Its not the amount of plants its the amount of wpsqft,and your shooting for 30 to 50 wpsqft for tight dense buds.4x5 =20sqft divided into 1000w 1kw =50wsqft if you use this formula you wont dissappointed with the outcome.Im not saying you need a 1000watts,measure space then divide into total watts that you have.Giving you,your wpsqft.I hate to disagree but if you remove the shields that point the light down its gonna go out the side,and ive also have grown many grows with just a hps bulb,and still flower one area with mh and did a light test with a 400mh v 400hps with very little difference at harvest.good luck!
i personally think (and I'm a total newb' by the way) that a total of 400 watts HPS is a little excessive for two plants; especially in terms of heat build-up in the grow space (unless you've got a good ventilation system for it).
How close/far are the lights by the way?
he for sure does need to grab a HPS if he can, but I was suggesting adding daylight CFLs to supplement 'blue' light. I had a 150HPS for my three AK-47s and it wasn't until I got a few daylight CFLs that growth really took of...Get a hps eyebulb,putting cfls is like putting propellers on a lear jet to assit in takeoff.Your plants look fine.The only good cfls are gonna due is hit areas that the footprint of the hid is not covering.If you put them where you think the hid is not hitting them.
He has 1 now i can tell bye the light color,also i looked and he says he does have a hps,ive been growing 5yrs inside close now and have tried alot systems as far as lighting.And imo all he needs is a horticulture bulb it has the blue,and green spectrum that will help.Ive done many grows with just a HPS bulb,from start to finish and no problems, the hps bulb will not stretch as bad as if it were just a MH.And flowering with a MH my buds taste better but were just a little less dense than the HPS.he for sure does need to grab a HPS if he can, but I was suggesting adding daylight CFLs to supplement 'blue' light. I had a 150HPS for my three AK-47s and it wasn't until I got a few daylight CFLs that growth really took of...