Looking for some opinions on small grow setup

Hey All!

So I've been growing on and off for years but never with a particularly impressive setup. Now that I'm old and settled down though, I've finally been able to grow continually, which is great! What's less great is my current setup. I didn't do enough research after my extended hiatus and jumped into buying some junk Amazon LEDs and really quickly realized they weren't gonna cut it. Problem is, I have no idea what to upgrade too. There's too many options now, and despite spending the last week lurking on the forum here, I still have no idea what to buy. So here I am, hoping y'all might have some helpful opinions and insight.

So, details on my grow. I am growing in my basement which has a fairly low ceiling, so I purchased a 32"x32"x62" tent which has been fine. The aforementioned LEDs are two "300w" blurple lights. One is supposedly a vegging light which gives off visibly less red light. They both suck, as I've now realized you all know already. Fine for vegging I guess but awful for flowering.

I just moved from soil to hydro for the first time as well. Homemade DWC, two plants in a 17 gallon tote. General Hydroponics complete line for nutes. Passive intake, exhaust is a 100 cfm inline fan. Currently growing some feminized Great White Shark.

Anyways, I need some suggestions for a better light. My main concern being heat due to the small tent. Last summer the tent hit 87*F even with just these little LEDs and I feel like an HPS will run way too hot. Meanwhile, I can't wrap my head around all this COB, CMH etc talk well enough to figure out what my best option is. Would like to keep it under $500. I'm just growing for my head stash so I'd just like to hit 6oz each grow, though more would never hurt of course. Might add a second tent for staggered grows eventually.

Also open to any other suggestions you guys might have. As I said, it's been a long time since I grew or spent any time around the forums, so I'm just winging it at the moment. Couple pics of my setup below.

your plants look fine.. what lights have you used in the past? you said you've grown off and on over the years..
I'm not an led user yet but have had lots of grows over the years using metal halide/high pressure sodium lights.. you can find some fairly cheap complete systems on eBay or Amazon .. that have worked for me fine.. just have to buy a good balb(like hortilux, not so cheap )
here's a pic of one plant I grew in my closet when I got back into indoor growing using a 400 watt mh/hps digital ballast .. Apollo brand..
sorry about the poor quality of the picI put a cfl in with it to give more blue during flower.. heard it would help with trich production but I'm not sure on that..this pic is a few years old and the plant was only around the 4-5 week into flowering.. when she was done she yeilded 9oz's.. far as your temps go in the tent I would suggest a higher cfm or if you decide to run the mh or hps I would suggest using a cool tube and venting it out of the tent..

my closet space that plant was in was only 4' x 2' x 6'
w x d x h..

farmerfischer said:

your plants look fine.. what lights have you used in the past? you said you've grown off and on over the years..
I'm not an led user yet but have had lots of grows over the years using metal halide/high pressure sodium lights.. you can find some fairly cheap complete systems on eBay or Amazon .. that have worked for me fine.. just have to buy a good balb(like hortilux, not so cheap )
here's a pic of one plant I grew in my closet when I got back into indoor growing using a 400 watt mh/hps digital ballast .. Apollo brand..
sorry about the poor quality of the picView attachment 4082371I put a cfl in with it to give more blue during flower.. heard it would help with trich production but I'm not sure on that..View attachment 4082373this pic is a few years old and the plant was only around the 4-5 week into flowering.. when she was done she yeilded 9oz's.. far as your temps go in the tent I would suggest a higher cfm or if you decide to run the mh or hps I would suggest using a cool tube and venting it out of the tent..

Click to expand...

I ran a 250w HPS in a little 2x2 closet previously and a few all CFL grows in a retrofitted shower stall before that. Like I said, nothing fancy. I just remember how much heat that HPS threw. It was fine back then because I had 7' of vertical space but I was worried about using one in a tent that was only 5' tall. I thought about using the cool tube reflectors but I just didn't know if it would be enough ventilation even with a bigger fan.

Those were some lovely plants btw!

Gentlemencorpse said:

I ran a 250w HPS in a little 2x2 closet previously and a few all CFL grows in a retrofitted shower stall before that. Like I said, nothing fancy. I just remember how much heat that HPS threw. It was fine back then because I had 7' of vertical space but I was worried about using one in a tent that was only 5' tall. I thought about using the cool tube reflectors but I just didn't know if it would be enough ventilation even with a bigger fan.

Those were some lovely plants btw!

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one plant.. lst'd. I'm not familiar with growing in tents but was just thinking if you used a cool tube it may help , maybe get an intake fan on the bottom ? as long as you got cool air coming in through the bottom and a fan pushing the hot air out through the top of tent maybe that could help..

farmerfischer said:

one plant.. lst'd. I'm not familiar with growing in tents but was just thinking if you used a cool tube it may help , maybe get an intake fan on the bottom ? as long as you got cool air coming in through the bottom and a fan pushing the hot air out through the top of tent maybe that could help..

Click to expand...

Haha yeah, I immediately remembered you said it was a single plant and tried to edit my comment, but the site thought I was a spambot and wouldn't let me change it.

I might just try upping my ventilation like you suggested. Combined with some LST I can probably keep the plants far enough from the light. The DIY COB lights are outside my comfort zone. A 315 CMH was my other thought, but I'm not sure how hot those run either.

How far away from the plant did you keep that 400w during flowering?

Thanks for all the advice by the way!

Model 4VS from Timber Grow Lights......its over your predicted budget, but check it out anyway....
There are also kits available, if you are capable of building framework to hold them up.
I know you said DIY is out of your comfort zone, I say give yourself a chance man!!!

Chip Green said:

Model 4VS from Timber Grow Lights......its over your predicted budget, but check it out anyway....
There are also kits available, if you are capable of building framework to hold them up.
I know you said DIY is out of your comfort zone, I say give yourself a chance man!!!

Click to expand...

Just checked out their site and I think you may have found the answer my friend! It's not DIY that makes me nervous, it's wiring and soldering and such. Im actually a contractor and I can build some racking for those lights no problem.

Something about electrical work just makes me nervous. The kind of work I do can't catch fire ya know? Its the only thing in my home I will always hire a professional for.

Chip Green said:

Model 4VS from Timber Grow Lights......its over your predicted budget, but check it out anyway....
There are also kits available, if you are capable of building framework to hold them up.
I know you said DIY is out of your comfort zone, I say give yourself a chance man!!!

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest timber lights as well. Cheers.