Grow setup advice

[fanleaf]

im running mars hydro now... they are magnificent lights. also i tried sticking the 700w(326 true watts) mars hydro into 2.5x2.5 tent and there was so much light it poisoned them and they started dieing after 2-3 hours. thank god i checked the tent and saw burned leaves so i could put in 400w light back in and saved the grow....

dunno about other lights but mars hydro is bright as fuck... naked eye i would say at least as much as my friends 600w hps... but dunno... i think its just the color spectrum messing with my eyes

just stick with the lights you have now and see how they run...

like i said i am running a 700w hars hydro in 1x1m tent atm on a 12/12 from seed... the plants grew abut 90-100cm high and the flowers have mad mass already... 7 weeks since sprout

do not underestimate LED... good leds are about as exelent as bad leds are crappy

for example... my friend uses a 400w no name led and can barely get 75-80 grams of yield... i gave him one of my mars hydro lamps and with nothing changed he went to almost double that.

LEDs are in a bad spot now... everyone is lieing about specs and pwoer... they are lieing about spectrum and shitlaod of stuff... its hard to get a good led light... i had good and bad. i actualy started with a no name ufo 100w true power in a 2x2ft tent. my yield was a wooping 17 grams from 4 plants.... tossed the light in the bin and bought mars hydro... never looked back. there are some other exelent companies out there... i just stuck with mars cause of their EXELENT customer support

gear wise you are good... dont do a to big of a grow for your first grow since yield is gonna be shit anyways... take it as a learning experience and learn as much as you can. but keep it simple and easy to learn.. kinda like a drivers license... get the basics down first and then switch to manual gearbox and racetracks.

as for 30w per square foot not being enough... well i have an 11ft2 tent(3.3x3.3) and mars hydro do about 1.3 grams per watt yield with propper care. so 400grams per m2? thats a very very nice yield for one tent

Are you trying to save power? I mean I can grow a plant with 10w of led and yield 13 grams and get 1.3gpw! That dont make me a rock star. Unfortunate though because that same plant may have the potential for 150gr if only it had more light. My point is its actually more energy efficient to run 50 watts per square foot than it is to run 30 watts per square foot. The reason is you can get more yield from your plants and thats the whole point. If I want 50 lbs of weed Im not going to do 10 grows at 30wpf at 1.3gpw. Nope ill do 8 grows at 50wpf and 1gpw. The 2 less grows is time and money.
The only lights out that work really well at 25-30 watts per foot are white cobs. No mars or Platinum can compete with white cobs at 25-30 wpf plain and simple. Otherwise your missing potential product.
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[Integrum Stultus]

Stick with something mostly indica. IMO one Apollo will barely do 2 plants. It will be OK in veg, but not optimum for flower. They don't have much coverage.

The reviews I've read on it claim it to have a 2'x3' vegg/bloom coverage and 3'x3' seedling/clone. Due to my grow environment (same dimensions!) is what I based my decision on when getting it. Just seemed rite.. .


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[Major PITA]

The reviews I've read on it claim it to have a 2'x3' vegg/bloom coverage and 3'x3' seedling/clone. Due to my grow environment (same dimensions!) is what I based my decision on when getting it. Just seemed rite.. .

I'd say it is closer to 1' x 1.5' coverage. YMMV

 

[Guruth]

well i thought the whole point of LED lights is efficency... if we didnt care about the power consumption we can toss in a 1000w HPS and hell with it . also if you read my earliest replies... i poisoned and light burned my plants with 48w/ft2 (326w in 6.75ft2 area) test i did... leaf tips started browning out and leaves started struggling and dieing... typical light burn scenarion... LED was 24 inches from the canopy so the heat was not an issue... only explanation i can phantom is to much radiaton from the light.

if i am wrong please correct me... but my research shows that 30-40w is optimum for LED... anything less and you dont feed your babies enoughj and anything more they start to burn...

 

[Integrum Stultus]

well i thought the whole point of LED lights is efficency... if we didnt care about the power consumption we can toss in a 1000w HPS and hell with it . also if you read my earliest replies... i poisoned and light burned my plants with 48w/ft2 (326w in 6.75ft2 area) test i did... leaf tips started browning out and leaves started struggling and dieing... typical light burn scenarion... LED was 24 inches from the canopy so the heat was not an issue... only explanation i can phantom is to much radiaton from the light.

if i am wrong please correct me... but my research shows that 30-40w is optimum for LED... anything less and you dont feed your babies enoughj and anything more they start to burn...

Time will tell once i get this thing off the ground. I can always add a lite if they want more.


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[Major PITA]

well i thought the whole point of LED lights is efficency... if we didnt care about the power consumption we can toss in a 1000w HPS and hell with it . also if you read my earliest replies... i poisoned and light burned my plants with 48w/ft2 (326w in 6.75ft2 area) test i did... leaf tips started browning out and leaves started struggling and dieing... typical light burn scenarion... LED was 24 inches from the canopy so the heat was not an issue... only explanation i can phantom is to much radiaton from the light.

if i am wrong please correct me... but my research shows that 30-40w is optimum for LED... anything less and you dont feed your babies enoughj and anything more they start to burn...

I can't answer you exactly because most of the time I use a mix of HPS and LED. My indoor grow space has been limited to 33" x 33" but I do have extra room in places and along one side. Being generous, my overall canopy comes out to about 3' x 4' = 12 sq-ft. (it is actually less, but...). I run a 600W HPS and two Mars Hydro 300 (135W actual) = 270W of LED. So my total wattage is 870 but only about 1/3 of it is from the LEDs. I try to keep all lights about 16" off the canopy - no more than 18" if I can help it. I'm running about 73 watts per square foot and get no burn. Realistically, my canopy is closer to 10 sq-ft, for nearly 90 watts per sq-ft.

For fun I did one micro grow for the "Roots of Agony" thread where I ran only the two LED panels. I kept them at the same height above for two small plants in very small "pots" (5 cups soil each). They were OK with the light coverage. Pig and Duck:

I don't know the exact area they covered when 18" above them, but probably that 270W of LEDs was over about 1.5' x 2.5' area max.

 

[fanleaf]

I can't answer you exactly because most of the time I use a mix of HPS and LED. My indoor grow space has been limited to 33" x 33" but I do have extra room in places and along one side. Being generous, my overall canopy comes out to about 3' x 4' = 12 sq-ft. (it is actually less, but...). I run a 600W HPS and two Mars Hydro 300 (135W actual) = 270W of LED. So my total wattage is 870 but only about 1/3 of it is from the LEDs. I try to keep all lights about 16" off the canopy - no more than 18" if I can help it. I'm running about 73 watts per square foot and get no burn. Realistically, my canopy is closer to 10 sq-ft, for nearly 90 watts per sq-ft.

For fun I did one micro grow for the "Roots of Agony" thread where I ran only the two LED panels. I kept them at the same height above for two small plants in very small "pots" (5 cups soil each). They were OK with the light coverage. Pig and Duck:

I don't know the exact area they covered when 18" above them, but probably that 270W of LEDs was over about 1.5' x 2.5' area max.

Yup, thats what I was thinking to Major. This grow I used exactly 63wpsf and produced nothing but rock hard solud nugs. All led and no burn. 14-18 above canopy.

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[Jimmycricket]

Nice buds Fanleaf

 

[Integrum Stultus]

So guys i sold the Apollo, too much speculation for me on if its enough coverage or not and is it enough true wattage and i wanna get this rite the first time. I don't wanna waste the time and chance anything for nothing; small yield, shit fruit etc..

Soooooo.....

Opinions on a lite(s) would be great.

Currently eyeing a MH Reflector 96 (210 true watt).


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[Major PITA]

So guys i sold the Apollo, too much speculation for me on if its enough coverage or not and is it enough true wattage and i wanna get this rite the first time. I don't wanna waste the time and chance anything for nothing; small yield, shit fruit etc..

Soooooo.....

Opinions on a lite(s) would be great.

Currently eyeing a MH Reflector 96 (210 true watt).


Posted via my iPhone 6s from Above and Beyond... Stay high

I like Mars stuff. It probably isn't state of the art, but excellent value, a sponsor and reliable in my experience.
I'll stick with my 50 true watts per square foot of actual canopy as my only recommendation. Since you have under 6 sq-ft, I'd say go for something close to 300 watts. For cheap, two of the MH-300's would get close. I always prefer two smaller lights to one bigger light. It gives much more flexibility in coverage and you can have them at different heights to accommodate the plants' needs. You also have a backup in case one does crap out on you.

 

[Guruth]

i agree with mayor here... mars hydro does some excellent lights... imo best price/performance out there. stay away from the reflector line or 3w chips tho... those are old models... i can recommend mars II 400 and 700 lights since i own both of them. one is 190 and 320 watts true power respectively. i have to warn you.... 300w of leds makes some serious heat... they are cooler than HPS but still... 300w is 300w so if you choose the massive light be ready for some good ventilation. also the light is huge

 

[Guruth]

you are still complicating... dont overthink it... just go and do it... it doesent matter if you do it all wrong... just go and do it and grow some shitty nugs that will taste like fertiliser and then rot cause you will not dry them enough chase out some spidermites and then try to save your grow from the mold.... all that is a part of the process... you will learn and you will become an excellent grower.

just remember... you have decades of growing experience here in these threads and you are trying to absorb it all in once... you cant do that... you just cant.

the best advice i can give you is keep it simple and make as many mistakes as quickly as you can... thats how you will learn. if you force it and try to make it perfect, well you wont... i still mess up basic shit after years of growing. few days ago i got careless and i broke off half of the plant (one major side branch) while mainlining, and about 6 moths ago i got hasty and upgraded the fan in my larger tent without clearing floor space under it... needles to say i dropped the fan on 4 girls basic shit and i have alot of grows under my belt i did learn how to fix up broken and mangled plants tho

dont worry about making mistakes and dont pressure yourself into perfection... mistakes will happen and perfection is impossible. just accept that and watch your babies grow with admiration and love. take care of them as best as you can and dont sweat it... you will learn

 

[Integrum Stultus]

Leaning towards the R96 because of the IR lighting, the OGs dont have IR. I believe the 400 II series is smaller and also has IR so thats an option, but its less watts for more money 20$. The R96s length is a concern (22") it would fit the tent ok; id have 6.5" on either side and 5" front and back. Not bad but still bulky IMO.

The R96 I'm researching is in fact the 5w model. . so im pretty sure its their new model:

mars hydro led grow light-reflector 96


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[Guruth]

get the mars II series light reflectors are really old models and their spectrum is not the best led is not just about power... if you read my earlier replies you will see my friend bought a bad light and it just birned electricity and didnt do so much go with the mars II series they work really well. with 400 you will be able to grow 130-150 grams on your first grow and with experience you can go up to 250g

 

[Jimmycricket]

double ended HPS is hands down the best light for indoors currently

 

[fanleaf]

double ended HPS is hands down the best light for indoors currently

Not true. No de hps out there are pulling 1.9-2 grams plus per watt on good sized grows. While de hps are very efficient white cobs still take it.
Heres 1 example of that
S2:E2 MASSIVE harvest from Cree cxb3590 diy led grow. - YouTube

If a bunch of white cobs are used at low current drive (25w per cob for example) their efficiency is unmatched.


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