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[Lesson In Lamps] Hanging Heights (Part 1 of 3)

[Lesson In Lamps] Hanging Heights (Part 1 of 3)

Alex Grady

The way you hang lamps affects your intensity, coverage area and overall growth. It's important that you get it right.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series

Here you'll learn how high to hang your lamps.

How to Hang

Your exact hanging height depends on the fooprint of your reflector.

Hang it too high...

Hang your lamp too high, and three things will happen:

Hanging Heights Lamps


1. Your footprint widens, and lots of light is lost to walls

Hanging Heights Lamps


2. Your intensity drops too low, as light is spread out over a wider footprint.

Hanging Heights Lamps


3. Your grow room becomes too cold - in winter, this isn't what you want.

Hang it too low...

Hanging Heights Lamps


1. Your footprint is too small and doesn't cover your entire tent.

Hanging Heights Lamps


2. Where there is light, your intensity is too much for plants to cope with.

Hanging Heights Lamps


3. Your grow room grows too hot and you scorch your canopy layer.

Hint
Buy a Digital Ballast - you can dim and boost your intensity without moving lights up or down. This means you aren't messing with your footprint.

Recommended hanging heights

Your exact height depends on:

  • Your reflector footprint
  • Number of lights
  • Your tent size & shape
  • The plants you're growing

But as a general rule, here's how much of a gap you should leave between plants and your lamp

HID Lamps

HID lamps (HPS & MH) are very high intense, to make sure you don't burn plants, you need to leave a safe gap between your plants and canopy.

Propagator Small Plant Medium Plant Large Plant
240W Lamp 140cm 90cm 60cm
400W Lamp 160cm 120cm 60cm
600W Lamp 150cm 120cm 70cm
750W Lamp
1000W Lamp 160cm 140cm 90cm

You can propagate under any size light. If doing this:

  • Position your propagator off centre
  • Make sure you leave a 150cm gap between the top of your propagator and bottom of your reflector (600W and 1000W lamps)

250W Lamp

400W Lamp

600W Lamp

1000W Lamp

600W Lamp for Propagation

Propagation Lamps

You only really want to use propagaton lights for cuttings, seedlings and mother plants.

Propagator Young Plants Mother plants
125W CFL 80cm
Exolux Pro T5 - Single Tube (24W) directly over 60cm 60cm
Fluorescent Tube - 2 Tube (2 x 24W) 80cm
Fluorescent Tube - 4 Tube (4 x 54W)
Fluorescent Tube - 8 Tube (8 x 54W)
Bright-Wing - 2 Tube (110W) 80cm 50cm 30cm
Bright-Wing - 4 Tube (220W) 110cm 80cm 60cm

Choice of reflector

Your choice of reflector has a big impact on your hanging height - it's repsonsible for your light footprint.

The higher you go, the narrower your reflector should be. The lower you go, the wider it should be.

Just look at the Adjust-A-Wings reflector - you can adjust your wing position to suit your hanging height

Adjust-A-Wings

Wing setting: narrow
Distance: 45 – 60cm

Adjust-A-Wings

Wing setting: wide
Distance: 25 - 35cm

Adjust-A-Wings

Wing setting: medium
Distance: 40 - 50cm

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