I'm currently in veg (two plants) in a 2x4x5 tent using two Mars 300 led lights. I know the Mars 300's will work for veg but how high of HPS wattage do you think I need to supliment these babies in the blooming stage?
Each one is 132 actual watts. Looked that up, maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't lol If you want to add more light I'd suggest getting another led since you already have 2. Hps requires more than just plugging it in like leds. The hood/reflector takes up a lot of room in a 2x4, then you gotta change up the exhaust setup/fan speed to try to deal with the heat, if you turn the fan up it lowers both the heat and humidity etc...But then you may find you need more or bigger air intakes to make up for it. Then you have to mount the ballast somewhere. If it was a larger tent or you didn't already have leds my answer would be different, I love HIDs but hate them sometimes lol.. I'd just grab another Mars 300 on Amazon for like $70-80 if theyve been workin for you. Just noticed you said your tent is 5 ft high. I'd definitely not use a hps in that tent.
You should be fine with what you have. A 300 watt LED is supposed to be the equivalent of a larger wattage HPS lamp and you have two to cover both plants with, so I wouldn't worry about adding in extra unless you just want to. It's only going to run the temp up in your tent while the lights are on. It would pump up the size of your buds more, but you would have to install a ducting system to pull the heat they put off out of your flower space. Try it with those two this time and if you don't end up with what you want, you might consider putting some more in. But if you let the plants get used to the LEDs and keep them as close as possible...without chance of light burn, you should come out with a pretty good yield just using those. TWW
I'm a mechanical engineer with a master electricians license and a journeyman plumber lol. Hooking stuff up is no issue. One day I will post pics of my little tent and it's amenities. I built a hidden 8'x8' room in my house with full climate control, piped my intake/exhaust out through the utility chimney. Dedicated water supply and plumbed pot drainage so I don't have to shop vac any runoff water. My girlfriend has lived here for 3 years and has no idea this room even exist lol. I even passed a home inspection when I refinanced my house. When my state goes legal, I am ready to throw down. I guess I am curious if adding a small HPS would benefit my small set up. I'm swamped in HPS and HID bulbs, plus quite a few ballast assemblies because of my job retro fitting commercial buildings with new led security lighting. I put in work on all my jobs because just pushing a ink pen sucks. Lol. Thanks for the advise, I've never used HPS with a grow and lack experience in growing with mixed lighting variables.