Trying to decide between the 4 ft 8 lamp t5 fixture or 2 of the Roleandro 300w LEDs. I know there are a few Roleandro fans here but I’m concerned as to wether or not 2 300w lamps will be enough for a 4’x4’x6’ tent. Any advice?
I have 2 4 ft 2 lamp t5 fixtures I could use as supplemental lighting if I do the 300w. Any opinions?
For LED lighting you need 30-50 watts per sq ft of lights.You have 16 sq feet in a 4x4 tent.
The low end of actual (draw, from the plug) watts would be 480 and the high end needed would be 800.
So the two three hundred roleandros probably pull about 150 each? @noobius which would be quite low and not enough for that tent. Now at those t5’s and maybe. I’m not sure how they are rated though?
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@noobiusl Hi guy, I would go with the 300 Led’s. I am a Roleandro fan but these have been my last two purchases.
Just got this one and it is fantastic. They do have them in 300 size. It is a white/yellow light and my plant loves it. Couple hours after putting it over her, I saw her fan arms just reaching up to the light, like she was saying to me, AAHHHHHH, thanks.
Previous lights I got were these.
They work okay and are fairly white just not as white as the one above. I plan on buying another of the Roleandro lights the end of the month. The plants liked these Bloomspect lights ok, but I noticed the biggest difference with the Roleandro light.
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@bob31 24w 2700k lamps x2 per fixture so another 100 watts of lighting. . Not sure on the power draw as the lamps haven’t been used in 15+ yrs. Have them from back in the good ol days. So I guess I’ll have to do some more looking and maybe do hps/mh if I can find a decent one cheap enough. The cost is my main concern at the moment. Perhaps if this grow turns out decent I’ll convince the ball n chain to let me invest more… on a pretty strict 450$ budget for the whole project…
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Are you sure those are t5 and not t8? 24 watt seems familiar to my t8 fixtures at shop. I’m sure there’s multiple options in both though, so could very well be t5. The main reason I ask, is because if it’s indeed a t5 you can possibly bump those bulbs up to the t5 ho. Which would be about 54 Watts a bulb I think. That along with a couple of led panels would probably be a decent start.
On the flip side, there may be some better options out there depending on what would be left in your budget. I’ll be honest, low budgets and larger tents don’t really mix well when building a grow. But perhaps we can find you something that you can continue to build on in the future, without wasting any money up front.
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@dbrn32 I’ll have to double check when I get back to the house. It’s entirely possible they are t8s, I haven’t had them out in 15ish yrs. Surprised they still work to be honest. And I know large system/low budget rarely works, but I know if this goes well then I’ll be able to expand it a bit and I don’t want to undersize and have to buy a new tent. I can always add lights, but you can’t make the tent bigger… lol
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Yep! That’s kind of what I was getting at. I think rather than trying to get enough light for the 4x4, get what you’re budget will allow. Then just grow to what you have for the time being. Whether that be one or two larger plants, or maybe something like 4 not as big.
If you’re cool with that, I would maybe suggest one of the cob fixtures that @Countryboyjvd1971 uses. They’re not my favorite light to recommend, but they are going to put a lot of photons out for a pretty reasonable price. What I’m not as sure of, is how that light performs as seed to harvest light. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to wait and get his opinion. I think he’ll recommend the light, but you may want to supplement it with something other than the 2700k fluorescent. I’m pretty sure this is the light, just so you have an idea.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01I4NY8KW/ref=psdcmw_14252961_t1_B01IVQ96WW
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I also use that same cob light and it works pretty decent. The other thing to consider @noobius is that those numbers are to give you best coverage of the entire tent. So if you only use 3/4 of the tent for growing that makes the footprint that needs light to 12 sq ft. I’m a big believer in using what you can afford and scaling the grow.
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I’ve got a little over a week to decide what I wanna do. So far everyone I’ve talked to prefers the LEDs and as they run cheaper on electric I think that’s the way I’m Gunna go. But time will tell. Big thanks to @bob31 @dbrn32 . The willingness to share knowledge here blows me away. Already a huuuge fan of ILGM and this forum. You guys have been lifesavers this far!
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I forgot you had them too. How do you feel it will work for vegging plants? I don’t want @noobius to get end up with a lot of stretch if it’s a little weak on blue wavelengths. Was thinking that maybe some colder whites in the fluorescent could offset if needed. But I’m not sure if it’s even necessary.
By the time I installed that particular light I was well along in veg. After another grow with that light I could give you an answer. @dbrn32
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No problem.
One thing you might want to do is to put up a temporary partition wall inside your big tent so you can confine the light to a smaller area. Just a piece of cardboard painted flat white is good enough. You don’t want to light 16 square feet if you only have enough light to grow 8 square feet of plants. Don’t waste light on empty tent floor. Bounce it back as side light.
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I think what I’m Gunna end up doing is leaving the plants where they sit now for an extra week and pick up 4 marshydro 300w LEDs. They’r cheap enough to fit 4 in my budget right now and between those and the t5s I should have plenty of watts/sq ft. Then next week ordering the tent so that’s here before they get too aromatic and my fiance loses her mind lol
They are currently in a corner of my laundry room with panda paper as a kind of door to keep everything contained to the corner. So for now they should be fine there and with the 4 LEDs it should cover the 4x4 pretty well and I’ll use the t5s as side lighting
No problem 
. Have you looked at Quantum Boards from HLG??
just wanted some help i have my first plant growing outside should be done in a few weeks but it don’t look like I’m going to get a lot of it with winter coming and been in the UK I was wanting to do another baby inside would this light be any good for the job
any help i would be grateful
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Blurple is old tech and all those cheapo boards are wildly overrated on output. You’d be better off with a knockoff quantum board.
Do you have a set light budget?
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This post is over 3 years old lol