Picking lights 4 newbie

Hi! I've got a grow space of 3'W/7'H/17'L. I've painted walls Mayte white and room is sanitary. I want to grow 2-5 plants. I plan on customizing the room length last. I think I want a Viparspectra P2000 or P2500. & I was thinking of adding a MH/HPS. of 400w for extra light. Can anyone guide me on this? Any help is so much appreciated TY-Kim

I'd go more LED over supplemental HPS personally. I don't see the point of combining a superior technology with an obsolete technology.

Kim Tyler said:

Hi! I've got a grow space of 3'W/7'H/17'L. I've painted walls Mayte white and room is sanitary. I want to grow 2-5 plants. I plan on customizing the room length last. I think I want a Viparspectra P2000 or P2500. & I was thinking of adding a MH/HPS. of 400w for extra light. Can anyone guide me on this? Any help is so much appreciated TY-Kim

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Why led and how/mh? I'd pick one and just out up a few lights. 2-5 plants in a 17 ft long space?? You must intend on growing monster size plants or having lots of wasted space.

Killaki said:

Why led and how/mh? I'd pick one and just out up a few lights. 2-5 plants in a 17 ft long space?? You must intend on growing monster size plants or having lots of wasted space.

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LED requires less cooling. Smaller light bill. Seemed LED would lead to higher quality & higher resin. Thought of adding 400/400w to cover my bases. Wanted to start small & utilize more space when I have an idea of what I'm doing

Ukulele Haze said:

I'd go more LED over supplemental HPS personally. I don't see the point of combining a superior technology with an obsolete technology.

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Great help ty. Could I pick ur brain on what LED light I should start off with for my space? To start with 2-5 plants? And what size space I should use in my grow room for this set up?

Most of the plants I grow indoors occupy approx. a 2x2 footprint.
Using top-tier led's(qb's, strips, or cobs) will need at least 30 watts/sq ft of canopy to get adequate light levels.
That's 120 watts/plant, so plan accordingly.
What are you planning on growing in?

GBAUTO said:

Most of the plants I grow indoors occupy approx. a 2x2 footprint.
Using top-tier led's(qb's, strips, or cobs) will need at least 30 watts/sq ft of canopy to get adequate light levels.
That's 120 watts/plant, so plan accordingly.
What are you planning on growing in?

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Either the 10 gallon pots I have or smart bags. Then I'll use organic soil, coco air, perlite & nutrients best for seeds from Seedsman. I can figure out everything else. Just the lighting & amount of space hard to figure out for an English major. Lumens, PAR, & wattage vs actual wattage is giving me headaches, ty for ur help

Kim Tyler said:

LED requires less cooling. Smaller light bill. Seemed LED would lead to higher quality & higher resin. Thought of adding 400/400w to cover my bases. Wanted to start small & utilize more space when I have an idea of what I'm doing

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Correct. I just was wondering why mix efficiency of the LED with the power suck of hps when you don't need to. 17 feet of length IS a large space, which is why I wondered about desired plant size. Good luck with your setup and grow!

At this point, any o'light will do. All this techi jargon of par and pfffff shit is only a mind-booger....while being part of the whole experience, ya gotta start before any of it applies.
Growing with high wattage hps for years, I liked the results....then came the hype of blurples ....then whites... I bought the cheapest piece of shit blurple I could find so I'd have less lost dollars to bitch about...rated at a so called 600w, it only drew 100w at wall....then I'll be damned, that son-of-a-bitch ....
Well...The past few years, I've bought more blurples, cobs and qbs...I've gathered some nice smaller wattage lights, and usually run them all. During winter temps, I even use a 150w hps for a little heat cause that's what hps does....
Running various small lights for several years now, I've seen some differences but they all perform their own function ok...some better than others of course. Multiple lights means adjustability as I always have plants from 3 weeks to plum done in rotation to the guillotine ...
As I said, all grow weed...I'm fixin' to buy another small qb type to replace a blurple but I have to tell ya, The cobs are the main workhorse. They do some grunt work.
Leave the hps behind and jump on any wagon that rolls...

Killaki said:

Correct. I just was wondering why mix efficiency of the LED with the power suck of hps when you don't need to. 17 feet of length IS a large space, which is why I wondered about desired plant size. Good luck with your setup and grow!

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TY. Appreciate ur help, I'll take ur advice on the hps! And yes, I plan on some large plants, I've got the space ( in a 65degree root cellar) so y not strive for quality & a little quantity. Want to make my own vape eventually

Oldreefer said:

At this point, any o'light will do. All this techi jargon of par and pfffff shit is only a mind-booger....while being part of the whole experience, ya gotta start before any of it applies.
Growing with high wattage hps for years, I liked the results....then came the hype of blurples ....then whites... I bought the cheapest piece of shit blurple I could find so I'd have less lost dollars to bitch about...rated at a so called 600w, it only drew 100w at wall....then I'll be damned, that son-of-a-bitch ....
Well...The past few years, I've bought more blurples, cobs and qbs...I've gathered some nice smaller wattage lights, and usually run them all. During winter temps, I even use a 150w hps for a little heat cause that's what hps does....
Running various small lights for several years now, I've seen some differences but they all perform their own function ok...some better than others of course. Multiple lights means adjustability as I always have plants from 3 weeks to plum done in rotation to the guillotine ...
As I said, all grow weed...I'm fixin' to buy another small qb type to replace a blurple but I have to tell ya, The cobs are the main workhorse. They do some grunt work.
Leave the hps behind and jump on any wagon that rolls...

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Thank u, for ur knowledge & ur time I will get LEDs, start small & add to it

Be careful of the form factor ... your space is only 3' wide and most of the decent LED fixtures are 46'+ x 43'+
Stay away from blurples and make sure you look at the true wattage NOT the wattage that the cheap lights on Amazon claim in their headlines

I think I just have 1 more lighting question, thanks to ur info I want to start small with 2-4/5 plants. I understand the 3'W. part of my room is an unfortunate waste, but otherwise I think it's a great space. It's consistently 65 degrees, I've painted the walls a flat white, the height is good, and the length is adjustable to my needs. Also, it's clean and critter free. I want to start small, but with quality equipment I can add to as I expand. I don't want to have to throw out what I start with later, I dislike wasting anything. I was gonna go with Viparspectra, but am now considering the Mars Pro II Epistar. I was considering starting with a 3'W/7'H/4' or 5' L. What would u recommend I do for my first space....2 lower watt lamps or 1 slightly better lamp. For example, when considering the Viparspectra i was thinking of either the P2000 or the P2500 pro series for a 3/7/4 space. I hope that u could follow that, and I really do appreciate u sharing ur experience, it is so helpful after trying to figure this out for the past 6 months. I need to get my ass started but don't want to fly by the seat of my pants on a subject I've never practically experienced.

viparspectra blurple lights is like 10 yr old tech. it will work just not as efficient as new lights. best example I can give you is you might not need an iPhone 12 when a 10 or 11 will do the job for now. But the Vipar is like buying an iPhone 5 in 2020. sure you could, but why would you?

HLG has tons of fans on here, myself included. But there are some other decent brands to choose from as well using Cob style LEDs like Timber. Some other brands I will let those fans chime in.

You want white leds ideally using a Samsung lm301b or lm301h diode. There are some other options but stick with those for best bang for your buck.

let us know how much you want to spend and we can help pick the best option in your budget.

I have about $300 allocated for lights. I definitely want to grow 2-4 plants. After my first harvest, after I have some buds I don't have to buy from a dispensary, I want to grow quality plants and as large as I can SCROG them! (I think it's SCROG). I had been planning on two 600w MH/HPS units to start before I decided LED would b better.

theres a few ppl on here that like to mix cmh + led for the combined spectrum. can't remember atm, just do a search for that.

ok next question do you want something that is plug and play or are you willing to do some DIY wiring (no soldering).

I prefer plug n play, However, if I can get more for my money by diy-ing it, then I can ask a friend to help if needed.

Kim Tyler said:

I have about $300 allocated for lights. I definitely want to grow 2-4 plants. After my first harvest, after I have some buds I don't have to buy from a dispensary, I want to grow quality plants and as large as I can SCROG them! (I think it's SCROG). I had been planning on two 600w MH/HPS units to start before I decided LED would b better.

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i am running to 600 watt HPS side by side the plants love them and they were 300 total for 2 with the mh bulbs and timers but thats just me

I considered that setup, but if I run LEDs instead, it's a lower electricity bill and I may get by with a passive exhaust, by using an exhaust fan, and a couple of swivel fans strategically placed for fresh air flow. Grow room is in 65 degree root cellar

ok so here's the general way I would look at it and how I would utilize that space. most light fixtures cover a 2x2, 2x4, or 4x4 area for flowering. what i would do is think of your space as one long hallway. use 2foot wide rows for plants, and leave yourself a 1 foot aisle to walk down so u can take care of them.

each 2x2 area will fit one decent size plant if you want to scrog. you want approx 30 w per sf so 120W for each square. so you could start out with a 2x4 footprint and start with 2 plants and about 240W of light. (then could keep expanding til you fill all 17 ft lol.)

• prebuilt fixtures @ $1.50-$2 per watt.
• DIY kits @ $1 per watt
• DIY everything @ $0.50+ per watt

this is a prebuilt fixture that will cover a 3x3 for $300

here's a simple complete diy kit that will cover a 2x4 which i think is a better fit for your space for $350

you could also buy just the light part from the first fixture. these can run up to 225W each. you would also need a driver. but u could do this one for prob under $150

other option is a 4pack of QB120 boards. u would need to build a frame + get a 240W driver. so @ $200 total for this as well

any of those HLG products use code RIU10 to get 10% off.

finally you could do a super cheap 320W build using strips like @GrassBurner did here for under $200.
this would give you the best spread altho these diodes are a little older.

theres lots of other options these are just a few.

good luck with everything!