Scientific
New Member
Those look great to me! 
Since you're asking for feedback, I think maybe next grow you might get bigger buds with more light? Just an optimization...
Since you're asking for feedback, I think maybe next grow you might get bigger buds with more light? Just an optimization...
- Thread starter
- #3
Thanks for the feedback. Right now I am running a mars reflector 144. I just added two LED spotlights rated at 160 ( i know cant go completely by that lol) in the back corners to help with some buds back in that area. I really would like to stick with LED lights. I would like to add to this light. Any suggestions?
Scientific
New Member
How many actual watts or amps from the wall are you using? As you probably know, an LED lamp "rated" 160 will typically be actually using about half that.
I see that the 144 draws about 310 actual watts. How many square feet is that spread over? The lighting gurus hate calculations based on watts per square foot, but I think that would give a good result over maybe four or five square feet? If the LED spots are using an actual 80 watts each, that gives you 310 + 160 = 470 watts. If you went with 75 watts per square foot, that would give you about 6 square feet.
YMMV and like I said gurus hate watts/sq ft and want PAR and all that.
Another way to look at it would be just to go with what you used this time and multiply by 1.5 actual watts.
All this just kind of back-of-the envelope noodling...
With luck someone else will chime in here with another perspective...
- Thread starter
- #5
I am doing this in a 2x4x6 foot tent. as for the flood light it says only 16 watts used so its not too much it seems. Perhaps get a couple of those 80 watt screw in led bulbs made for this.
Scientific
New Member
So... "80 watts" of 3500K light (about 13 watts actual)? Or 80 actual watts? Or blurple LED grow light? (Things have gotten so complicated.)
Going back to the watts per foot calculation that the lighting gurus hate so much, you had 310 + 16 + 16 = 342 watts over 8 square feet, which is about 40 watts per square foot, which as I suspected is on the low side. (For example, my summer deck grow got about 8 hours of light a day from dawn to 1 PM or so and grew a very pretty plant but with low potency. The same strain with 65 watts per square foot or so indoors (and 24 hours a day and for 11 weeks at that...) produced very well. (Both grows are in my sig file if you're curious.)
So going back to my original thought, it does look like you could use about half again more light or more if you want to increase bud size and THC production. All this, once again, just kinda back-of-the envelope calculations, but close enough to get an idea of where you might want to go next.
Like I said, your buds look great, so this is just optimizing.
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- #7
The 13 watts I am talking about is the simple LED flood lights i bought at wal mart the other night. I know they are weak but they are providing a little bit of needed light to those spaces needed. The 80 watt one I seen was on ebay for like 26 bucks. I could use those instead of the ones I got now. But in all honesty I am going to probably try another light when taxes come around. I dont plan on doing another grow till march. I could opt for the reflector 192 which draws 387 or I could just go all out and get the Mars Pro 2 Epistar 320. It has a draw of 740 lol. Both of these are for a 4x4 tent but the unit itself will fit in a 2x4 tent. I am open to suggestions for other lights. I just dont have thousands to drop on one. Growing on a budget ya know.
The reflector 192 is 300 and the epistar 320 is 580. What led setups do any of you use
The reflector 192 is 300 and the epistar 320 is 580. What led setups do any of you use
improvise
Well-Known Member
Very nice indeed, regards
- Thread starter
- #10
Thanks guys. I have learned a great deal this first indoor grow (I know I am not done yet lol) and how to do things properly and quickly. I really wasnt expecting a huge yield this grow as I wanted to learn the setup, how the plant grows, and what to expect. I did a ton of reading before going into RDWC and thought I had it nailed down. Real world applications taught me different lol.
My first miscalculation was how short my plants would be with the LED lighting. I am used to a nice gap between nodes from what i've seen on a couple outdoor grows. Its kinda hard to scrog under a LED light it seems. My plants just gained a lot of girth in the branches and didn't stretch out till the flowering stage. So perhaps next time veg under a different light setup, scrog, and then flower under the LEDs.
The second miscalculation was with the size of my tent. I started out with a 2x4x5 tent but since I wasnt able to scrog that 5 foot wasnt tall enough with the carbon scrubber setup up there so I had to buy a 6 foot tent. Much better now.
I also learned that less is more. Hose clamps are not needed on good quality hoses and fittings. I had hose clamps on everything. That made it such a hassle to get buckets out and clean. Dont skimp on your hoses. I bought my hoses from some random seller. Got 50 foot of 3/4 black hose for like 26 bucks. Thought I was getting a steal. But the wall thickness was so think the hose would kink all the time causing a lot of overfill issues. BUY thick walled hose. I also had shut off valves everywhere. Now I just have one between the reservoir and buckets. I also made the mistake of adding a strainer to the ebb and flow fitting for the return on the reservoir. That got filled up with gunk and caused an overflow.
Cleanup and water changes are a snap now. I use z7 Like duke0 praised about. Its a simple drain water and refill for me. I used to wipe everything down in the beginning of using it but after a few times and seeing how clean everything is its not needed. My water pump in my reservoir is tee'd off and when I need to empty the water I just use a spare hose and hook it up to the shutoff and empty that way. Reservoir is a tad lower than the buckets so it all empties out.
Ive also learned that one plant can be fickle as hell while the other is a dream child. The blackjack has had spotty leaves from week 3. I first thought it was a calcium deficiency but it still developed spots after adding calimag. I raised the ph from 5.8 to 6.3 and it seemed to slow it down a bit but its always had questionable leaves. Roots are super. The master kush however just buzzed right along. I was worried about the master kush in the beginning as it was way shorter than the blackjack but now its the dominant one.
The last thing I want to improve on is smell. The master kush is known as a low odor strain and its true. You cant really smell it unless you are right up on it. Blackjack however stinks. I have a 6" carbon scrubber in this tent. and I have the fan on a speed controller on its lowest setting. I also have a jar of onablock gel outside the tent about 5 foot away in the airflow out of the scrubber. Its really odd when I can smell it. Its usually in the morning. Right when I walk in the door I can smell it for about 2 paces then its gone. lasts for about an hour or so. I think I may too big of a scrubber for the tent and not getting the air filtered enough. I also plan on try a few other known low odor strains like shaman.
My first miscalculation was how short my plants would be with the LED lighting. I am used to a nice gap between nodes from what i've seen on a couple outdoor grows. Its kinda hard to scrog under a LED light it seems. My plants just gained a lot of girth in the branches and didn't stretch out till the flowering stage. So perhaps next time veg under a different light setup, scrog, and then flower under the LEDs.
The second miscalculation was with the size of my tent. I started out with a 2x4x5 tent but since I wasnt able to scrog that 5 foot wasnt tall enough with the carbon scrubber setup up there so I had to buy a 6 foot tent. Much better now.
I also learned that less is more. Hose clamps are not needed on good quality hoses and fittings. I had hose clamps on everything. That made it such a hassle to get buckets out and clean. Dont skimp on your hoses. I bought my hoses from some random seller. Got 50 foot of 3/4 black hose for like 26 bucks. Thought I was getting a steal. But the wall thickness was so think the hose would kink all the time causing a lot of overfill issues. BUY thick walled hose. I also had shut off valves everywhere. Now I just have one between the reservoir and buckets. I also made the mistake of adding a strainer to the ebb and flow fitting for the return on the reservoir. That got filled up with gunk and caused an overflow.
Cleanup and water changes are a snap now. I use z7 Like duke0 praised about. Its a simple drain water and refill for me. I used to wipe everything down in the beginning of using it but after a few times and seeing how clean everything is its not needed. My water pump in my reservoir is tee'd off and when I need to empty the water I just use a spare hose and hook it up to the shutoff and empty that way. Reservoir is a tad lower than the buckets so it all empties out.
Ive also learned that one plant can be fickle as hell while the other is a dream child. The blackjack has had spotty leaves from week 3. I first thought it was a calcium deficiency but it still developed spots after adding calimag. I raised the ph from 5.8 to 6.3 and it seemed to slow it down a bit but its always had questionable leaves. Roots are super. The master kush however just buzzed right along. I was worried about the master kush in the beginning as it was way shorter than the blackjack but now its the dominant one.
The last thing I want to improve on is smell. The master kush is known as a low odor strain and its true. You cant really smell it unless you are right up on it. Blackjack however stinks. I have a 6" carbon scrubber in this tent. and I have the fan on a speed controller on its lowest setting. I also have a jar of onablock gel outside the tent about 5 foot away in the airflow out of the scrubber. Its really odd when I can smell it. Its usually in the morning. Right when I walk in the door I can smell it for about 2 paces then its gone. lasts for about an hour or so. I think I may too big of a scrubber for the tent and not getting the air filtered enough. I also plan on try a few other known low odor strains like shaman.
Odor is subjective. I've noticed my carbon filter works best when I can keep the humidity below 40%. Even though I can't smell it, I know if I opened my front door to anyone it would most likely slap them in the face. 
improvise
Well-Known Member
Talking of smells, how is black jack smelling? I got one growing it`s (her) a freebie single seed. Have u got any the night before chop pics yet? regards
- Thread starter
- #13
The blackjack was rather stinky. Especially cutting it down and trimming it. That was a difficult plant to grow correctly. The leaves always looked like they had a calcium deficiency. Sorry but I have not night before chop pics
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