More light?

[Moonchild90]

Hey all,

So I’ve been in to process of setting up my little home grow area. I got my 3x3 flowering tent all set up and my plants relocated last night. I purchased a Giixer 600W LED to get me started on the flowering end and I currently have a Viparspectra 450W I use for veg and I used to start flowering for my current plants. This Giixer just doesn’t seem as intense as the 450W Viparspectra does. I was thinking of either moving my 450W in with my 600W for a total of 1050W in my flowering tent. My question is is this 600W actually more than I think? I can’t find power draw information for the Giixer. If it were you guys, would you leave as is, rotate the 450W in with the 600W, or order another 600W? I’ve included pics so you can get an idea of my setup. I appreciate any and all guidance!! Thank you!

 

[Allen42]

Alright bud I just did a quick search on your lights and it looks like the Giixer 600watt has an actual draw of 70 watts... that isn’t very much and I doubt that light has a spectacular ppfd, umol, and footprint... I couldn’t find actual draw on the vipra... but what I would do is put both lights in my tent and run both fixtures with their veg and bloom switches on. That will be the best way to utilize those lights... also you most likely want to hang them 18 inches above your plant canopy, but keep an eye if that’s too much light then raise it to 24 inches above canopy.. hope this helped you out buddy.

 

[Old Salt]

On the Canadian Amazon site I found this information about the Giixer 600W:

• Giixer 600W LED Grow Light Double Switch & Double Chips Full Spectrum Plant Light for Hydroponic Indoor Plants Veg and Flower- (10W LEDs 60Pcs)
• New Upgrades: Compare with the traditional 1000 watt grow lamps, this new Dual-Chips 10w led lights is bigger, brighter and efficient, but consuming only 110 watts.

What this means is that you are getting 12.2W (from the wall) per sq ft of a poor quality light. You need 30w / sq ft of the top quality lights, or 35 of the next step down for your grow space. Another Gixxer 600w won't get you there. They are using the maximum power the individual LEDs can use to get that 600w figure.

The Viparspectra 450w light you have draws 200w from the wall, so you are right,the Giixer is not as intense. Between the two of them you can get up to 35.5w / sq ft which is closer to what you will need for good results.

BTW: Mars Hydro is giving away one or two of their lights. Why not enter the contest for a chance to win. There's a link in ny signature that will take you to the contest thread.

 

[Allen42]

The actual power draw of the vipra is 200 actual watts so your eyes not fooling you. That copra is indeed a more intense light then the giixer. Those amazon lights can be misleading

 

[Moonchild90]

Thank you guys so much for your help. I honestly just needed another light to rotate my plants out of my 2.5x2.5 in to my 3x3. So this evening I’ll rotate my Viparspectra in with my Giixer and start pooling some money for a new veg light. Do you guys think having two different LEDs on the same plants will effect them? Spectrum wise? That’ll teach me to get all rushed with lighting lol. Also, are you guys just actual power draw and dividing it by square footage to get the watt per square foot number? Thank you so much again.

 

[Allen42]

No what Salty was describing was you being in a 3ft by 3ft tent that’s 3 times 3 = 9 sq ft of growing space in that tent... you want atleast 35 watts per sq ft of grow space so that’s 35 times 9 = 315 watts is what would be the ideal minimal amount of efficient wattage for that tent... I hope I described that well. Lol And if your looking for another light, my dude Salty was not steering you wrong, the Mars Hydro brand of lights are excellent, and very affordable.

 

[Allen42]

And no, your plants will grow better with both lights in that tent rather then with just 1... having two different lights in there won’t hurt at all.

 

[Old Salt]

Yes, actual power draw and divided by square footage of your tent gets the watts per square foot. With so many vendors, especially those selling through the big on-line retailers, this has been found to be the best way to initially thin down the selections. After that a look at the spectrum helps.

Take a look at our sponsor's offerings. Many of their lights are priced comparably to the retailers on the big sites. They also offer better spectrums, and much better service.

 

[Greenlizard]

To answer your last question. No. Having two different lights over the same plant will not do anything but good.
As it was already pointed out to you the cheaper LED products sometimes are very misleading unless it comes from a very reliable source. Mars Hydro always reads out the actual draw from the wall when you read into their products. It's not a hidden message or no where's to be found like some.

 

[Moonchild90]

Thank all you guys for your help so much!! I’ll move my Viparspectra in with the Giixer tonight then. So in a dream scenario what would be the most optimum light for a 3x3? Or is it more optimum to run two lights like I’m going to be doing? I’m going to look in to the Mars Hydro Lights as well. It seems a lot of people use them for sure.

 

[Moonchild90]

And with them being different, would I hang them at the same level in the tent or stagger it a certain way?

 

[Old Salt]

The Mars TSW-2000 would be great in your tent. Physically it's about 2' square. You can unplug the driver for one of the LED boards, and turn the other down to realize significant power savings during the early stages of growth. You do this instead of raising the light to reduce its intensity.

 

[Old Salt]

And with them being different, would I hang them at the same level in the tent or stagger it a certain way?

You should hang them at the same level to start, and see how that goes. Ratchet hangers make it easy to adjust if needed later.

 

[bobrown14]

To figure out your actual Wattage at the plug invest in a watt-o-meter. Plug your power strip into that plugged into the wall with your lights on.

You will get your actual draw - do each light separate and then together.

Be VERY careful when adjusting light intensity in a flower room. This can have negative affect if you turn the intensity DOWN. I don't recommend doing that.

Training plants so they don't burn is all you need to do.

Changing intensity in flower should be avoided unless you are increasing it and even then I try and do that between runs or do it gradually over a few days.

 

[Moonchild90]

Thank you guys! And thank you for recommending Mars Hydro! That 2000 looks amazing! Also thank you for providing me with the math so I can figure out what I need. I’ll look in to a watt meter as well. You guys rock!

 

[Old Salt]

Thank you guys! And thank you for recommending Mars Hydro! That 2000 looks amazing! Also thank you for providing me with the math so I can figure out what I need. I’ll look in to a watt meter as well. You guys rock!

A popular power meter is the Kill-a-Watt. I have the original P4400. It does not have a battery backup. The newer Kill-a-Watt EZ has battery backup. The Save-a-Watt and Kill-a-Watt Control also have built in timers.

 

[Moonchild90]

Again, thank you all for everything! I’ve placed my Viparspectra 450W in with my Giixer 600W now in my 3x3 tent. As I was already told and I looked up as well, that Giixer only pulls 70W. So that would give me 270W in my 3x3 which isn’t enough. I was thinking about getting another 450W Viparspectra and running two 450’s in my 3x3. That would give me 400W total which would be plenty for the tent. My question is would that be too much at that point? How much is overkill, is there a general rule of thumb for that or does that depend on the plants? And would it be a better route to go with something like the Mars Hydro TSW LEDs? Their 1000W panel pulls 300W from the wall. The Viparspectra route bumps me up to 400W total. I’m in the Pacific Northwest and run my lights at night since I flipped for temps through the winter. What do you guys think? Sorry for all the questions!!

 

[Moonchild90]

Here are the lights currently. I’ll be lowering things as I go.

 

[Old Salt]

Again, thank you all for everything! I’ve placed my Viparspectra 450W in with my Giixer 600W now in my 3x3 tent. As I was already told and I looked up as well, that Giixer only pulls 70W. So that would give me 270W in my 3x3 which isn’t enough. I was thinking about getting another 450W Viparspectra and running two 450’s in my 3x3. That would give me 400W total which would be plenty for the tent. My question is would that be too much at that point? How much is overkill, is there a general rule of thumb for that or does that depend on the plants? And would it be a better route to go with something like the Mars Hydro TSW LEDs? Their 1000W panel pulls 300W from the wall. The Viparspectra route bumps me up to 400W total. I’m in the Pacific Northwest and run my lights at night since I flipped for temps through the winter. What do you guys think? Sorry for all the questions!!

Having used the Mars Hydro TS series of lights and seeing the results, and the ease of working under white light, I would not go back to a 'blurple' like the Viparspectra. Either will work for you. You can go for a second ViparSpectra, or switch to the Mars Hydro TSW-2000. We have members that use both sponsor's lights, and are satisfied with the results. If you switch, you can use the ViparSpectra in another veg tent, and the Giixer for seedlings or clones.

It's really your call as the grower.

 

[HugePeckerhead]

Having used the Mars Hydro TS series of lights and seeing the results, and the ease of working under white light, I would not go back to a 'blurple' like the Viparspectra. Either will work for you. You can go for a second ViparSpectra, or switch to the Mars Hydro TSW-2000. We have members that use both sponsor's lights, and are satisfied with the results. If you switch, you can use the ViparSpectra in another veg tent, and the Giixer for seedlings or clones.

It's really your call as the grower.

I veg under a vipar and mars hydro but flower with the TSL 2000 and TS 1000.