Hey guys I just built a indoor grow box and the deminsions at 2x2x4'. It's lined with Mylar and has one exhaust fan and two intake fans. I'm have a choice to make with my lighting situation. Due to my new living situation I want my energy bill to be on the lower side and I want to keep heat down so I was looking at a possible led setup to grow 2-3 plants. Any opinions? Reason I'm choosing led is because energy costs, if you have an alternative let me know. Thanks in advance for all the help
a good quality led system will cost a lot to buy why not go for a 150w or a 250w hps this will keep the electria and heat low. a scrog setup would do a great job in your groom
Dude. Use what I use. They deleted my pictures when they renovated the forum, but I use the California Lightworks 400w LED. I fucking LOVE it. Do 2 plants, LST, SCROG, and defoliation, and you're gonna have a fucking magnificent yield. http://www.grow-lite-store.com/california-lightworks/
I can't personally say anything about MH/HPS vs LED since i'm basically a complete noob to growing and i've just started my first attempt and it's failing pretty hard so far, although i'm using 300w LED 'grow panels' from ebay and i'm starting to suspect that i possibly shouldn't have tested my first grow with not-so-sure about products. Since it's your first attempt, my advice to you (whether you choose to accept it ) is to either A) Deal with the bill, buy a good MH/HPS combo and get guaranteed results (provided you've done everything else right). or B) go for an EXPENSIVE BUT PROVEN LED panel, as you're guaranteed to save money on electricity. A comparison was done and i don't remember the numbers exactly but the electricity cost was around $300 for HPS and in an equal plant/wattage situation with LED panels was only around $85. So you're looking at some serious savings if you plan on going for multiple grows. Also i can tell you i've been in a room with a HPS and they can REALLY pump out some heat if you don't vent them properly, which is another expensive addition. My room with LED panel's stay icy cool, they really don't give off much heat at all... As for yield, once again i can only talk from what i've read here and on other forums - But i've seen a very reputable grower here, cant remember his name, did 2 grow comparisons for an LED grow panel producer to compare quality between MH/HPS vs LED. The yield was significantly lower using LED's in both comparisons (this is from memory, correct me if im wrong someone) but for the second attempt he blamed high humidity/room temps as set by the LED company themselves. I think ill go find them and link them here, they're really worth a read if you're gonna invest in LED's EDIT: Can't for the life of me find the thread i was referring to. If you take a look in the 'Grow Journal' section and find a few threads specified for LED's you can at least see what brands/lights other people are having success with. Good luck!
If you got the cash to spend they yeah get some LEDs, but don't go cheap on em or you'll be disappointed. If that's to expensive go the CFL route. But really a nice 400w MH/HPS won't raise that much of your bill. Switch out the bulbs in your house for low watt energy savers and stuff. That way it compensates for the 400w. You should be okay though it's not like you're running multiple 1000 watters.
