400 MH and 400 HPS at the same time?

[mrpibb1988]

Allright one more question, I plan on growing around 16 plants, 4 x 4 in 2.5 gallon buckets, how many watts would be sufficient to grow some dank buds. I was planning on doing the MH and HPS, but i guess i'll have to reconsider. If i have to go out and buy more lights i for sure will, thanks a lot guys!

mrpibb1988 Reviewed by mrpibb1988 on 04-05-2006. 400 MH and 400 HPS at the same time? Hey everyone, I've been lookin up on this and i can't find the exact answer for my situation. I'm growing in a small growbox in my crawl space, and i just purchased one 400 watt MH Sunsytem 5 econogrow and another 400 watt HPS Sunsystem 5. I got glass for both of them and i plan on ventilating the shit out of them so i can keep them as close as possible. I was thinking if i angled the lights towards eachother so the spectrums "criss cross", I could have both reach the plants and have an Rating: 5

[Sparrow]

A 400 watt should be fine. Rotate your plants every few days. I had a 400 tracked and 50 mothers two feet under it. I like MH myself.

[mrpibb1988]

Allright good deal, i have MH and HPS both 400 a piece with the econogro built in ballast, so i'm gonna roll with my MH for veg, then blast them with the HPS for flowering. I'm gona swing by lowes and see what kinda flourescents they have for some supplement lights. Thanks again everyone for your help! Would have made a big mistake otherwise!

[Sparrow]

cool white or full spectrum are what i use

[Kevin Spencer]

Hey dreadydrug, i have a quick question bro, i read that link of yours about the constructive and destructive types of interference and from what i snagged from it was that if you align the wavelengths just read they'll doublke the amptitude. so i was just wondering, how i would go about setting up a hps and a mh light togehter, from the sounds of it, it doesnt sound to difficult but i was a chemistry dude, so i was just wondering on ur opinion if it would be possible, how hard it would be, how much probably room is the for accuracy and how important is it, if the wavelengths that got reflected if they would be constuctive or destructive, ect, whoa, sorry for all the questions dude, but if u could lend a hand that would be awesome or anyone else that gets the jist of it
thx guys

[dreadydrug]

well, ok i just tried to log onto the college website & get a presentation explaining the whole fucking lot, but it's shit & i can't so im gonna have to try & explain it on my own.
because the wavelength is so small (nano meters) it makes it extrmely difficult to make it do what you want it to do on a large scale. however in a small scale its easier (they use this superpositioning in CD players & DVD player) its hard on a large scale because; if u had a source of light, the light goes in all directions from that source, meaning that their are thousands & thousands of light waves going away from the source. when one hits a wall (no matter what it's made from) it will reflect back. a grow room would be like the worst place for this because there's loads of different rays bouncing all over the place & depending on how far they've traveled when they meet it can act constructive or destructive. because its such a large space & the waves are so small you have no idea how it will end up. im not clever enough to work that out!
also as the MH & HPS are different light spectrums, they have a different range of wavelengths. blue=MH & HPS=Red
red & blue are on opposite sides of the visible light spectrum, so they have very different wavelengths. from what i know they will not affect each other.

in answer to your question you would have to work out the dimensions of the room to the exact nano meter & work out every possible path the light could travelfrom both sources. in other words unless you were a mega genius it would be fucking hard to do accuratly.

btw don't go taking your light combinations out, cos some will interfere good & some bad & some in between. but in the end it's just like having 2 lights.

anything u dont follow, tell me & i'll try & explain it better, sorry i just got up & im a bit tired.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey bro, thx for the help, u explained it pretty much how i expected it cause i expected it pretty much to be impossible, and plus my dimensions in the room are off just a lil, the one side is a inch wider than the other side, plus the uneveness of the reflective material and all that. But yea, i think instead of just having a mh and a hps in one room, im just going to exchange my hps ballast for another mh and work from there? because from what ive read is that the both cancel eachother out, correct me if im wrong? but yea what would u think, ive got 2.5 ft wide by 6.5 feet high plus 7 feet long grow space, whats ur opinion bro
and eh thx for the help again
highly appreciated

[dreadydrug]

well this is just my opinion, but if i was in your situation i'd keep the two lights seperate. split it into boxes with one a little smaller & have MH for veg(in the smaller box) & HPS for flower, yes it will prob grow better with MH & HPS at the same time, but fucking hell, it's a weed, it does fine with just HPS in flower. also if you have a veg box & a flower box you can harvest twice as often!!

[turtle420]

I haven't had time to read everything here, and re-read to make sure... but I think you people are mixing up on some laws of physics/EM.

Light, does not cancel its self out.

[smoknjoe]

Light waves that combine can double their amplitude or cancel it out, or anywhere in between. All electromagnetic waves are subject to interference. The type of interference depends on wavelength (so MH and HPS should interfere less) and also the alignment of phase. Phase alignment depends on how far the light has traveled (talking nanmeters) which seems completely random. I wouldn't worry about it because the plants are getting tons more light no matter what.