Advice

E

Evee

420 Member
Hi everyone . Newbie newbie here . I have a 1x1x2m tent . And a 600w cool tube on HP bulb about 1.1m from my x6 3week old seedlings . First I didn’t mean to start with so many plants . And I am at a bit of a pickle with what to do about that . I was thinking of growing smaller , taking some clones and doing 4 next time ?
Next .. light ?! I do not like my light . It’s to blinding and bright . Fans noisey when attached . And it’s already been hot inside . I just think it’s suitable for a min of 1.2x m tent . To big . And when I see it on, all
I see is $$$$ power . Haha . I want a LED . So many diff Watts etc out there . I don’t understand what I’m needing for my size tent . Looking on eBay incan get one for pretty cheap ! 400w? What am I needing ? All this full spectrum stuff is what I don’t get . Wanting for both veg and flower with a flick of switch .
advice please . Thank you .
 
If you are suffering from the mistaken belief that your HID is too bright, either turn it off during the time when you have to be in your grow space performing garden maintenance, or get a decent pair of "full coverage" sunglasses :rolleyes: .

A 600-watt HPS is perfect for a 1m2 space. In fact, most all the "expected yield" figures quoted in strain descriptions assume at least 600 watts per m2. That assumes one can deal with the heat production, of course.

A cool tube, IMHO, is not the best sort of air-cooled reflector. I'd want a traditional-style high quality air-cooled reflector. One for which "insulated covers" are sold, so I could help keep the ~3.14 BTU per watt per hour of heat out of the general grow space. I'd want TWO extraction fans... One moving air through the light fixture (only!), getting it from somewhere else and exhausting it somewhere else (in other words, if your tent is in a bedroom, don't simply pull air from that bedroom, pass it through the light fixture, and then dump it right back into the same bedroom, lol). This fan / ducting setup wouldn't need a carbon filter, since hot air doesn't have a scent - and you wouldn't be allowing it to ever come in contact with your plants. As you wouldn't be forcing air against the restriction of a filter, that fan would be doing less work. I'd want a second exhaust fan solely for the grow space in general. I'd be moving a lot less air with it, because I would merely be moving air through the grow space instead of doing both that and attempting to remove the (bulk of) the heat produced by the light fixture. As it would not have to move nearly as much air, it could be smaller in capacity (or, alternatively, could be set on a timer, perhaps one that was controlled by a temperature sensor instead of merely being the standard "on at this time, off at that time" type). As I'd also be moving less air through my carbon filter - and the air that I was moving through it would be cooler - my carbon filter would potentially last significantly longer.

And then, lol, I would have a pretty <BLEEPing> busy harvest day ;) .

By the way, that el cheapo LED product you posted a picture of is not a 600-watt device! See: Bullsh!t Marketing Department Lies Tailor-Made for Selling Trash to Newbie Cannabis Growers, lol. You would need several of them to replace even a halfway-decent 600-watt HID setup, because it's a 235-watt light. You'd also be completely unable to take advantage of the "two-fan" setup, as those junkers do NOT have provisions for inline air-cooling. Furthermore, you wouldn't be able to place the power supplies in a separate location (thereby removing a major source of heat from your grow space) without a screwdriver, wire, and connectors (which would void their warranties, and you wouldn't want to do that with cheap Chinese junk anyway)... and would very likely either be facing even more of a heat issue than you currently are, would end up harvesting less (possibly significantly less), or both. In short, run far, run fast, RUN AWAY from them now.

The preceding announcement has been a public service. . . .
 
Thank you for your reply . There’s gotta be some decent LED lights in those cheap markets right ! Reviews can not be all fake ? I will do this grow with my current lights . But wanting a veg tent now aswell so need a LED ASAP .
 
Please check out all our LED sponsors.

They have lights for any space and pocket-size. Many offer discounts to 420 Magazine members and they are all good, legitimate companies.
 
The Mars Hydro Lights are some of the best priced quality LED lights. Be careful buying cheap LED's !!! I bought some $60 - 600 watt LED's once & one day I smelled electrical. Opened up the light & the plastic plug connector on the light was melted. Checked the other 2 lights & they were melting too. As the saying goes .... If it sounds too good to be true ... ! A decent light will start out around $200 & go up from there. Cheap lights / Cheap Parts.
I'm running 2 Mars Hydro TSW 2000's that cost me $250 each. Great lights so far & my plants love them. I'd go with the white light LED's.
I use to use HPS. While they grow some of the best weed they also run the electric bill up 4 times what I use with LED. They also require extra fans & cooling which also raise your electric bill. Now I would only use HPS in the winter since I need to heat the area anyway & I'd only grow Auto's in the winter so the lights could run 24 / 7. May as well use the light to heat the area instead of a heater that raises your bill even more & possibly cause a fire.
Everyone has their preference & a few people are able to control their environment with HPS. But the majority of folks have trouble with Heat & Humidity using them.
 
Buds Buddy said:
I use to use HPS. While they grow some of the best weed they also run the electric bill up 4 times what I use with LED. They also require extra fans & cooling which also raise your electric bill.
Click to expand...

Last HID grow I did was with a 400-watt HPS, ballast well out of the grow space. Now I have two Mars Hydro SP-150s (about 135 watts each) with the power supplies attached to the top of the light, and one TS-1000 (150 watts). I'll also be running everything 18 hours per day instead of 12, because next run is autoflowering strains. You think my electric bill will go down? LMAO. Be more heat production, too, I expect - and a greater percentage (all of it, unless I decide to move the TS' power supply out, as the cords on the other two aren't long enough for remoting) will be right there in the grow space.

On the other hand, I hope to harvest more than the last grow. Overall wattage will be the same or even a tad bit less (Lumatek ballast had a "super lumens" setting, probably 440 watts). But the efficiency should be measurably higher, and multiple light products will allow me to get a better distribution. Not sure how penetration ability will compare, though. Never have been, really. A 75-watt incandescent light bulb will shine through three layers of blankets (hillbilly light test ;) ), but a flashlight will not. Neither will 120 flashlights, because each light is still only a watt. IDK.

Oh: I have been using one of the SP-150s for living-space light for a while now (don't ask). It still has each and every individual LED illuminated. Quality has improved a great deal since the company released their very first consumer LED grow light product.
 
Slicknick909 said:
How are the TS series full spectrum if they don't include UV and IR?
Click to expand...
TS has IR, no UV. This is a good LED, you can see that many growers are using it on 420magazine
 
Bobthe420Builder said:
What is full spectrum
Click to expand...

NOT a technical term - and that's the problem. It's imprecise, and has come to mean two different things: The entire visible (portion of the) spectrum, and the entire portion of the spectrum that runs from UV all the way to IR.

And then there are the "full spectrum" blurples :rolleyes:...

Realistically, think of it as just another marketing term, ignore it, and move on to the technical specifications. They don't lie. The person posting them could, of course, but that's an actionable thing (in other words, grounds for a refund).
 

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