Help balancing a tent grow setup: items listed

[BradleyPittson]

120x120x200cm -16ft - Gorilla tent (already purchased)

6 fabric pots & trays -16 litre ones I believe - (already purchased)

Viparspectra TC 1200W LED full spectrum grow light - 524W actual watts from the wall, which is just about Ok for a 4x4 space - Bloom & Veg switches and timer - (NOT YET BOUGHT)

Rhino pro Extraction kit - No clue what size I need for my 4x4 tent with 1200w - I live in Northern England so it's not going to be boiling right? - Do I need 4" or 5" etc etc they start at around £70 and go up to over £300 - (NOT YET BOUGHT)

Rhino Pro Carbon Filter RVK Fan Kit Foil Ducting Hydroponic



Surely this would be an adequate setup ? I can't see myself needing to pump air into the tent so after those two last big purchases and a ground fan and some cheap clip on fans, I'll be ready to grow yeah?

I started out thinking this would be slot cheaper after seeing all these clickbait £400 complete grow setup videos it's gonna cost me £350 for the light alone to get anywhere near the needed actual wattage !

I'm hoping it pays for itself after a few grows.

 

[Barney86]

I'd do some more digging on the light mate. That's a 506w+/- 3% blurple. The wattage is about perfect for your space. I've grown with the same wattage and very similar quality lights with great results but there are much better options out there for that price. Don't believe the "replaces a 1000w HPS" bit iether, it doesnt lol. Not by a country mile. The penetration on blurple lights is bollocks too so you've gotta constantly tie them down and defol to get a decent result.
Best tech out there at the moment is quantum boards or COB LEDs. There's plenty people round here know their shit with both options so id try track one of them down and see what they say.
I still use similar blurple and they are half decent lights if you use them right but they can't compete with proper LEDs. They pull twice the weight using less power.

Rhino pro are the tits though! Not sure what size you need, I got the 760m3/h one with a filter the size of my leg and it can just about suck a 3m X 1.2m tent into oblivion. Left the door wide open the full bloom cycle and couldn't smell a thing from right outside the tent. Best 500 quid I ever spent.

 

[BradleyPittson]

Hey mate thanks for the advice. Funnily enough the dude at the store told me to go for a hapergero Cob light on Amazon

But to buy enough of these lights to match the actual wattage of the viparspectra it would cost even more and I'd have loads to hang etc.

Plus how do you handle veg/bloom cycle with COB? Viparspectra seems much easier, on a timer etc.

 

[Barney86]

I'd avoid that one as well to be honest mate. Are you handy with a soldering iron? Be threads on here on how to build your own cobs if that sounds doable. Costs a fraction of the price and although I've never done it, enough people have told me how easy it is.
The generally accepted rule is 50w per square foot for blurple and hid lights. 35w per square foot for proper leds.
I'll go see if there's anything useful on Amazon actually hang on....

 

[BradleyPittson]

I'd avoid that one as well to be honest mate. Are you handy with a soldering iron? Be threads on here on how to build your own cobs if that sounds doable. Costs a fraction of the price and although I've never done it, enough people have told me how easy it is.
The generally accepted rule is 50w per square foot for blurple and hid lights. 35w per square foot for proper leds.
I'll go see if there's anything useful on Amazon actually hang on....

I would be lost with DIY lighting to be honest, something I hope to learn in the future though.

I've had a few people telling me to go HID and that it's cheap, has great light penetration and despite being more costly to run produce bigger yields than burple LED. Also being in UK my grow might need the extra heat from the HID it won't get from LED. But going with super old lighting tech seems counter initiative.

Thanks by the way, so helpful to get feedback when you are unsure and starting out

 

[Barney86]

Nah Amazon is useless lol. Honestly though mate look into cobs and quantum boards on here. Be plenty info on them in the lighting section.
A half decent light like the ones you've been looking at will get you around 1 gram per watt. A proper led will produce closer to 2 gpw.
I wish id spent more time choosing mine. Got 6 X 250w blurples and a 600w hps. And I kick myself every day for not getting quality gear to start with. The LEDs don't really deteriorate though and I like the hps for bloon so can't bring myself to chuck em and upgrade lol.

 

[BradleyPittson]

@Old Salt sorry to bother you after you so kindly dropped some posts in my previous thread.

After your advice I tried to put together a full setup, be keen to hear your thoughts.

 

[BradleyPittson]

No worries

By the way when you say real LEDS as opposed to burples and how you wish you'd bought right first time, if you were buying for the first time knowing what you know now what would your choice be? Any particular models ?

 

[Barney86]

No worries mate. I was in your shoes a few years ago. Know how it feels lol. We all do.
The cheap hps lights are pretty good. Much better penetration. Get a dimmable one and you can go 200w,400w,600w,660w. Handy for heat management and dealing with seedlings.
Gotta be careful with the ballast as they get fire startingly hot. Mine sits on a brick so nothing can touch it. Safe as long as you're careful.
Some of them come with a CMH bulb too which is better for veg. Gives a more solid, tighter plant.
I'd get one of those before any blurple on the market. Costs about a tenner a week in bloom if you run it at off peak times. Fair chunk more for veg.
Only real down side is they get pretty fuckin hot in a tent. Once the temps hit over 20 in the summer it can be a bit of a battle to stop the tent cooking.
It's a lot to take in but take your time and think things through and you'll save yourself a lot of drama down the road.

 

[Barney86]

No worries

By the way when you say real LEDS as opposed to burples and how you wish you'd bought right first time, if you were buying for the first time knowing what you know now what would your choice be? Any particular models ?

Quantum boards mate. 100%. The things people are doing with those bad boys is crazy. I'm a decent grower, can pull a 1lb auto no worries but the yields folk are getting with those things is something I'll never be able to compete with with my current tech. Not by a long shot.

 

[BradleyPittson]

Quantum boards mate. 100%. The things people are doing with those bad boys is crazy. I'm a decent grower, can pull a 1lb auto no worries but the yields folk are getting with those things is something I'll never be able to compete with with my current tech. Not by a long shot.

There are assembled ones on eBay for 3-5 hundred. I'll have to look into it.

 

[Barney86]

I always forget about eBay lol. I'm off out for a bit but be back later. Peace bruh.

 

[Old Salt]

Nah Amazon is useless lol. Honestly though mate look into cobs and quantum boards on here. Be plenty info on them in the lighting section.
A half decent light like the ones you've been looking at will get you around 1 gram per watt. A proper led will produce closer to 2 gpw.
I wish id spent more time choosing mine. Got 6 X 250w blurples and a 600w hps. And I kick myself every day for not getting quality gear to start with. The LEDs don't really deteriorate though and I like the hps for bloon so can't bring myself to chuck em and upgrade lol.

I don't think there are many who are happy with their first low-cost LED. At least I started small, with only one light. I'll demote it to a veg tent when my light is finished. That one gram per watt is optimistic. With my light I grew about 1/2 gm/W for my first grow, and 0.75 gm/W for my last.

Consider getting a good LED for half of your tent, and buying another when you can afford it. Your harvest would be about the same as if you had used the cheap lights for the whole tent.

 

[Barney86]

I don't think there are many who are happy with their first low-cost LED. At least I started small, with only one light. I'll demote it to a veg tent when my light is finished. That one gram per watt is optimistic. With my light I grew about 1/2 gm/W for my first grow, and 0.75 gm/W for my last.

Consider getting a good LED for half of your tent, and buying another when you can afford it. Your harvest would be about the same as if you had used the cheap lights for the whole tent.

Yeah it's admitedly a bad way to measure things but assuming conditions are pretty optimal and you fill the space properly it's a decent enough rough guide as to what lights are capable of per space.
I get a gpw from the old blurps no bother at 50w per square foot in a tent if I keep the VPD fairly sound. Can't do it in the open attic though. About 0.7 been my best so far. Can't fit a tent up there cos it's a daft shape though so just doing what I can at the moment.
On my third run with the CMH/HPS now and I'm getting much better buds than the blurple but poorer yield cos I can't get the hang of the ride height. keep stretching them too much at the wrong times or just getting caught off guard by rediculously fast growing plants in multi strain grows.
Think I've got it sussed for next time though. hopefully anyway lol.