Additional light in 32x32 tent: currently 600W LED

[JCTJ]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for any help. I've got 2 girls, 1 week old on the go in 3 gallon (3.9) fabric pots in my tent and two more ready to break the surface. I was planning on 3 plants max in this smaller tent but if I end up with 4 viable plants I'd like to run them all.

I've got a 600W Meizhi but I'm thinking there won't be proper coverage if I end up having 4 plants. Would the addition of a 300W Meizhi or 300W Mars Eco be reasonable for better coverage come flower time? Or should I be looking at bigger tents if I want to run 4 plants.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for any help. I've got 2 girls, 1 week old on the go in 3 gallon (3.9) fabric pots in my tent and two more ready to break the surface. I was planning on 3 plants max in this smaller tent but if I end up with 4 viable plants I'd like to run them all.

I've got a 600W Meizhi but I'm thinking there won't be proper coverage if I end up having 4 plants. Would the addition of a 300W Meizhi or 300W Mars Eco be reasonable for better coverage come flower time? Or should I be looking at bigger tents if I want to run 4 plants.

Well, of course, it all depends on how big you want to grow your plants, but that 600w LED you have is only 140w actual power draw from the wall. In that space, I'd try for something like 400 actual/usable watts and, if you could get 600w usable, it would be even better. You want a MINIMUM of about 35w/sf of space and 50+w per square foot is even better, so, depending on how large a tent you upgrade to, if you upgrade, you can calculate out the requirements.

 

[JCTJ]

Well, of course, it all depends on how big you want to grow your plants, but that 600w LED you have is only 140w actual power draw from the wall. In that space, I'd try for something like 400 actual/usable watts and, if you could get 600w usable, it would be even better. You want a MINIMUM of about 35w/sf of space and 50+w per square foot is even better, so, depending on how large a tent you upgrade to, if you upgrade, you can calculate out the requirements.

Thanks for the info!

My 600W draws roughly 265W from the wall and the 300W version of it around 135W. For the 7.11 sq ft and light I have now, it's barely surpassing the minimum of 35w/sf. 400W would give me 56w/sf which sounds pretty ideal. I appreciate the help, I am definitely going to be adding some supplemental lighting to this tent

I'll stick with the tent for this first grow and see what my needs are after that, before I go and make any quick decisions on a bigger tent haha. Cheers

 

[Mr. Krip]

Thanks for the info!

My 600W draws roughly 265W from the wall and the 300W version of it around 135W. For the 7.11 sq ft and light I have now, it's barely surpassing the minimum of 35w/sf. 400W would give me 56w/sf which sounds pretty ideal. I appreciate the help, I am definitely going to be adding some supplemental lighting to this tent

I'll stick with the tent for this first grow and see what my needs are after that, before I go and make any quick decisions on a bigger tent haha. Cheers

You may want to confirm the wattage. When I looked at it on the big jungle site, they mentioned 140w in the description for the 600w, but it may also have been a typo on the web page.

Saving Energy & Powerful Lights - MEIZHI Reflector Series can provide higher lumen output and stronger light penetration for plants while consuming less energy (140 watt) on the same coverage area, comparing with traditional 300 watt HPS/MH white.

 

[JCTJ]

You may want to confirm the wattage. When I looked at it on the big jungle site, they mentioned 140w in the description for the 600w, but it may also have been a typo on the web page.

Must be a typo, that is the wattage I've seen advertised and pulled via the wall with a kill-a-watt on the 300W Meizhi. 266 with kill-a-wat with veg and bloom switched on.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Must be a typo, that is the wattage I've seen advertised and pulled via the wall with a kill-a-watt on the 300W Meizhi. 266 with kill-a-wat with veg and bloom switched on.

OK, so it appears I was operating on inaccurate info!

If that's the case, the 265w isn't too bad. To get the best quality buds, I'd try to keep the plants in a slightly smaller footprint so you can keep the lights closer to the plants, but you're not that bad off with 265w.