Two Lights. One’s dimmable. One Isn’t. Let’s do math!

Here is the scenario at present:

Going to be running a single plant (5g) in a 2x2x5. Great. All fine and well. Kicker is, I presently have two lights to go in here (SF1000’s) yet only one is dimmable.

This feels like a distance/height + intensity equation, but not certain how best to work this out. Do I keep the dimmable one at a particular % while the other does its thing? Math is hard y’all

Not only that, the plant, unless both lights are run at 100% with get uneven light, i.e., part of the plant will be getting significantly more light than other parts. You could just run them both 100%, and adjust the height. Darn straight, math is hard!!

Phytoplankton said:

Not only that, the plant, unless both lights are run at 100% with get uneven light, i.e., part of the plant will be getting significantly more light than other parts. You could just run them both 100%, and adjust the height. Darn straight, math is hard!!

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I move my plants up and down as necessary and leave my lights up high- got tired of hitting my head on low fixtures with plants at different heights

Bud man 43 said:

I move my plants up and down as necessary and leave my lights up high- got tired of hitting my head on low fixtures with plants at different heights

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Definitely another way to do it! But with only one plant and two lights at different intensities, it’s gonna be tough to adjust the plant (or the lights).

Phytoplankton said:

But with only one plant and two lights at different intensities, it’s gonna be tough to adjust the plant (or the lights).

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Exactly the conundrum! I could always, as you mentioned, run ‘em at 100% and move the plant as needed vertically, keep an eye and dial back if required.

DMChiz said:

Exactly the conundrum! I could always, as you mentioned, run ‘em at 100% and move the plant as needed vertically, keep an eye and dial back if required.

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I think that’s your best bet. I can’t see how you could balance two different wattage lights on the same plant and keep the lights at the same height. 50 watts/ sq. ft. is on the high side, so keep the lights high or only use one in veg, then kick the other in at flip. 25 watts/ sq foot will veg fine.

i have a 4x4 with two lights and four plants. the lights are both dimmable but one of the dimmers is broken and only working at 50%. i'm just rotating the plants clockwise each morning. can you rotate yours each day as well?