Sly Lycan
Member
Any chance you know where the thread is? I'm new to this forum and it feels so sprawling. If not no worries, I'll find out eventually!
That does sound super interesting though!
Grow Lights?
- Thread starter Sly Lycan
- Start date
That does sound super interesting though!
Might be in this section bud
.Smoke
Well-Known Member
I run a 5x5 with this...
Fold-8 LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants - Full Spectrum, 760W – Medicgrow
Fold-8 Medic Grow Full Spectrum 760W LED Grow Lights for Indoor Plants - 110-277V Providing 4 x 4 ft for both vegetative and flower, our Fold 8 LED grow light for indoor plants supports all stages of the plant's growing lifecycle
medicgrow.com
I just enough light for the space.
Sly Lycan
Member
Thank you, for some reason I was expecting it to be in like a DIY section lol. Didn't dawn on me that it might be with the lights.
How has your experience been with that light? It's one of the ones I added to my list of potentials.I run a 5x5 with this...
Fold-8 LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants - Full Spectrum, 760W – Medicgrow
Fold-8 Medic Grow Full Spectrum 760W LED Grow Lights for Indoor Plants - 110-277V Providing 4 x 4 ft for both vegetative and flower, our Fold 8 LED grow light for indoor plants supports all stages of the plant's growing lifecycle
I just enough light for the space.
.Smoke
Well-Known Member
It's been a great light.
I use it along with an Ac Infinity 69 pro controller for dimming etc.
Yield in the 5x5 is between 1.5-2lbs per grow without really trying that hard.
Definitely recommended it.
Sly Lycan
Member
When people say per grow what exactly does that mean? Is it like per plant or just your whole batch of plants that might be in the grow? Thank you for your experience with it though. I always prefer talking4 to people over reviews.
Figured it out - you used an inline link. I saw it first time through but missed it the second time. Most folks just plop in the pictures.Ah okay thanks. I'm still new to learning the lights and as with those Monios ones, I obviously misunderstood quite a bit. I thought by adding more, it would increase the lighting, which it did, but not to the extent I thought it would. The highest reading with how I spread them out was only at 240~ umol.
Do you mind if I ask what lights you use? I think I may end up just splurging and going with one of the LM301H EVO lights because that would be my ultimate upgrade. I can only base that though on what I know and I haven't found a ton of other decent looking lights for a decent value. I know you mentioned the ViparSpectra XS1500, but I could only find those for $130~. They also appear to be 150 watts. How many would you use if you were to try and get full coverage of the tent? I think 4 would be good. For that size of light they do seem to be some of the most uniform and powerful at the edge lights I have come across.
THe Vipar XS-1500 Pro is $100± on Amazon. I check the price every few weeks and there's often a coupon. It's a great price for a very good product.
You've got a 5' x '5 area? (It's much easier for everyone if you state that up front. Also, "My budget is …".)
The reason I brought up the XS-1500 Pro is because you posted a link to a low end light that was designed for a 2' x 4' grow area that doesn't put out enough light to grow cannabis. To people reading the thread, that implies that you're in a small grow and very budget constrained.
Only under very unusual circumstances would I recommend that a grower use the little Vipar in a 5' tent, multiple lights, of course.
I just ordered a Spider G4500 for my 2' x 4' tent. I'm retiring my Growcraft X3 flower light. Over the course of a grow I'll use the Vipar XS 1500, a Rapid LED Royal Blue puck, a Growcraft X3 veg light, and, now, the Spider for flower. If need be, I can use my Mars SP 3000 for "fill light". I've bought each of those lights at different times in the three years that I've been learning about grow lighting.
I retired the Mars when I got the Growcraft lights. and I bought the Vipar when I needed a fill light. Per above, the Spider will replace the Growcraft flower light. Ideally, I'd have the spectrum of the Growcraft flower light with the PPFD of the Spider but the Spider generates about 30% more light and has a far better PPFD map so I'm retiring the Growcraft.
If I were looking to fill a 5' tent, I would look at the higher end lights from Mars or Spider. Those prices are approaching $1k and they're a completely different product than the $50 light you started this thread with.
What's your budget for a light?
Do you want to fill a 5' x 5' tent with plants or would you consider just using 4'?
A 5' tent is a good sized tent. Are you comfortable that you want your starter tent to be 5' x 5'? I ask that because the light you've picked out can't be used for growing cannabis, loosely speaking, yet a 5' tent is a not insignificant commitment in terms of time, materiel, and money.
.Smoke
Well-Known Member
Per grow= all plants in the tent harvested.When people say per grow what exactly does that mean? Is it like per plant or just your whole batch of plants that might be in the grow? Thank you for your experience with it though. I always prefer talking4 to people over reviews.
Normally 4-6 plants with a 4-6wk veg time fills the space easily.
MissinThe90’sStrains
Well-Known Member
The people that run a full tent - and especially those that use Scrog nets - will definitely benefit from a single big light. I want to run a variety of different phenos with different heights and light preferences, so I want to be able to raise and lower individual lights for specific plants. I also run only plants as needed, and rarely have a full tent. Keeping a few smaller lights around means I can keep my usage hours and overall wear and tear low on my lights by rotating them. Multiple lights have the same overall effect as a bigger light. Just make sure the lights are in the proper light spectrum. If it gets you started sooner, start with one decent light and scale up as you grow.
For a 5x5 tent, I’d consider 2 of these to completely fill it. 1 will get you started and growing half that tent of fine buds. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/spider-farmer-g4500-cost-effective-full-spectrum-led-grow-light/
1 of these will grow 1-2 good plants or 3 will fill the tent : https://www.ledgrowlightsdepot.com/products/viparspectra-xs3000-pro-led-grow-light?variant=40619971674154&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADbQMu8jq5GKaOfZMfkzbJBefQ7lm&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtZK1BhDuARIsAAy2VzsH2SD-oWzu4_8W2GVUkjZFlh66B4HV9KJY_FtDoVeioSJBWfO6IkYaAncjEALw_wcB
For a 5x5 tent, I’d consider 2 of these to completely fill it. 1 will get you started and growing half that tent of fine buds. https://www.spider-farmer.com/products/spider-farmer-g4500-cost-effective-full-spectrum-led-grow-light/
1 of these will grow 1-2 good plants or 3 will fill the tent : https://www.ledgrowlightsdepot.com/products/viparspectra-xs3000-pro-led-grow-light?variant=40619971674154&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADbQMu8jq5GKaOfZMfkzbJBefQ7lm&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtZK1BhDuARIsAAy2VzsH2SD-oWzu4_8W2GVUkjZFlh66B4HV9KJY_FtDoVeioSJBWfO6IkYaAncjEALw_wcB
Sly Lycan
Member
Ah, sorry. I have noticed they are quite hard to notice. I will try to use the pictures, I just don't know a nice way to put them into the posts. I usually like inline, but idk.
Ah ya, sorry. It definitely helps if I give more info, forget people can't read my thoughts.
As far as budget, I am not sure, probably anything under like $1500 USD. I don't have a problem putting things on credit and paying it off over the course of a no-interest period.
For the grow tent I am using an AC Infinity CloudLab 866 Grow Tent. Its 60in * 60in * 80in. I realize now that those lights are dismally inappropriate for my intended uses. I thought I could just use all 6 lights at once and get 181*6=1086 umol, which I read is a little over what you want. Didn't realize it didn't work that way lol.
What is a fill light? Is that just adding supplemental light to hit various parts of the spectrum?
I already have the grow tent so I am going to work with that. I would prefer to fill the tent. I don't mind doing a long vege period to get the plants large (if that's a thing) because I am in California and am limited to how many plants I can have.
Wow, they can grow that fast? Is my slower growth a consequence of the poor light? aha D:
I have a scrog net, I think that's what it is called. I am currently growing 5 different strains, 6 plants total. As long as I am not looking for optimal growth right now, is it going to be fine to use just one large light? I think eventually I will get some small grow tents and having a mother of each strain I enjoy.
I do like the idea of having multiple lights to rotate out though. That does sound nice.
Sly Lycan
Member
I am currently leaning towards a Mars Hydro FC6500. Seems like a nice balance of performance and cost for my first "real" light. Also looks like it should be good for the space of the 5x5 tent.
I am definitely still open to advice however. That's just based on my own research when I have had a chance.
I am definitely still open to advice however. That's just based on my own research when I have had a chance.
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
To flower a 5x5 you’ll want a light that’s between 600-800w, all the big companies make fixtures that size at varying price points but your not gonna light it for under $500, you can use those for seedlings or a smaller veg tent though
You can copy and paste images into the body of a reply but using a link is a "better" way to do things. I've been a software engineer for 30+ years (I got out of web programming in 1987 because it was such a horrible hack) so I 100% understand it. The issue is that my mental image was of the photos and, when, at first, I didn't see them in the thread I was confused.
Using links saves bandwidth (so pages load faster) and disk space for the site (so the server hamsters don't have to work as hard).
Nicely said.Ah ya, sorry. It definitely helps if I give more info, forget people can't read my thoughts.
That's a good chunk of change and you will be able to get a good 5' light for <$1k.
Understood.
For the eight zillionth time, I'll recommend that a grower gets a light meter. In 2021, I tested Photone and it failed. Since then I've tested it again and it was only 16% off but I would not use the app and I recommend it only under certain circumstances. Given that you've "got budget", I'd suggest you send Amazon $32 for a Uni-T light meter. I"ve attached a document I wrote that will help you convert the lux reading from the Uni-T to µmol which is how PPFD is measured. Another option is a PAR meter, the cheapest of which I'd recommend is $400±. I see that as a very low priority for most growers because, in practical terms, a lux meter is as accurate as a PAR meter.
There's a lot of value for you in getting a light meter because 5' x 5' is a pretty good sized area and, even with the best light, you're going to have some light falloff as you move from the center of the light toward the edges and into the corners. A light meter will help you understand how much light your plants are getting and it will help you figure out how to train your plants to get the most light.
I'm more than happy to share my thoughts on that and post info about how I use a meter to optimize light levels.
"fill light" - a photography term but I use it to imply a small light that's used to provide light in a specific or isolated location.
Even in my little 2' x 4' tent, I've had plants from the same seed packet turn out to be 50" tall while others are 24" tall. The only way to light that grow was to get the Vipar XS-1500 (this was before the Pro model came out) and use it on the little plants. I've also had plants that were so big that they couldn't fit in the 2' x 4' so I allowed the "front row" of branches to lean out of the tent and I hung the Vipar (or another light) to provide light to the branches that weren't able to get light from the light in the tent.
I'm in CA as well, north Orange County. And you?
Aside - I just learned that my use of the word "highway" is a tell. Also, in California, Interstate 5, for example is referred to as "the 5".
All other things being and assuming that light levels are at or below the light saturation point, a grow that gets more light will provide a larger crop and one with higher quality (flower to above ground mass). I try to get my plants as much light as possible and look to get my photos to >1100µmol.
My hunch is that the expression "crawl, walk, run" is new to you.
That may well work out but, without knowing, at the very least, the basics, it can "end badly". I'm all shooting for excellence but a new grower in a large tent with multiple strains is "a lot of moving parts". There are quite a few people here on RIU with signficant expertise so you've come to the right place.
Re. wattage - conventional wisdom is 30-40 watts input wattage per square foot of grow space. You can never have too much light (available). I'm retiring my Growcraft X3 330 watt flower light, 40+ watts/square foot, and replacing it with a Vipar G4500 which is 430 watts (54±). I'm doing that for very specific reasons but, since you're looking to spend a good chunk of change on a light for your 5', there's an argument to me made to move to the 800-1000 watt category.
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