4 x 600 watts or 2 x 1000 watts ???

[Slz209]

Please let me know your opinions as I'm looking to change quickly I have some saved up cash I have two magnetic 1000 now but planned in buying 4 digital dimmable ballast that are 1000-600-400 I planned on running the 4 ballast with mh for 2 weeks at 400 watts then veg another 2 weeks with the 4 600 watt hps and switch right into 12 on 12 off with the same 4 lights and watts maybe week 3-7 kick it up to 4 x 1000 for the added boost and finish with 2 x 600 hps and 2 x 600 mh I read the different spectrum is good to finish. All would be ran two the Loomz n blooms 8 x 240 volt timer box with 50 amps co2 sensor and temp sensor

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

Four 600 watts = 2400 watts
Two 1000 watts = 2000 watts
On top of being more watts, you will have way better light coverage.
Dont dim your bulbs, yes you can do it, but your bulbs are going to age faster, and not run at correct efficiency as they should. Bulbs are designed to be ran a certain wattage for maximum spectrum and all that good stuff.

 

[altitudefarmer]

^ he is spot on. If you have "switchable" ballasts and use the proper bulb for your wattage, that is fine. But don't use "dimmable".
For instance, do not run 1000w bulbs on the 600w setting, and NEVER run any bulbs at 50% or 75% of their rated wattage.

More points of light = better canopy penetration. 2400 > 2000, also.

 

[Slz209]

I thought so light coverage lumens and even the par is higher per watt with 600's

 

[sixstring]

I like your plan with all the dimmable ballasts and switching but you will need at least 2 sets of bulbs
As altitudefarmer said dont dim your 1000.i would just buy 600w mh and hps and veg mh then go all hps and finish last 2 weeks with 2 mh & 2 hps.maybe use 2 1000 hps those last 2 weeks instead of the 600.but it sounds like alot of work swapping bulbs lol.

 

[MidniteGardener]

Depends a lot on the size/ shape of your room as well as your style of growing. You'll get better spread with the 4x 600w, but you can grow taller plants with the 1000w. The digital select-a-watt ballasts are a good idea. This is exactly what I'm doing, only with 2 of them in a 5x9. Switching all those bulbs from 400/600/1000 in 4 ballasts is going to be a pain though. That's 16 bulbs you would have to replace every 2 or 3 grows. You can get the Lumatek 1000w dimmable, and they go from 1000/750/600. Buy some Hortilux 1ks and you can adjust the wattage throughout your grow without swapping so many bulbs. MH are ok for veg, so maybe get some Ushio 600w opti-blue and you're good to go.

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

DO NOT DIM YOUR BULBS

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

I personally wouldnt even use super lumens unless your were close to bulb change and wanted the last little oompf from your lights. But like a few of us have said already, if you dim your bulbs, your going to replace more often due to lack of efficie cy and your spectrum will be all fucked off. Sure you'll still grow some dank, but do a side by side of a crop Thats been grown via dimmed lights and then a crop where you use different watted lamps and you'll see the differance.

You could honestly just veg with a 400 watt and flower with a 1000 without worrying about any shock to the plants from light transition. Just make sure when you switch from the 400 to the 1000, make sure your 1000 is raised to max height away from your plants. The light degradation from having your light raised so high will be pretty equivalent to having a less powerful light. Over the next week slowly drop the light height to where you want it. This is the ideal way to ease your plant a to a more intense light. And you get to save a little bit of life from your bulbs.

 

[MidniteGardener]

if you dim your bulbs, your going to replace more often due to lack of efficie cy and your spectrum will be all fucked off.

Dimming your bulbs won't limit life. Actually, the opposite. Anyone that makes this claim clearly doesn't understand electronics. All bulbs, including LED and HID are undervolted from the factory, to INCREASE life. Using super lumens does slightly shorten the life of the bulbs

You will lose a tiny bit of efficiency when dimming a 1k, but barely noticeable. Same with spectrum. Unless you have a graph showing the spectral shift when dimming a 1k bulb to 750, neither you or the plants will even notice the difference.

One of the most well known lighting companies in the world, Gavita, makes dimmable ballasts for the professional horticulture industry where even a tiny 2-3% can make the difference. You lose more than that by having glass on your reflector and air cooling your bulbs, so you definitely won't notice a difference in 2000w grow room.

Sure you'll still grow some dank, but do a side by side of a crop Thats been grown via dimmed lights and then a crop where you use different watted lamps and you'll see the differance.

I've done a side by side with clones of the same strain. There is absolutely no difference in yield or quality as long as they have enough light and you don't fuck up something else in your environment/nutrient schedule.

 

[Slz209]

Thank you guys for the info now for another question? Should I run bare bulb I have sufficient air and cooling In the room constant 78 degrees. I figured either a round open reflector with a vertical bulb or just run the bulb bare? What are your opinions

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

@midnight farmer I'm not sure you really know what your talking about. Hortilux is one of the leaders in indoor cultivation and on their FAQ's page they actually cover this topic and I quote

"We do not recommend dimming HID lamps. HID lamps will operate when dimmed but the spectral quality of the lamp will change in a negative way. HID lamps are designed to operate at a specific wattage. When you flip the switch, or turn the wattage dial, you are reducing the operating wattage of your lamp. This reduces the temperature inside the lamp and causes some of the chemical reactions inside the lamp to stop. This has a dramatic and negative impact on the quality of the light being produced by your lamp. If you want to reduce the power of your system we recommend using a lower wattage lamp and operating it at its proper wattage. This way you can reduce power without sacrificing the quality of your spectrum and ultimately the quality of your plants. - See more at: "

They are designed to run a certain wattage for a reason. I'm not sure if your "understanding of electronics" is very accurate. Lol.
Id really like to see you post a grow diary with the results of the test your talking about. What did your test consist of? Did you have a 400w, 600w, and 1000w for one room and then a switchable ballast the other side? Post a journal buddy.

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

Thank you guys for the info now for another question? Should I run bare bulb I have sufficient air and cooling In the room constant 78 degrees. I figured either a round open reflector with a vertical bulb or just run the bulb bare? What are your opinions

If you can cool your room sufficiently and use bare bulb. Then go bare bulb. Not gonna be a dramatic change but its a little better.

 

[MidniteGardener]

HID lamps will operate when dimmed but the spectral quality of the lamp will change in a negative way.

Yeah, I'm going to need to see some graphs on that. Unless they don't exist because it's bullshit to sell more bulbs.

This reduces the temperature inside the lamp and causes some of the chemical reactions inside the lamp to stop. This has a dramatic and negative impact on the quality of the light being produced by your lamp.

Sure, and when I turn down my heat it causes some chemical reactions to stop too, lol. I understand the bulbs have an optimal operating temperature, but again let's see some graphs that show just how much it changes. If this spectrum impact is so dramatic, then surely it would be more noticeable and have more impact on the plants. They don't even tell what % efficiency you lose when dimming the bulb. I can tell you now that using a quantum meter and a kill-a-watt meter, it's not as much as you've been led to believe. Like I said, you lose more from dirty reflectors and air cooling.

You can talk all day but I don't post journals. I'm not in the business of providing evidence to law enforcement, but my quantum meter and my results don't lie. Show me the graphs, buddy ;)

 

[mmmdankbuds420]

Professional growers keep ALL of their equipment at 100% nuff said.

I dont have graphs but I'm gonna trust a legit companies research over a newbie farmers "theories". I dont have graphs to back the claim, only a companies research. You have nothing but empty words. Let's see the proof. Let's see all the different bulbs and vallasts you claim to have used. Because until you can provide some sort of evidence, your just feeding farmers full of bullshit. Your not bullshitting anybody here on the farm bro, we all know your full of Shit. Lol

 

[shoestring]

I run both. I have 4 600's over 2 3x6 tables in the back and 2 (rite now, summer is approaching) 1000 watters over 2 4x4 tables in the front. I try to stagger my harvests 1 month to 5 weeks apart depending on variety grown. Iam leaning on stretchy big.yield sativa dominants more and more. This gives me a balance of quality and quantity. Yields are about the same with the 4 sixers edging out the 1000's by a few zips here or there but i grow with the sixers completely different. I pack em in 21 to 28 per table with a 12 day veg or around 9 to 10 inches in my veg tent. Coco/perlite topfeed open tube (no drip) in one gallon grow bags. My main variety is a sour diesel x og.kush cross (this is starting to become thee standard cut floating around town-breeder unknown) that stretches like x3 so i end up with 24 to 30 inch plants. No topping but heavily lollipopped pruned anything under under the net trellis. 18 to 20 ounces per 600 watts. The thousands i veg for up to a month and train,top and prune to get a 15 inch bush with multiple tops. These finish out at 4 and a half feet or so give or take. 6 to 9 plants per 4x4 table with about a quarter lb per plant. The main difference is i get a little bit more larfy lowers with the 1000's. For a certain style of grow the 600's for me hands down. For trees especially vert theres no question. 1000 watter for the win!! Good Luck my farming friends!!!! P.S. That Sour Amnesia from Hortilab is looking damn good and is in my radar. Rite up my alley. Again good.luck.to all of yas. Peace.

 

[shoestring]

Oh yeah by the way. Personally i rarely touch the dimmable knob on my ballasts. I thought when they first came out they were a gimmick and still do. Seen alot of gimmicky equipment and ideas come and go in this ''industry'' over the years. If my mini split cant handle the heat of them dogdays in august i will just shut em down for a day or two. If iam starting a crop in the worst days of summer i will try and anticipate and run less lights. High temp shutdown switches are pretty groovy too. Crop insurance, piece of mind, and definitely not a gimmick.

 

[labud]

I'd go with a horizontal reflector

 

[MidniteGardener]

First I just want to apologize to OP for jacking his thread with a pissing contest over bulb dimming.

Anyway shoestring seems to have the best experience to give you an answer. It seems like it comes down to space, heat, and cost. I still think the 2x 1000w are more cost efficient, but it depends on your grow style and whether you can deal with the heat (ceiling height is the main factor too imo). If you can't deal with the heat the 600s are nice because you can shut a couple down. It's just 2x the cost for equip. But slightly lower light levels with perfect temps will prob yield better than heat stress with perfect light levels.

 

[Dank.in.Donuts]

anybody got any “pictures” of buds using a 4x600 set up ??

 

[MIMedGrower]

anybody got any “pictures” of buds using a 4x600 set up ??

I don’t think anyone from 2014 is going to answer. And I only have 2 600’s in my flower room. Grow some pretty big bushes with them sometimes.