Nectar Nutes in Coco

I’d like to be able to do both and keep my current tent for autos

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@MattyBear sounds like you have caught the grow bug! lol

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@BIGE I’ve had it but the wife wasn’t on board with another tent until recently. She did put up with my larger than she wanted greenhouse for the outdoor grow so I knew she’d come around eventually lol :+1:

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Two tents would be great for a perpetual grow. Why not use the smaller tent for veg and the other for flower? That way each one is set up for both halves of the grow.

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@Myfriendis410 I thought about doing that too and just putting an auto in with the flower tent. I guess I could do either :+1: thx for the suggestion bud

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Yeah, autos don’t care.

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Only reason I asked was because we could cheat a little if you were looking to make one of them a specific veg area. You would go blue wavelength dominant in that situation, and there’s more photons per watt. And you typically need a little less intensity to veg. No big deal though.

You’re right on the edge of being able to get into a quantum board at that price. I believe 135 watt kit is like $185. It would be a little weak for the 3x3, but so are any options for $150 or less in my opinion. I think long term, 2 quantum boards would be cats meow in 3x3 outside of diy project.

I like to recommend the mars 600 when we’re absolutely limited to amazon type lights. It’s Going to provide a little more par than a single qb, but at double the power consumption. The issue with it, is it’s size and shape in your size tent. The extra par it will provide, will essentially be thrown at two of the walls more so than on your canopy. While still leaving the other edges a little weak.

I can go look again, but I’ve yet to see a medium sized square fixture I liked for anything close to that price range.

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I veg with two Meizhi 300 watt /150 watt actual and that allows for a wider footprint and fits around the $150 cost range. That assumes you have sufficient lighting already for your bigger tent, where you really want it.

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How do you feel they would do flowering @Myfriendis410? I was thinking the possibility of same thing, but that had me a little torn. Two of the smaller fixtures is certainly an option that can be thrown in the mix for price point.

My issue with the small fixtures has always been light intensity. Even when very low, they’re just barely making it into ideal intensity window for flowering. It almost makes it to where you need one of them to cover every square inch of your space. Vegging is a little different story, so I completely understand how they work good there.

You bring up a very good point about the current grow space. What are we working with there?

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In my current 2x2x4 tent I have a 300w Meitzi. Tell me more about these quantum boards and how much it would cost to get set up in a 3x3 or possibly 4x4. I’m trying to find space for a 4x4 tent but the wife isn’t sold yet on that size. Thanks for your help again guys :+1:

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The quantum boards are pretty much latest and greatest in led tech. Not necessarily the best, that kind of depends on application. The single boards are sold in kits. I know you said you weren’t into diy, but don’t sweat it. It’s literally a handful of screws and using a couple of lever nuts to connect wires. I think you need a screwdriver and maybe to strip 1/4” off 4 wires. Plus, there’s about 4 tutorial videos on YouTube. I’ll link them for you in a few. It’s no big deal at all really. If nothing else, I think growers house sells assembled for an extra $15-20.

The complete fixtures are designed for 4x4 and 3x3, and 2x2 is a single board. The kits are available in a handful of different sizes. You can check them out at horticulture lighting group’s web page if you’d like. I’m sure they’ll say out of stock. They restock every couple of weeks and usually sell out in a few hours. Don’t worry, we can usually track some down. And they recently started selling on amazon.

Check them out, and I’ll post those links.

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@dbrn32 thanks so much! I can handle that much diy! I’m decently handy unless it’s lighting or electrical lol. You say the latest and greatest, but not necessarily the best. What do you consider the best full spectrum lighting as of now?

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I really do like that set up. :+1:

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That depends on the application. In your 2x2 tent a single quantum board in 3000k is going to be the best performance for your dollar if you’re looking for a seed to harvest type of light. If you wanted to specifically veg, I would personally diy some eb strips or go with a couple of lower powered cobs. The difference is basically in the efficacy difference in cold white spectrums to warm white, and which wavelengths the specific color temps peak in. A cold white has max intensity in blue wavelengths and higher efficacy than warm white at same power. If that makes sense, then you’ll somewhat understand that the fine details that you end up paying bigger $ for don’t matter as much in a veg light. But in a flower light, you want those peaks in the red wavelengths and those are warmer whites that don’t provide as much light per watt. So getting into a light with a higher efficiency starts to make a bigger difference, thus justifying spending a little more money.

In order to match the system and led efficiency with a similar light spectrum of the qb’s, you have to get into some pretty pricey cobs. Without a diy project, I think the tasty led t22 would be your best bet there at about $360. It’s a little better than 1 qb, but definitely not as good as 2. And you can’t buy half of it now and start growing, then pick up the other half later either lol.

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@dbrn32 I could build that quantum board. Would I need the dual board for 3x3 or the larger single board?

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I figured you could lol. You managed to get a tent together, seems like it should be more difficult but it’s not by much.

Well, 2 would be all that you could ever want in a 3x3. But I realize you had a budget to keep in mind. I figure with the tested par levels one would do a pretty reasonable job if you wanted to start with that and possibly look at adding another when there is some extra funds.

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Oh I missed half the question, getting late!

So they are currently available in qb 120, 288, and 304. The 120 is like a 65 watt max board, not good for this application. If you wanted to do a veg light for your 2x2 it would be a good choice though. Or maybe 4 of them in your 3x3. I’ll hsve to look at that, but probably a little more diy involved to make it work good.

The 288 and 304 are pretty much the same as far as available output. The 304 has one extra string of diodes, but it also has higher operating voltage (104 volts nominal I think) which makes driver configuration a little more difficult. The 288 is like 54 volts nominal, so there’s a butt load of different drivers available.

Personally, I like the 288 for the operating voltage. But I also get bored with stuff easily, and do a lot of moving stuff around. If I bought one 304, and wanted to add two more later, you’re limited to parallel wiring because the connectors are only rated for 300 volts. And there’s only a couple of drivers that will even do it in parallel. The 288 on the other hand, no problem at all.

If there’s any chance at all of you becoming an led nerd, get the 288. If you think you’ll build it and leave it alone for 50,000 hours it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference lol.

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You went right to the meat of it! I’m impressed with the Meizhi for veg but they are weak and too blue spectrum IMO for flower.

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So the 288 sounds like the way to go. Would I need just the one qb in a 3x3? Thanks for all the info. I love learning and I value your opinion. I probably won’t become an LED nerd, but I love growing and want to know enough to make informed lighting decisions… or just pick your brain because you make it a lot easier to understand :+1:

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