New Grower Lights - Cooling and Overkill?

[Son of Hobbes]

I have a quick question maybe someone can help me out with. I've looked this up on Google and several forums and I kind of got some answers, but not quite pertaining to my setup. This is what I have for a lights:

1000w MH/HPS switchable w/ hood
400w MH/HPS switchable w/ reflector
(2) 125 watt CFL's

My grow tent is a 4 ft. x 4 ft. x 6.5 ft.

I currently have four plants (1 auto and 3 photos) under the 1000w MH and they are just LOVING it.

I have a 6" 240 CFM inline fan drawing fresh air into the tent from the window. On the HPS hood, I have a 6" 240 CFM inline fan drawing air from the tent through the hood and on the other side of the hood is another 6" 240 CFM inline fan pulling the air through my exhaust duct which leads to a 6" terminating carbon scrubber.

I have a tower fan also inside the tent which i have set on low setting to move the leaves around a little and improve circulation.

My ambient temperature in the tent with the 1000w MH turned on (for several hours) is about 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit. I've read that the best temp range for growing these is about 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm contemplating taking my cool (fresh air) intake and putting it directly through the hood (instead of venting fresh air into the tent through that), then bringing in another duct for the tent's fresh air intake (haven't tried it, but it would stand to reason that cool brisk air blowing over the hot bulb would cool it better than room temp air?) I also could just put a 6" tee in the fresh air intake and have one exhaust into the tent and one exhaust through the hood. Any ideas on this?

My question is this:

I think I can completely manage my temperatures in the tent with a little trial and error; and I'm in the north land, so it's very dry up here (humidity is rarely a problem) and we're already getting snow to boot.

Would my efforts be best in just using the 1000w light in the space, or would it be at all beneficial to use both the 1000w MH and the 400W MH (or possibly HPS for a combo.) Or even all FOUR lights that I have? (the 1000W top-down over the plants, the 400W angled at the plants, and the 125W CFL's hanging down vertically towards the tops/middle of the plants. I know it's very hard to reach the maximum amount of light a plant can use (where heat becomes more of the issue), but is it worth it to throw more than 1000w at a 4x4 area? Would the gains be at all noticeable, or is the return so diminishing that I would be better off just planting more plants or vegging what I have longer?

My other thought was just grabbing another small tent for the 400W...

Appreciate any help for a noob

 

[namvet25]

A 1000 watt light is enough for four plants any more and your just waisting electric and causing more heat. Try drawing cool air from outside your tent to run through your light rather than the warnm air inside the tent.

 

[agito]

A 1000 watt light is enough for four plants any more and your just waisting electric and causing more heat. Try drawing cool air from outside your tent to run through your light rather than the warnm air inside the tent.

Really i would want 9 autos min
4x4 /1000 = 62.5 more than enough!

and you will get more yield getting temps sub 80

 

[namvet25]

Your right,he could nine plants nicely in that area with that light.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Thanks for the reply nam, I think I'm going to try putting a 6" tee on my intake duct (from the window), then where it tees, put one of the 240 CFM inlines on each intake. I think that should suck plenty of cool air through each of the flex ducts, so I can bring fresh air into the hood and fresh air into the tent using the one single intake from the window (just trying to avoid having multiple 6" duct openings in my window well!)

Do you think it would be beneficial to still have an exhaust fan/ducting for the air inside the tent? If I try it the way mentioned above, the air from inside the hood should never reach the inside of the tent, and there will be cool air drawing inside the tent from the other intake (off the tee,) but the only exhaust at this point (for the air inside the tent, not the hood) would just be the vents in the grow tent itself. I'll definitely have to monitor the temps (when I say cool air, I mean 20 degrees F and dropping cool air, I have a feeling I'm going to be more concerned with HEATING here soon!)

Again, appreciate your help

 

[Son of Hobbes]

9 autos? What size pots? I'm using two 5 gallon pots and a 4 gallon pot for my three photos, and one 4 gallon pot for my Auto White Cheese. Could you guys recommend target gallon size for autos, or is that based more on strain? I have a BUNCH of auto seeds on order and I plan on germing them as soon as they arrive. Would there be any reason (other than the pain of a little crowding) to not do a full 16 plants in there (four rows of four)?

 

[agito]

based on strain
smaller ones 1-2g
medium crosses 3g
super autos 4g+
photos depends on veg size 5g is a nice size for them based on maybes 4 photo plants vegged for over a month

16 would work if you can keep the buds touching for mold issues keeping humidity at 40-45 late flower would be a must and using smaller autos and pots

in the end they will do what they can with what they have

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Thanks agito!