LED & HPS in same grow tent?

[Ilovedrugs]

Hi, I'm just setting up a 5x5 tent. I thought it was closer to 3.5x3.5ft so I bought 1 600w HID HPS light with digital dimmable ballast. Now that I realise the extra tent size I need more light. I want to add an LED to keep the heat and cost down. Any advice on which size LED and how best to run it with my 600 w HID for best, even light coverage?
Thanks in advance!
(I'm growing hydroponically in an ebb and flow modular 6 pot system using clay balls).

 

[Ilovedrugs]

P.S.
(Any advice at all will be much appreciated).

 

[Ilovedrugs]

P.P.S
(I'm looking at Viparspectra 900 w -real draw approx 400 w- for availability in Australia and price - $370 AUD, claims veg coverage 4x4 flow coverage 3x3).

 

[Ilovedrugs]

Also, how much of an issue will heat be in a 5x5x2 tent with 600w HPS?

 

[Buds Buddy]

Are you saying the Tent is 5' x 5' x 2' tall ? Not even sure how you could grow anything but seedlings in it with 2' tall. Most 5 x 5 tents are 78" tall. Was that a typo ? If it's taller you can get away with just the 600 watt HPS. I'd stay away from the Blurple LED's. Mars Hydro has some nice white LED lights like the SP 2000 if you want to get more light & would work out better for you at a cheaper price. @SmokeSara, from Mars Hydro should chime in since I tagged her. I'm pretty sure you could get a much better light for $250 - $300 from Mars Hydro.

 

[Ilovedrugs]

Sorry, 5ftx 5ft and 2 M high (6 ft 6.67 inch)

 

[Ilovedrugs]

Are you saying the Tent is 5' x 5' x 2' tall ? Not even sure how you could grow anything but seedlings in it with 2' tall. Most 5 x 5 tents are 78" tall. Was that a typo ? If it's taller you can get away with just the 600 watt HPS. I'd stay away from the Blurple LED's. Mars Hydro has some nice white LED lights like the SP 2000 if you want to get more light & would work out better for you at a cheaper price. @SmokeSara, from Mars Hydro should chime in since I tagged her. I'm pretty sure you could get a much better light for $250 - $300 from Mars Hydro.

(Typo ) Thanks, I'll check out that light. As for the 600 w being enough, most of what I see suggests 600 w HID will only cover 3x3? I am splitting my grow with my brother and we are both big smokers, so high yield is definitely important!!

 

[Buds Buddy]

You can get through the Veg cycle easy with the HPS alone. After that you may want to add more light for flower. Really just depends on how long you veg your plants & how big they get. I veg 5 - 6 weeks & then start flowering. But some go 8 weeks or more before flowering. In that size tent in Hydro you will probably have to flower sooner as the plants get bigger faster.
@TurboBucket will have all the info you need on that.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Heat may be an issue depending on your light. Is it an air cooled hood or a wing reflector hood ?
Either way you will need some type of cooling. Just more so with a wing reflector. I quit using HPS because of the heat they put out.
You will want to LST & top your plants to get a good yield. Do a search on this site for the Quadlining Thread. You'll see how they max out the yields.

 

[Buds Buddy]

(Typo ) Thanks, I'll check out that light. As for the 600 w being enough, most of what I see suggests 600 w HID will only cover 3x3? I am splitting my grow with my brother and we are both big smokers, so high yield is definitely important!!

They mean 3 x 3 in Flower as you lower your lights then. That makes the light spread less of a distance (smaller foot print).

 

[Ilovedrugs]

They mean 3 x 3 in Flower as you lower your lights then. That makes the light spread less of a distance (smaller foot print).

Ok, Thanks. I've grown once before with a 3x3 flood and drain table, 600 w HPS. I had the light 12" from the plants veg AND flower, flooded for 30 minutes every 4 hours, and had 4 plants. I had NO idea or experience but I would rate it as successful for a first grow, didn't have any problems (such as leaf burn or discoloration) and was delighted with the perfect fast growthg! (I set it like that day 1 and apart from changing light time from 20/4 to 12/12 and correcting PH didn't make ANY changes). That was 17 years ago but this time I'm trying to learn EVERYTHING properly, (I have a light meter and ec meter coming). Mind is melting

 

[Buds Buddy]

Sounds like you'll do OK. Usually with lights you start out 24" - 30" above seedlings. Once they get about 2 weeks old you go 18" - 24" & in Flower 12" - 18". Those heights usually keep your nodes closer together which in turn makes bigger, fatter buds. Once you get 4 nodes, top it. when that grows out you'll have 4 branches & you'll want to tie them back as flat as you can get them.. A bunch of branches will grow out of those 4 & you'll get a nice short bushy plant that produces big buds.

 

[Buds Buddy]

When I say short I mean about 3' - 4' tall.

 

[Ilovedrugs]

You can get through the Veg cycle easy with the HPS alone. After that you may want to add more light for flower. Really just depends on how long you veg your plants & how big they get. I veg 5 - 6 weeks & then start flowering. But some go 8 weeks or more before flowering. In that size tent in Hydro you will probably have to flower sooner as the plants get bigger faster.
@TurboBucket will have all the info you need on that.

Thanks!

 

[Damncancer]

I'm new here but I grew in the mid 80s the 90s until the early 2000s and just got back into it last year so I'm a little rusty but the plant hasn't changed just the technology.when I grew all we used was mh/hps leds weren't around as far as I know so when I started back up I had to see what all the hype was about so I ordered a couple that said they could replace a 1000 watt hps and on me used 280 watts and didn't get hot holy fuck I thought this it too good to be true and couldn't get my credit card out fast enough the came 4 or 5 days later and were bright as hell this is great I thought but it seemed I liked them more then the plants did and about a month later I dug out an old 400 watt hps threw it in the tent and the plants took off.I left the leds in the tent and when anyone asked I said they were my secondary light source like I had planned it that way but the truth was I didn't want to admitt I blew 500 bucks on lights that look like they should be on a kids toy!the grow wasn't a total loss I got about 14ozs which was enough but fuck was the shit sticky and really good then over the past year I've been doing some research on leds(the research I should I done before I bought the lights) and for some reason leds do something do draw the thc out of the plant better than other lights.im not sure of the science behind it but it's out there so adding an led in my opinion is a good thing but before you reach for your credit card do some research of your own and DONT buy cheap lights that look like they should be blinking on the front grill of a police car! That's my 2 cents spend it wisely/ lol

 

[Buds Buddy]

I'm new here but I grew in the mid 80s the 90s until the early 2000s and just got back into it last year so I'm a little rusty but the plant hasn't changed just the technology.when I grew all we used was mh/hps leds weren't around as far as I know so when I started back up I had to see what all the hype was about so I ordered a couple that said they could replace a 1000 watt hps and on me used 280 watts and didn't get hot holy fuck I thought this it too good to be true and couldn't get my credit card out fast enough the came 4 or 5 days later and were bright as hell this is great I thought but it seemed I liked them more then the plants did and about a month later I dug out an old 400 watt hps threw it in the tent and the plants took off.I left the leds in the tent and when anyone asked I said they were my secondary light source like I had planned it that way but the truth was I didn't want to admitt I blew 500 bucks on lights that look like they should be on a kids toy!the grow wasn't a total loss I got about 14ozs which was enough but fuck was the shit sticky and really good then over the past year I've been doing some research on leds(the research I should I done before I bought the lights) and for some reason leds do something do draw the thc out of the plant better than other lights.im not sure of the science behind it but it's out there so adding an led in my opinion is a good thing but before you reach for your credit card do some research of your own and DONT buy cheap lights that look like they should be blinking on the front grill of a police car! That's my 2 cents spend it wisely/ lol

You are the 2nd Fuckcancer here. There's also a girl from Illinois who actually has cancer on here with that name. She may have passed as she was like stage 3 or 4 & I haven't seen her on here lately. I hope the screen name isn't a Bad Omen.

 

[Damncancer]

Mine is in remission I had throat cancer but they say it's gone so fuck it! On the down side my immune system is fucked from the chemotherapy so if I get that fucking virus I'll have to change my name to fuck the corona virus because I decided when I'm was going threw treatments I'm not ready to die yet so that fucking virus is going to have a fight on its hands if it tries putting me in a 6 ft.hole/lol

 

[Ilovedrugs]

I'm new here but I grew in the mid 80s the 90s until the early 2000s and just got back into it last year so I'm a little rusty but the plant hasn't changed just the technology.when I grew all we used was mh/hps leds weren't around as far as I know so when I started back up I had to see what all the hype was about so I ordered a couple that said they could replace a 1000 watt hps and on me used 280 watts and didn't get hot holy fuck I thought this it too good to be true and couldn't get my credit card out fast enough the came 4 or 5 days later and were bright as hell this is great I thought but it seemed I liked them more then the plants did and about a month later I dug out an old 400 watt hps threw it in the tent and the plants took off.I left the leds in the tent and when anyone asked I said they were my secondary light source like I had planned it that way but the truth was I didn't want to admitt I blew 500 bucks on lights that look like they should be on a kids toy!the grow wasn't a total loss I got about 14ozs which was enough but fuck was the shit sticky and really good then over the past year I've been doing some research on leds(the research I should I done before I bought the lights) and for some reason leds do something do draw the thc out of the plant better than other lights.im not sure of the science behind it but it's out there so adding an led in my opinion is a good thing but before you reach for your credit card do some research of your own and DONT buy cheap lights that look like they should be blinking on the front grill of a police car! That's my 2 cents spend it wisely/ lol

Thanks for the advice! I understand completely, trying to navigate the LED market is a nightmare. I've been looking at the cheap led"s but found a HGL quantum board kit for $500AU. Reviews are good and it's not much more expensive than the equivalent cheaper brand. One thing I noticed is that in Mars Hydro advertising they actually compare the new TS white light with the "cheap crap" and the "crap" brand picture looks EXACTLY like the Mars Reflector series (burple). I have no confidence in a company that tells me to trust their new product by showing me how crap the previous model is (Which they are still selling!) I don't have any brand affiliation, just something I noticed. (To be fair I have seen a positive review of the TS series on MIGROW).

 

[Fastass419]

I have 2 mars sp250 and they are great light my plants love them I have a vivosun 600w dimmable mh/hp air cooled hid and my mars light are better

 

[Ilovedrugs]

I have 2 mars sp250 and they are great light my plants love them I have a vivosun 600w dimmable mh/hp air cooled hid and my mars light are better

Thanks for the input, I don't want to waste my money. It seems odd that there are so many conflicting opinions re LED's. So ur sayingthat 2 sp250 are better than 1 600w HID? They look Ok, but I can get the HGL quantum board kit for the same price as 2 sp250 and it has the same coverage (veg 4x4 flow 3x3). If the Mars sp was cheaper I would trust your opinion and give it a go- but I will go with the more reliable brand quantum board for the same price. Glad your sp's are good! Happy Growing!