w MH for vegetative state. I hope 2 400w lights can provide enough light for my plants. For my mothers I have individual hydro set ups. But as far as light movers, I want to know if it is going to work! I don't want to go out and get a light mover if I don't need one. Maybe I put 3 1000w HPS to cover about 25 plants? I'm not sure... I guess you just have to go with what you think is going to be best in your situation. Also if you want more yeild, better bud, faster grow times, all that stuff reflects what type of lights you are running. Also does anybody have experience with HPS bulbs with the blue spectrum? From what I have read, the enhanced HPS bulbs add the spectrum of what MH has. Now from my understanding, you could have a MH above your Flowering plants, and it would decrease your crop time & your yeild. But with that being said, if you add the blue spectrum to the already HPS spectrum, does that help your buds to early crop??? I'm not going to have to worry much about heat issues if I have more lights. But are they necessary if I can just put a couple on light movers? Wow that was longer than I expected. hehe.
After doing my homework this is the direction I am going as well. I am going to use a 6' Light Rail 3.5 system and a 6' add a light. I should have it up this weekend so you can check it out in my Journal on Monday.
I'm curious to see how this goes. I can't wait to see some pictures of what it will look like. I'm getting really stoked for mine. I'm working on getting a house right now. Should have pics up in no longer than 3 weeks.
I too will be installing a lightrail this weekend, although my setup will be just one 1000w light. Like some others have said, definitely don't expect to see the same results between 3 stationary lights and 1 on a mover. I probably wouldn't think of the light mover as a way to cover a much larger area, but more like a way to TOTALLY cover the space your light would normally just be enough for, and a bit more An 1000w light will cover roughly 4x4, but you will see stretching and a bit less dense growth towards the edges of the garden. I suppose you could get away with extending your normal coverage by a bit, but if you extend your garden too much you will probably end up with similar results around the edges of the garden. What is the size of your space? I think two 1000w lamps would cover an 8 by 8 garden VERY nicely, just as long as you get them evenly spaced next to eachother... Good luck, I'm subscribed, and hope to check out your progress soon!
My finished space is 5' x 14'. My light mover is installed but the room is still under construction. I should have it done by the 4th of July. Check it out in my Journal.