Planning for expansion

[Hushpuppy]

I am intending to add a grow room that will be used strictly for flower while using my existing rooms for veg. I am planning on my room being roughly 8' wide by 40' long (we would only use 5' of the 8' width so that we would have an access corridor on one side). My intension is to have a continuous harvest of a sort (split it up so that I harvest one group every month).

I intend to use air cooled 600wHPS lights. My partner and I have talked about using 3 pairs of lights (one pair for each section) that would hang side-by-side on light movers that would move them back n forth over each section of plants. I can figure this for stationary lighting but will it change for lighting that moves. I know 5k lumens per sqft over the standard footprint of the light fixture, but does that change if the light moves across an area that is twice as long as the standard footprint of the light?

 

[Roddy]

You'll be giving light to half the gals half the time....imho....moving lights were used in a friend's grow and I was less than impressed! 40' long means a TON of light needed, I am running 2400w in a 5'x9' room.

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

i agree with Roddy. the long 'light rails' only make sure your plants get less light by the end of the day. would be better to aim at 6-8 lights spaced evenly along the run...

 

[Locked]

Same opinion here....ditch the movers and get more lights.....

 

[Hushpuppy]

Thanks guys, that was what I was thinking but wasn't sure

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I also really dislike light movers. I recently got rid of 2 of them that I had for years just collecting dust in the space I keep all that grow stuff I bought and do not use now (come on, we ALL have a place like that don't we?).

Rather than expanding your light, I agree with Roddy--you are simply giving half your plants half as much light as they really need. It also makes air cooling your reflectors a lot harder. I also have a friend using them. I just can't seem to convince him that more plants over more area does not result in more bud unless you add more light.

 

[BBFan]

5' may be a little tight depending on how long you're going to veg them before flower, but have you considered going vertical?

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah, I actually have a mover that my partner just had to have and we had soo much trouble with trying to make the flex hose work that we just removed it and changed the configuration of the fixtures.
I have thought about doing vertical lighting but not sure how easy it would be to cool the space without using some serious AC. I have seen bigger operations that do it quite well but I don't know if I am big enough to balance out the cost or make the setup work out.