First time indoor - lights help please!

Ladies and gents,

Wifeypoo agreed to let me have am indoor grow, took a little bit but I finaly won her over! :grin:

I have everything figured out for a 5x5 tent that I plan on starting off with 2 plants in a hydro setup, except for my lighting. My budget is between 400 and 500, hard stop at 500. A close friend of mine recently bought a Mars Hydro TS 3000 and is using a similar setup to what I have planned. I want to know, is this light is going to be sufficient for a 4x4 or less area of veg and flower, or should I consider something else? The Mars is priced at 479 on amazon right now…

I got the Mars Hydro TS 1000, I have a 3x3 tent with one plant. I would say its good for the veg state, but I plan on buying an HPS light for flowering.

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This will flower about half of a 5’x5’, but since you’re only doing 2 plants, you could probably hang it down the center and be fine. When you want to fill the tent, you can add more lights.

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I was looking at the HLG, I’m pretty light dumb, what is the major difference?

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@Highwayman420, the girl will love the HPS!! Especially a 600w.

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Ok I’m doing g more research on the HLG and might go the route, a 320 xl kit for now and add a second one when I’m ready to fill the tent out

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Here’s to hoping, germinating right now.

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I like hlg lights. I have a couple.
They run a lot cooler than hps/cmh

Right now my favorite lighting is using these plc strips in a custom diy setup.


You could probably build something slightly better than the hlg I mentioned, for close to the same money. If you can wait for them to restock and are comfortable with diy.

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I dont mind DIY at all, however I think I’m going to get a pair of HLG 320 xl kits for now, that’s good for the first tent. Going to stagger them too, since I’m doing a small run first to get my bearings on what I’m doing before I fill the tent

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This is the single best thing you can do for your grow space. The latest model HLG lights using Samsung top bin diodes that put out incredible performance; to the point of having to use other more technical metrics to determine light levels. Like @Drinkslinger I went the diy route and have never looked back. Cool, silent, dimmable (which is ideal to increase efficiency of lights) in optimized spectrum. The only drawback is it’s expensive. But it’s a one-time deal. Nothing touches LED’s now, other than sunlight.

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Efficacy, and to some extent, spectrum.
A 260w high efficacy light will flower a 2’x4’ foot area.
You’d need close to 400w of blurple or hps/cmh for that space.

Not to mention longevity.

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Keep reading good stuff about HLG. Gonna pull the trigger on one and then get a second likely over the winter

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Upfront costs are higher, but it’s typically a 30% + savings on your electric bill. That’s huge imo.

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This. Wifeypoo will be on board with that :grin:

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I can only imagine what My bill would be like with blurples. It’s already ridiculous.

Although, dehumidifiers, fans, heaters, pumps… they add up too.

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Here’s my deal: 4 X 6 grow space in my garage in SoCal. Built 3 fixtures using Gen 1 Samsung EB strips to the tune of 240 watts, peak per fixture. I’ve never run them over 200 to 210 watts per which MORE than replaces the 1,340 plug watts of blurples I was running before. My electrical bill went down $60 the first month. Plus in veg you only run em at 100 watts or so otherwise they’d never get any height haha.

2 lbs from 3 plants, 11 week grow in RDWC.

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Ok so I ordered an HLG 320xl kit this morning :grin:

I am growing 12 plants in a 2x4x7 tent using DWC set up and Spider Farmer sf 2000 light. This set up along with the SOG method has given me outstanding yields. The SF 2000 has the best bang for the buck. I am getting ready to swap out the lights in the 4x4’s to the SF 4000. I am really happy with these lights. Take a minute and check them out.

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For goodness sakes, I gotta get outta soil!!!

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