Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

[Robert Celt]

Ok so i am going to take the plunge and order some LED's after using HID for many years. I am just wondering what the spread is like on the units, i have 1.2x1.2 tent, would a single larger light, i assume the marsII 700 or 900 watt, cover the space or would it be better to have 2 x 400 watt units per tent? 4 plants to a tent using DWC and scrogging. cheers for any help. Also is it best to order via eBay of direct from the .com site if i'm based in the uk?
Thanks.

Hey Taonic

I use a M2 900 in an area roughly 1mx1m and its seems to be doing well for flowering. The 900 would be good for vegging in your tend but I would recommend going with a 1200 if you intend to flower in it. And order from the Mars-Hydro site if you want a better warranty, the ones on ebay only have a 1 yr warranty.

 

[Dave Groomer]

Hey Taonic

I use a M2 900 in an area roughly 1mx1m and its seems to be doing well for flowering. The 900 would be good for vegging in your tend but I would recommend going with a 1200 if you intend to flower in it. And order from the Mars-Hydro site if you want a better warranty, the ones on ebay only have a 1 yr warranty.

I agree. My 900 is perfect in my 1mx1m tent. I would do a 1200 for for your larger space.

 

[Dave Groomer]

Today is full of good news.
We can accept reservation for Mars Pro light now！
The production is not much, so we can only ship out the light twice in a month at every 15th and 30th. This month, we will ship out the light at 30th.

we are still looking for tester for our new light. When there are more production, I will announce the tester.

I can't wait for the tests on the new lights. Don't get me wrong. I am VERY happy with my Mars II lights. But it can only get better right?

 

[flexy123]

ok ty

so, your conclusion that you dont need cal/mag cause your tap water have it ..... is unfortunatly not true.

but, i think me too as you said ..... that iron is the problem ... but its hard to find infos on that topic

That's a good thing because it means adding Cal/Mag should be ok, even with tap water.

Our "Seed Guy" delivered stuff today, so I am just waiting for the pots to dry so I can water with CalMag added to see how it goes. Also got two more seeds and one bonus seed...and finally GOOD soil (Canna Terra).

 

[flexy123]

Ok so i am going to take the plunge and order some LED's after using HID for many years. I am just wondering what the spread is like on the units, i have 1.2x1.2 tent, would a single larger light, i assume the marsII 700 or 900 watt, cover the space or would it be better to have 2 x 400 watt units per tent? 4 plants to a tent using DWC and scrogging. cheers for any help. Also is it best to order via eBay of direct from the .com site if i'm based in the uk?
Thanks.

I am not too experienced (yet) so I can't give advice on the right strength of the LED you will need, but in my opinion several SMALLER ones would be better than a large one. More flexibility especially if you wouldn't be able to dim the large light. You have more freedom to position the lights and also have the option to turn one off should two for some reason be too strong.

Edit: Assuming you mean 1.2m, according to MH website and the Mars 2 info, a 900W covers 4x4 (since 1.2m = 3.93ft) and POSSIBLY even a 700W might work but it might get "tight". Instead of a 700W I would get 2x400W. But take all this with a grain of salt, that's just my calculations looking at the specs.

 

[Dave Groomer]

I am not too experienced (yet) so I can't give advice on the right strength of the LED you will need, but in my opinion several SMALLER ones would be better than a large one. More flexibility especially if you wouldn't be able to dim the large light. You have more freedom to position the lights and also have the option to turn one off should two for some reason be too strong.

Edit: Assuming you mean 1.2m, according to MH website and the Mars 2 info, a 900W covers 4x4 (since 1.2m = 3.93ft) and POSSIBLY even a 700W might work but it might get "tight". Instead of a 700W I would get 2x400W. But take all this with a grain of salt, that's just my calculations looking at the specs.

I use a larger light at one height and move the pots up and down to even the canopy. 2 400s would not be enough light for flower. You would probably be ok for veg, but 180w x2=360w that is 22w /sqft. I would used at least a 1200 (35w /sqft) or a 1600 (48w /sqft) These would bring out the full potential of your plants. You want 35-50 w/sqft.

 

[taonic]

Ok.....Thanks for the input, it has given me something to think about. So i am assuming that 4 x 400 would be preferable to one 1600, purely from a control point of view, it gives you more options and that would equal one 400 per plant. But would this set up give the same penetration due to the spacing between the units as opposed to the grouping of the single unit?? I like the idea of having a backup should one pack up however it starts to detract from the draw of cheaper running costs when the power consumption will differ only slightly from an HPS set up. What kind of heat would 4 x 400's or a 1600 give out compared to a 600 hps running through a cool hood? sorry i'm sure that this has all been spoken about before but the 1050 pages to the thread are a bit of a minefield although it also tells me that this is a product that is worth talking about, thanks again in advance for any response

 

[Dave Groomer]

Ok.....Thanks for the input, it has given me something to think about. So i am assuming that 4 x 400 would be preferable to one 1600, purely from a control point of view, it gives you more options and that would equal one 400 per plant. But would this set up give the same penetration due to the spacing between the units as opposed to the grouping of the single unit?? I like the idea of having a backup should one pack up however it starts to detract from the draw of cheaper running costs when the power consumption will differ only slightly from an HPS set up. What kind of heat would 4 x 400's or a 1600 give out compared to a 600 hps running through a cool hood? sorry i'm sure that this has all been spoken about before but the 1050 pages to the thread are a bit of a minefield although it also tells me that this is a product that is worth talking about, thanks again in advance for any response

I have never grown with HPS so I cannot compare that. What I can tell you is this. I have one tent with 2 400s (veg) and one with 1 900 (flower). I run one 440cmf fan split between the 2 tents. My 900 runs about 1-2 degrees cooler then my 2 400s. I try to have my tents dialed in at 85 degrees. My veg tent is about 86 and my flower 84.

Like I said, I raise and lower my pots not my light in the flower tent. I use 6x6 tiles that I have a box of. I stack them under the pots to raise them to the height I want.

 

[taonic]

Thanks for the response, How many plants do you have in the flower tent at a time under a 900? Although i have the 1.2m tent i only have 4 plants in that area so that i have some working room so I'm not sure if 1600w in either multiple units or the single would be overkill or whether it's a case of throw as much power at them as you can? cheers for the input.

 

[Graytail]

Ok.....Thanks for the input, it has given me something to think about. So i am assuming that 4 x 400 would be preferable to one 1600, purely from a control point of view, it gives you more options and that would equal one 400 per plant. But would this set up give the same penetration due to the spacing between the units as opposed to the grouping of the single unit?? I like the idea of having a backup should one pack up however it starts to detract from the draw of cheaper running costs when the power consumption will differ only slightly from an HPS set up. What kind of heat would 4 x 400's or a 1600 give out compared to a 600 hps running through a cool hood? sorry i'm sure that this has all been spoken about before but the 1050 pages to the thread are a bit of a minefield although it also tells me that this is a product that is worth talking about, thanks again in advance for any response

Darned good question, and you'll get a lot of contradictory answers.

I ran a 600W hps for a year, and then switched to a 540W LED. The drop in temp was dramatic! My room has very little ventilation with a 4 inch flue at 50CFM, and the hps raised temps 8 degrees while the LED panel only raised it 2 degrees.

I didn't have a hood, though, so I trapped a lot more heat from the hps than you do, and that's where the differences in the answers come from. In your case, the hood will exhaust much better than an LED panel, so you won't see as much difference. You can probably go to 800 watts draw power in LEDs and have similar heating issues as your 600W hps. I'm currently getting away with 1000 watts of LED in my 4x4 with the feeble ventilation.

 

[flexy123]

I don't think it will make any significant difference whether you use two smaller units close together or one larger unit. Plus, you can always set separate lights at a slight angle and sort-of focus them at one point if you really *think* that penetration would be an issue. We're talking a few inches more space between units here, I don't think it matters due to the distances the lamps will be at and the fact that the lights spread 90 or 120 deg. downwards anyway.

 

[Dave Groomer]

Thanks for the response, How many plants do you have in the flower tent at a time under a 900? Although i have the 1.2m tent i only have 4 plants in that area so that i have some working room so I'm not sure if 1600w in either multiple units or the single would be overkill or whether it's a case of throw as much power at them as you can? cheers for the input.

Right at the moment, I have 3. Last round I had 4 well trimmed plants of different strains. 1 Blue Blood, 1 White Widow, 1 Critical Super Silver Haze and 1 Blue Berry and I ended with about 15 oz.

 

[ganjazz]

Today is full of good news.
We can accept reservation for Mars Pro light now！
The production is not much, so we can only ship out the light twice in a month at every 15th and 30th. This month, we will ship out the light at 30th.

we are still looking for tester for our new light. When there are more production, I will announce the tester.

Looking for tester , im volunteer

In 3 weeks place 6 auto's under led.

 

[Cannabliss89]

Can someone tell me the difference in draw wattage of the 144x3 compared to the 144x5? Kinda curious

 

[flexy123]

>>
we are still looking for tester for our new light.
>>

what wattages are those new lamps available at?

 

[Brainzfuxed]

How high above my seedlings should I hang my 96x3 reflector. What about during veg stage and in flower? Thanks

Reason I'm asking is leaves were starting to curl and get crispy thanks

 

[Dave Groomer]

How high above my seedlings should I hang my 96x3 reflector. What about during veg stage and in flower? Thanks

Reason I'm asking is leaves were starting to curl and get crispy thanks

If they were started under another type of light (ie:CFL) then I would start high (30-36") to let them get used to the brighter lights. If you start them under the leds then I would be at 24".

 

[Mars Hydro]

Hello arellanobrian, I am so happy today! Weekend~~
thank you so much for the kind words. The new factory will also ensure the supply now.

sounds awesome sara!! cant wait to see how all the new light do and would love to test your new light if you needed some one. and the new factory looks awesome, i love mars hydro and plan on going full mars led someday and is always good to hear you are increasing efficiency and quality

 

[Mars Hydro]

never heard of this theory, but it does make sense to some degree.

Ok, take this with a grain of salt since I am a total grower-noob but I did lots of reading and testing getting to the bottom of this bleaching issue.

I am on to something, not this is a theory for now only:

I THINK that the "cal/mag" deficiency and the so-called "LED bleaching" from LEDs is actually an Iron deficiency. (The theory here is that the LEDs make the plants simply grow too fast and thus depleting Iron faster. Add some other things like heat stress and your plants are quickly depleted of nutrients).

The CalMag supplements, those I was looking at, ALSO normally contain Iron. So they're in fact cal, mag & iron. And the Iron is what actually saves the plants, not the cal/mag *per se*. (Of course they say that Iron works always best with cal & mag in combination).

I have terrible luck with growing here and WHAT LOOKS like LED bleaching and I have CalMag (Cal-Max actually) coming. But I am actually convinced it's more the iron deficiency that's playing a role here, before anything else. I can confirm/report once I get the CalMax delivered and can test this for myself. Some posts on forums seem to confirm this idea it's a matter of Iron deficiency really.

Another indication that it could have to do with Iron before anything else is the fact that I watered with normal tap water (sitting outside for a while), and the tap water has plenty of Calcium/Mg. in it so there is no reason why there should be a Cal/Mg deficiency.

 

[Mars Hydro]

haha, yes...

hey nice .... part of that great place is my money lol