Will these lights work or did I screw up? LED 24 watt actual

[TheOneTrueNox]

So I jumped the gun and ordered 4 of these, should give around 100 actual watts. My goal is to grow 5 small plants in a 32''X32''X63'' grow room. Judging by the reviews on Amazon I assumed these lights would be more than enough... but upon further research, I'm getting a little worried.

Led Grow Lights for Indoor Plants 24W Full Spectrum LED Grow Light Bulbs for Marijuana, Improve to Scientific RB Portion(5:1) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

If not, could I supplement these lights with CFLS? And if so, how many would I need. Thanks.

 

[TWINTURBODOGO]

I'm still a noob, but from what I've read you shot for 50w a square foot.
You have roughly 6.5 square feet. So 6.5x50w=325w. I'd try to get a 300w full spectrum led or something like that. Specially if you plan to use it for veg and bloom.

We're use 5 cfl's for veg in our 16"x30" cabinet it's about 64w. They seem to be doin fine. But we definitely want to upgrade to a 300w MarsHydro led.

Hope my rambling made some sense and helped in some way.
And keep in mind I'm a noob and could be totally wrong! Lol

Good luck and happy growing

Sent from my SM-G530T using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

Alright thanks, I'm gonna return the lights I ordered and grab a couple of these: MarsHydro Mars300 LED Grow Light with Veg/Bloom Spectrum for Hydroponic Indoor Greenhouse/Garden Plant Growing, 132W True Watt Panel

 

[fanleaf]

Alright thanks, I'm gonna return the lights I ordered and grab a couple of these: MarsHydro Mars300 LED Grow Light with Veg/Bloom Spectrum for Hydroponic Indoor Greenhouse/Garden Plant Growing, 132W True Watt Panel

Or since Mars Hydro is a sponsor here you could just check out the Mars Hydro thread on this website and talk to smoke Sara who runs that thread for Mars Hydro and since you are a member here get a discount code and go straight to the Mars hydro website and orders there.

Sent from my VS980 4G using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Mars Hydro]

It's a small light,i think it's not enough for 5plants.
You can check on our official website: LED Grow Lights

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

Would 2 of them per tent work?

 

[mikeyxb]

They would veg a plant but very slowly and They would stretch wuite a bit also looking for light They will keep your plant alive until you can upgrade but it would not flurish very well the omega 125w cfls are not that expensive get a red and a blue one or dual, or go mars hydro.

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[fanleaf]

Cannabis is a light demanding plant. Heres how you can easily figure out if "this will be enough" light. All LED light manufacturers give you 2 wattage measurements. 1 measurement is the advertised wattage which for example if a particular Led light uses 3 watt Led diodes and their is 100 of them in that light then it would be advertised as a 300 watt light. This is very misleading because yes 100 LED's times 3 watts each equals 300 watts however if they were actually ran that hard there life would be very low. So you have to look further at their actual wattage used. For instance almost every 300 watt Led will have an actual power draw from the wall of 170-180 watts those details can be found by reading a bit further into the power requirements given by the manufacturer. That is the wattage you should concern yourself with. Now next you need to look at the square floor footage of your tent. Let's say for instance that your floor footage in your tent is 3 foot by 3 foot. To get the square footage you would multiply the length times the width so three times three is nine square feet right? Now that you know your square footage is 9 you need to figure out how many watts of LED power you need. None of this is exact but 35 - 50 actual watts per square foot is where you want to be. So if you take 35 Watts times 9 square feet you know you need a bare minimum of 315 actual watts, not advertised watts to do a real good job. Now if you wanted to be on the higher end of that to try to maximize your yield if you take 50 watts per square feet x 9 square feet you will need 450 Watts in that 9 square feet to provide 50 watts per square feet. Please remember the difference between advertised wattage and actual wattage. 35 watts per square feet is on the lower end 40 to 45 watts per square feet would be really nice and 50 watts per square feet is considered by some to be optimal to maximum. With growing cannabis always remember if you go cheap you will grow cheap. Mars Hydro especially Sarah from Mars Hydro will easily take care of you to get you on your way to Growing some quality stuff.

Sent from my android from outer space!

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

Seems like everybody is saying LEDs are just a really bad idea. It would take 2 of those mars hydro 300s to give me as much light as a single 250 watt CFL I could get for $40.

I could get a 400 watt HID system that comes with bulb, reflector, ballast and even a timer for less than 2 of those mars hydro LEDs.

 

[fanleaf]

Uhhhh
Nobody is telling you growing with LED is a bad idea. What on earth would make you think that? Look in my signature below this and you will see that I grow with ONLY LED.

If it's about cost for you than yes, buy a CFL. A 250W cfl will create a lot of heat and the bud you grow will be larfy compared to HID or LED.

Buy a 400W HID and have fun if that's what you want to do.

I choose to grow with LED not because it's cheap but because I don't have a bunch of excess heat to get rid of and I grow nugs that are solid as a rock and covered in trichomes and use less power at the same time.

IF YOU GO CHEAP YOU WILL GROW CHEAP! Simple as that!

LED or a double ended HPS which isn't cheap either at $300-$500 is the way to go for the best of the best. But if it's out of your price range you may need to start with CFL or something else and go from there.

I have over $4500 wrapped up in LED's at the moment. Could I have went cheaper??? Shit yes but I wouldn't trade em for anything. Do you need $4500 in LED...no but a few hundred bux in quality lighting for your tent will pay for itself in no time.


Sorry you don't seem to like the truthful answer that a twenty dollar 24 watt led panel won't grow weed.

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

-

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

No I understand that, I gave up on the 24s after the first reply. I'm talking about the 300 watt LEDs (132 actual I think). Two of those would cost most than a whole 400 watt HID system, which if I understand correctly, will grow things much better. And I don't think 2 of those per tent would even be enough.

I'm only growing for personal use so money is a huge issue. I will not recoup anything I spend on this stuff except personal enjoyment. I'm sure LEDs are actually better if money isn't a factor, less heat, light wavelengths and such.... That's why I wanted to go with LEDs. I didn't understand how much money I would have to spend on them though.

 

[fanleaf]

No I understand that, I gave up on the 24s after the first reply. I'm talking about the 300 watt LEDs (132 actual I think). Two of those would cost most than a whole 400 watt HID system, which if I understand correctly, will grow things much better. And I don't think 2 of those per tent would even be enough.

I'm only growing for personal use so money is a huge issue. I will not recoup anything I spend on this stuff except personal enjoyment. I'm sure LEDs are actually better if money isn't a factor, less heat, light wavelengths and such.... That's why I wanted to go with LEDs. I didn't understand how much money I would have to spend on them though.

Ok
A few MARS LED's won't get beat by a cheap 400W HID but yes, it would be cheaper to start with a 400W HID kit unless it means upgrading your air circulation/ ventilation for your grow tent. Remember, your environment control is the supreme concern. Without control over fresh air and heat extraction anyone will fail.

Look at it this way man
If you start with a budget of say less than $400 bucks for your complete setup it will pay for itself in the first plant. That will be ounces less you had to buy. I don't know if $400 for everything to start is even enough to be honest but if you want I could help you look around for some budget items.

You will need this as a very rough example.
Tent, MARS has a 36X36 for $100
400W HID with both MH and HPS bulbs $110
Ventilation blower kit 190CFM with carbon filter $80
Pot, soil, nutrients,misc, seeds $50-$70
Also need a small fan to blow plants around...maybe you already have one?

Now, If you wanted to go LED add another $100-$150

I'm a fan of the MARS 144 reflector series. This would be awesome in a 36X36 tent
mars hydro led grow light -reflector 144


2 of these would be even better though.
mars hydro led grow light-reflector 96

 

[SewStoned]

Personally at 33x32 id go with a mars ii 400w LED. Covers 30"x30" in flower, 36"x36" in veg... May be a bit weak around the outermost two inches for flower, if thats a problem id get a mars ii 700w before tgey stop manufacturing them end of the year. Also if you can wait 3 months they have a superior line of mars pro lights coming out, one of those will certainly meet your needs.

Join the mars hydro thread mentioned above, read up and get some incredible feedback!

Edit* the mars ii 400 or 700 i think has better penetration than the 300 or the reflectors... Someone correct me if Im wrong pls

 

[Mars Hydro]

Mars II and Reflector series are with better built up compare with Mars300/600.They are switchable and intall with IR diodes which Mars 300/600 do not have.
For MarsII and Reflector,both lights have their advantages:
1 The design is different:Mars II uses glass cover ,which will reduce some light. However, Reflector uses reflection board ,which will reflect maximum light back to the plants compared to MarsII
2 Intensity is different: The gap is wider on Reflector than MarsII. So Reflector will cover more area but MarsII will have stronger intensity on average area.
3 The coverage is different:Mars II is square,Reflector is rectangle(except Reflector192).

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

I think I'm gonna go with 2 of these, 1 for each tent.
iPower GLSETX400DHMWING 400-Watt Light Digital Dimmable System for Plants - Wing Set : Plant Growing Light Fixtures

With these, I'd be looking at a total of around $260 for the 2 small tents and the lights. For ventilation, do you think some regular desk fans, or small oscillating fans would be enough? It's starting to cool down here and temps are getting around 75f max, in the 40s at night. I'm putting my tents in an insulated room that is not connected to my house, so in the fall/winter it's going to get fairly cold in there. I've been worried about my plants possibly getting too cold in the winter.

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

Could I root clones with 2 of those 24 watt LEDs?

 

[fanleaf]

Could I root clones with 2 of those 24 watt LEDs?

Ummm. I'm not sure but I would guess no.
The reason is because while a 23W (100w equivalent) CFL will root clones the light from that 24w panel is really spread out over the size of the panel. You can actually get much more intensity by using a standard household 23W CFL because the light will all becoming from 1 small (more intense) spot. Does that make sense?

I actually watched a video on that 24W panel just a bit ago and to be honest it didn't even do a good job of growing a single head of lettuce compared to fluorescent bulbs. It simply don't have any intensity at all. IMO that light is made to be as cheap as possible to false advertise what it can do and bring in mass amounts of sales because of it's price point.

 

[fanleaf]

I think I'm gonna go with 2 of these, 1 for each tent.
iPower GLSETX400DHMWING 400-Watt Light Digital Dimmable System for Plants - Wing Set : Plant Growing Light Fixtures

With these, I'd be looking at a total of around $260 for the 2 small tents and the lights. For ventilation, do you think some regular desk fans, or small oscillating fans would be enough? It's starting to cool down here and temps are getting around 75f max, in the 40s at night. I'm putting my tents in an insulated room that is not connected to my house, so in the fall/winter it's going to get fairly cold in there. I've been worried about my plants possibly getting too cold in the winter.

Those will work! What are you thinking for your ventilation system? That's probably more important than the lights.

 

[TheOneTrueNox]

A 6" inline fan for each tent, may or may not duct the heat outside since it's a big room with 3 outside doors I could open. I think I'm gonna stick a little fan inside each tent also to blow air directly on the lights.