Small tent grow advice

dougens

Member
Hello

I've been growing in soil for a few years in my small tent with the below gear:

75x75x130cm grow tent (very small I know)
1 x cfl ballast
maxibright 250W 2700K red for flowering
maxibright 125W 6700K blue for vege
desk fan

I'm don't have the time, space or the cash to get a bigger set up and have been happy with the results I've got so far. I don't smoke much just for the weekends, don't like dealers and the little set up suits me fine for what I have needed so far.
I use autoflower dwarfs and use 18/6 blue and then 18/6 red when get to a good size etc.

However, I would like to get another light to use with my CFL to boost yields if possible.

I have been looking at a Mars 300 140W full spectrum LED light and wanted to add this to my set up if possible?

As it stands I think I may have to get a bigger tent in order to use both lamps at the same time as the CFL takes up all the 'roof space'. I wasn't sure how hot LED's get and wanted to get something which could hit the plant from the side or floor to boost yields, does anyone have any advice? Or would the LED Mars be able to just fix sideways etc.

Sorry such beginner questions!

Thanks for any replies
 

Six9

Well-Known Member
You won't get much love here when mentioning Mars, just an FYI. I use them but want to build a Cree COB.

Do you have an exhaust duct and fan, or just a desk fan inside the tent? if no exhaust fan and tent is zipped up during lights on, you could be at your limit on lighting. A little more on temps and exhaust ventilation, maybe a pic.

In general, 3w LED panels run cool. Def stick with 3w if you get something. Mars, or Apollo Horticulture has similar build quality. Apollo has a 180w full spectrum UFO with UV, they also have a 300w panel which is very decent for $99 USD on Amazon. You could stand either on end, but that 300w unit would work very nicely from the top if you can relocate the cfls
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
You have all sorts of options. You can side light if space is an issue.. You could just add more Cfl individual bulbs, I have a few 20w some 45w and I think some 85w but the 85s are bulky. Most of mine are redundant these days except for my clone cupboard.
You could add strip lights like t5 or t8 but you would have to look into the available lengths because that's not my expertise. You could add Cobs too and build them into your existing fixture, the Cob builders on here in the LED section could advise you better. Most of those guys use Cree COB 3590s which are expensive but there are other less efficient ones that you could implement into your situation for far less cash. You could also build your own LED using monos which would be cooler to run.
Here is a link to the first vid in the basics of building LED, theres 7 vids
You could apply that info to mono diodes which are very cheap or to any other form such as COBs.
Otherwise you could buy ready made, lots on the market. Just don't believe everything the seller is claiming, its a world full of BS.
Be careful in those LED builders threads, once you've seen what they are achieving theres no turning back!

Good luck with your upgrading
 
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