Same old story, ain’t it.
It’s why I prefer Ali over Amazon, it’s the same stuff for less but you can get PROPER descriptions of things so you know what you’re getting yourself into, that Amazon link above had so many alarm bells going off it had people thinking there had been a meltdown at Doel.
Back to the original question, based on the picture I think your light may be too high. My understanding is that 18-20" is good for LED’s as long as the plants don’t show ill effects. If your plants start looking gangly and “stretchy” you’ll know, but they look beautiful!
Quick question. I saw that the "veg/bloom’ switches are pretty much bunk, but there is a definite difference in intensity from one to the other, and with both.
Was your recommendation just to run both from the start?
The usual recommendation is to run both from the start, and you’ll think there is a difference in intensity when looking at the difference between veg and bloom as your eye perceives the difference between the higher amount of red or blue differently, blues are usually seen as a “harsher” colour so can seem more intense than the “softer” reds despite the same output.
It depends on the power level of light, size of grow, and a couple other minor factors.
If you’re talking about running one or two plants in a small tent, you can certainly start plants under veg switch only. You can also continue to run under the veg switch if you so wish. I believe what we’re usually talking about in that situation is the plant responses under the different light wavelengths. To add to that, most spaces are under lit, so the thought of par levels and growth rates comes into the conversation as well.
In terms of something like a viparspectra, the bloom portion usually doesn’t have as many leds and as big of driver as the veg portion right? At least the couple I’ve seen in person didn’t appear to be 1 to 1 ratio of veg switch to bloom switch. The veg portions appear to take up 60-75% of the total.
I grow with white leds that have dimming capability. So the power level is adjustable but the light spectrum never really changes much.
I get the general logistics, different spectrums we don’t see but the plants do, 1000 watts isn’t, etc. I had a seed sprout today, and my bargain-basement new 1200w light has the switches. Just making sure. I’m not sold on all the gimmicks, but this one is twice as bright as my last one, and the closet is definitely well illuminated.
So, run both - mo’ light = mo’ better 
To a point, you can have too much with led if it’s too close, it’s not the heat that does it but the photon intensity.
I use a cheap lux meter to set my lights at a specific indicated level, which I know is not accurate before anyone says anything, at different stages of growth and then adjust it as necessary to get the sweet spot of growth and stretch I want. No sense in telling you levels as it’s specific to my cheap setup, but you can get “guidelines” online which will help you get the initial height sorted out as you go from seedling to veg to flower to harvest.
As I say, it’s not accurate with LEDs but an indication which will vary between different lights and spectrums, but it is an aid to getting things set up until you know by sight what your setup does and at what height the light should hang at.
So with all the talk going around about watts from the wall are very important, I found this light and seems quite legit at 200 or so watts. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NTBS91Y?tag=greenrel-20
For the same price you can get a 260w QB V2 complete kit from HLG, I know which one I’d prefer.
Should I get the 3000k, 3500k, or 4000k?
It seems each one is for different phases of growth. Would I need more than one?
No, one will be enough, any of the three colours will grow weed nicely from sprout to harvest. One light, no “veg/bloom” nonsense, better efficiency, better quality.
If you’re looking at these prices, then take your pick of QB over that P300.
I think that is what I’ll do. I’ve tried and failed to much already. I am going with the QB. I will have a bad grow this time, but the next will go much better.
The front right plant is now hitting the light.
My 600w Chinese lights have veg/bloom and the veg is 250 watts mostly blues and white. The bloom throws in 50 more watts of red LEDs when it’s on. I run the veg switch for the first 3-4 weeks when I’m at 18/6. I move to bloom when I go to 16/8 at week 5 and stay there until harvest. I found that I didn’t need to waste the extra 50 watts an hour in the early part of the grow @Whodat66
Get 3000k or 3500k for seed to harvest growing.
The advanced lights are alright, but nowhere near the efficacy of the qb’s.
If you’re growing from seed, you can probably use just the veg switch. The flower switch won’t hurt them, but you can save a little juice. Once they become developed vegging plants, both switches will probably do you better than just the veg.
I think I found the light people are talking about. Any thoughts?
These are Chinese knockoffs of quantum boards. For quality boards, look up Horticulturelightinggroup.
These alibaba boards grow some good plants, and they are good. But they are not the real QBs we are talking about.
You will end up paying some high shipping costs. But if you’re not worried about authenticity, go for it. I have some. And I have seen many pictures of the plants they grow. And they are highly comparable to HLG QBs and COBs, strips ect…