In the market for a new light.

Hi everyone, I just set up my new tent. It's a spider farmer 2x4 tent. I currently have a 315w cmh light I will be mounting inside. I also have a 2nd 315w light I could use, but I'm afraid that with 2 of them the heat could be hard to manage. I've been looking at the sf2000 led light and the mars hydro that's comparable. Any input or suggestions for the best setup would be great.

2 315s would be a little much for that space, imho.

Would I be better of running the one 315 or upgrading to either the spyder farmer or mars led lights? The reflector on the 315 isn't the best and not sure if it would cover my tent well enough.

Slidinin2insanity said:

Hi everyone, I just set up my new tent. It's a spider farmer 2x4 tent. I currently have a 315w cmh light I will be mounting inside. I also have a 2nd 315w light I could use, but I'm afraid that with 2 of them the heat could be hard to manage. I've been looking at the sf2000 led light and the mars hydro that's comparable. Any input or suggestions for the best setup would be great.

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I just received an Viparspectra XS2000 yesterday, it's got Samsung 301b diodes, a Meanwell driver and is the right shape for good light distribution in a 2x4. That's actually the tent size I am going to put it in. I have not tried this light yet but spec wise it should work fine and provide 30 watts per square foot. Can't speak to it's performance yet.

315 since you already have it.

Doug Dawson said:

I just received an Viparspectra XS2000 yesterday, it's got Samsung 301b diodes, a Meanwell driver and is the right shape for good light distribution in a 2x4. That's actually the tent size I am going to put it in. I have not tried this light yet but spec wise it should work fine and provide 30 watts per square foot. Can't speak to it's performance yet.

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Why are you messing with anything other than a smaller HLG for the 2 x 4 ?? You get wowed by the photos and spec list on Vipar?

farmingfisherman said:

Why are you messing with anything other than a smaller HLG for the 2 x 4 ?? You get wowed by the photos and spec list on Vipar?

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Simple really, they gave it to me for free to test and I have an empty 2 x 4. Doing a seed run now and going to be separating the males to the 2 x 4. No reason to buy another HLG when the job has already been covered.

Whether or not you should to upgrade is a personal preference. It comes down to how much light you want and if you're prepared to pay for it. If you're not familiar with PPFD and PPFD maps, I suggest you read a bit about them. We have an article on the subject but I'm sure you'll find other articles online as well.
LED grow lights PPFD & PPFD maps

PPFD is a term for light intensity. We can measure this in numbers. Mature cannabis plants will want around 600-1000 PPFD to thrive. When testing grow lights, their PPFD values are measured over a specific area, e.g. 2x4, 4x4, etc.

Here's a PPFD test and PPFD for a 315W CMH.


I don't have the PPFD maps for the lamps you mentioned but you could compare the CMH to our Q7.
To make the comparison relevant and easy, I'll post both PPFD maps of our Q7 in a 4x4' (exact match to the CMH map above) and 2x4', which would match your tent.

Q7 4x4'


Q7 2x4'


Whether or not the increase in light output is worth it is up to you to decide.

Doug Dawson said:

I just received an Viparspectra XS2000 yesterday, it's got Samsung 301b diodes, a Meanwell driver and is the right shape for good light distribution in a 2x4. That's actually the tent size I am going to put it in. I have not tried this light yet but spec wise it should work fine and provide 30 watts per square foot. Can't speak to it's performance yet.

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So what you think so far

Lilwatt said:

So what you think so far

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Can't say much just yet. It's seems like it's well built, going to be firing it up later tonight. The specs look great so I am expecting good things. I will throw up a thread shortly so people can see it. I am doing a seed run and will move a couple plants under it.

Doug Dawson said:

Can't say much just yet. It's seems like it's well built, going to be firing it up later tonight. The specs look great so I am expecting good things. I will throw up a thread shortly so people can see it. I am doing a seed run and will move a couple plants under it.

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Keep me posted