1 big light or multiple?

I've just set up a 4x4 tent, after speaking with a friend that works for a lighting manufacturer he advised me to go with a mix of hps and led strips.
I have 6 DIY Samsung strips that will run close to the edges of the tent with a 400w hps in the centre to give me a total of 720w for under £300.
It should give me the best if both worlds with not too much outlay, still not too high in electricity and will run cool enough compared to 1 big hps.
I'm also going to hang each strip individually to give control over light heights.
 
I been looking at all kinds of LED lights, to gain some knowledge and see the differences between manufactures.
It's been a lot harder than I thought, reason is, most of the videos that review lights are sponsored.
Plus I know manufactures will over state things but some times their spec are way off. Not shocking that they would lie, but it makes it harder to make a choice when the numbers used to make those decisions are manipulated.
I was looking at the Mars Sp line and came across a video that said the UV light diode they market , is mostly for show. So who is misleading us? The person doing the grow saying the UV has really improved the quality or the guy with the instruments measuring?
 
The Physicist said:
CMH provides the best and broadest spectrum of all providing all the necessary bands to access every bit of potential the plant possesses. Even the non Hortilux 4100k CMH bulbs like Phillips 3100k and 4200k claim to have uva filters but do have some uva, albeit about 1/3 of the Hortilux total uva band energy.

LEDs are better overall if you want to factor in long term budgets, albeit a small hit on terp/thc productions, ~5% cmh > led in total thc production side by side
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I looked into the CMH but the one thing the discouraged me was they produce a lot more heat.
They do have a great spectrum and if I had more climate control i would lean to this side. They are pretty affordable too
 
NewBoy420 said:
I been looking at all kinds of LED lights, to gain some knowledge and see the differences between manufactures.
It's been a lot harder than I thought, reason is, most of the videos that review lights are sponsored.
Plus I know manufactures will over state things but some times their spec are way off. Not shocking that they would lie, but it makes it harder to make a choice when the numbers used to make those decisions are manipulated.
I was looking at the Mars Sp line and came across a video that showed said the UV light diode they market , is mostly for show. So who is misleading us? The person doing the grow saying the UV has really improved the quality or the guy with the instruments measuring?
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I’ve noted the same thing with a lot of LED vendors. Most vendors do not include UVA diodes as they are expensive. Budget LED and Blackdog for example utilized the UVA band around 385nm which was shown to boost thc production because the plant goes on the defensive under UVA light (<400nm). The difference with and without comes out to a rough 5% difference from the base. There is a recent grow done by Nebula Haze on Instagram showing the difference between identical grows, only one used a CMH and the other use the HLG LED equivalent
 
Well certainly, but then you really commit to a larger layout in that case.

When going for a single light for a 2x4 or 3x3 though, it really comes down to climate control/electricity bill each month. If you can fan out the heat go with the CMH, which is way less heat then an HPS, otherwise go LED.
 
Not needed with Budget LED reptile lighting is overkill
 
Also most reptile lights add heat, killing the purpose of using LED in the first place. You could go a UVB t5 though, I’ll be adding that the last 2.5 weeks myself at 2 hours a day.
 
Its more than an hour to be useful, many people run it continuously for the 12 hours vs some say min of 2-3, check this thread and video Any UVB'ers out there?
 
NewBoy420 said:
Very interesting boys, when i was first was looking into lights, i thought i seen that a 1000w was more powerful than 4 lights that total 1000w. i was thinking of doing 2 lights in a 4x4 tent.
For giggles i will do a micro grow lol any light yall recommend for a little 1.ftx 1.ft area
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When I was growing, in a 3 x 3 ft enclosure, I had 2 Mars 300's up top and 4 pairs of CFLs lower to fill any shadows.

IMO, I think a micro grow cant let the plant develop to its fullest potential. You cant FIM and to make more colas, and you sacrifice head room. Plants need room to spread out.

HOWEVER, short autos with a Lowryder ancestry will do fine in a micro grow. My smallest flowered at 8 inches and grew a 4 inch cola. The little auto that could! LOL!
 
AKgramma said:
When I was growing, in a 3 x 3 ft enclosure, I had 2 Mars 300's up top and 4 pairs of CFLs lower to fill any shadows.

IMO, I think a micro grow cant let the plant develop to its fullest potential. You cant FIM and to make more colas, and you sacrifice head room. Plants need room to spread out.

HOWEVER, short autos with a Lowryder ancestry will do fine in a micro grow. My smallest flowered at 8 inches and grew a 4 inch cola. The little auto that could! LOL!
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The auto that could lol!
I wanted to try my hand at a micro grow, but I think i will hold off on that.
I need to set up my gear and get my game plan going.
Space is a little bit of a issue, I have a 4x4 tent but am having a little hard time finding room for it.
So I'm considering a 2x4 with a couple Mars Sp150.
 
How is every one? Hope every is staying safe and their families too.
After much thought and consideration, I ended up using my 4x4 tent and bought a Spydr 2x. The light is a high quality, connectors are beefy, the light intensity is amazing. my eye are still burning lol.
I set every thing up and hooked up my titan controller, everything is running smooth. I'm currently waiting on some components, for stage 2.
 
TLC said:
I bought an LED light thinking I would replace my cmh . Not so.
Between the 2 fixtures my coverage area is excellent. With some ladies taller than others you can lower one instead of both.
Each have removable drivers and I mounted them outside the room to help with heat.
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Agreed, nothing can replace the mighty CMH, best lights going at a third the running cost of SMH.
 
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