Got to get this set up as right as possible !

1st ever grow! Doing my groundwork and hoping to get a little guidance. I have a small space in my apartment and thinking to grow 2 Auto plants in a Grow Tent and looking at these sizes, 90x60x90 CM, 60x60x120 CM OR 80X80X160 CM with the view to purchasing a 600W full spectrum LED light. Is the wattage of light an overkill, could I get away with less or would I need more? Can I also get some advice in relation to the tent size, would either or be better to ensure grow both plants to pull potential?

600w blurple is not 600w of light, more like 130w at the wall..that's where we judge watts at,what the actual draw is

Bigger is always better for a tent, especially the height

Get the biggest and tallest you can

And dont buy a blurple light

I would do a 60x120x150+ with 2 600s or better yet 1000s watt led boards. The 600 or 1000 is bs. Most 1000s pull 100-150 watts at the wall. You’ll need a in-line fan to suck hot air out of your tent too. 4 inch 190 cfm or better a 6 inch 390 cfm. With winter coming you can probably get away with the 4”. But that’s just me

What is your budget for a light? Are you in the $1-200 (spider farmer or mars hydro most likely) or the $5-800 (HLG for the same size)

80x80 is about 2.5x2.5? That's the size of my first tent and you could get a functional non-blurple LED for pretty cheap at that size. Are you trying to produce a specific amount i.e. you need to cover all your smoking at like 1 oz a week or?

Definitely listen to folks on the light, so many ppl make the mistake of being fooled by LED advertisements. There are good LED lights but they are not cheap. If you buy a cheap LED you will just end up replacing it later after you find it's inadequate.

Go for the biggest tent. A 80x80x160 needs over 200 actual watts of LED to flower. Most 240w LED's are rectangular-shaped with the boards end to end and meant to cover a 2'x4' footprint. You can get a Kingbrite 240w with the double heatsink option to properly cover an 80x80 area.


Although a 315w CMH would be perfect for that space as well.

Thank you for the responses. This is purely for my own consumption, smoking approx 1 - 1.1/2 ounce a month.
Admitting I'm the nervous UK newbie who is not in the position to draw unwanted attention with concerns about the heat emitted to avoid any activity obvious to helicopters and secondly something being backed up by the electric being used. Kind of crap really, if only I had the freedom not to have such concerns. My budget is whatever will aid me in producing me the best quality whilst making me feel comfortable that I have done all that I can to avoid any issues.

After doing this posting, looking over responses, and doing more research being my consumption isn't high, I am now wondering if I should reduce the size to 60x60x120cm, just doing 1 plant at a time. I assume the VIPARSPECTRA Reflector Series LED Grow Light despite that it havings high ratings is the blurple LED that is mentioned as no go? I Found both mars and spider wich both state that a 600w light is adequate for a 60x60x120 = 2 x 2

About the HLG Quantum Board LED, which falls into the high price range, what is the difference in yield and quality outcome as opposed to Mars or Spider OR is it just better in respect to the time period it will last?

Out of curiosity for a future project when circumstances change in respect to room if I move, wanting more variety in strains what would be the maximum W LED Grow Light suitable to avoid unwanted attention.

Thanks, I do appreciate all the comments, your input is most helpful.

vipar 600w is actually about 260w and i see it for 160$ US. This is a blurple light with all the LEDS being over driven and requires a fan to properly cool (the fan is part of that 260w power draw)

You can pay about double that for a real deal fixture of that wattage that will last much longer and be worth the money you're spending

so for a 2 ft by 2 ft, that is 4 square feet
50w per square foot of blurple puts you at 200w, so yeah the vipar would work
30w per sq ft of high quality LED puts you at 120w. This would be good but it is a kit, and you will have to get a 240v version or whatever (different driver) 200$ US https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/135w-qb-v2-rspec-led-kit. I am not sure but you could just reference the parts they use in the kit and buy everything seperate and build it yourself for 200$ and have a great LED light you will use for a long time

Nizza said:

vipar 600w is actually about 260w and i see it for 160$ US. This is a blurple light with all the LEDS being over driven and requires a fan to properly cool (the fan is part of that 260w power draw)

You can pay about double that for a real deal fixture of that wattage that will last much longer and be worth the money you're spending

so for a 2 ft by 2 ft, that is 4 square feet
50w per square foot of blurple puts you at 200w, so yeah the vipar would work
30w per sq ft of high quality LED puts you at 120w. This would be good but it is a kit, and you will have to get a 240v version or whatever (different driver) 200$ US https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/135w-qb-v2-rspec-led-kit. I am not sure but you could just reference the parts they use in the kit and buy everything seperate and build it yourself for 200$ and have a great LED light you will use for a long time

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Hey @Nizza , the HLG drivers can be used with either AC power source.

The OP would just need to use a different plug on the input side of the driver.

I got a 60 x 60 x 140 tent but later regretted it for both height and width. Sweet spot for me would have been 80 x 80 x 160 (or 180).

Nizza said:

vipar 600w is actually about 260w and i see it for 160$ US. This is a blurple light with all the LEDS being over driven and requires a fan to properly cool (the fan is part of that 260w power draw)

You can pay about double that for a real deal fixture of that wattage that will last much longer and be worth the money you're spending

so for a 2 ft by 2 ft, that is 4 square feet
50w per square foot of blurple puts you at 200w, so yeah the vipar would work
30w per sq ft of high quality LED puts you at 120w. This would be good but it is a kit, and you will have to get a 240v version or whatever (different driver) 200$ US https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/135w-qb-v2-rspec-led-kit. I am not sure but you could just reference the parts they use in the kit and buy everything seperate and build it yourself for 200$ and have a great LED light you will use for a long time

Click to expand...

I run viparspectras , xs2000's. I'd stay away from the older burps. If doing Vipar, the P series is better and cheaper than that older 600. The xs , new series has the meanwell , samsung diodes . They have discount codes avail on vipars website too. Then use it on amazon . Just my input. Good luck

JMystery said:

I got a 60 x 60 x 140 tent but later regretted it for both height and width. Sweet spot for me would have been 80 x 80 x 160 (or 180).

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SSBCal in previous comments, I have seen the white LED is the most preferable. I hadn't noticed that Vipar offered this also. just looked at the P series and I see this is the white light also. Thanks for your input

savvyavi said:

SSBCal in previous comments, I have seen the white LED is the most preferable. I hadn't noticed that Vipar offered this also. just looked at the P series and I see this is the white light also. Thanks for your input

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Yep, I had 3 - p1500's in a 4x4 if that helps with you coverage. Swapped them for 2-xs2000's simply for the name brand components, other than that the P series is great. I was getting them for $89 each . Not sure if they are still are doing that but I got 2 xs2000,s for $480. So there's deals out there, just gotta look. I can pull up the ones I used if you want.

Just drop a @savvyavi

SBBCal said:

Just drop a @savvyavi

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Hey SSBCal, I have seen the viparspectras P series, the XS is a no go as its not available in the UK without shipping from the states. That is a no-no, not because of import tax, but more as I'm very nervous about drawing any attention period!! I'm thinking 80 x 80 x 160 could be a better option as JMystry suggested, I really don't want to have regretted going to small. If you can advise on P series suited to this size that would be awesome.

We're talking cm I suppose. For that, you could get away with one p1500. They advertise 3x3 veg-2.5x2.5 flower but it's more like 2.5ft veg/2ft flower. 2 p1500's would be best.
attention wise, just grab some pepper seeds or something, grow em in your window and if someone suspect's the real grow , swap out the plants in the tent for a short time and show their ass your growing "peppers" lol
--this link has p1500 specs/footprint
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-guide/viparspectra-p1500-par-test-review/

SBBCal said:

We're talking cm I suppose. For that, you could get away with one p1500. They advertise 3x3 veg-2.5x2.5 flower but it's more like 2.5ft veg/2ft flower. 2 p1500's would be best.
attention wise, just grab some pepper seeds or something, grow em in your window and if someone suspect's the real grow , swap out the plants in the tent for a short time and show their ass your growing "peppers" lol
--this link has p1500 specs/footprint
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-guide/viparspectra-p1500-par-test-review/

Click to expand...

Laughs That's great thanks SSBCal. I was checking that site the other day as it goes whilst researching the potting mixtures. Oh my goodness so much to learn lol !! The site looked very helpful also.

SBBCal said:

We're talking cm I suppose. For that, you could get away with one p1500. They advertise 3x3 veg-2.5x2.5 flower but it's more like 2.5ft veg/2ft flower. 2 p1500's would be best.
attention wise, just grab some pepper seeds or something, grow em in your window and if someone suspect's the real grow , swap out the plants in the tent for a short time and show their ass your growing "peppers" lol
--this link has p1500 specs/footprint
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-guide/viparspectra-p1500-par-test-review/

Click to expand...

Laughs That's great thanks SSBCal. I was checking that site the other day as it goes whilst researching the potting mixtures. Oh my goodness so much to learn lol !! The site looked very helpful also.

SBBCal said:

We're talking cm I suppose. For that, you could get away with one p1500. They advertise 3x3 veg-2.5x2.5 flower but it's more like 2.5ft veg/2ft flower. 2 p1500's would be best.
attention wise, just grab some pepper seeds or something, grow em in your window and if someone suspect's the real grow , swap out the plants in the tent for a short time and show their ass your growing "peppers" lol
--this link has p1500 specs/footprint
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-guide/viparspectra-p1500-par-test-review/

Click to expand...

Laughs That's great thanks SSBCal. I was checking that site the other day as it goes whilst researching the potting mixtures. Oh my goodness so much to learn lol !! The site looked very helpful also.