Hello brandonbelew,
Just to clarify, HID (High Intensity Discharge), Refers to and Includes both MH (
metal halide) and HPS (
high pressure sodium)
P.S. I didn't include any of the previous advertising links. The forum administrators use software to automatically turn some keywords into advertisements the first time those words show up in a post.
I know, a lot of people are fearful of HID lighting because of heat. But if you think about it, wattage is not only a measurement of electricity, but
watts are also a measurement of heat like BTU's are a measurement of heat. In fact electric heaters are rated in watts (the electrical conversion from electricity to heat energy), and most electrical heaters are rated at 1,500 watts. More than that would blow a typical household 15 amp breaker. Watts are directly related to amps. If you don't know the watts used by an electrical device, just multiply the amps by volts to get the watts.
Examples
115 volts x 3.5 amps= 402 watts
120 volts x 12.5 amps= 1,500 watts
120 volts x 0.57 amps= 68.4 watts
110 volts x 4.35 amps= 478.5 watts
If your using more wattage in florescent, the florescent are actually putting out more heat. The difference is with florescent
bulbs the heat is spread over a wider area because of the 4 foot bulbs, so people often think they are cooler. The heat is more concentrated in one spot with HID making it seem hotter. The 4 foot long T5 bulbs are rated at 52 watts, (32 watts for T8's). Typical HID bulbs are 400 watts. So naturally 52 watts is 1/8 the amount of heat, (twin bulb 104 watts total 1/4 the heat), and when you spread that 52 watts out over a 4 foot area it seems even cooler. But over all 300 watts of florescent will put out twice the heat of 150 watts of HID. Two twin bulb T5's= 208 watts, that's still more than than a single 150 watt HID light, or about the same as two 100 watt HID bulbs. Florescent lights also need to be within 6-8 inches of the plant, HID can easily be 2-4 feet away. So while the heat from HID is more concentrated in one small space, that HID light (heat source) can be 6-8 times farther away from the plants.
Another thing to consider I touched on earlier is blowing the breakers. If your going to need multiple light sources, you want to make sure your not going to blow the breakers when you include other things like water and air pumps, fans etc. So you want to add up all the amps that will be on the same circuit breaker, and not exceed about 12.5 amps for a 15 amp breaker, or 17.5 for a 20 amp breaker. Otherwise you run the risk of blowing breakers. If you need more than that, you'll have to figure a way to split what you need between two or more circuits.
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The plants, well most of them, seemed to be doing great with the LED's as they were, at least at this stage of life. So hopefully with the new lights they'll do even better.
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The bare root plants will grow in the dark the size they are. I bought bare root strawberry plants last year. I wasn't quite ready to plant them when they arrived, so I just left them in the box. I was surprised to find they were already growing in the box in the dark. When I opened the box they were already as big, and some even bigger than the ones in your pictures.
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What i'm battling now is I appear to be losing a couple plants. One of them had a couple offshoots with leaves yesterday, and today one had died. I clipped it off. Another one just doesn't seem to be taking in nutrients. I see no new root growth on it and it's limped over and dying as well.
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1. Did you wash the dirt off the roots well before transplanting them into the system?
2. What is the water and air temperatures (day and night).
3. What nutrients are you using?
4. How are you mixing them (what ratios)?
5. What is the pH?
6. What does the water look like? Is it clear or cloudy?
7. What does the water smell like? Does it smell musty?
8. What is the water level in the tubes? Is the water touching the baskets?
9. Are you running the water
pump 24/7 or on a timer?