New grower, having trouble finding the ideal lights. Please halp!!!

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BloodShot

BloodShot

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https://atreumlighting.com/blogs/news/atreum-288-2-sphere-test-report
I have three of them in my 2x4 tent.
Getting great growth and can keep the heat low as well.
How many you need would depend on how much light you want for your area. I'm sure someone can chime in on how much you need. If it were me I would use 4 or 5.
IMG 4779
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

538
143
For sure man. If it was me, I would gi with the x5 or x6 cobs. I am getting rather good results from them.

X5 COB 1500W LED Grow Light,Sunshine Full Spectrum Grow Light for Greenhouse and Indoor Plant Flowering Growing (White

I prefer these to the burple due to them being a nice white light. They provide the par charts and the spectrum as well.
They are also around the same price as a 1000w burple and outperform them with par output and spectrum.

I have a 3x3 tent with 1 in it right now. It's doing so good I bought 2 more for my dad's grow.

They are cheap(ish) they come with a warranty, they perform well. Not much else to say. They aren't the best led light around, but they are the best I've found for the price.

From the chart you can see at 2ft you get a coverage of 4x4 with a center of over 1100 par and edges of over 600 par.
You can work out your needs from there.

Hope that helps without breaking the bank.
۝ 1500w(5pcs 300w integrated COB leds) light just consumes about 250W power, energy saving; Big lighting area and high LUX, small unit with high brightness and Long lifespan
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
https://atreumlighting.com/blogs/news/atreum-288-2-sphere-test-report
I have three of them in my 2x4 tent.
Getting great growth and can keep the heat low as well.
How many you need would depend on how much light you want for your area. I'm sure someone can chime in on how much you need. If it were me I would use 4 or 5.
View attachment 879010
This ^^^ quality parts and good performance.
Personally I suggest staying away from cheap preassembled fixtures. Cheap parts lead to poor life and poor efficiency. Watts means nothing if your efficiency is shit.

Here is another good option. The efficiency of these diodes are very high so you get the most ppfd or par out of the wattage.
https://www.amazon.com/LM301B-288Pc...uantum+boards&qid=1562182719&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I run a 600watt led that puts out more ppfd than a DE 1000watt hps. I'm telling you watts is deceiving even when comparing led to led. Don't take the bait on cheap diodes and drivers that don't last and are not as efficient. If it doesn't tell you the diodes or tries to inflate the wattage upfront and hides the actual wattage in the fine print there is a reason for that.
 
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Fiasco79

Fiasco79

98
53
I'd go china knock off quantum boards in your setup.

2x 800 lm301b boards on heatsinks and a 480w Meanwell driver with a dimmer.

You could also go with strips. I built a small veg box 2x2.5x2.5 with 400mm 96x lm561c and put 6 of them in with a 150W driver.

You get kits delivered to US or UK for about $500-$600

Screenshot 20190703 220823


Check alibaba for Meiju, Mufue, Kingbrite, R2T. You'll find all sorts of boards you could fit on your footprint and get max coverage at max efficiency for a fragment of the price of the off the shelf product like Gavita, Fluence...

You also have HLG stateside that's solid with prices, quality and costumer service but might be just slightly out of your budget.

Millions of options out there
 
BigCube

BigCube

2,676
263
You dont need 2 different lights. You just need a light that is high in both blue and red spectrum. When a plant is in veg, it utilizes more of the blue spectrum than the red. If a plant is flowering it utilizes more of the red spectrum than the blue.

Some people like to have 2 separate lights or bulbs that favor the plants needs, one for veg, 1 for flower. But if you have a light that is high in both, you dont need to worry about it.

1 in my 3x3x6 tent is almost too much.
15621878376033537281501725797933
 
Migrower

Migrower

300
93
I'd go china knock off quantum boards in your setup.

2x 800 lm301b boards on heatsinks and a 480w Meanwell driver with a dimmer.

You could also go with strips. I built a small veg box 2x2.5x2.5 with 400mm 96x lm561c and put 6 of them in with a 150W driver.

You get kits delivered to US or UK for about $500-$600

View attachment 879025

Check alibaba for Meiju, Mufue, Kingbrite, R2T. You'll find all sorts of boards you could fit on your footprint and get max coverage at max efficiency for a fragment of the price of the off the shelf product like Gavita, Fluence...

You also have HLG stateside that's solid with prices, quality and costumer service but might be just slightly out of your budget.

Millions of options out there
I would like to see your veg setup. I like the idea of that. I was gonna build a strip build because I couldn’t find a linear setup I was satisfied with on alibaba. I ended going with 480w of kingbrite lm301 660nm reds. They’re killing I believe. (First grow) I vegged with a cheap hipargero light but that also did amazingly well though That was my first lighting research and purchase. The second was even more time consuming. Listen to the advise on do your research before spending a penny. You’ll understand by your second light purchase
 
Fiasco79

Fiasco79

98
53
I would like to see your veg setup. I like the idea of that. I was gonna build a strip build because I couldn’t find a linear setup I was satisfied with on alibaba. I ended going with 480w of kingbrite lm301 660nm reds. They’re killing I believe. (First grow) I vegged with a cheap hipargero light but that also did amazingly well though That was my first lighting research and purchase. The second was even more time consuming. Listen to the advise on do your research before spending a penny. You’ll understand by your second light purchase
 
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C

COOTG

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1
W
I like that! Whats up with cutting the tips off the leaves?
 
Migrower

Migrower

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That’s a nice veg set up bro for sure. I’ve come to the realization that you don’t need intense light and a lot watts to veg cannabis. Your plants seem very happy. Did you order off Alibaba? And it appears you have six strips. Are you even pushing more than 120w at peak veg say preparing for flip? The light distribution is awesome. Is that inside a closet? Looks great!
 
Migrower

Migrower

300
93
And leaves are cut while taking clones to help with the transpiration of the bigger leaves. If you cut off most of the leave it’s less water that can transpire thru them and therefore less stress and more energy put towards growing new roots. Once the plant is sufficiently happily grasped into its medium then it will start to grow up and out.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
That’s a nice veg set up bro for sure. I’ve come to the realization that you don’t need intense light and a lot watts to veg cannabis. Your plants seem very happy. Did you order off Alibaba? And it appears you have six strips. Are you even pushing more than 120w at peak veg say preparing for flip? The light distribution is awesome. Is that inside a closet? Looks great!
For veg no but for flower it makes a big difference. Again I would be more concerned over ppfd or par over watts and a lot of the preassembled cheap fixtures highly exaggerate the info. For knocks offs like Chinese QBs that list the diodes and drivers it's easily seen that these fixtures are a good option. But for the ones that do not I would recommend staying away.
 
Fiasco79

Fiasco79

98
53
For veg no but for flower it makes a big difference. Again I would be more concerned over ppfd or par over watts and a lot of the preassembled cheap fixtures highly exaggerate the info. For knocks offs like Chinese QBs that list the diodes and drivers it's easily seen that these fixtures are a good option. But for the ones that do not I would recommend staying away.


That rig would flower just fine at 30W/sqr'

The only problem is the height at 2.5'
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
That rig would flower just fine at 30W/sqr'

The only problem is the height at 2.5'
I agree. What I was responding to was the light intensity comment and that the cheaper preassembled fixtures while they maybe the same wattage have a lower ppfd because of the difference in efficiency. Looking at it now I worded it poorly
 
GrnMtnGrowR

GrnMtnGrowR

249
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Im totally new to this, and have been getting overwhelmed with the difference in all the information available. My grow room is 2'x5'. I have 6' of usable height to grow, the air filter and lights take up the rest. My lights are on adjustable hangers, and currently using 2 Agrobrite FLT24 T5 lighting systems, with 4 of their 24w 6400k lights per system for veg stage, and 4 of Vivosuns 24w 3000k lights per system for flowering. Ultimately, Im just wanting to balance the best yield and potency without breaking the bank. I simply cant afford to throw $1000 worth of lights in their. I live in a hot and humid area, so ideally something that doesn't put off too much heat. I'm only planning on growing 2 plants at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA
Tangilope Grow
You don't say, but assuming you use the same space for veg and grow? Check out what I just started using, 2 of these for a 2' x 5' area would be ideal. 3000k for flowering I believe would be best, but I am trying to do full veg and bloom with 4000k to see how that works. Available in either 4000k or 3000k . The Matristar S1 uses german made Osram LED's or the S2 which uses Samsung LED's. You can get 2 lights for less than $400 shipped from California.
 
Fiasco79

Fiasco79

98
53
That’s a nice veg set up bro for sure. I’ve come to the realization that you don’t need intense light and a lot watts to veg cannabis. Your plants seem very happy. Did you order off Alibaba? And it appears you have six strips. Are you even pushing more than 120w at peak veg say preparing for flip? The light distribution is awesome. Is that inside a closet? Looks great!


Screenshot 20190704 023536



It's a box 🤣
 
Dronabinol

Dronabinol

2
1
Im totally new to this, and have been getting overwhelmed with the difference in all the information available. My grow room is 2'x5'. I have 6' of usable height to grow, the air filter and lights take up the rest. My lights are on adjustable hangers, and currently using 2 Agrobrite FLT24 T5 lighting systems, with 4 of their 24w 6400k lights per system for veg stage, and 4 of Vivosuns 24w 3000k lights per system for flowering. Ultimately, Im just wanting to balance the best yield and potency without breaking the bank. I simply cant afford to throw $1000 worth of lights in their. I live in a hot and humid area, so ideally something that doesnt put off too much heat. Im only planning on growing 2 plants at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA
HLG Quantum boards. I would get a 300w.
 
az2000

az2000

965
143
My grow room is 2'x5'. I have 6' of usable height to grow,
using 2 Agrobrite FLT24 T5 lighting systems, with 4 of their 24w 6400k lights per system for veg stage,
and 4 of Vivosuns 24w 3000k lights per system for flowering.

I think of T5HO in terms of watts per square foot. I've read 40w/sq ft is optimal, perhaps 45 in mid to late flower. (I follow that as a rule, and have had great results with T5HO. ).

In your case, you have 10sq ft of space. That should require 400-450w of T5HO. But, you only have 8 24w tubes (192w).

Considering the height you can grow, CMH would be a better choice IMO. A 3x3 space with 35w/sq ft (315w total). But, your space isn't optimal for that.

You mentioned heat. The nice thing about CMH is you can get remote ballasts. And, you can even do the same thing with T5HO. Fulham sells remote-mountable ballasts (RHA-UNV-245-LT5, for example for 4' bulbs). If you call them, they can tell you the ballasts that can be remote mounted for 2' bulbs.

I've grown with LED (cheap and expensive). I like the old-school lights better. I liked the finished product better.

Don't forget to replace your t5ho bulbs. I replace my flower tubes every two grows (1000 hours use). I rotate them to veg (anything will veg plants).
 
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az2000

az2000

965
143
I think of T5HO in terms of watts per square foot. I've read 40w/sq ft is optimal, perhaps 45 in mid to late flower. (I follow that as a rule, and have had great results with T5HO. ).

In your case, you have 10sq ft of space. ...

Sorry to bump my own post. (I was going to edit it, but it was too late.). I wanted to give an example of how you could leverage your existing two T5HO 4-tube 2' fixtures.

If you had a 2' x 4' space, that would be 8sq ft. You'd need 320w. That is six 8' tubes. (A 4-tube fixture and a 2-tube so you can cantaliever them a little, and sidelight the plants a bit. You could do three 2-tube fixtures to get more wrap-around of the light.). In flower, you could add 40w of sidelighting in the corners using household LED bulbs. (Say, a 10w bulb in each corner. I'm not in love with LED. But, in this case where 90% of the light is coming from T5HO, I'd use LED bulbs for supplementing instead of using CFLs. You said heat was an issue. I don't think the heat of CFLs would be worth any benefit the CFL has over the LED -- in this case, where 90% of the light is coming from fluorescent.).

What I described above is almost exactly your grow space. You just have an additonal 6 inches (1 sq ft) on each side. You need an additional 80 watts. Your existing two 4-tube 2' fixtures probably have a switch to run 2 or 4 tubes. You could use these fixtures on each side, cantalieverd to sidelight more. You'd only run two tubes in each. That would give you 420w total (or, in your 10sq ft space: 42w/sq ft.). In veg, you probably wouldn't run the two side fixtures. The plants would be smaller. In transition/flower they would spread out more. Then you'd turn on those side wings. And, maybe add four 10w (60w equiv) LED bulbs later in flower. (Putting you up to 460w, and 46w/sq ft in mid- to late-flower.). You probably wouldn't have to do those bulbs. But, I think more light helps in mid- to late-flower. I also think more coverage/sidelight/angles is the best kind of light. Bathe the plant all around.

All you'd need is two or three 4' fixtures. It's just a matter of whether you use 4-tube + 2-tube. Or, three 2-tubes. That's not a big expense to leverage what you already have. And, the fixtures are long-term investments. It's not something you discard (many LED grow lights are.). If you do remote ballasts, that would add to the expense. But, again, it's a commodity you can swap parts forever.
 
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