What wattage do i need my light's at please help me!!

[Maddison]

Hi guys so I originally bought a 70watt light for a grow tent of 100x100x200 thinking it would be enough that is until I joined here and got pointed in the right direction.. thanks!

So now I have bought a 2000 watt light off amazon It comes tommorrow I'll upload the new light and a video of my grow space with the old light in.

I presume it has a setting to lower it (I hope so)

Can you guys let me know exactly what wattage i would need in my tent

Like how much for tiny seedling

How much when flowering

How much when blooming and how long do you think I should have my day night cycle

I no I'm asking alot i just wanna make sure i get it right

Thanks guys

 

[mr.greenthumb03]

Why are these cheap lighting companies still advertising false wattage numbers. You need to read between the lines to figure out what your actually getting.
Hahaha. Coverage area 4.5x8ft. Ya right.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

You might get a lot of different answers for your light period question. This is just what has worked for me: 24 hours for the first month, 18 hours for the remainder of veg, and 12 hours in flower. I run photoperiod plants.

As for light intensity, there are a lot of variables. I start seedlings under a 2-foot, 2-bulb T5, hanging 6 inches above the top of the plants. I finish my plants under about 35 watts per square foot of LED. Your 100x100 tent is about 11 square feet, so I'd want 385W of LED for flower. I start veg at about 25% of my finishing wattage, or about 9 watts of LED per ft². I ramp the light intensity up through veg and flower, depending on how the plants look. If the leaves are flat, level, and vibrant green, they're happy with the light level. If they're curling, taco-ing, twisting, or contorting in any way, or if there are colors other than green, I turn the light down. If the leaves are praying an hour before lights out, I consider turning the light up. How the plants look is a better indication of what to do with the lights than any schedule or meter. Again, just what's worked for me.

Hope that helps.

 

[amneziaHaze]

300w

 

[Maddison]

Why are these cheap lighting companies still advertising false wattage numbers. You need to read between the lines to figure out what your actually getting.
Hahaha. Coverage area 4.5x8ft. Ya right.

View attachment 2367128

Oh ffs I see what you mean
I got excited when I seen 2000 wattage and clicked buy now iv got 2 lights that ain't good enough do you think I could run the two together ir does it not work like that??

 

[BearWater]

Oh ffs I see what you mean
I got excited when I seen 2000 wattage and clicked buy now iv got 2 lights that ain't good enough do you think I could run the two together ir does it not work like that??

No worries! There are more of us out here than you’d think! ( they had me fooled in the beginning!) those little lights will be great for starting seedling and cloning and even some vegging!

check out spider farmer or aci. they have some really affordable lights that will give you great results for the price! I have a sf1000 and it will absolutely flower a couple smaller foot printed plants!

 

[amneziaHaze]

Oh ffs I see what you mean
I got excited when I seen 2000 wattage and clicked buy now iv got 2 lights that ain't good enough do you think I could run the two together ir does it not work like that??

200w is still not bad just the design of the light looks kinda small.probably edges of the box will get less light but middle will give nice buds.
you can do veg like i do it with my 60W small pots close together then when big enough under a big light with big pots

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I think rectangular-shaped panel lights work best in tents with rectangular floor space. For a square tent, which is what the OP has, a square light, would work better. (That's IMO, of course.) For example, here's a picture of what I mean by a square light:

This is a ViparSpectra light. I just used the image and am not necessarily recommending this specific light.

 

[mstrpkl]

I have a 2x2x4 tent with a 100W LED light. Your tent is 4x4x6, you probably just need around 200W-300W

 

[mr.greenthumb03]

Budget dictates everything, for max cannabis growth potential, 27-40 watts/square foot is recommended.
I’ve got 1350watts of spider farmer lighting in a 4x8 for flower.

 

[mr.greenthumb03]

If you want big, compact flowers you need to be push them to max potential.

 

[amneziaHaze]

I think rectangular-shaped panel lights work best in tents with rectangular floor space. For a square tent, which is what the OP has, a square light, would work better. (That's IMO, of course.) For example, here's a picture of what I mean by a square light:

View attachment 2367144

This is a ViparSpectra light. I just used the image and am not necessarily recommending this specific light.

i like this style



and isnt 100x100x200 a 3x3x6 tent

 

[Maddison]

View attachment 2367156
i like this style

Have you got a direct link so I can just purchase I'm soooooo confused

 

[amneziaHaze]

no, but maybe amazon its called lumatek attis pro 300W

 

[Maddison]

You might get a lot of different answers for your light period question. This is just what has worked for me: 24 hours for the first month, 18 hours for the remainder of veg, and 12 hours in flower. I run photoperiod plants.

As for light intensity, there are a lot of variables. I start seedlings under a 2-foot, 2-bulb T5, hanging 6 inches above the top of the plants. I finish my plants under about 35 watts per square foot of LED. Your 100x100 tent is about 11 square feet, so I'd want 385W of LED for flower. I start veg at about 25% of my finishing wattage, or about 9 watts of LED per ft². I ramp the light intensity up through veg and flower, depending on how the plants look. If the leaves are flat, level, and vibrant green, they're happy with the light level. If they're curling, taco-ing, twisting, or contorting in any way, or if there are colors other than green, I turn the light down. If the leaves are praying an hour before lights out, I consider turning the light up. How the plants look is a better indication of what to do with the lights than any schedule or meter. Again, just what's worked for me.

Hope that helps.

Love this reply thankyou

 

[Halloweed]

I have a 4x4x6 tent. My first lights were the Chinese blurpal lights. Didn't amount to much but it budded.

I went ahead and got the spiderfarmer 3000. It's not as cheap as the blurple ones but are good for the price.

Good luck!

 

[Maddison]

I have a 4x4x6 tent. My first lights were the Chinese blurpal lights. Didn't amount to much but it budded.

I went ahead and got the spiderfarmer 3000. It's not as cheap as the blurple ones but are good for the price.

Good luck!

How much was it if you dont mind me asking?

 

[ArtfulCodger]

Love this reply thankyou

A couple more random things that I wish I knew starting out. 1) With LEDs, it's great if the light conforms, more or less, to the space you're trying to light. Square light for square tent, long rectangular light for long rectangular tent, etc. That helps keep the light more uniform across the canopy, and we love all our buds the same. 2) Hanging height is kind of a big deal. The closer the light is hanging, the more intensity the tops are receiving. I generally recommend that new growers hang LEDs at the top of their tents. No light manufacturer recommends this, because they're all in an arms race to have the highest light intensity from the least input wattage. 3) It's really nice for a light to have a continuous dimmer, as opposed to one that dims in chunks. Sometimes your plants will want 65% of your light's maximum output, and if the only choices are 25, 50, 75, and 100, you stuck either over- or under-lighting. 4) Detachable drivers with long cords are nice, so you can move the driver outside the tent if you run into heat challenges.

 

[PooToe]

Hi guys so I originally bought a 70watt light for a grow tent of 100x100x200 thinking it would be enough that is until I joined here and got pointed in the right direction.. thanks!

So now I have bought a 2000 watt light off amazon It comes tommorrow I'll upload the new light and a video of my grow space with the old light in.

I presume it has a setting to lower it (I hope so)

Can you guys let me know exactly what wattage i would need in my tent

Like how much for tiny seedling

How much when flowering

How much when blooming and how long do you think I should have my day night cycle

I no I'm asking alot i just wanna make sure i get it right

Thanks guys

As has been mentioned, the rule of thumb for light power in a tent is 25 - 30 watts per square foot. Your tent specs converted to feet means you have a 3 x 3.

3 x 3 =9
9 * 25w = 225w

This means you want to have at least 225w of light energy in the tent to be able to deliver the required amount of light energy to max out the plants potential.

As you have already discovered, manufacturer claims tend to fall short of actual performance numbers. I have a similar light to yours and it puts out 225w max. I assume your light has the same specs as most of these style lights are produced by the same manufacturer but labeled to the clients brand. If you go back and look at the specs in the ad it should tell you what the wattage of the light is. The "2000w" claim is for what they consider the light to be comparable to.

From what I'm understanding, you have 2 lights. One that is 100w and another that is the assumed 225w bringing the total light energy hanging in your tent to 325w. More than enough for your goals. If you were wondering, yes, turn on both switches from seed to harvest. Don't just use one for grow and one for bloom.

In regard to light energy vs stages of growth, I would suggest you download a free light meter app to be able to get an idea of how much light energy is falling on your plants and be able to adjust accordingly. If you have an Iphone then Photone seems to be the app of choice. For an android phone, Tent Buddy is the app you want.

This is what the Tent Buddy app interface looks like. As you can see it lists the ranges you want to stay in for each stage of growth.

If you want a rough guide to how high and at what intensity to setup your light you can use this chart.

Standard light cycles are 18/6 in veg and 12/12 in flower for photoperiod seeds. For Autos I like to run them 20/4 in flower.

I would suggest you look into DLI(Daily Light Integral). I use this method to determine how much light energy I want to give my plants at each stage of growth. It has helped me maximize the potential of the plant while minimizing light stress.

Don't worry about asking for advice. That is the whole idea of this forum. As they say, The only dumb question was the one that was never asked.

As far as blurple performance, I must've gotten one of the good ones because I see no difference in regard to my harvest dry weight.

My last run which included the blurple I mentioned.

 

[PooToe]

Have you got a direct link so I can just purchase I'm soooooo confused

Before you buy check out this link but, IMO, you have enough light. A bar style light will give you better overall coverage which is best suited for ScrOG style grows.