Hello, I'm looking for a lighting solution that won't require me to have different sets of bulbs for veg to flower. I'm looking for something easy to cool, and that will provide more than enough light for a 4x4x5 foot tent. My plan is 3 autoflowers, no training just defolation, in an organic soil medium. My budget is $40-100 , and I'll be using Amazon for my orders. I wast contemplating a GalaxyHydro 300w LED panel for $110, but everything I've read here says that they sick donkey.. appendages. I then considered a four bulb, 2ft T5 ballast, but they don't look nearly as bright as the budget LED panel..
you aren't going to get anything that will do all that for 75$. you also shouldn't need to light a whole 4x4 tent if you're only growing three plants. also I think the only light you'll get that cheap on amazon that's worth getting is a 300w mars hydro and only one might be enough to grow 3 plants but 2 would probably give you alot more yield.
Hmn.. well, with defolating, I could probably get away with a 2x2x4 tent.. My consern is over lapping the three plants, and light penetration if I downsize my tent dimentions.
sneaky edit, for about 115$ you can get a cheap 400 w hps, but I feel like you'd probably need atleast 1 good fan to go with it or you'd have heat issues, maybe look at 250w hps and a small inline fan for cooling, but that might still break your budget and I don't use hps or mh but supposedly its alot better to use a mh bulb for veg. 4 ft could be to short if you don't plan to do any training, even autos can grow 3ft+ and with any light except cfls you need atleast about 8" of space so the light doesn't burn your plants
The 300 watt LED panels are really nice... no guarantees on their longevity, but I got mine for 80$ on amazon and im thrilled my cheap LED grow. 168 watts at the wall: https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1393482-My-"Everything-Wrong"-grow...-probably-no-harvest-:-/
Sorry, I finished the edit while you were replying lol Hmn... Am I correct in assuming that the lower wattage the hps, the less heat produced? (Or are they all about the same heat?) ..if so, how many watts of hps should I need for three auto-flowers, and what should my lumen output look like? How do they fair for veg through flower? Do you have a journal going?
I have a 600 watt hps in a 2x4x5 tent you can't have too much light but you can have not enough coverage and that would no where be enough light for even a tent the size of mine the minimum for my tent is 450 watts! So your tent minimum I'm guessing off the top of my head would be 600 watts. Now your Mars led probably only actually uses 130 watts so theoretically you would need 4-5 of those lights in that tent! Smaller space would definitely equal a greater yield due to light intensity inside that smaller space. There are several light calculators on Google that would help! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Thank you! Hmn.. so I've never worked with HPS before, may someone explain how they operate in terms of cooling and maintenance? :S (They're a little intimidating tbh)
im still relatively new to growing and I haven't used an hps at all and even when I looked into getting one I never looked at one smaller than a 400w so I'm not sure honestly. all I can suggest is that you research alot and save some more money. it's always going to be a lot cheaper to only buy a whole grow setup once, I've already purchased extras of a few things like fans when I realized what I had wouldn't work.
That's great advice, and yeah, that's my consern. I'm trying to get the main tent built for cheap, and all in one go - but sturdy. I would much rather make little adjustments over time than huge overhauls after my initial investment. :/
Upgrading later on actually costs more in the long run I know trust me I went from budget startup to screw this junk equipment and redoing the whole operation! You can either harvest barely enough or have excess on harvest day! Hps = more heat so be prepared to move the air out of that room three times per minute. I have a 40 sqft room and a 600cfm fan running on low with a fan speed controller. In the summer I pump the air outside in the winter I use the heat generated to heat the house and believe it makes a huge difference on the gas bill! So your savings add up there! I got my air cooled hood ballast my mh and hps bulb off of Amazon for under $175 then just got the speed control for like 15 bucks overall with tent and all supplies I invested less them $500 bucks shipped and haven't purchased anything other then dirt and new bulbs in the last two years. I was spending hundred bucks s week on smoke from my guy now I spend maybe $50 a month and have jars full of weed you will find yourself giving weed away if you setup right Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
That's basically the same boat I'm in! I was paying over $300 a month for my medicine, and I woke up one morning and was like "why the hell am I paying for a plant I can learn to grow myself?" Fast forward 3 budget grow cabinets and 2 years of practice, and now I'm ready to have a real setup. I want to grow enough for personal use that my girl and I never have to buy again lol
Tried to post before but the app screwed up. I actually have a new journal as of today using the 300W LED from amazon... 80$ Should be in my sig... 210 watt perpetual box https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1394922-210-watt-3.5-sq-ft-Northern-Lights-and-White-Widow:
See, I like the affordability of those cheap LED panels as a way into LEDs, but before paying for one I want to see that they produce a great yield... I mean, I can't afford to drop $400 on a 'real' mainstream panel, so the cheap galaxy hydro or Mars hydro are really my only options if I want to go the led route.. I've grown with cre led light bulbs in the past, and I LOVED the increased resin they produced!
I do own one cheap led, its a king 1200. I only used it one week before I got my high powered leds. It was doing ok but never flowered with it and had mh in the tent with it. when I got my other high powered leds that's when my plants took off during veg.
I use 2- 300w galaxyhydro led panels. A bit more than $100 each on Amazon. They're pretty inexpensive lights as LEDs go. I've had these for more than a year and they're still working great. I have a 36in vertical space to grow so If I had one of those more expensive, higher intensity LED panels I would have lots of bleaching issues. With this panel the plants can grow right up and just about touch the lights with no issues. This is from my last blue dream grow Ended up with 175g or 6.24oz Not too bad for personal use. This is from my current blue hash grow http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1390185-Kyla%27s-Blue-Hash-in-soil-grow
A diy led can be as cheap as $1 a watt to build. I can link you to a thread if interested. The marshydro on eBay is $60 but youd need at least 3 or 4 in that size tent. I would personally get a 400 or 600hid and ventilation for that size tent and those plants though Sent from my LGL22C using Tapatalk
That's not bad at all! Yeah, like I said, I need to produce about 1-2 Oz a month, so that's great. I would love a diy led panel, especially if I could build on at a rate like that! Hmn.. link please?