Lookin for suggestions on the best grow light for a 3x3x6 tent?

chuck estevez

Well-Known Member
I'm definitely a noob, but don't plan on going one and done... I Believe in Mary j and its natural healing powers and I've bought the highest quality everything up to this point to give myself the best chance to succeed.. Last thing to get is a light and there's no way I'm going cheap... I'm trying to figure out the best light possible for that space regardless of price.. I want quality
sounds like the L.E.C might be just what the DR. ordered. a little more heat,but not to much and great results. winner winner chicken dinner.
 

Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
I've got a 600 watt hps / mh crammed I to my 2x4x5 tent. So it would be possible in yours to run as high as a 600 watt. But beware your temps will be a bitch. I still fight ir heat even with ambient temps being at 60 and a 190cfm exhaust fan running.
 

NeilNeverSleeps

Well-Known Member
I've got a 600 watt hps / mh crammed I to my 2x4x5 tent. So it would be possible in yours to run as high as a 600 watt. But beware your temps will be a bitch. I still fight ir heat even with ambient temps being at 60 and a 190cfm exhaust fan running.
That's interesting... How tall can you typically let you plants get with that setup without burning them? Even if temps were controlled well, it seems like 3ft would be pushing it???
 

borbor

Well-Known Member
SUN SYSTEM LEC 315. dbkick and groerr won't steer ya wrong! I'm on my first grow and I'm just finishing up veg with it, it's a beast! I was pretty much sold on it when I saw this:

on the left are the flowering bulbs (210 watt and 315 watt) and on the right are the veg bulbs.
if you find something with a better spectrum for cannabis, buy as many units as possible. I think the most you'll spend on that is $0.

I have a friend in real life that uses a 600 watt hps for both veg and flower. I know, hps in veg isn't good, but it gave me a comparison

you could veg for a month and have some 1-foot plants with 5 nodes under hps
or you could veg for a month and have some 1-foot plants with 9 nodes. under the lec.

and they're right, it'll pay for itself after the first or second cycle. 315 watts doesn't sound like half the power of a 600 watt, sounds like a little more, but you won't find a 15 watt fan that'll cool a 600 watt hps down to the temperature of an lec 315, so you're probably using less than half the power actually.

my basic view/interpretation/opinion of most of the reports I've read is that you won't get as much "marijuana" from the LEC, but you WILL get as much THC. That's an unscientific opinion, but I think it sounds about right to me. most of the journals I get to read, the yield seems lower with the lec, but by like an ounce, TOPS, while they're always quick to mention how frosty their buds are, It's like HPS is gonna get you a bigger pile of weed, but if you magically took the thc out of the HPS pile of weed, and took the thc out of the LEC pile of weed, the piles of thc would be the same size.

Honestly, I think sun system and philips should both be paying groerr to stop (or should I say stomp?) into these types of threads on all the forums (icmag, riu, 420mag, etc etc) and just post a picture of one of his lec flowering plants, and just spew out some gpw numbers he gets, and a coupon code. he would make enough commission off of that to buy himself a damn lec every few months I reckon. neilneversleeps- I look forward to following.

I'm in a 4x4 with the lec 315,almost 45 days from seed in veg, with two leds from a51 in the mail, I talk big game IRL to my friends who use 600W HPS, but I feel like when I get the LEDs I'm gonna leave their league without even exceeding their wattage
 

skunkwreck

Well-Known Member
SUN SYSTEM LEC 315. dbkick and groerr won't steer ya wrong! I'm on my first grow and I'm just finishing up veg with it, it's a beast! I was pretty much sold on it when I saw this:

on the left are the flowering bulbs (210 watt and 315 watt) and on the right are the veg bulbs.
if you find something with a better spectrum for cannabis, buy as many units as possible. I think the most you'll spend on that is $0.

I have a friend in real life that uses a 600 watt hps for both veg and flower. I know, hps in veg isn't good, but it gave me a comparison

you could veg for a month and have some 1-foot plants with 5 nodes under hps
or you could veg for a month and have some 1-foot plants with 9 nodes. under the lec.

and they're right, it'll pay for itself after the first or second cycle. 315 watts doesn't sound like half the power of a 600 watt, sounds like a little more, but you won't find a 15 watt fan that'll cool a 600 watt hps down to the temperature of an lec 315, so you're probably using less than half the power actually.

my basic view/interpretation/opinion of most of the reports I've read is that you won't get as much "marijuana" from the LEC, but you WILL get as much THC. That's an unscientific opinion, but I think it sounds about right to me. most of the journals I get to read, the yield seems lower with the lec, but by like an ounce, TOPS, while they're always quick to mention how frosty their buds are, It's like HPS is gonna get you a bigger pile of weed, but if you magically took the thc out of the HPS pile of weed, and took the thc out of the LEC pile of weed, the piles of thc would be the same size.

Honestly, I think sun system and philips should both be paying groerr to stop (or should I say stomp?) into these types of threads on all the forums (icmag, riu, 420mag, etc etc) and just post a picture of one of his lec flowering plants, and just spew out some gpw numbers he gets, and a coupon code. he would make enough commission off of that to buy himself a damn lec every few months I reckon. neilneversleeps- I look forward to following.

I'm in a 4x4 with the lec 315,almost 45 days from seed in veg, with two leds from a51 in the mail, I talk big game IRL to my friends who use 600W HPS, but I feel like when I get the LEDs I'm gonna leave their league without even exceeding their wattage
Can you use the lec 315 with a 400 MH/HPS ballast ?
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Can you use the lec 315 with a 400 MH/HPS ballast ?
You'd have to verify the ballast, unlikely, those Elite Agro bulbs, specifically the 210w & 315w require a digital pulse start ballast specifically designed to fire them. There are a few out advanced tech has the bulbs and ballasts at a reasonable price for DIY/bare-bulb, some have bought them and added a simple bat-wing reflector. Some good info in the advanced tech site/link above. The Sun Systems include the ballast and a down converter for 120v or they have a 240v model as well. The 240v are the most efficient and pull ~345w total at the wall including ballast/bulb.
 

skunkwreck

Well-Known Member
You'd have to verify the ballast, unlikely, those Elite Agro bulbs, specifically the 210w & 315w require a digital pulse start ballast specifically designed to fire them. There are a few out advanced tech has the bulbs and ballasts at a reasonable price for DIY/bare-bulb, some have bought them and added a simple bat-wing reflector. Some good info in the advanced tech site/link above. The Sun Systems include the ballast and a down converter for 120v or they have a 240v model as well. The 240v are the most efficient and pull ~345w total at the wall including ballast/bulb.
Oh ok , I just gotta cheap Apollo dimmable digital ballast that fire's a 400w MH/HPS both...bare bulb an bat wing reflector and since I can just plug it in my wall socket I'll say it's 120v !?
Thanks for the help
Lec and cmh are they the same thing or different animals?
 
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Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
That's interesting... How tall can you typically let you plants get with that setup without burning them? Even if temps were controlled well, it seems like 3ft would be pushing it???
Anything closer than 9 inches from directly beneath the bottom of my cooltube where my light bulb sits gets hits with ir heat that I can't keep cooler than 78°f. Some strains are fine with this as I have a fan moving air constantly, but others will loose terpenoids to the heat no matter what. I've never burnt them from being too close, but I'm also obsessive with maintaining an even canopy.
 

Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
To put it in perspective how much ir heat I deal with, my rooms ambient temps are 60-64°f, the temp at the bottom of my tent under my diy riser (less than 4 inches) is usually sub 70°, less than a foot above that it's 75, and above that it's stays between 75 and 78.
My plants, except for one columbian sativa, never go over 3 feet. I like them to look like super bushes.
 

upnsmoke13

Well-Known Member
To put it in perspective how much ir heat I deal with, my rooms ambient temps are 60-64°f, the temp at the bottom of my tent under my diy riser (less than 4 inches) is usually sub 70°, less than a foot above that it's 75, and above that it's stays between 75 and 78.
My plants, except for one columbian sativa, never go over 3 feet. I like them to look like super bushes.
Not to hi-jack, but how many plants & what size harvest on an average run? Debating 400/600 in my 2x4, thanks!
 

Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
Not to hi-jack, but how many plants & what size harvest on an average run? Debating 400/600 in my 2x4, thanks!
Honestly I have no idea how many I can fit at once lol. I usually have plants of all shapes and ages in my tent as I gift and trade a lot of cuts. I'd be willing to bet that I could pull close too 500 grams with 4 ladies in a Scrog without issues. Probably a gram per watt if I had some high yielding strains really dialed in.
But, I also don't weigh my harvests unless I'm specifically looking for quantitative data. My harvests are just for me and my girl so I don't pay attention to numbers unless they're on a clock.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Oh ok , I just gotta cheap Apollo dimmable digital ballast that fire's a 400w MH/HPS both...bare bulb an bat wing reflector and since I can just plug it in my wall socket I'll say it's 120v !?
Thanks for the help
Lec and cmh are they the same thing or different animals?
Yeah, that link to the ballast/bulb would be what you'd need to convert your current setup. You can pick up 120-240v step-down converters for like $30-$40 to run them @120v.

LEC is just a term for these CMH bulbs Sun Systems uses in their line I think, it stands for light emitting ceramic but not sure if that's a term for this technology or just what SS uses for terminology. Same thing though.
 

skunkwreck

Well-Known Member
Yeah, that link to the ballast/bulb would be what you'd need to convert your current setup. You can pick up 120-240v step-down converters for like $30-$40 to run them @120v.

LEC is just a term for these CMH bulbs Sun Systems uses in their line I think, it stands for light emitting ceramic but not sure if that's a term for this technology or just what SS uses for terminology. Same thing though.
Cool...thanks for your patience and answers.
 

NeilNeverSleeps

Well-Known Member
To put it in perspective how much ir heat I deal with, my rooms ambient temps are 60-64°f, the temp at the bottom of my tent under my diy riser (less than 4 inches) is usually sub 70°, less than a foot above that it's 75, and above that it's stays between 75 and 78.
My plants, except for one columbian sativa, never go over 3 feet. I like them to look like super bushes.
What's your method for the super bushes ? I have black indica seeds and was hoping to have some nice, short bushes myself...
 

Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
What's your method for the super bushes ? I have black indica seeds and was hoping to have some nice, short bushes myself...
Scrogs are really nice for that, which is what I use most of the time now. But some strains don't need a screen. Really any strain can be trained by hand to do whatever you want. You can lst (and/or super crop) them to do anything you want. I wish I had pictures but I trained a 501st og clone once to stay under 12 inches and I ended up with 10+ main colas all within the same inch of height. 4 weeks of veg once it rooted and low stress training EVERY day is what make it work for me.
 

NeilNeverSleeps

Well-Known Member
Yeah, that link to the ballast/bulb would be what you'd need to convert your current setup. You can pick up 120-240v step-down converters for like $30-$40 to run them @120v.

LEC is just a term for these CMH bulbs Sun Systems uses in their line I think, it stands for light emitting ceramic but not sure if that's a term for this technology or just what SS uses for terminology. Same thing though.
Any idea on how the Phillips cmh compare to the sun systems?
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Any idea on how the Phillips cmh compare to the sun systems?
The Sun Systems are a brand that package these Philips Elite Agro 3100k CMH bulbs with a very nice reflector and ballast. Those are the one's I use, the 120v that comes with a built-in down-converter to be able to run it at that. They have a 240v version as well. They're typically $450-$500 on growershouse.com.
 

Sativied

Well-Known Member
LEC is just a term for these CMH bulbs Sun Systems uses in their line I think, it stands for light emitting ceramic but not sure if that's a term for this technology or just what SS uses for terminology. Same thing though.
Seems to be a wordplay on LED and LEP and indeed from SS (registered even) and not a term for the cmh tech.

LEC as in a lighting technology is light-emitting electrochemical cell, which is like a printable sheet of light.
 
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