Additional Light Question

[MrFortwenty]

Hey everyone. I'm currently using a 2.3x.2.3x5 grow tent and a Mars II 400 LED light for my grows. I was looking at adding some additional light and was thinking about throwing in 2X 6500k and 2X 2700K CFL's. I know I can't put too much light in that small space, but would I just be better off adding another small LED like those Roleadro 135W LED UFO's rather than the CFL's? I don't want to replace the Mars completely as it's only 4 or so months old.

 

[Scientific]

> I know I can't put too much light in that small space
The problem is usually not enough light, not too much.

A "400 watt" light usually actually only uses half that, so that's only 200 actual watts over five square feet, so only 40 watts per square foot. Your plants can take (and will love) a lot more light than that!

CFLs are the time honored newbie lights, but household LED light bulbs are probably a better choice now (better spectrum, it is claimed) if you want to go that way, but I'd suggest that another Mars II LED would be a better choice.

 

[MrFortwenty]

> I know I can't put too much light in that small space
The problem is usually not enough light, not too much.

A "400 watt" light usually actually only uses half that, so that's only 200 actual watts over five square feet, so only 40 watts per square foot. Your plants can take (and will love) a lot more light than that!

CFLs are the time honored newbie lights, but household LED light bulbs are probably a better choice now (better spectrum, it is claimed) if you want to go that way, but I'd suggest that another Mars II LED would be a better choice.

Yep for sure. It's not actually drawing that 400w, I knew that. But adding another full fledged LED grow light wouldn't be too much? If there's such a thing as too much light.

If I hold off for a while perhaps I can replace the Mars with something else rather than getting another of the same. I hear they are coming out with another version of the Mars II's.

So if I were to look at a few household LED lights for the time being, what do you suggest for the household LED bulbs?

 

[Scientific]

Yep for sure. It's not actually drawing that 400w, I knew that. But adding another full fledged LED grow light wouldn't be too much? If there's such a thing as too much light.

If I hold off for a while perhaps I can replace the Mars with something else rather than getting another of the same. I hear they are coming out with another version of the Mars II's.

So if I were to look at a few household LED lights for the time being, what do you suggest for the household LED bulbs?

Cannabis LOVES light and needs LOTS of light to produce well. There is a big difference between enough light to grow a nice looking plant and enough light to make big frosty buds.

If you were to double the true wattage from, say, 200 to 400, that would give you 80 watts per square foot, which would be good (although people claim that watts per square foot is not the best way to measure... we're in back-of-the-envelope territory here).

As your lighting increases, it becomes more important to watch out for hot spots, like directly under the lamp where the light is most intense.

You can get household LED light bulbs from "warm white" (about 2700K) to "cool white" (about 4500K) to "daylight" (6500K). People have strong feelings about color spectrum, but the most important thing is just having lots of light, regardless of color temperature. Bluer (6500K) is considered better for vegetative growth and redder (2700K) is considered better for flowering, but I think that's less important than some True Believers believe.

If I was going to make a recommendation, I'd suggest the brightest 6500K bulbs you can get, say 1,500 lumen or better.

 

[MrFortwenty]

I have an opportunity to buy an older used Mars 300W. Cheap at $50. Probably better than buying LED bulbs or CFL's huh?

 

[Scientific]

A Mars 300 uses 132 actual watts. That's the equivalent power of about ten 14-watt LED light bulbs without having to deal with 10 sockets and cords. I think if it was me, I'd go for the Mars unit.

Light bulbs are fun to get started with, but you need so many of them to get enough light for a good result that they get to be a pain just dealing with the shear numbers (but if you need extra cords, sockets, and bulbs, let me know! )

 

[MrFortwenty]

Thanks for the insight. Not sure what I'll do, or if I should just wait to see the new crop of lights that may be around in the new year!