12x20 grow building light question

420dankestnugs

Active Member
Have recently been setting up my new building to grow in(medical/legally). Been doing it some time in a 50-60sq/ft room after moving the grow out of my bathroom:grin:. I plan on strictly using 1000watt HPS/MH fixtures, thinking around 8 of them until i can upgrade my electricity. Will be using my old 50sq/ft room as a veg chamber and the main building as flower. I've also got tents/cabinets for cloning and seedlings/germinating. I'm planning on dividing the room with 4 SCROGS/nets measuring 4x8ft, or even 4x10. Also may add or reduce size of some incase I need the extra space, or have too much space.

On to my question!
Here in Oregon would it be better to use parabolic/open ended reflectors year round, or air cooled hoods? We have cold winters and occasionally hot summers reaching 95+. Do parabolic reflectors have a noticeable difference in quality/quantity of bud? I've read that they do have a larger light/lumen footprint, but because of the heat they cannot get as close to the plant as an air cooled could. Also would having enough fans to cool the room be more efficient then having an AC system?

Will update with pictures once I get the ball rolling and elec setup(almost there!)

--I've only used air-cooled in my current room, however I have grown veggies with parabolic reflectors.

Let me know if you think this would be a good setup, or if you have any ideas of things I should change.
 

NugHeuser

Well-Known Member
I was just going to say the same as the above posts. Look into true double ended ceramic metal halide's. It you were using a smaller space I'd recommend the 315s. Unless you want to fork out the extra money the double ended models would do just fine and should save you money on buying lights, as compared to if you went with all 315s.
 

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
I was just going to say the same as the above posts. Look into true
Have recently been setting up my new building to grow in(medical/legally). Been doing it some time in a 50-60sq/ft room after moving the grow out of my bathroom:grin:. I plan on strictly using 1000watt HPS/MH fixtures, thinking around 8 of them until i can upgrade my electricity. Will be using my old 50sq/ft room as a veg chamber and the main building as flower. I've also got tents/cabinets for cloning and seedlings/germinating. I'm planning on dividing the room with 4 SCROGS/nets measuring 4x8ft, or even 4x10. Also may add or reduce size of some incase I need the extra space, or have too much space.

On to my question!
Here in Oregon would it be better to use parabolic/open ended reflectors year round, or air cooled hoods? We have cold winters and occasionally hot summers reaching 95+. Do parabolic reflectors have a noticeable difference in quality/quantity of bud? I've read that they do have a larger light/lumen footprint, but because of the heat they cannot get as close to the plant as an air cooled could. Also would having enough fans to cool the room be more efficient then having an AC system?

Will update with pictures once I get the ball rolling and elec setup(almost there!)

--I've only used air-cooled in my current room, however I have grown veggies with parabolic reflectors.

Let me know if you think this would be a good setup, or if you have any ideas of things I should change.
It sounds like you're on the coast. I'm in the south valley. Even with air cooled hoods it gets too hot in the summer to not take a pretty major hit on yield and quality without ac. That's even running the lights at night.
 

420dankestnugs

Active Member
Thanks for all the replies. Going to look into CMH setups and maybe go thru with those if the yield is still good. Trying to maximize my yield and get the hang of a bigger space with more plants before transitioning into OLCC's program.

I'm now leanin towards SOG simply because time benefits.

Next step is stopping at the grow store and checking out ceramics:)

Room is ready to be plugged in with lighting. I'll follow up with pictures incase anyone else is trying to do something similar to a 12x20grow
 

somedude584

Well-Known Member
Before you spend $$$ on HPS, you really owe it to yourself to do as much homework on Ceramic Metal Halide Lights ( CMH ) as you can :)
Gavita DE's are pretty fire as well. IMHO I haven't seen any evidence that dethrones them as being the best in the industry.
 

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
Gavita reflectors have a horrible spread. The Sun Systems AC/DE reflector and the other versions based on the same design have the best spread.

The spread from gavitas isn't an issue for someone who's lighting a big area with lots of fixtures and a high ceiling where the overlap between lights fills in the edges and the inverse square proportion law actually works in your favor by spreading out hot spots but in small areas it's something to think about.
 

somedude584

Well-Known Member
Gavita reflectors have a horrible spread. The Sun Systems AC/DE reflector and the other versions based on the same design have the best spread.

The spread from gavitas isn't an issue for someone who's lighting a big area with lots of fixtures and a high ceiling where the overlap between lights fills in the edges and the inverse square proportion law actually works in your favor by spreading out hot spots but in small areas it's something to think about.
I've got 4 of them covering a roughly 13x8 area in addition to a 400w MH bulb in the center of them and I think the spread is great. Could you link any testing to confirm they have horrible spread? I've just never heard of anyone suggesting that.
 

420dankestnugs

Active Member
Got extremely sick and had to stop working on the new building. Once I started to feel better my doctor found a hernia... taking it slow now.

I ended up wiring the building for 220 and got 8xMH/HPS sun system cooled hoods and ballasts. I'm tempted to try out the CMH so I'll be turning a 4x8 closet into flower with 2or3 315w CMH. I know it's overkill but I also got 5x 745cfm fans. I plan on using 3 in the 12x20 and having two extra incase the summer heat is too much.

Now I'm trying to figure out if it will be more worth it to do SOG, scrog, or grow monsters that yield 1 1/2+ lbs each. I'm leaning towards having bigger plants flowered in 15gallon pots, while having a separate building for vegging and clones. The only problem that I'm running into is maxing my amps out. I've got a buddy who runs 4x8 scrog setups and yields roughly 3.5lbs per net(3x 315cmh).

This is a LEGAL recreational grow, so I'm not worried about illegalities. Sea of green seems nice as well however the ceiling is 12-15ft depending on where in the building so I can easily get these plants big and bushy.

Once the weather and myself get better I'll start hanging the lights and posting pictures. All I need are timers then off to the races!

Also thanks for the info about cmh's I can't wait to see how they do in the 4x8.
 
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