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So I made a post on here trying to go with a cheap led grow, skip on a few things to save a few extra bucks. Things didn't work out so much to plan. Heat problems arose, tent was getting to hot. also the space wasn't breathable for the space the tent was in. Long story short, plants died. buried them and was very sad. So i've decided to redeem myself., and go again. and not waste the extra supplies i had and remake everything.
Grow area; will be a basement. I am in winter months so I am using a space heater at the moment for the tent and am able to keep the tent around 85.
I am using a tent that is 2x4x5; I bought myself a inline boost fan to start off with for the fact I am not just yet buying a carbon filter. So at some point ill prob end up getting a inline fan combo.
I have started the seed's on 12/8/17. The seeds ive choosen are biggest bud auto, blue cheese dem auto, and peyote cookies. I started off with the first grow in rock wool, and wasn't a big fan of them honestly. not sure exactly. But on this grow I decided to use root riot. And I must say the stems are alot stronger and I did the same thing this grow I did the first time because I know what I did the first grow was the heat. and I tried armor si but I was too late. and knew everything needed a new location. So here I am.
Everything from 12/8/17 is going good. Seeds germ currently. and growing strong stems already and do have my light turned on. growing at 85F and about 75HUM. I am also a little nervous about transplanting into a rdwc I built, for simple fact of timing. I should get a grow bible or something. I try to just read post and reviews and what not so if anyone is willing to help out and give me input that would be cool.
Supplies for this grow:// Tent: 2x4x5 / 600D Mylar
Light: MEIZHI Reflector 600w [ actw. 270 ] also have a generic mars hydroo 300w, not sure if i should hook it up and run it aside that light. Suggestions or any feed back on that would be awesome. Also thought about when it came to flowering time, buying another 600w or 900w MEIZHI to put beside it, and just use the one for veg. atm.
Germ generic station; I took a heating mat from the dollar store and am running it under a dome, I also got on sale from the dollar store. working pretty good everything inside stays at good temp/hum levels.
Air/fan: I have a 16" desk fan running at the top of the tent pointed down towards the the floor to give the plants the movement they need, to give stronger stems. I also have a MELONFARM 6" Inline Duct Booster Fan to push some of the extra hot air hair out of the tent. and it was on the cheaper end but its pretty nice and really does the trick, no complaints.
I was using a sample pack I got from amhydro. And a generic base from ebay. Ive decided to retire those, and use General Hydroponics Flora serious. [ Grow, Bloom, Micro. ] Also bought armor si and got the ph up/down kit from GH.
I am going hydroponic, and built a rdwc out of 5 gal. buckets I purchased from Walmart. I have my reservoir outside the tent, and inside of it I have the following running a little giant 380 gph pump which is hooked up to a active aqua top drip. I am running 3/4" piping from bucket to bucket.
Air pump(s): Elemental O2 Commercial Pump [ 571GPH ] and active aqua 2 outlet pump. I am running two. One has 3 2" stones. the other pump is for my res. which has 6" stones, from walmart. Airstones: 3x2" active aqua cylinder style. 2x6" walmart airstone bar style.
Air Line: I found some pretty nice silicone airline tubing on amazon 50ft of it. for 10$ it was a pretty good deal and its really nice. Came on a sunday from amazon was super surprised and pumped wasn't expecting it to come.
I also ordered a new space heater, the one I am using now will cut off for no reason and not come back on unless I unplug it for like a hour and then plug it back in, and I am at work 10 hours a day so if it happens the tent goes to around 64F without me at home not sure for how long, so I bought a new mini 700w oil filled heater, hoping it works. going to keep it at low and experiment with it as I go.
I also bought this co2 regulator off of ebay to try and brew my own co2 I am also going to experiment with this and see how things go but any input or advice on this would be truly appreciated. it came with a recipe on making the co2. just have to buy the ingredients. Also thought of just buying a co2 bucket off of amazon and eventually buying a co2 cylinder and having it filled when needed, I have a place kinda close about 10m away that would fill it for like a buck or two per-gal.
Now back to note(s) about this grow, and things to be added.
I have things to buy still but I will focus on them item's when it is due time. Prime two day shipping is pretty amazing, and works out.
I started this new grow on dec. 8th, 2017. There isn't much to report other than the germ faze is over and they have became seedlings. I would very much like to transplant them when I get up tomorrow after running it for a minute but I am also scared that they will die being maybe to early, who knows it might not even be to early. Any pointers? would help. Thanks for reading and taken the time out to read my journey. I will try to update daily to weekly. for those who are interested.
I changed up my journal and remastered it. This above is the new setup and trying to redem myself.[/color]
Unfortunately your lighting choice is on the lower side of quality fixtures so don't expect huge yields. 30 watts a sq/f is the moderate for led lighting, your fixture is 135 watts Which Is 16.8 Watts A sq/f. With that said the fixture will grow bud probably not what you're expecting tho. 2 of those fixtures would be a better fit for the tent if your budget permits.
Plants need fresh air to grow so if there is now air exchange you will suffocate the plants. They need fresh air like we do or they die. Ona blocks mask the smell not get rid of it just food for thought. Good luck and post up pics when you get a chance .
BTW You know your dealing with less then honest people when they say "Wattage: 300W" and then state that "300W is model number 110V: 140W±10%/220V: 135W±10%" meaning its really just 140 watts. and then claim "Replaces HPS HID: 150 watt. 40% less energy than HPS" that it uses only 80 watts of power. 150 watt HPS minus 40% is 80 watts. I guess they really don't understand math. its gets better the lumen production from their light is 5911 LUMEN yet a 150 watt HPS produces about 18,750 lumens
Still only 270 watts. You're better off building your own on a budget. One option is to look around for DC power supplies, fans, and heatsinks (computers are a good source) then sketch up a circuit to match the power to some decent LED's. PSU's usually have a 12v and 5v rail.
There are build logs all over the net, most use COB's and some get stupid expensive. The nice thing about diy is you can upgrade as you go. Start with a few 100w COB's (like Vero 29s) and a mean well driver, and build from there.
It's better to underdrive the lights @ ~60%. They will last longer and run more efficiently, so if you can, buy more COB's to start with and upgrade the drivers as you go.
I was trying to stay away from like hps and mh because of the heat, i am going low budget build, so if i move over to hps then i would need a exhaust fan and what not. VIPARSPECTRA Reflector-Series 600W specs so with my current 300w and that 600w viparspectra still wouldnt be pulling off a decent grow? I am just trying to start off small, get decent and know my ends and outs and go from there. But I want to be able to pull off some decent size buds and a decent size harvest.
Specifications: - Dimensions: 15x12.6x3 inches - Item Weight: 9.8 lbs - Replaces a 600W HPS/MH - Use for all stages grow and flowering - Vegetative Coverage at 32": 3x3ft - Flowering Coverage at 22": 2.5x2.5ft - Avg. Power Draw: 269W±3% - (120pcs) High Intensity 5W Bridgelux/Epileds LEDs - LEDs Angle: 90° - Input Voltage: AC100-240V - Frequency: 50-60Hz - Lifespan: 100,000 hours
Any of the cheaper leds will grow bud there just not as efficient as the higher end stuff. Basically the more efficient the system is the less heat it will put off and more light it puts out. Efficiency isn't just the chips it's the drivers too, cheap fixtures have cheap driver's that run in the low 80% efficiency range and the chips they use mite be 30% efficient so those fixtures tend to run hot. Some of the top led chips out rite now are about 50%-60% efficient and meanwell drivers are as high as 96% efficient food for thought.
Yield will depend on your growing skill and genetics. But with those lights in a 2x4 tent is going to get really hot fast so you may want to reconsider a exhaust fan. I only run 300 watts of leds and I couldn't run my tent without one. Even a cheap duct fan booster mite work.
I just finished my first grow with LED.I have a 250 and a 300,inside a 24x24x48 tent for growing autos.first 4 were Northern Lights autos from Nirvana.I didnt realize they would grow as tall as they did and it was a fight with light burn as they were only 10inches from the light,and The lights were almost flush with the top of the tent and could go no higher.my first plant produced 48 grams.Second plant was a runt and almost a oz.But the other two were huge,covered in big lower buds as I lst the last two plants.I got almost 5ozs from the last two plants.All were grown inn 3gal grow bags,first two never got nutes,only ph’d water.The big plants I fed nutes from day 10 to day 80,flushed with about three gallons ph’d water,then didnt feed them again.Nothing,no water.At day 80 I had almost 100 percent cloudy trichromes but couldn’t get them to amber and I blame it on the led’s.That is why I stopped feeding the last two and in about 10 days after I stopped feeding it,there was still moisture in the soil and now i had a 50-50 mix of cloudy and amber,in about half of all the buds,the rest were still cloudy.Soil was a 60 40 mix of FF and perlite and I used Terra nutes.Once the big plants got close to the light I cut out the 250 but had to tie the top colas down from the light and rotated its position daily.Ran lights 24-7,never had a problem.I think one 600w would be nice,but only with the shorter autos.If you ph your non chlorinated water,keep your soil in the correct range and check the ph of the runoff every time you water,you cant go wrong.LED’s kill bacteria and mold. Will never be a problem as long as you keep your humility at 40-50 percent and temps below 83.This is how I did my first grow,not saying its right only it worked for me.Good luck and good growing
Uvc-b below 300nm will kill bacteria and mold, it will also kill the plants with enough exposure. Almost all full spectrum leds are based off 450nm blue leds with phosphor coating to change the color. 450nm leds don't emits much below 400nm, so there is no uv in regular leds. There is a company the uses uv based leds to make full spectrum color but they are expensive if i can think of the name I'll post it up. Uva won't hurt anything except your eye and it may not hurt them.
Quote: 49sidewinder said: I just finished my first grow with LED.I have a 250 and a 300,inside a 24x24x48 tent for growing autos.first 4 were Northern Lights autos from Nirvana.I didnt realize they would grow as tall as they did and it was a fight with light burn as they were only 10inches from the light,and The lights were almost flush with the top of the tent and could go no higher.my first plant produced 48 grams.Second plant was a runt and almost a oz.But the other two were huge,covered in big lower buds as I lst the last two plants.I got almost 5ozs from the last two plants.All were grown inn 3gal grow bags,first two never got nutes,only ph’d water.The big plants I fed nutes from day 10 to day 80,flushed with about three gallons ph’d water,then didnt feed them again.Nothing,no water.At day 80 I had almost 100 percent cloudy trichromes but couldn’t get them to amber and I blame it on the led’s.That is why I stopped feeding the last two and in about 10 days after I stopped feeding it,there was still moisture in the soil and now i had a 50-50 mix of cloudy and amber,in about half of all the buds,the rest were still cloudy.Soil was a 60 40 mix of FF and perlite and I used Terra nutes.Once the big plants got close to the light I cut out the 250 but had to tie the top colas down from the light and rotated its position daily.Ran lights 24-7,never had a problem.I think one 600w would be nice,but only with the shorter autos.If you ph your non chlorinated water,keep your soil in the correct range and check the ph of the runoff every time you water,you cant go wrong.LED’s kill bacteria and mold. Will never be a problem as long as you keep your humility at 40-50 percent and temps below 83.This is how I did my first grow,not saying its right only it worked for me.Good luck and good growing
I wanna thank you for your input and advice. I wanna also thank everyone else aswell. I have done some reading and more looking into things aswell as putting just a little bit of more money into my new found project. New gear and what not so new advice and pointing in a good direction if anyone else has any input on things.
Scratch the old post, and advice. Going with a little bit new of a setup, failed last one trying to revamp. Thanks for all the reply's and advice and pointers. Any new ideas or points would be great.
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its gets better the lumen production from their light is 5911 LUMEN yet a 150 watt HPS produces about 18,750 lumens 
