Led or hps

A

Akbk31

Active Member
hi everyone

I have a 4x4x8 grow tent with a 200 cfm as an exhaust fan and a little booster fan (supposedly 100cfm lol) as an intake , its working fine as I only have one 600 watts Mars Hydro Led grow light (260 true wattage) bu I want to get more power while keeping temps down with that being said I wanted to know if it would be better to get another Mars Hydro 600 watts(260 watts true watts) which will give me 520 true wattage in total with two of them combined and with Led’s the temps are always lower and a friend is telling me Im better off adding a 600 watts hps to the current Mars Hydro I have but then I would also have to upgrade my ventilation for sure which will increase the bill and the noise but then I would still have to upgrade ventilation two with two Led’s working togheter Im stuck what should I do guys helpp!!!!
 
A

Akbk31

Active Member
hotrodharley said:
Add the HPS if you want more bud weight. Air cooled reflectors are common.
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Dont think I will be able to fit all that in the 4x4 its the fan the ducting , the aircooled hood with the filter next and the Led thats too much and 520watts off of 2 led’s wont gimme me bigger yields?
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Akbk31 said:
Dont think I will be able to fit all that in the 4x4 its the fan the ducting , the aircooled hood with the filter next and the Led thats too much and 520watts off of 2 led’s wont gimme me bigger yields?
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I guess you'll find out. I've been in quite a few commercial legal operations here and none use LED. With 36,000 square lit feet of bud if LED technology could outdo HPS dollar for dollar I think they would do it.
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Akbk31 said:
damn everyone saying this to me lol why arent 520 true wattage of Led not as strong as a 400 hps
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PPFD is not an accurate measurement of light.
Ir is lacking as well as other spectrums.
Multi point light sources have overlap problems.
They are sold as beating the heat, they dont and growers fuck up.
Spreading 3 watts of diode gets hard and exspensive.
Keeping 3watts of diode spectrum stable over anything but small distances is hard.
They are all exspensive so no true measure of how good they are.
Some dont need to join the led club and do just the same with hps.

Pick one or take em all :-)
 
A

Akbk31

Active Member
hotrodharley said:
I guess you'll find out. I've been in quite a few commercial legal operations here and none use LED. With 36,000 square lit feet of bud if LED technology could outdo HPS dollar for dollar I think they would do it.
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But Like I said Im looking to keep temps down as well if I can reach atleast 500 true watts without the heat that comes with hps bulbs It will be better that way
 
OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Akbk31 said:
hi everyone

I have a 4x4x8 grow tent with a 200 cfm as an exhaust fan and a little booster fan (supposedly 100cfm lol) as an intake , its working fine as I only have one 600 watts Mars Hydro Led grow light (260 true wattage) bu I want to get more power while keeping temps down with that being said I wanted to know if it would be better to get another Mars Hydro 600 watts(260 watts true watts) which will give me 520 true wattage in total with two of them combined and with Led’s the temps are always lower and a friend is telling me Im better off adding a 600 watts hps to the current Mars Hydro I have but then I would also have to upgrade my ventilation for sure which will increase the bill and the noise but then I would still have to upgrade ventilation two with two Led’s working togheter Im stuck what should I do guys helpp!!!!
Click to expand...
Not sure on your specific fans etc but the 600HPS would be perfect in your 4x4. If your trying to do it on somewhat of a budget looks at a HydroFarm 6" Radiant air cooled hood. Mount your fan at the very top of the tent and and duct it into the hood with the other side of the hood exiting the tent. That way the one fan is completely venting the tent and cooling the light. Plus if you have a filter on that fan it is scrubbing the air and with he hood being under a positive pressure your not sucking any stinky's into the exhaust stream if you have something not perfectly air tight.
Good luck grower :peace:
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
Not sure on your specific fans etc but the 600HPS would be perfect in your 4x4. If your trying to do it on somewhat of a budget looks at a HydroFarm 6" Radiant air cooled hood. Mount your fan at the very top of the tent and and duct it into the hood with the other side of the hood exiting the tent. That way the one fan is completely venting the tent and cooling the light. Plus if you have a filter on that fan it is scrubbing the air and with he hood being under a positive pressure your not sucking any stinky's into the exhaust stream if you have something not perfectly air tight.
Good luck grower :peace:
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There ya go, OP. As simple as that .
 
A

Akbk31

Active Member
OneHitDone said:
Not sure on your specific fans etc but the 600HPS would be perfect in your 4x4. If your trying to do it on somewhat of a budget looks at a HydroFarm 6" Radiant air cooled hood. Mount your fan at the very top of the tent and and duct it into the hood with the other side of the hood exiting the tent. That way the one fan is completely venting the tent and cooling the light. Plus if you have a filter on that fan it is scrubbing the air and with he hood being under a positive pressure your not sucking any stinky's into the exhaust stream if you have something not perfectly air tight.
Good luck grower :peace:
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I have a 200 cfm vivosun inline fan with a speed controller acting as the exhaust and I have a 100 cfm booster fan(more like 20cfm) acting as an intake fan with that being said I have a mars hydro 600 watts(260true watts) and my temps are between 28degrees on average. Now if I upgrade to a 600 watts hps air cooled system Ill have to atleast upgrade to a 400 cfm exhaust and also upgrade my intake fan which is costly and noisy ughh I dont know what to do. Would like to upgrade to a 600 watts hps to get bigger yields but at the same time I wanna keep the noise down(very important) as I live in a studio apartment thanks a bunch for all your replies guys!!
 
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OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Akbk31 said:
I have a 200 cfm vivosun inline fan with a speed controller acting as the exhaust and I have a 100 cfm booster fan(more like 20cfm) acting as an intake fan with that being said I have a mars hydro 600 watts(260true watts) and my temps are between 28degrees on average. Now if I upgrade to a 600 watts hps air cooled system Ill have to atleast upgrade to a 400 cfm exhaust and also upgrade my intake fan which is costly and noisy ughh I dont know what to do. Would like to upgrade to a 600 watts hps to get bigger yields but at the same time I wanna keep the noise down(very important) as I live in a studio apartment thanks a bunch for all your replies guys!!
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I cool a 600W Horilux Blue MH in my veg with one of these fans and that MH runs much hotter than an hps

https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/ACDF4

Make sure your intake fan is not restricting your exhaust and remember a HUGE portion of the heat generated by the lamp is leaving the tent through air cooling.
Ballast should be kept outside the tent too of course.
I got the bit eye opener years back when I put a air cooled 1000W HPS in a box where I had previously been running a 460W Inda-Gro and the temps went DOWN :confused:
Air cooling is more powerful than the led folks would have you believe and remember your led panels dump all their heat right into the tent and the ones your using probably have noisy cooling fans on board too :peace:
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
Not sure on your specific fans etc but the 600HPS would be perfect in your 4x4. If your trying to do it on somewhat of a budget looks at a HydroFarm 6" Radiant air cooled hood. Mount your fan at the very top of the tent and and duct it into the hood with the other side of the hood exiting the tent. That way the one fan is completely venting the tent and cooling the light. Plus if you have a filter on that fan it is scrubbing the air and with he hood being under a positive pressure your not sucking any stinky's into the exhaust stream if you have something not perfectly air tight.
Good luck grower :peace:
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That's exactly the way I have mine setup. No need for an intake fan just the bottom vents for passive intake. Filtered of course to keep dust, lint and other crap from getting into the tent.
Akbk31 said:
I have a 200 cfm vivosun inline fan with a speed controller acting as the exhaust and I have a 100 cfm booster fan(more like 20cfm) acting as an intake fan with that being said I have a mars hydro 600 watts(260true watts) and my temps are between 28degrees on average. Now if I upgrade to a 600 watts hps air cooled system Ill have to atleast upgrade to a 400 cfm exhaust and also upgrade my intake fan which is costly and noisy ughh I dont know what to do. Would like to upgrade to a 600 watts hps to get bigger yields but at the same time I wanna keep the noise down(very important) as I live in a studio apartment thanks a bunch for all your replies guys!!
Click to expand...
You don't need an intake fan.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
...passionate folks.

My take-if you have a way to manage the thermal load from either HID or LED, that's the first priority.
Get an effective ventilation system in place and either style will work. HID is much less expensive up front but is usually less efficient than led. Efficiency is where led technology can offer an advantage, but you have to do some research because there are alot of scammers out there-like Mars.

Bottom line-HID works well if you can manage the heat. Leds offer less heat load for the same amount of light but upfront cost is higher.
 
ILGM Will

ILGM Will

Member
High Pressure Sodium - HPS

High pressure sodium bulbs emit an orange-red glow. This band of light triggers hormones in cannabis
plants to increase flowering/budding in cannabis plants. They are the best lights available for
secondary or supplemental lighting (used in conjunction with natural sunlight). This is ideal for
greenhouse growing applications.

Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice.
Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use, they will start
to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light. HPS bulbs are
very efficient. They produce up to 140 lumens per watt. Their disadvantage is they are deficient in
the blue spectrum.

If a gardener were to start a young cannabis plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive
vertical growth. In fact, probably too impressive. Most cannabis plants would grow up thin and
lanky and in no time you will have to prune your cannabis plant back before it grows into the light
fixture. The exception to this is using a HPS light in a greenhouse. Sunlight is high in the blue
spectrum which would offset any stretching caused by HPS bulbs.


Common manufacturers of metal halide and high pressure (HP) sodium lights include Philips,
General Electric, Iwasaki, Venture, and Osram/Sylvania. Many of the manufacturers buy and use
the same components, often manufactured by competitors. Most often the bulbs have the exact same technical statistics.


Lighting Chart - A guide for wattage per square foot.
HID Light Output Primary Growing Area Supplemental Area
100 watts 2' x 2' 3' x 3'
250 watts 3' x 3' 4' x 4'
400 watts 4' x 4' 6' x 6'
600 watts 6' x 6' 8' x 8'
1000 watts 8' x 8' 12' x 12'

HID Lighting Helpful Tips

Hanging height: Due to the heat that is emitted from these types of fixtures, you should hang
them according to size. Smaller wattage systems (100 and 250) should be hung about 2 feet from
the tops of the cannabis plants. Medium wattage systems (400 and 600) should be hung around
3 feet from the top of the cannabis plants. High wattage systems (1000 and up) should be placed
at least 4 to 5 feet from the cannabis plant tops.

How long should lights run?

This depends on the type of cannabis plant. Most cannabis plants and vegetables need about
10 to 12 hours of light to promote growth. cannabis plants that produce fruits or flowers
will show improvement with up to 16 hours a day of supplemental light.

Fluorescent Lighting

This type of light is perfect for starts and seedlings. They are also popular for growing low-light
cannabis plants like herbs and African violets. Fluorescent lights are low intensity and need to be
placed within 8" (up to 15" for shade loving cannabis plants) of the cannabis plants to be effective.
They are a poor light source for flowering and budding primarily because of their low lumen output.
 
Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Dont get another mars hydro LED.
I wouldn't recomment standard HPS, either.

LEDs run cooler and more efficiently than Mars or HPS. And that matters in a little tent. Quality LED might cost more in up front capital, but the true cost of your lights is in operating: the monthly electical bill.

ceramic metal halides would be another good choice, but a 315w might be small for a 4x4, while a 630w might get a little warm, making you upgrade your ventilation.

My vote's either for a 630w CMH, a DIY COB fixture, or quantum boards. It's hard to beat quantum boards right now.
 
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