Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

[Mars Hydro]

Hello KingJohnC, how is everything going?

Welcome to 420 Magazine February!

 

[Mars Hydro]

Absolutely. CFL or T5/T8 would be your best option. And you'll need to LST, and top them to control the height if you plant to keep them in that cabinet all through flower.

That would also be a great cabinet for starting seeds, or clones, and you can always add a taller flower cabinet in the future. You'll want to have at least a 4' tall cabinet.

Typical 5gal/19l containers are anywhere from 12"-18" tall. You'll need 24" between the plant and light, that allows for a 12" tall plant in Veg, and as you enter flower, the light can get a little closer. I suggest 4' cabinet height as a bare minimum for LEDs. A closet, or armoire is perfect for a small LED grow.

Thank you im glad I asked! I assumed you could use the light very close to the plants like I have to in this box I will look into the CFL bulb, I think most T5/T8 lights will be too long

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello wix66, you can get a 1200w for your space, you can also get 3~4 400w for better coverage and flexibility.

Hi there, just finalising a shopping list for my first grow

Looking to get a 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m tent. Def going for a Mars II but not sure what size to get. Should I get the recommended 900w for this size tent or step up to the 1200w. Would I get a better grow with the extra 300w?

Also, I like the idea of growing Auto's as I'm a newbie and want to make life as easy as possible at the start. So am I best altering the height of one panel for the different stages of growing or better getting say 2 or 3 x 400w panels and turn more on as I go along?

With so much info on the internet my head is exploding and can't see the wood for the tree's. Need a smoke .....

p.s. any top tips for a newbie would also be appreciated!

IMO the 900 will be plenty of light for your tent.....

Thanks 22naru

if you have the extra money, i will go for 1200marsII but is alright with 900 and even 700 depends how many plants you want to grow. check my journal. I do Autos.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello Dennise, your order is been dealt with, will get back to you soon.

Welcome to 420 Magazine wix66.....

 

[Mars Hydro]

THX nobodyuknow.

I do a lot of auto's myself, and I always start out my plants with some CFL's from seedlings, then once they grow about 10 days to 2 weeks I switch over to my 400 watt Mars II. I like my plants to stay smaller because you cant cut an autoflower and prune it back, it will stunt the growth and then you lose growing time. So I try to keep it smaller using the 400 watter. Once I notice it going into flower, I then switch over to my 900 watt so the buds will grow as big as they can.

Like I said, I do this to keep mine shorter and smaller. I put more light on one plant sooner in a grow I did, and the plant went crazy and was growing out of the closet door, and I had the light up to the ceiling it got so tall. As a newbie you will learn as you go along. I never thought I'd be able to do what I'm doing, you will do fine.

they surely make sense. haha

OMG I was so high when I wrote that! Does it make sense?

 

[Mars Hydro]

Don't forget. You don't have to raise and lower the lights. You can raise and lower the plants. I had a box of leftover 8"x8" tiles and I use them as a platform to raise the smaller plants up to keep the top of my plants even.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello Galeno, we are now still now available to customize lights, if you want one, please wait until the middle of March.

Hey guys, thanks for the advice, I won't order through Ebay.

I have another question. I was looking at the Advanced LED XTE (which seems to be the best home grow light) and their spectrum is similar to the Mars II.

Mars II: 430~440nm, 450~475nm 620~630nm, 650~660nm, IR, and white

But the Advanced LED has more light at 670 red than it does at 660, and it has much more at 660 than it does at 620:

On the Mars Hydro website it says: LED wavelengths can be specified by the customer, we recommend using the 620-630nm and 640-660nm for red light, 450-460nm and 460-470nm for blue light. Red light is used to promote plant germination, flowering; blue light is used to promote plant growth. You can choose a more suitable wavelength and color scale for plant growth.

Has anyone tried factory ordering a Mars light with this in mind? I would think you'd get better flowering results if maybe 20% of the current reds were replaced with 670nm.


Edit: Second question: does anyone know why Mars wavelengths are listed in ranges like that? Everyone else puts exact numbers

 

[Mars Hydro]

Good evening Gfcollective, how is everything going these day?

I'm not positive, but I'd say for the same reason febreeze says they kill 99.9% of the germs. A company that gives exact and falls short of can get in trouble for falso advertising and what ever else the buyer has money and time to push for.

Led has had such a bad name in the last 10+ years I'm aware of to where any company that speaks in exact without actual physical proof is taken with a grain of salt. Just like the wattage they pull from wall, every unit is a little different. Can't speak in certainty.

I&I

Edit : for instance your or i could make a light spectrum graph for mars hydro so they could claim they were exact. But do they have the pictures from inside the factory showing this fancy sphere object they use to find the spectrums? I'm far from knowing what I'm talking about here but I'm sure it's hard to get consistently Light spectrum in any bulbs

 

[Mars Hydro]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the cool advice!

Looking forward to being a active member

 

[Dennise]

Thank you....

 

[Mars Hydro]

When I used CFLs I when to Lowes or Home Depot (don't remember which) and got several desk lights on the flexible necks. I put a "Y" adapter in and put 2 CFL bulbs in each lamp. This way they could be moved and adjusted daily.

How high did you keep the CFL's away from the plant?

As close as you can with out burning them usually 1.5-2" The closer the more useable light gets to the plant. I would have 2 or 3 lamps per plant (4-6 bulbs with the Y splitte)
You might consider mounting the lamps on the top and sides of your cabinet. The are just simple round bases that could be screwed into the walls or ceiling.

 

[wizgrow]

I need a little advice. I am currently setup in a 5x5x6 tent and have a Mars Reflector series 144x3w in that space. I need more light in that space and was wondering if I could get some opinions on which option I should go for. I am considering a mars II 700w or another mars reflector 144x3w to add to my grow. What would you do?

(2) 144's
But don't order until they fix the current shipping issues

 

[Mars Hydro]

Thanks Antics, happy growing always.

I'm glad that I could help you out. I'm using an LED panel from Mars-Hydro now, and I absolutely love it. I grew with CFLs before this.

And as much as I'd love to see you buy an LED panel and have some great equipment to work with, it's not the best to use in a smaller area, and I'd like to help as much as I can, make every first growers experience, a positive one.

But when you get a bigger grow space for flowering, make sure you come back to check out a Mars-Hydro LED panel. I bought their 'Old Model' and it really kicks serious ass in the grow room. The Reflector, and MARS II models are even better.

When you're ready, we'll help you pick out the right LED panel(s) for your new grow space!

And make sure you start a grow journal brother, we'll be able to follow along and help out.

 

[Mars Hydro]

I use my 3w reflectors from birth with some of my girls... and probably will do it completely now that I know it works this well... I have my girls about 4' from a 96x3w reflector from birth and they have very tight nodes and are growing to the light just fine and I don't have to worry about the cfl's burning my babies....

 

[Mars Hydro]

I guess you have get your answers.

Also, any suggestions on the best nutrient system to buy for a first time grower?

Doing Auto's in DWC

I am using Fox Farm Nutes. Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom. Also, make sure you have a bottle of Cal/Mag if you are using LEDs. Your girls will need it.

KingJohnC, I am starting to think you are the encyclopedia on this forum, almost knows everything, haha

I use General Hydroponics Flora series 3 part nutrients that can be mixed for all stages of vegetative growth and flowering. General Hydroponics Flora series can be used with hydroponic, soil and soiless mediums.

(click the photographs for direct links to the products)

https://generalhydroponics.com nutrients flora series

https://www.growitbest.com general hydroponics Flora series performance pack

Cannabis plants grown under LED light panels have a higher requirement for calcium and magnesium. I would introduce a calcium and magnesium supplement containing calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate Such as Botanicare's Cal-Mag Plus after 2 good weeks of vegetative growth from a seedling. Cal-Mag Plus and CaliMagic are synthetic calcium and magnesium supplements. If you are using a natural source of calcium and magnesium based calcium and magnesium supplement such as General Organics CaMg+ you can start to add at the start of vegetative growth. I use Botanicare's Cal-Mag Plus at 5-8 milliliters or 1-1 1/2 teaspoon per gallon as a calcium and magnesium supplement for the majority of my cannabis plants.

(Click on the photographs for direct links to the products)

 

[Mars Hydro]

Enjoy the growing with us. You will grow really happy I bet.

I love this forum!

Great help from great people!

Many Thanks KingJohnC

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello Outlawwillow, for yoru space, two of our 900w light will be better, but you can consider add another light in the future as the coverage is still not enough.

Hello Everyone,

I'm a nub & currently just set-up a 8 ft L x 6 ft W x 7ft 10in room with a 5 site RDWC system (1 site as the res) using 20 gallon containers each set 1ft 9in apart from each-other using 2 inch pvp pipe & a 800 Gph return pump. I also have 2-4' cylinder air stones in each pot powered by a 70 Lpm 8 site commercial air pump & a 40 Lpm air pump dedicated just to the res also running 2-4' cylinder air stone.

I current only have 1-400w cmh light & I very interested in getting a Mars ll to go along with it.

So my question is what light size Mars ll lights do you guy suggest I use? I was thinking 1 1600w or maybe 2 900W?

I also have a couple questions about which nuts I should use the get the best yields & quality if anyone can point me in the rite direction it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mars Hydro]

King,

I was wondering if you ever used AN expert kit & if so how does it compare to the GH kit you suggested?

I have not used the Advanced Nutrients expert bundle. Instead I use Floralicious Plus, Liquid KoolBloom, KoolBloom Dry, FloraBlend and Snow Storm Ultra. Always shake your nutrients before use.

If you are looking to increase trichome production I use 5 products that have worked very well for me in flowering.

(Click on the photographs for direct links to the products)

I use 0.70 milliliters per gallon of Floralicious Plus and 5 milliliters per gallon of FloraBlend in both vegetative growth and flower.

General Hydroponics – Grow indoor. Grow outdoor. Grow with us.

Leading and innovating what has become a global revolution in how plants are grown since 1976. Find products and techniques to help you grow.

generalhydroponics.com

I use Snow Storm Ultra as a foliar spray at 1.25 milliliters per liter in flower every 7-10 days and discontinue use 1 week before harvest.

I will only spray Snow Storm Ultra just before the lights go off for the darkness phase of flowering.

Home Page - Humboldt Countys Own

Humboldt Countys Own

emeraldtriangle.biz

I also use General Hydroponics Liquid KoolBloom and KoolBloom Dry in flower.

I use General Hydroponics Liquid KoolBloom at 2.5 milliliters per gallon from the start of flower until 3 weeks prior to harvest then use General Hydroponics KoolBloom Dry for 2 weeks at 1/4 teaspoon or 1.25 milliliters per gallon and discontinue use to begin a harvest flush from 7-10 days.


GENERAL HYDROPONICS: KoolBloom

 

[Mars Hydro]

enjoy your grow hod928

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me over the past few days. Decided im going to use a 125w CFL w/ Reflector, SOG and LST the plant and maybe add a few lights under the canopy when the time comes!

EDIT: Also wanna say I cant wait until I get some grows under my belt and upgrade to a bigger tent and can come back for my Mars Hydro LED!!

You won't regret it! Make sure you start up a grow journal and add a link to your signature so people can find your journal easily.

When you're ready to expand, you will LOVE the Mars Hydro LED panels. I know I love mine

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello Galeno, our lights put out very little heat. So the tempreature is not a problem.

Thank you, everyone, great resource here.
I have one more question for the night. Does anyone know by how much the temperature will increase running a 400w Mars II in a small closet or grow tent? Around 2'x2'x5', say? I was hoping it would raise it by 5 degrees or so.