Opinions on the spider farmer SF2000

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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
newbie121212 said:
Wow - I just got mine a couple months ago and have them hanging at the suggested distances. I wonder if they made them weaker now. I have the new ones with the dimmer switch on the outside, and they are turned up to 100%.. My veg plants are green as can be and my flower tent, one looks a lighter in color than the other one, but I have another plant, same strain, same age in there and that one is normal green.
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One important detail that every grower should keep in mind is lighting needs are relative to the strains you're running. For example the hash plant strain I ran for 2 flower cycles was very sensitive to lighting needs. If the intensity was too high in veg or flower the foliage would turn light green with slight leaf twisting. On the flip side of that coin the maui waui's took everything I could throw at them and didn't bat an eye all the way through to harvest day. In my experience sativa dominant strains or hybrids that lean towards sativa dominant traits can handle more intense lighting due to their genetics. When 2 girl scout cookies plants under the 450W Q board experienced light bleaching recently an interesting observation is that none of the other plants of 3 different strains in the same nursery experienced any light bleaching. The other strains were maui waui, jager, and critical mass. That's a perfect example of different strains having very different environmental needs, and a perfect example of why running multiple different strains can get complicated very quickly. One strain can handle more intense lighting versus another strain that cannot.

With that in mind maybe the SF-4000 would be more appropriate for the 5'x5'. Depending on the strain(s) you're running you may be able to operate at full power all the time without issue. The problems I experienced may have been strain specific with hash plant.
 
N

newbie121212

Member
True - I do have 2 of the same strains in the flower tent - sour sister along with one stardawg. My autos in the veg tent are various fastbuds:
1 Girl Scout Cookies
1 Sour Diesel
1 OG Kush
2 Jack Herers

Plus one sativa dominant photo Krypto and two photo stardawgs

I know, the veg tent is getting a bit crowded. Planning on moving one Krypto and at least one stardawg to flower tent in the next couple days if they fit in there!
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
newbie121212 said:
True - I do have 2 of the same strains in the flower tent - sour sister along with one stardawg. My autos in the veg tent are various fastbuds:
1 Girl Scout Cookies
1 Sour Diesel
1 OG Kush
2 Jack Herers

Plus one sativa dominant photo Krypto and two photo stardawgs

I know, the veg tent is getting a bit crowded. Planning on moving one Krypto and at least one stardawg to flower tent in the next couple days if they fit in there!
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Kudos to you on your strain selections. You clearly did your homework before you got started :) Starting with good genetics is the most important part of the growing process. I was running gg#4 for about a year producing 3# each flower cycle. After switching to hash plant my production decreased by .75# on the first run. I thought it may have been grower error, so I ran it again with the intention of improving on the first cycle's yield. I clocked 2.5# on the second run. I decided to flower the mother plant and eliminate the strain from my garden after that. Now I have the following in my nurseries:

Black widow
Blue dream
Maui waui
Moonshine haze #1 X Ghost train haze #1
Jager
Critical mass
Pineapple express

I can't keep them all in regular circulation, so I plan to pick 3-4 as mainstays in the garden. I'm putting my money on Black widow, Blue dream, and Moonshine haze #1 X Ghost train haze #1 as the likely candidates. The BW in my flower room has the most magnificent lemony skunk smell I have ever grown. It reminds me of some sour diesel I smoked from california about 15 years ago.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
The LED board always stays in one position mounted at the top of the tent. Due to the level of intensity these high powered quantum boards emit there is simply no need to hover the fixture 6" over the canopy. You would fry the plants in 1 day of an 18/6 photo period. No, it was not nutrient lockout. All of my nurseries receive the same fertilizer from the same reservoir. The only plants that suffered light bleaching were in the Q board nursery while operating at full power. Since reducing to 50% the plants have responded beautifully with no additional light bleach damage occurring.

It seems a lot of people are light bleaching their plants with these fixtures and then calling it a PH issue, nutrient lockout, or a magnesium deficiency. In reality a lot of people are just misusing the hardware and their fertilizer mix is not the issue in most cases. These lights do not operate like T5's or HID fixtures. It's a completely different animal altogether and there is a learning curve. Unlike HID fixtures these Q boards will easily light bleach your plants absent heat. If it's more light than the plant can handle photosynthesis shuts down and light bleaching occurs. Here's a pic of the 660W Q board in my flower room and the distance from the canopy. The plants underneath are loving it. I've seen some grower's using cheap LED fixtures that have to be mounted 4" from the canopy to be effective, and those grower's should have promptly sent those shit fixtures back to the manufacturer and asked for a refund. If I place my hand underneath the 660W Q board at 6" away the intensity is as strong as my 1000W HPS hortilux lamp. These are not the LED's of 10 years ago, and their output is to be handled with care and respect or the health of your plants will suffer due to a lack of understanding.

View attachment 4668965
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You still didn't say at what distance you got bleaching at. I run high intendity diodes myself, with each diode getting 2x to 3x the power that each diode on a SF light does, and I haven't gotten any bleaching myself, even at a foot away from the tops of some plants. Why are you running the name nutes for both your HID and LED plants, when they have different requirements for different light sources?
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
You still didn't say at what distance you got bleaching at. I run high intendity diodes myself, with each diode getting 2x to 3x the power that each diode on a SF light does, and I haven't gotten any bleaching myself, even at a foot away from the tops of some plants. Why are you running the name nutes for both your HID and LED plants, when they have different requirements for different light sources?
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It is a 6.5' tent. It is hung at 6.5'. The tallest plant is 2'. The light is about 4.5' above the canopy. Plants do not require "light specific" fertilizer. I'm exiting this thread. Best of luck to you friend.
 
Doug Dawson

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
One important detail that every grower should keep in mind is lighting needs are relative to the strains you're running. For example the hash plant strain I ran for 2 flower cycles was very sensitive to lighting needs. If the intensity was too high in veg or flower the foliage would turn light green with slight leaf twisting. On the flip side of that coin the maui waui's took everything I could throw at them and didn't bat an eye all the way through to harvest day. In my experience sativa dominant strains or hybrids that lean towards sativa dominant traits can handle more intense lighting due to their genetics. When 2 girl scout cookies plants under the 450W Q board experienced light bleaching recently an interesting observation is that none of the other plants of 3 different strains in the same nursery experienced any light bleaching. The other strains were maui waui, jager, and critical mass. That's a perfect example of different strains having very different environmental needs, and a perfect example of why running multiple different strains can get complicated very quickly. One strain can handle more intense lighting versus another strain that cannot.

With that in mind maybe the SF-4000 would be more appropriate for the 5'x5'. Depending on the strain(s) you're running you may be able to operate at full power all the time without issue. The problems I experienced may have been strain specific with hash plant.
Click to expand...
How did the Maui Waui turn out? Do you have pics? I have these seeds and will be doing them on my next grow in a few weeks. Who was breeder, mine came from Nirvana seeds?
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
You still didn't say at what distance you got bleaching at. I run high intendity diodes myself, with each diode getting 2x to 3x the power that each diode on a SF light does, and I haven't gotten any bleaching myself, even at a foot away from the tops of some plants. Why are you running the name nutes for both your HID and LED plants, when they have different requirements for different light sources?
Click to expand...
jonnynobody said:
It is a 6.5' tent. It is hung at 6.5'. The tallest plant is 2'. The light is about 4.5' above the canopy. Plants do not require "light specific" fertilizer. I'm exiting this thread. Best of luck to you friend.
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You got light bleaching 4 and a half feet above the canopy? Something sounds wrong there. LED grows seem to need more cal/mag in my experience switching from HPS to LED.
 
N

newbie121212

Member
Sounds great! I think I may want to try a couple of those next time, especially pineapple express & black widow! Good luck on your grow!
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
I have 3 SF 2000 in my 5x5 tent, based on the principal of 30w+/sq ft I should be running more like 750-800w. I am pulling about 630w from the wall at max power. I am running them at 80% right now and with my lux meter I am getting readings of 60k-70k lux all over the canopy with the lights at 18-20in. With that in mind, is it even worth adding in the 4th 2000? I have it, but I was going to chuck it in another tent. What's the point if I am getting the right light intensity for flower with only the 3? I'd just put the fourth in and dim them even more... I'm wondering if the old 30w/sq ft still applies to some of these newer, more efficient lights. I have no idea though, I'm a newb. Just wanted to chime in.
 
AquaTerra

AquaTerra

Well-Known Member
Just just lent a customer a SF 4000 to test besides his 3 Gavita LED but he grow 5 foot plants but strips them pretty good so will see. The plants were just planted so will be a good comparison.
 
ElectricGrowerOKC

ElectricGrowerOKC

Member
Airwalker16 said:
I'd highly suggest 2 SF2000's over 1 SF4000. The ability to spread out the light in to two and have different hanging heights will be invaluable.
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That's my exact setup. My grow room I built in my shed is about 4x3. Two SF2000's. With both of them together I have them both 18" above my plants but the are separated by approximately 6" between them. And in my opinion, this has a better light spread than the sf4000 by itself. Currently I have 2 autos in the room and they are doing amazing in the first weeks of veg. At 18" I think is the perfect height.
 

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Ayokiwi717

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't get it. I would get two 320w kingbrights. I can both for a little cheaper than the spider farm, and they use Samsung diodes as well. Kingbright all the way.
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
Just trimmed up my first harvest and got basically 1g per watt, more if you include littles and trim. Had 3 SF2000 in a 5x5, so around 600w.
 
T

Topshelfruns

Well-Known Member
Ayokiwi717 said:
Wouldn't get it. I would get two 320w kingbrights. I can both for a little cheaper than the spider farm, and they use Samsung diodes as well. Kingbright all the way.
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Holy smokes i just looked up kingbright and they sell 320w qb board with lm301h and meanwell driver for 200usd ! Wtf is this real?
vitalsine said:
Just trimmed up my first harvest and got basically 1g per watt, more if you include littles and trim. Had 3 SF2000 in a 5x5, so around 600w.
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Honestly i used too yield around 600 grams of dry nug in my 4x4 using a 1000w hps so great job sur! How did the end quality turn out? What genetics were you using?
farmingfisherman said:
Nice haul I would think. You happy with the quality?
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I am wondering the same thing lol
 
farmingfisherman

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
vitalsine said:
Yea its fire for sure. Lowers weren't as dense as the tops, but that's expected. I got around 20oz of nice top shelf bud. Not the greatest photo but what I had on hand haha.
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Seems about the same quality as what I got with my last grow. I had 2 HLG 260's hung over a plant that had been outdoors but need to be brought in cause of smoke and weather issues. Mine wasn't in a tent just in the open in the garage. Led's good! :weed:
PXL_20201107_214654206 (3).jpg
 
D

DButs211

Member
Ayokiwi717 said:
Wouldn't get it. I would get two 320w kingbrights. I can both for a little cheaper than the spider farm, and they use Samsung diodes as well. Kingbright all the way.
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I’ve since upgraded a couple times since originally posting this! I currently run 2 meijiu 480s and a sf4000 in different tents. My buddy runs kingbrite 240s. I have been more impressed with the sf over the meijiu/kingbrite options. They seem brighter and have what appears to be more diodes on the board than the cheaper options. That being said, I still chose to buy 2 meijiu 480s over a second sf4000 so I definitely understand where you’re coming from as far as value with the cheaper options.
 
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