Should I add LED/flourecent/HID

[fireman128]

I am growing 3 white widows under a 300w led in a 3x3x5' with 6' inline vent fan (Not currently being used, enviorment staying perfect with 2 6" desk fans running). They have been growing from seedling for 2 weeks. So far growth is great. For flowering I wanted to add more light and was trying to see if its would be more bang for my buck to add another LED, T5 flourecent, Or HPS. I dont want my electric bill to jump something too crazy and for future ref i only plan on growing 4-5 plants at a time. Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[Mr. Krip]

I am growing 3 white widows under a 300w led in a 3x3x5' with 6' inline vent fan (Not currently being used, enviorment staying perfect with 2 6" desk fans running). They have been growing from seedling for 2 weeks. So far growth is great. For flowering I wanted to add more light and was trying to see if its would be more bang for my buck to add another LED, T5 flourecent, Or HPS. I dont want my electric bill to jump something too crazy and for future ref i only plan on growing 4-5 plants at a time. Any input is greatly appreciated!

Well, brace yourself, Brother, because everyone will have a different opinion on which light is best.

The T5's would be lowest cost overall, but also lowest yield. HPS would be mid-cost, but expensive to run and generate a lot of heat, but likely have the highest yield unless you spent a lot of money on an LED. The LED would be a higher up-front cost, but low cost to run and long life span.

If it were me, I'd just get another decent, low cost 300w LED and use it in conjunction with your existing LED to leverage the cost you already have in that. Of course, I'm an LED fan/grower, so that's easy for me to say!



K

 

[fireman128]

Well, brace yourself, Brother, because everyone will have a different opinion on which light is best.

The T5's would be lowest cost overall, but also lowest yield. HPS would be mid-cost, but expensive to run and generate a lot of heat, but likely have the highest yield unless you spent a lot of money on an LED. The LED would be a higher up-front cost, but low cost to run and long life span.

If it were me, I'd just get another decent, low cost 300w LED and use it in conjunction with your existing LED to leverage the cost you already have in that. Of course, I'm an LED fan/grower, so that's easy for me to say!



K

I was leaning more towards adding another 300W LED but I had to get other opinions.

 

[fireman128]

I just wonder how if it would make much difference if for flpwering if i done away with the 300w led and used a 400w or 600w hps if there would be much of a difference as 2 300w leds and would the yield be good enough to pay the differnece. If that makes sense

 

[PurpleGunRack]

I guess the LED you use is a cheap little box lamp with mono diodes and fans?

I will always advice not to get those, it's a lucky draw with components of such a low grade, and watt for watt they're no more efficient than HID.

Balls out, there are only 2 options if you want value for money: HID or DIY LED, anything else is more or less overpriced or leaning towards a scam, or simply just not useful for flowering cannabis.

A cheap option that works well is a 400w HPS (in a cool tube or air cooled hood), and maybe add the LED in flower or use it for veg in another tent/cabinet.

 

[fireman128]

I guess the LED you use is a cheap little box lamp with mono diodes and fans?

I will always advice not to get those, it's a lucky draw with components of such a low grade, and watt for watt they're no more efficient than HID.

Balls out, there are only 2 options if you want value for money: HID or DIY LED, anything else is more or less overpriced or leaning towards a scam, or simply just not useful for flowering cannabis.

A cheap option that works well is a 400w HPS (in a cool tube or air cooled hood), and maybe add the LED in flower or use it for veg in another tent/cabinet.

You are correct. Its a 300w led that came with my Tent setup.

 

[Zincite]

Good morning everyone. Fireman just my $.02 worth, I would also look at the CMH 315. For your tent size it will cover your area. Just my opinion. good luck

 

[natureman]

If you go with all led's then that would be good for your grow.
If you lst your plants then light absorption shouldn't be an issue and you should get a decent yield.

 

[natureman]

I guess the LED you use is a cheap little box lamp with mono diodes and fans?

I will always advice not to get those, it's a lucky draw with components of such a low grade, and watt for watt they're no more efficient than HID.

Balls out, there are only 2 options if you want value for money: HID or DIY LED, anything else is more or less overpriced or leaning towards a scam, or simply just not useful for flowering cannabis.

A cheap option that works well is a 400w HPS (in a cool tube or air cooled hood), and maybe add the LED in flower or use it for veg in another tent/cabinet.

I disagree with you on this one.
There are led panels that are affordable and put out a decent amount of light.
The Mars Hydro led's are well known for good grows and getting decent yields.
Here's a good led grow light.

MarsHydro LED Grow Light 300W Full Spectrum​

 

[fireman128]

Good morning everyone. Fireman just my $.02 worth, I would also look at the CMH 315. For your tent size it will cover your area. Just my opinion. good luck

Do you know about how much this would cost monthly energy wise for flowering?

 

[fireman128]

If you go with all led's then that would be good for your grow.
If you lst your plants then light absorption shouldn't be an issue and you should get a decent yield.

I just started LST'ing them. I know the LED is prob an el cheapo but so far they are growing great.

 

[fireman128]

I disagree with you on this one.
There are led panels that are affordable and put out a decent amount of light.
The Mars Hydro led's are well known for good grows and getting decent yields.
Here's a good led grow light.

MarsHydro LED Grow Light 300W Full Spectrum​

I added this light to my possibles list last night lol

 

[Bud]

I’ve added 4 teltronics 35 watt screw in leds to my 600 watt hps back,front,and sides at the same height as the hps @ 20” during flower,doing a good job blooming my grow

 

[PurpleGunRack]

I disagree with you on this one.
There are led panels that are affordable and put out a decent amount of light.
The Mars Hydro led's are well known for good grows and getting decent yields.
Here's a good led grow light.

MarsHydro LED Grow Light 300W Full Spectrum​

It's 2009 tech with low grade mono diodes and hella loud 80mm fans, draws 170w though the specs say 130-140w - owned it, used it, and got rid of it.
If you have to pay less than $20 sure get one, but full price, naah not worth it

I've had 8 lights from Mars and 3 of them had faults from the factory and 2 other lamps later on, like I said it's a lucky draw.
They put out about the same light/heat as HID if you measure watt to watt, and the upfront cost and shoddy workmanship of these blurples makes HID the safe choice.

I wish someone had talked me into getting 600w HID when I got my Mars lights, then I would still have a properly working backup light and never known about the noise from the angry blurple fans.

They will grow plants, sure, but try comparing the Mars Old Style 300's 170w to a QB288 @ 135w - it's night and day in every way

 

[Ganjagrowergu]

I'm running cfl/LED in combination with fair results, very frosty, but not very dense buds. My LED is mars300. I keep it real close to my tops, like 6" or less for the best results in a small foot print.

If you are limited to one grow area, like I am, I suggest running LED just like you are in veg and when you flip to flower switch to a 400-600 watt HPS. It is my experience that cheap LED's veg just fine.

 

[natureman]

It's 2009 tech with low grade mono diodes and hella loud 80mm fans, draws 170w though the specs say 130-140w - owned it, used it, and got rid of it.
If you have to pay less than $20 sure get one, but full price, naah not worth it

I've had 8 lights from Mars and 3 of them had faults from the factory and 2 other lamps later on, like I said it's a lucky draw.
They put out about the same light/heat as HID if you measure watt to watt, and the upfront cost and shoddy workmanship of these blurples makes HID the safe choice.

I wish someone had talked me into getting 600w HID when I got my Mars lights, then I would still have a properly working backup light and never known about the noise from the angry blurple fans.

They will grow plants, sure, but try comparing the Mars Old Style 300's 170w to a QB288 @ 135w - it's night and day in every way

I disagree with you on led's.
I've done quite a few grows with my led's.
There are more companies out there besides MarsHydro all over Amazon or ebay.
You want a cheap grow that's going to get you decent yield if you do things the right way then led is the most cost effective and they use way less power then hid's and run cooler also.
LED's in no way run as hot as HID so don't mislead people into thinking that they do.
If heat isn't an issue and you want to pay more in the long run by running HID's then go for it.

 

[Ganjagrowergu]

I'm running cfl/LED in combination with fair results, very frosty, but not very dense buds. My LED is mars300. I keep it real close to my tops, like 6" or less for the best results in a small foot print.

If you are limited to one grow area, like I am, I suggest running LED just like you are in veg and when you flip to flower switch to a 400-600 watt HPS. It is my experience that cheap LED's veg just fine.

This is where my ladies live.

Crowded in there

• Ganjagrowergu
• Jul 1, 2018

comes out to like 570 watts for 10.6²ft. Electric bill barely notices this 12/12 from seed

 

[PurpleGunRack]

LED is not ONE cumulative thing.
Blurples are no more efficient than HID, the companies want you to believe they are, but they're just not, and the PPFD readings show this.
It's not about how anybody feels about a light, it's about scientific facs of input in watts and output in photons.
You get the same 35/65 light to heat ratio as HID, only difference is how the heat dissapates.

Whether it says Mars, Viparspectra, Kind or whatever on the box of a blurple light, they use Epistar diodes which are low grade and burn out all the time, it's just not debateable that these diodes are crap.
The drivers they use all run at less than 80% efficiency, and the easy-to-ship box style lamp is not covering much surface and has to be actively cooled by noisy fans.
Even a high end brand like Budmaster use Well-Lit drivers which are just utter crap compared to the very affordable Meanwell drivers.
HID will be on par with or outperform blurples if you match them watt for watt, real drawn watts that is, not just the fairytale units blurple pushers name their lights.

Blurples are NOT cost effective up front, nor are they cost effective in the long run, if they even last long enough to call it a long run.
Bulbs are easily changed, mono diodes are a nightmare, if you even get long enough with customer support that keeps asking you to take more pictures than the 20 you already sent them, when all you want is a handful of diodes worth a few dollars, that you even offered to pay.... It's meant to be this way because you're ''supposed'' to buy more ''cheap'' lights

I'm not just throwing opnions out here I used the lights for years and if you don't believe my subjective experience of the lights,, it's pretty much just comparing simple numbers from datasheets and PPFD readings.
Still not saying you can't grow under them, but I'm most definitely saying you can't OPTIMALLY flower cannabis under them unless you use same or more watts than HID -> 50-60w per square foot of space.

Many people have opened their eyes to COBs and mid power diodes, and so will you in due time, it's a common path many growers looking for LED lights traverse (myself included)
When you get there, I'll be happy to help you build your very own high efficiency LED light, tailor made for your grow space

 

[Ganjagrowergu]

LED is not ONE cumulative thing.
Blurples are no more efficient than HID, the companies want you to believe they are, but they're just not, and the PPFD readings show this.
It's not about how anybody feels about a light, it's about scientific facs of input in watts and output in photons.
You get the same 35/65 light to heat ratio as HID, only difference is how the heat dissapates.

Whether it says Mars, Viparspectra, Kind or whatever on the box of a blurple light, they use Epistar diodes which are low grade and burn out all the time, it's just not debateable that these diodes are crap.
The drivers they use all run at less than 80% efficiency, and the easy-to-ship box style lamp is not covering much surface and has to be actively cooled by noisy fans.
Even a high end brand like Budmaster use Well-Lit drivers which are just utter crap compared to the very affordable Meanwell drivers.
HID will be on par with or outperform blurples if you match them watt for watt, real drawn watts that is, not just the fairytale units blurple pushers name their lights.

Blurples are NOT cost effective up front, nor are they cost effective in the long run, if they even last long enough to call it a long run.
Bulbs are easily changed, mono diodes are a nightmare, if you even get long enough with customer support that keeps asking you to take more pictures than the 20 you already sent them, when all you want is a handful of diodes worth a few dollars, that you even offered to pay.... It's meant to be this way because you're ''supposed'' to buy more ''cheap'' lights

I'm not just throwing opnions out here I used the lights for years and if you don't believe my subjective experience of the lights,, it's pretty much just comparing simple numbers from datasheets and PPFD readings.
Still not saying you can't grow under them, but I'm most definitely saying you can't OPTIMALLY flower cannabis under them unless you use same or more watts than HID -> 50-60w per square foot of space.

Many people have opened their eyes to COBs and mid power diodes, and so will you in due time, it's a common path many growers looking for LED lights traverse (myself included)
When you get there, I'll be happy to help you build your very own high efficiency LED light, tailor made for your grow space

I certainly agree that they are not optimal for flowering. I never thought about it that much(blurple watts vs hid watts)but my old mars is really only good for flowering about 2ft². I use it for about 3ft², about 150 watt HPS I imagine, but I don't get much for rock hard buds, save for the ones within a few inches of the light. I rotate my plants so that they get all of the different spectrums floating around in there. The things that I could do with good lights......

 

[natureman]

LED is not ONE cumulative thing.
Blurples are no more efficient than HID, the companies want you to believe they are, but they're just not, and the PPFD readings show this.
It's not about how anybody feels about a light, it's about scientific facs of input in watts and output in photons.
You get the same 35/65 light to heat ratio as HID, only difference is how the heat dissapates.

Whether it says Mars, Viparspectra, Kind or whatever on the box of a blurple light, they use Epistar diodes which are low grade and burn out all the time, it's just not debateable that these diodes are crap.
The drivers they use all run at less than 80% efficiency, and the easy-to-ship box style lamp is not covering much surface and has to be actively cooled by noisy fans.
Even a high end brand like Budmaster use Well-Lit drivers which are just utter crap compared to the very affordable Meanwell drivers.
HID will be on par with or outperform blurples if you match them watt for watt, real drawn watts that is, not just the fairytale units blurple pushers name their lights.

Blurples are NOT cost effective up front, nor are they cost effective in the long run, if they even last long enough to call it a long run.
Bulbs are easily changed, mono diodes are a nightmare, if you even get long enough with customer support that keeps asking you to take more pictures than the 20 you already sent them, when all you want is a handful of diodes worth a few dollars, that you even offered to pay.... It's meant to be this way because you're ''supposed'' to buy more ''cheap'' lights

I'm not just throwing opnions out here I used the lights for years and if you don't believe my subjective experience of the lights,, it's pretty much just comparing simple numbers from datasheets and PPFD readings.
Still not saying you can't grow under them, but I'm most definitely saying you can't OPTIMALLY flower cannabis under them unless you use same or more watts than HID -> 50-60w per square foot of space.

Many people have opened their eyes to COBs and mid power diodes, and so will you in due time, it's a common path many growers looking for LED lights traverse (myself included)
When you get there, I'll be happy to help you build your very own high efficiency LED light, tailor made for your grow space

Wrong again.
I've been running some of my mars led's for well over 5 years now and not one diode has failed.
I know that you hate led's but I have grown with both HID's and LED's and I can tell you that my grow area stays much cooler without "noisy fans".
Also me electric bill is much less with LED's so your scientific crap is just that,CRAP.