This is my first soil tent grow. Well, 1st grow period! I got some clones from a buddy of mine @Jza444, and 5 of the 8 seem to be doing rather well. We’ll be taking some more shortly. I also adopted a pretty little lady that has been vegging for a bit. So far shes been pleasant and not so fussy. We’ll be getting her into a larger fabric pot and I’m sure she’ll be happier waiting for the kids to catch up.
I’m using a vipraspectra 300w tc for the little lady and am gonna need some more light when I pot the clones. I’ve come up with a couple ideas but I am no expert on lighting, more like an interested passerby who sees the chainsaw juggler and thinks…ehhhh, maybe I can…
I am using a 5’ x 5’ tent. 1’ x 5’ of this area will be “open space”. I can give reasons and such for this but I’m not gonna beat around the bush, its so my fat butt has some room to move around when I need to be in there. My thought is to use the vipar 300 in the center and space 4 QB120s around it in a grid. I don’t plan on flowering more than 4 plants in the end. Being new to this, I’m not sure how the sides of the tent would reduce my light penetration.
This is a very rough sketch, and the lights will probably need to be adjusted for proper PPFD. If I did the math correctly, each QB120 would service ~2.25sqft (some of which is shared by the vipar) for required wattage of 315w. The vipar would sit in the middle and cover ~3sqft for a required 150W (blurp) and add some supplemental ambiance. Am I way off here?
My original plan was to run 4 vipar 300tc unit because, well…mainly laziness. But, where there’s fun to be had, one should at the very least take a peak yeah?
Welcome to the forum. Any DIY lighting should always include @dbrn32. I run the Vip TC 1200, and it’s been good to me. The QBs are nice as well. The two ladies under the 260W XL rspec are thoroughly enjoying life.
I think you’re going to be shy on what you would want for light intensity. When you leave open space like that you end up with a lot of light spill and losing the reflection off of walls that you would normally have if it were something like a full 4x4 space. So it’s not exactly as simple as not counting floor space you won’t have plants and calling less light good.
I get what you are looking to do though. It’s kind of pain lol. And probably the reason I am one of very very few that would prefer newer growers get a smaller space and focus their budget on doing the smaller space well as opposed to a larger space and just throwing money at it until its suitable. No harm though, I can still try to help you out.
What kind of budget do you have to work with for lighting?
Thanks everyone for the welcomes! @Beezy745 I will get some pics up soon! @dbrn32 I have about $250 to $300 I can do right now, and I am a ways out from flowering.
I didn’t think about the open space being a source of loss, duh! Seems obvious now. This was more or less my cheaper option. Ideally (if the QB120 setup is realistic in this grow area) would like to do a total of 8 of these boards to cover the area; frame dimensions of 10" x 46". I could just construct one of these for now for veg (along with the vipar 300w), and build the other before flower. I plan to run the 3500k. Do you think 2 of the 4 board setups would suffice?
For the 4 boards I would be using the Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100A, seems to be all the rage. Would there be a better option? I’m not opposed to wiring in my own pot and meter.
Well you have the correct driver for running four 120 boards. I don’t really see any reason to go with remote dimming unless that was something you specifically wanted.
So if you were starting from scratch and wanted to go with 120 boards, the proper setup for flowering would be about 12 boards on three hlg-240h-c2100 drivers. The vipar light is about half as good in terms of par per watt, so it’s like having an additional 120 board or so.
My biggest concern with your plan is where you are going once it’s done. I feel like you will want more light before too long. And that will likely require you to rebuild the fixture you plan on building to make it work. Is that something you would want to do? Otherwise I would look into more of a linear build, and then you can just add fixtures as funds become available. If that’s something you may want to do, some of the 1120mm led strips may be another option.
Today was a pretty good day! Got my Bloodstar Billie transplanted into a 5gal fabric pot. Should have gotten to this earlier but she looks good a couple hours after. Thanks for the help @Jza444! Another win,
got my first rooted clone potted! Woot! I promise, pics coming!
@dbrn32 Strip lighting does sound cool. I was looking at the Bridgelux EB gen2 in 1120mm. What kind of heat sink do you think I should I be looking at? Would the right idea be to run them around 0.7A and use thermal tape and a large aluminum plate (0.125")? I have to admit, I am having difficulty with the math for LED strips and I’m sure I am over thinking it.
I was looking around the HLG site today (and every day) and saw they have some QB288 v1 on sale WITH a slate 2 heat sink. What about 2 of these v1 combos paired with a hlg-240h-c2100 driver wired in series for now, then another a little down the road. I figure the individual boards would allow me to spread them out, similar maybe to using an xl/tripple heatsink with 2 panels (like their rspec kits). I can come up with a creative way to mount the driver.
I know they aren’t the V2s but for the price, they ain’t bad. I would grab up the 3500k. I figure I could add in some red spec LED strips closer to flower if needed.
@dbrn32 Right on, thank you! I will probably place my order this evening. For the AC side, would 12ga be just fine or would 14 or 16ga suffice? I’m thinking I will go with the QB288 V1 build, timeline has moved up. 1 clone potted yesterday, checked today and 3 more have roots showing under the cube!
I also have a 3ft 3000lumen, 30watt 4000k LED strip bar (home depot special) that I figured I could use as supplemental, and as an extra light for the little ones while I build the boards.
I should clarify that I meant the 3ft LED strip in the tent over the freshly potted/transplanted clones to get them into veg until the QBs get here. I will also have them around the Vipar 300w . Would 12" above these transplants work with this light? Sorry to sound to repetitive.
They are, some have a root or two showing through the bottom. Potted a good sized glueberry yesterday and put it near the bloodstar in the tent. I have the humidity dome under an 18w LED strip (shout out to local grow shops!). I’m gonna check again, and plan to pot some, in a day or two. There are a couple that are still trying, and have recently rebounded, a good sign of growth!
Something that may help me with open space in the tent until I get a second light set, is a sheet of mylar to section off part of the tent. What’s everyone think?
So, question not regarding lighting, and some pictures (@Beezy745) !
My bloodstar is getting tall and i need to do some topping here. I have no plant experience so I’ve never topped anything. My question is, where should I top her? Here are some pics for reference.
I’m set to watch. Also can we get a peak at the ladies 
