Light Options help

FatBoyVik

FatBoyVik

Active Member
Hey People,

I am currently undecided on how to move forward with lighting my 4x4 tent.

The lights I have available to use are: a Maxi bright 660 pro, a telos 10 pro (300w) a 250w HPS and a old but not really used Vipra Spectra R900 (supposedly 900w).

I have done a couple grows with just the Maxibright lights and had nothing but problems which never happened when I had HPS lights previously. I think this is because the temps were really low like 20-22C. This made me want to try a combination of HPS and and LED so the temps stay up.

I was thinking of using just the Telos and a 250w HPS which would be 550w for my 4x4 but when I read that the Vipra was supposed to replace the 1000w bulb I thought perhaps use that instead of the HPS as it would be 1200W (but 900w of purpleish light)

Does anybody have any input on what they would do for a 4x4 tent with the lights available? It would be appreciated.

Also, I dont think I will have problems with temps this time around as I have an AC installed now and I also have a 1000w HPS in a tent in the same room which I think will heat the whole room as its air cooled.

Cheers!
 
D

Delps8

Well-Known Member
Check out the Migro "CO2" light for 4' x 4'.

It's got a good PPFD map, the most notable characteristic being that it's quite uniform, even at the edges.

All other things being equal, a grow that gets more light will yield more. The increase isn't quite linear but it's pretty close. I light my grows at >1kµmol with my last photoperiod run being 1150±µmol in ambient CO2.

Cannabis loves light and, at high light levels, the yield is amazing.

I strongly recommend that growers watch the videos that Mitch Westmoreland dropped on YouTuber earlier this year. He goes over four topics that were part of his PhD dissertation (he's a student under Bruce Bugbee) and he lays out very clearly what he and other researchers have determined over the past few years.

One item that was new was his discussion of the role of temperature in preserving secondary metabolites and that's why a high PPFD light is so important.

Many lights can generate 1kµmol at, say, 10" but, at that height, the flower tops are getting hot. In contrast, a light that can pump out, say 1400µmol at 10" can be raised to 18" which will get 1k±µmol on the canopy but, because it's, relatively speaking, so much further away from the canopy, the canopy won't get as hot.

The magic number that Mitch talks about it 78°. Once you go above that, cannabinoid and terpene levels plummet. By raising the light well above the canopy, the canopy temp stays down while still getting lotsa light.

Another light to look at is the SE7000 from Spider. They came out with that light maybe two years ago and, in the lighting world, that's an old design. If you look at the PPFD map on their site, you'll see that it's got a good amount of light but it falls off at the edges. When it first hit the market, it set the standard but other lights might be catching up.

For me, I have a Growcraft 330 watt light in my 2' x 4' tent but it's nowhere as even as newer lights. It's a "2020 model" and that means it was designed in 2018±. The new Spider SE 4500 is a beast - I'll be getting one for my next grow (this Fall). If you really wanted to rock the Casba you could go with 2 4500's. That would set you back $800 but you'd have a stunning amount of light and, since you'd have two lights, you could handle an uneven canopy.
 
FatBoyVik

FatBoyVik

Active Member
Delps8 said:
Check out the Migro "CO2" light for 4' x 4'.

It's got a good PPFD map, the most notable characteristic being that it's quite uniform, even at the edges.

All other things being equal, a grow that gets more light will yield more. The increase isn't quite linear but it's pretty close. I light my grows at >1kµmol with my last photoperiod run being 1150±µmol in ambient CO2.

Cannabis loves light and, at high light levels, the yield is amazing.

I strongly recommend that growers watch the videos that Mitch Westmoreland dropped on YouTuber earlier this year. He goes over four topics that were part of his PhD dissertation (he's a student under Bruce Bugbee) and he lays out very clearly what he and other researchers have determined over the past few years.

One item that was new was his discussion of the role of temperature in preserving secondary metabolites and that's why a high PPFD light is so important.

Many lights can generate 1kµmol at, say, 10" but, at that height, the flower tops are getting hot. In contrast, a light that can pump out, say 1400µmol at 10" can be raised to 18" which will get 1k±µmol on the canopy but, because it's, relatively speaking, so much further away from the canopy, the canopy won't get as hot.

The magic number that Mitch talks about it 78°. Once you go above that, cannabinoid and terpene levels plummet. By raising the light well above the canopy, the canopy temp stays down while still getting lotsa light.

Another light to look at is the SE7000 from Spider. They came out with that light maybe two years ago and, in the lighting world, that's an old design. If you look at the PPFD map on their site, you'll see that it's got a good amount of light but it falls off at the edges. When it first hit the market, it set the standard but other lights might be catching up.

For me, I have a Growcraft 330 watt light in my 2' x 4' tent but it's nowhere as even as newer lights. It's a "2020 model" and that means it was designed in 2018±. The new Spider SE 4500 is a beast - I'll be getting one for my next grow (this Fall). If you really wanted to rock the Casba you could go with 2 4500's. That would set you back $800 but you'd have a stunning amount of light and, since you'd have two lights, you could handle an uneven canopy.
Click to expand...

Hey Delps,

Thank you some good points there for me to look at, and I am checking Mitches video out now but he seems knowledgeable and I didn't know about him before so that helps.

With the question, I am not buying a new light at the moment due to finances but I am just choosing one of the lights I listed above to put in. Do you have a preference to which one you would choose or would you test it based on output/ temps it gives?

Cheers
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
OK with low temps this is how I'd play it..

Use the blurple in veg, because they do actually veg really well without giving issues the max brights would if temps aren't ideal.

This is due to the intensity. The blurple won't be too intense but it's spectrum does lend well to veg

Once you flip I'd swap it out for the maxi bright 660 pro

Try keeping your tent at least 78f in flower and plants should be happy

The maxi bright 660 Pro is a great light for your space.
 
FatBoyVik

FatBoyVik

Active Member
coreywebster said:
OK with low temps this is how I'd play it..

Use the blurple in veg, because they do actually veg really well without giving issues the max brights would if temps aren't ideal.

This is due to the intensity. The blurple won't be too intense but it's spectrum does lend well to veg

Once you flip I'd swap it out for the maxi bright 660 pro

Try keeping your tent at least 78f in flower and plants should be happy

The maxi bright 660 Pro is a great light for your space.
Click to expand...

Very good points thank you, I will probably do that! Also, do you have experience with the Maxi or know somebody who used the Maxi bright 660 and got good results?
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Id use the maxi brights and adapt my environment to led growing. 20-22C will not cut it with a 40w per foot led grow. Raise temps a bit and try to follow vpd until you see your plants transpiring really well. Then you can slowly turn the light up. Usually increasing feed a bit as well is necessary.

Other led lights with same spec will do the same thing if you put it in same conditions, this is not a Maxibright issue. If these are your first grows with led you should consider 75% your full flower intensity for midflower. And then try to improve on that.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
FatBoyVik said:
Very good points thank you, I will probably do that! Also, do you have experience with the Maxi or know somebody who used the Maxi bright 660 and got good results?
Click to expand...
I have similar LEDs using basically the same parts and of equal efficiency.

Provided your environment matches the intense light output, it will do as good as most lights on the market of equal wattage.
I'm sure there a couple that might outperform it by a tiny bit, but honestly , it's a great light and will give you great results.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
FatBoyVik said:
Very good points thank you, I will probably do that! Also, do you have experience with the Maxi or know somebody who used the Maxi bright 660 and got good results?
Click to expand...
I tend to veg in winter with metal halides.
Due to not wanting to put heaters in ..

But in Sumner I also veg with similar LED, at 25% they do great for young clones, pushing it to 50% as they get bigger.

The key is those temps are high enough and vpd is right so they transpire and uptake nutrients to match the growth they want to achieve under highly efficient white LEDs
 
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