Help with my lighting options - Too much light maybe?

[Happyjoy]

hey there everyone! ive got a quetsion about lighting.

my space is 2x3 feet, by 5 feet high.
i currently have 1 96x3 mars hydro LED there. the drawing wattage is around 180W. (30W per sq ft)

so i want to add some more wattage for floweirng.
however the only other light i have on hand here is a 400W HPS.
if i add the 400w hps to my led, ill have around 96W per sq ft.

is that too much? ive tried googling this topic but have found many different ideas.

the rooms heat is around 65F during day, and 58F at night. so if i added the HPS, it would make the room probly around 80F im thinking, which is awesome. and at night it would be back down to around 60f in the room. which is a 20deg difference.

does it seem better to continue the grow with or without adding the 400w hps?

thnks!

 

[MRXC]

Depents on your exhoust but my experince with a 400 watt wass theat it was to hot... Used it in my first journal but ended up removing it becouse it burnd tips. But if you could controll the heat go for it

 

[JuanCarlos]

If the heat isn't too much, I would say that it is not too much light. You already have the 400 watter laying around, no harm in throwing it in there. I think it will be a pretty rocking setup.

 

[Happyjoy]

cool. thnks.
heat definately wont be an issue. i used it in the summer when days were about 80F, and it only jumped the heat of my room to 95f lol (thats why i stopped using it).

but i could definately use a 15 degrees boost right now in the room. i think the plant will be much happier in a 75 deg room, vs the 60deg that they have now.

do i need to add the light gradually?

 

[KidGrow420]

hey there everyone! ive got a quetsion about lighting.

my space is 2x3 feet, by 5 feet high.
i currently have 1 96x3 mars hydro LED there. the drawing wattage is around 180W. (30W per sq ft)

so i want to add some more wattage for floweirng.
however the only other light i have on hand here is a 400W HPS.
if i add the 400w hps to my led, ill have around 96W per sq ft.

is that too much? ive tried googling this topic but have found many different ideas.

the rooms heat is around 65F during day, and 58F at night. so if i added the HPS, it would make the room probly around 80F im thinking, which is awesome. and at night it would be back down to around 60f in the room. which is a 20deg difference.

does it seem better to continue the grow with or without adding the 400w hps?

thnks!

So first off. No amount of light is "too much" even with 20 1000 watt HPS your still not getting the same strength of light as the sun provides outdoors. The only issue is controlling the heat that comes off the bulbs. This is done easily by using a "exhaust hood". If( this is not a option, just simply get a decent fan and set it up in-front of the light(s). Now you need to have the exhaust fan set to the correct speed so it doesn't burn your plants, and properly exhausts all that stale heated air,,,, but also, doesn't take away all the humidity they need to be happy. (Unless late stage flowering...) ADD the 400 watt HPS! You'll get way more yield.

 

[JuanCarlos]

I wouldn't worry about adding it gradually, I would add it all at once but initially placing it high and lowering it a little bit every day to give the plants time to acclimate.

Light has a point of diminishing returns, so while there may never be too much light, there is a point where more light is useless.

 

[Happyjoy]

So first off. No amount of light is "too much" even with 20 1000 watt HPS your still not getting the same strength of light as the sun provides outdoors. The only issue is controlling the heat that comes off the bulbs. This is done easily by using a "exhaust hood". If( this is not a option, just simply get a decent fan and set it up in-front of the light(s). Now you need to have the exhaust fan set to the correct speed so it doesn't burn your plants, and properly exhausts all that stale heated air,,,, but also, doesn't take away all the humidity they need to be happy. (Unless late stage flowering...) ADD the 400 watt HPS! You'll get way more yield.

thanks for the reply!.
the thing is, that the exhaust i have is a standard 6" bathroom exhaust. its supposed to be 170cfm.
do you guys think that would be enough to vent out a 2x3 room (5 height), if i have the LED and HPS together?
as far as heat, i mentioned before that itll be fine. probly wont pass 82F.
however as far as stale air, i dont understand enough about this stuff, to know if till be strong enough.
any ideas?

btw, my intake is passive. i could put a fan on the intake, but i figured theres no point, since the amount of air that will be able to come in, will be only as strong as the exhaust, so it seemed to me that thers no point in my situation in putting an active intake....

 

[JuanCarlos]

Passive intake is fine, your fan is fine.

 

[KidGrow420]

Ok if this is the route you have taken, go out and grab another fan like you have. Since you space is small to very small, having one as a exhaust and one as a intake would work best. You need that exchange of air and you need that heat to be controlled. 170 cfm in a 2x3x5 area is good enough depending on technique and the style your using to grow. IF you had one as intake and one as exhaust, you'll have MUCHbetter control of your enviroment.

 

[Happyjoy]

Ok if this is the route you have taken, go out and grab another fan like you have. Since you space is small to very small, having one as a exhaust and one as a intake would work best. You need that exchange of air and you need that heat to be controlled. 170 cfm in a 2x3x5 area is good enough depending on technique and the style your using to grow. IF you had one as intake and one as exhaust, you'll have MUCHbetter control of your enviroment.

can you explain to me why adding one as an active intake will make the air flow any better?
since the exhaust is pulling 'x' amount of air out of the room, therefore theres a vacume in the room with that amount of air needing to be pulled in every moment from the outside.
so wouldnt that same amount of air thats being sucked out, just end up passively being sucked in through the passive intake hole(which is around 4x the size of the exhaust hole).
(in other words, the active exhaust holle is 6" round. the passive intake hole is an 8x6 square hole)

 

[JuanCarlos]

I wouldn't add another fan, but the benefit of it would be that it will allow your exhaust fan to breathe easier, less restriction will allow it to pull more air. In my experience adding an intake fan to a small tent did not make any noticeable difference.

 

[KidGrow420]

can you explain to me why adding one as an active intake will make the air flow any better?
since the exhaust is pulling 'x' amount of air out of the room, therefore theres a vacume in the room with that amount of air needing to be pulled in every moment from the outside.
so wouldnt that same amount of air thats being sucked out, just end up passively being sucked in through the passive intake hole(which is around 4x the size of the exhaust hole).
(in other words, the active exhaust holle is 6" round. the passive intake hole is an 8x6 square hole)

It makes a difference in a few areas.

A. You get a much easier flow of air instead of having one fan do all the work.
B. You get fresh clean air that is being brought in immediately and exhausted out the back immediately.
If you just have a exhaust, sure you can get by. But you wont be getting as clean or fresh available co2 for your plants.
C. Faster way to climatise your grow tent. (humid + or - faster as well)

It is my suggestion, but if it's the financial aspect that is stopping you from doing this, then I understand.
one exhaust would be the bare min for a grow tent/room of your size.