Multi-Spectrum Vs. HPS for flowering..

[WalterWhiteFire]

Howdy farmers! I have been thinking about this for a while now, and cant seem to make up my mind. I want to get my Watt per square foot up by adding some more light. This is my personal smoke room, not overly concerned with numbers, but I still wanna kill it. I have been running 3 1000w's in a 4.5 x 12 foot area, giving me 55 watts per square foot.

My first thought was to just put another 1000w inline with the rest.

But then I had the idea to drop in some 600w's in the dead spaces between the thouwies. They could hang lower since their penetration isnt as good,

Sooooo. If i could please get some input to help me decide id appreciate it. Have a good day People!

 

[fishwhistle]

I have done very similar before with excellent results,not really any increase in yield(a little) but quality went way up.Is the whole room 4.5x12 or just the area you want to cover?the closer to the walls you are the better imo as less light is wasted but the tradeoff is your area becomes so stuffed with plants its hard to get in there and maintenance the damn thing.I had 4k over 2-4x8 trays in 11.5x11.5 rooms,in one room i dropped in a couple bare bulb 600 MHs,yield was nearly the same but frost and quality went up in the MH room but i didnt have enough MH light to hit the whole thing and i didnt have the power to add any more lights safely,both rooms ran off 1 30 amp 240 circuit on a flip.I have been told i can yield very close to what i was getting from 2 rooms by just using 1 room with 6k in gavita de 1000s and using the same sq footage because of the overdrive feature and being closer to the walls =more reflectance,we'll see im torn apart now to take some time for momma and trying to figure out how to put it back together.
My vote would be for either drawing #3 OR drawing #2 with 2 of those hps switched out for blue metal halides.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Thanks for the reply FishW! Thats pretty much the whole room. There are a couple feet on either end for scrubber, dehuey and swamp cooler. Im used to it being cramped, the price you pay for efficiency. Do you think the overlap would be good enough for drawing 2 with dual spectrum? I hadnt thought of that possibility, thank you! They are block buster hoods with a 4x4 footprint. Ima draw out a coverage diagram. thanks again.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Im not crazy about the coverage on drawing 2 with dual spect. I want everything to be getting hit with HPS.

 

[fishwhistle]

When you mix it up like that its hard to get exactly even coverage,maybe if you used a bunch of 600's or even 400's instead of thouies?Cap posted something in a thread awhile back about building a vert room with tons of 400s instead of thouies but i dont know what you would be sacrificing,maybe penetration?To me #3 and #2 with mixed spectrum are pretty close to each other,I bet wayne or tex or someone like that would have an opinion,maybe they will chime in.

 

[fishwhistle]

Ive also wanted to try something like #1 and sidelighting it with something like 4-4 bulb t5s or 4 of those gavita plasmas but that would cost a fortune,would be cool to see the results though!

 

[outwest]

Maybe put LEPs instead of 600s? :D

outwest

 

[fishwhistle]

Maybe put LEPs instead of 600s? :D

outwest

1.25 amps vs. 2.75 amps also,thats a good tradeoff.You could use 4 leps instead of 2 600s and still save 1/2 an amp and probably have better coverage but at a higher initial cost,dont know what it would do for yield though.

 

[midwestdensies]

I will say I noticed a difference when I ran mixed spectrum in the past. I dont currently have mixed but its something that will be put into play in my rooms for the future. The quality, flavor and aroma were enhanced. What about 600 mh on movers? its a thought that crossed my mind I dont know if it would work for you though.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

4 leps are gonna run like 4 grand... Not really concerned with the couple amp difference. Def gonna stick with HIDs.

 

[outwest]

I'd be mindful of your space and plant layout. I used to run a growilla with a 600hps & 600mh. It was amazing in a 4x4, but when I moved to a 4x6 there definitely became a mh half of the tent and a hps half of the tent in terms of growth and quality. The plants that got mostly HPS were better in yield and quality then the plants that got mostly MH.

outwest

 

[outwest]

I should also add that if you are doing it for increased quality there are lots of avenues down that road that don't require supplemental MH or plasma for that matter, although I do love my plasma for supplemental.

outwest

 

[shawnskush]

i would do 600s for sure but i dont know that i would use MH i think id just stick to HPS. The upside either way is more points of light and thats always good.

 

[NaturalTherapy]

#3 looks like a winner.

I have two rows of 1k lights alternating between red and blue bulbs.
ex.

red.....blue.....red.....blue
blue...red.......blue....red

I move my plants around a lot to make sure they aren't only receiving one end of the spectrum

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

All valid points thanks fellas. With the blumats I can't move my plants very much. Spin but not move. So I need good coverage pretty much everywhere. Ahh I'm leaning toward 4 thouies.

 

[montanamike1]

I've got 3 1k HPS and 1 1k dual spectrum in the same room running the same strains, and so far the biggest problem I've had is the lack of bud density compared to the others. I can't say for sure if the buds have been noticeably more pungent or potent, but they are certainly lighter than the ones grown under straight 1k HPS... obviously the lights are normally much closer to the plants-

 

[iscrog4food]

I like your style Mike!