4x4 or a 5x5?

spek9 said:
My interest is in lowering my power consumption. I'm currently running one 1kW HPS, one 600W HPS, two 400W MH, ~200W of CFL (for my male plant closet), and two 43W CFL in my clone tent. Periodically for certain test runs, I stand up another 600W and 400W in addition.

With that said, I'm not going to spend several thousand dollars to replace even half of my lamps if I don't know precisely what I'm buying, and exactly how they will behave (including temperature output).
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You can knock off about 1/3rd of power consumption on the HPS, 50% on the MH and probably 75-80% on the CFL
 
Soupsaa said:
Would it be better to buy a 5x5 tent over a 4x4 with a spider farm sf4000. I would think a 5x5 will yield more than a 4x4 with one sf4000 or would it be the same?
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I’d buy a 5x5 if you plan to keep growing in a tent. Even if you grow in a 4x4 foot print a 5x5 tent is only an extra 6in around the edges. It’s not like you’ll be left with tons of extra dead space. Having that extra space will probably come in handy at some point.
If you plan to upgrade to a more permanent setup down the line id stuck with a 4x4. Less money up front and probably easier to resell down the line as most people are likely to be looking for a 4x4.
 
Ebenezer Kong said:
I’d buy a 5x5 if you plan to keep growing in a tent. Even if you grow in a 4x4 foot print a 5x5 tent is only an extra 6in around the edges. It’s not like you’ll be left with tons of extra dead space. Having that extra space will probably come in handy at some point.
If you plan to upgrade to a more permanent setup down the line id stuck with a 4x4. Less money up front and probably easier to resell down the line as most people are likely to be looking for a 4x4.
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Yeah i have a 3x3 and its FULL, always go bigger than you plan to grow, extra room can be good. airflow and humidty control come to mind
 
madvillian420 said:
Yeah i have a 3x3 and its FULL, always go bigger than you plan to grow, extra room can be good. airflow and humidty control come to mind
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Problem is if you only have a 4x4 footprint and end up filling your 5x5 tent, you will likely end up with mostly airy buds.
 
I'm in agreement with those who say buy bigger if you can, even if you don't need it now.

If you have problems keeping the canopy contained to a smaller footprint to suit your light, it's trivial to slap something together to artificially reduce the size of the tent.
 
JoeBlow5823 said:
Problem is if you only have a 4x4 footprint and end up filling your 5x5 tent, you will likely end up with mostly airy buds.
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right, but ive already made several posts on footprint. I meant have empty space on all sides for airflows sake. plants and lights can always be moved if you have the space
 
madvillian420 said:
... So far ive had/tested Black dog, Viparspectra, PlatinumLED, HLG, and BudgetLED. HLG and Budget both have a 500w fixture advertised as a "1000w equivalent" which is a tremendous light but i have a hard time believing is exactly true.
...
Im still an LED believer, just annoyed with the way things are worded/presented sometimes lol
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I'll comment on HLG and Budget ... the rest of them are a waste of money and/or space. Budget LED looks just like HLG's products. The major difference is that they give you no technical info on their lights. No PAR map, no PPFD just some promotional wording. HLG on the other hand gives you all the info you need to make a decision, and actually developed the QB technology Budget is copying. And HLG would be a big improvement over the Spider.
If you have the budget and really want the 5x5, take a look at https://mammothlighting.com/pages/comparative-analysis-of-leading-brands. I think you'll find the information useful.
I'm presently running Fluence Spydr 2i, but I'm looking at Mammoth for fixtures when I rebuild this fall.
Here's a well lit 5x5 a couple of weeks before harvest
 

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Bosgrower said:
I'll comment on HLG and Budget ... the rest of them are a waste of money and/or space. Budget LED looks just like HLG's products. The major difference is that they give you no technical info on their lights. No PAR map, no PPFD just some promotional wording. HLG on the other hand gives you all the info you need to make a decision, and actually developed the QB technology Budget is copying. And HLG would be a big improvement over the Spider.
If you have the budget and really want the 5x5, take a look at https://mammothlighting.com/pages/comparative-analysis-of-leading-brands. I think you'll find the information useful.
I'm presently running Fluence Spydr 2i, but I'm looking at Mammoth for fixtures when I rebuild this fall.
Here's a well lit 5x5 a couple of weeks before harvest
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Budget provides a par and spectrum map as well as all the info on the diodes, drivers, heatsink material, warranty, etc. Im not sure what else youd need or when the last time you checked was but I personally own one and have interacted with them several times prior to and once after buying with nothing but positive things to say. My plants are happier than ever
 
madvillian420 said:
Budget provides a par and spectrum map as well as all the info on the diodes, drivers, heatsink material, warranty, etc. Im not sure what else youd need or when the last time you checked was but I personally own one and have interacted with them several times prior to and once after buying with nothing but positive things to say. My plants are happier than ever
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They may be as good or better than HLG ... but other than spectrum charts I can’t find any of the data I referenced. If it’s there they should make it more visible. In any case I glad to know that you’re happy with your grow.
 
madvillian420 said:
Maybe my light meter isnt as accurate as the ones used by the manufacturers, but so far theyve ALL been sprucing up the numbers a bit, blurple companies much more than QBs. So far ive had/tested Black dog, Viparspectra, PlatinumLED, HLG, and BudgetLED. HLG and Budget both have a 500w fixture advertised as a "1000w equivalent" which is a tremendous light but i have a hard time believing is exactly true.

Part of my statement on the exaggerating numbers was also in the advertised flowering footprint of these lights. Most lights ive had with an advertised 12/12 footprint of say 4x4 do much better in a 3x3. that last 6-12 inches furthest from the fixture will have poor coverage/intensity if you were to follow the manufacturers guidelines in a lot of cases.

Im still an LED believer, just annoyed with the way things are worded/presented sometimes lol
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I have 3 Black Dog Phytomax2 1000’s and a 800. The only thing they exaggerate is foot print. Sure stuff might grow in the advertised 6.5’x6.5 footprint, for the 1000’s in flower, but that’s not even close to the sweet spot. You’d be stupid to actually use their advertised max. Black Dog even told me not to do it. Aside from their advertised footprints, they’re basically are as advertised.
 
Bigdaddy76 said:
I have 3 Black Dog Phytomax2 1000’s and a 800. The only thing they exaggerate is foot print. Sure stuff might grow in the advertised 6.5’x6.5 footprint, for the 1000’s in flower, but that’s not even close to the sweet spot. You’d be stupid to actually use their advertised max. Black Dog even told me not to do it. Aside from their advertised footprints, they’re basically are as advertised.
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black dog lights are absolutely positively overpriced. I dont even know which one i had as i stopped using all my blurples but it was at least $800, which is instantly too much for one of those considering what that will get you in QB's.
 
madvillian420 said:
black dog lights are absolutely positively overpriced. I dont even know which one i had as i stopped using all my blurples but it was at least $800, which is instantly too much for one of those considering what that will get you in QB's.
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Them not sure if you had original Black Dog or not? They were not very good. The newer (2017-current) are night and day better. Can’t even compare the two.
 
Bigdaddy76 said:
You’d be stupid to actually use their advertised max. Black Dog even told me not to do it.
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So what your saying is they are con men . Even shitty cheap Chinese LEDs are fairly accurate with there coverage..
But a thousand plus dollar light and they still have to bullshit about coverage. Shame on them.
You say its the buyer who must be stupid though?

Its called baffling them with science and outright lying. They are the scum of the LED world.
 
If it's not too late you could do the 5x5 with 2 sf2000's and have them side by side. I'm running 4 lights similar to the sf4000 in a 6x6
 

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coreywebster said:
So what your saying is they are con men . Even shitty cheap Chinese LEDs are fairly accurate with there coverage..
But a thousand plus dollar light and they still have to bullshit about coverage. Shame on them.
You say its the buyer who must be stupid though?

Its called baffling them with science and outright lying. They are the scum of the LED world.
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Dude, they’re all misrepresent their numbers, some worse then others. It’s like buying a car amplifier. Can’t believe any of the numbers. That’s why you buy the best and advertising will be the most accurate. Their coverage is among the very best in the industry. Legit 5x5 is no problem. Sure you can bitch about the price but it’s made only from the very best materials available. They have the BEST warranty in the business and are so confident about their lights, they give 90 days to test it out and if you didn’t like them you can return them! That’s pretty legit. Not to mention awesome customer service! Try doing that with your cheap lights! You get what you pay for dude! I’ll happily take my top of the line, Rolls Royce of lights, while you can have your cheaply made Chevy.
 
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