Apologies in advance

ThatGuy13

Member
Set up so far:
4ftx8ftx70in tent
12 fabric pots (7 gallon)
Fox Farm soil (Happy Frog)
Fox Farm nutrients (trio, filling in with the rest of the dirty dozen soon)
Feminized seeds (White Widow, GDP, Purple Haze, Purple Kush)
Idea for lighting Mars Hydro TS3000 (2 of them)
Exhaust system no idea.

Trying to avoid any serious mistakes due to arrogance or lack of knowledge.
Again, apologies if this should be posted somewhere else or there isn't enough information here.
First time grower
First time poster
Thank you
 

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
lighting first....

Research your lighting well. Im gonna give you a brand but do your research. Look at hlg. I use them and love them.
Now before you buy a light find out a few things. There is a calculation of watts per square ft. Find that out. That will get you where you need to go.

Next is environment......

There is gonna be heat off those lights, gotta have an exhaust, ac, carbon filter etc.
 

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
This filter


This fan, 8''


This fan speed controller


I would also get slightly more powerful lights.
 

ThatGuy13

Member
lighting first....

Research your lighting well. Im gonna give you a brand but do your research. Look at hlg. I use them and love them.
Now before you buy a light find out a few things. There is a calculation of watts per square ft. Find that out. That will get you where you need to go.

Next is environment......

There is gonna be heat off those lights, gotta have an exhaust, ac, carbon filter etc.
this equation is how I got to the Mars Hydro lighting idea.
 

haze010

Well-Known Member
I would recommend against mars in general. Their company history is shady at best, their newer lights seem better quality than the past but i wouldnt spend my money with them.

So many people go for mars and spiderfarmer it makes me sad. There are so many better options.
 

haze010

Well-Known Member
then at what level do you classify CFLs? or blurples? and flourescent tubes? :lol:
Cfl's are a waste of your money completely. If your budget is that tight buy A19 led bulbs and snap off the diffuser. I still use a couple 9watt A19 bulb for my clones, they were $3 each at the dollar store.

Blurples have a mixed history. When leds were quite new a number of companies (mars was probably the worst) that would sell junk and make claims that were laughable at best (calling a light that draws 90watt at the wall a 1000watt hps replacement, things like that). Pretty much all old growers will rail against anything blurple because of the outright fraud they used to be. Newer blurples have some better ones but i dont have much experience with them and im one of those completely biased against blurple people.

Florescent tubes ive never used so this is heresay based on what ive read over time. They tend to be fantastic for vegging but dont have the light intensity needed for flower.

All these will be good to veg, for flower a light id avoid like that mars 3000 will outperform any of those.

Any of those chinese QB knockoff ones in that thread like meiju, kingbrite ect will all be a better value than mars.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Thers a thread in organic section on how to grow with FFOF without adding the liquid nutes.Cant remember what its called but it is a good read.
 

haze010

Well-Known Member
HLG, Timber, Gavita... Those are what I would spend my money on.
Those are all very reputable quality brand names. I tend to build my own with strips or go for knock off names like meiju as they are made with exact same parts (diodes, drivers ect) as those name brands but are signifigantly less expensive.
 

Horselover fat

Well-Known Member
If you want to properly compare lights look up "umol" and "ppf" they are the same thing, which is a measure of photon output ie how much light it really produces. Usually you would want to avoid any companies which do not give that information readily. There is a reason they don't.
A measured ppfd (ppf per area) chart

is also useful, but these things

are bullshit.
 

haze010

Well-Known Member
If you want to properly compare lights look up "umol" and "ppf" they are the same thing, which is a measure of photon output ie how much light it really produces. Usually you would want to avoid any companies which do not give that information readily. There is a reason they don't.
A measured ppfd (ppf per area) chart

is also useful, but these things

are bullshit.
A simpler way to at a glance compare is to just straight compare lumens/watt off the datasheet and aviod anyone that wont provide datsheets. umol and ppf is a better comparison but tends to just confuse things for newer people who dont care about the science but just want a comparison value. It allows you to compare what your results will be with a diy strip vs an assembled light before you actually build it.
 

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
Cfl's are a waste of your money completely. If your budget is that tight buy A19 led bulbs and snap off the diffuser. I still use a couple 9watt A19 bulb for my clones, they were $3 each at the dollar store.

Blurples have a mixed history. When leds were quite new a number of companies (mars was probably the worst) that would sell junk and make claims that were laughable at best (calling a light that draws 90watt at the wall a 1000watt hps replacement, things like that). Pretty much all old growers will rail against anything blurple because of the outright fraud they used to be. Newer blurples have some better ones but i dont have much experience with them and im one of those completely biased against blurple people.

Florescent tubes ive never used so this is heresay based on what ive read over time. They tend to be fantastic for vegging but dont have the light intensity needed for flower.

All these will be good to veg, for flower a light id avoid like that mars 3000 will outperform any of those.

Any of those chinese QB knockoff ones in that thread like meiju, kingbrite ect will all be a better value than mars.
T5s are not intense enough to flower?
even CFLs will flower
 

haze010

Well-Known Member
T5s are not intense enough to flower?
even CFLs will flower
I clearly said id never used t5s but its what i had read over time.

I will 1000% stand behind my statement that CFLs are a waste of money. I never said you couldnt flower with them, i said they are a waste of money.
I even said a LED a19 bulb is better at the same kind of price point as a cfl.

Old less efficient bulbs like cfl can work, theres just better choices. :)

Edit: im never going to proclaim to be an world expert on anything, and gladly admit if im proven incorrect. Just trying to offer the advice that newer LED technology is just plain superior.
 
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