600 watts vs 1000 watts; How to Pick Out Lights for your set up!

Click to read High Times article about the advantages and disadvantages of each wattage bulb

The first rule: No matter what size your space is or what system your garden utilizes, never buy a cheap or secondhand lamp. Growroom lights use a lot of electricity, and the wiring and ballasts that supply that electricity to the bulb is the difference in whether or not a fire can start in your growroom. Therefore, this is not the place to skimp on costs.

           

The next thing to focus on is your actual growroom size. High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are sometimes too intense for a very small space. For spaces smaller than 4’ x 4’, you may consider using fluorescent bulbs, perhaps something on par with a bank of T5 or T8 fluorescents. These bulbs are inexpensive, use way less power, give off very little heat and provide excellent spectrum for plants—but they will yield less than HID lamps come harvest time.

 

If your space is slightly larger, or has more space for ample air circulation and ventilation, you can consider larger lamps. Metal halide (MH) and high-pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs are the most popular choices among growers, but if you’re going with only one fixture, HPS is the usual choice. Some ballasts allow growers to switch bulbs, using an MH during the vegetative (“grow”) cycle and HPS during the flowering (“bloom”) cycle. These bulbs usually range from 250 to 1,000 watts. This table shows the coverage areas for bulbs of various wattages.
*http://www.hightimes.com/read/1000-growroom

Wattage	Coverage Area	Height Above Canopy
250	4’ x 4’	12” – 18”
400	5’ x 5’	14” – 24”
600	6’ x 6’	18” – 30”
1,000	8’ x 8’	24” – 36”