Light suggestions? Small grow space.

[Cab1080]

Hello, I am looking to upgrade my 300 watt Mars Hydro LED light. Heat is a big concern so I am thing LED is my main option. Any suggestions? Are the ones with flower veg switches truly beneficial? I am only growing 1-2 plants under the light. Thanks!

[DrPhoton]

Vipar spectra, platinum are the only low cost products i will recommend. There are many others that may perform fine but have not matured enough for me to recommend or have known problems and break down. For fixtures that compare with the performance of gas discharge, you are looking at products that range between $700-$1500. Such as Fluence, blackdog, chil LED, nextlight, california lightworks, spectrum king, kind led.

[GreenhouseEffect]

LED seems like about your best option to me, with the hight of your grow space at 4'.
HPS/MH would be a taller fixture, T-5's or cfl would be give you the most amount of grow hight, but wouldn't give you the same amount of juice as an Led, at least that's my understanding on light strength.

[Cab1080]

Vipar spectra, platinum are the only low cost products i will recommend. There are many others that may perform fine but have not matured enough for me to recommend or have known problems and break down. For fixtures that compare with the performance of gas discharge, you are looking at products that range between $700-$1500. Such as Fluence, blackdog, chil LED, nextlight, california lightworks, spectrum king, kind led.

Thanks! I have been checking those vipar ones out. They seem decent.

[Weed Pharma]

With regards to the veg/flower switches- I use them to control heat which will be a major concern in a 20"x4' box.
I use the MarsHydro Reflector 48/96 series for that reason. (along with a MarsHydro 300w in a 2'x4'x6')

While Viparspectra gets good results- I didn't buy one-as their tech support was little more than a sales/marketing force!

With small spaces, it's important to know the btu's of the fixture and Viparspectra couldn't provide that info- when I was adding more LED's.

[hycheese]

A quick calculation is to multiply the actual wattage by 3.41 to get the BTU equivalence. So your Mars 96 is 190watts x 3.41 = 648 BTU's per hour.

[DrPhoton]

To work out the BTU, you need to know the efficiency of the unit. The only way to know this is from physical testing or by calculating it using data such as diode numbers, operating current and the electrical characteristics data provided by the chip documentation. Basically, you cannot calculate variable efficient fixtures such as LEDs, this can only be realistically provided by the product manufacturers.

[D.A.A.S.69]

The first led light I ever bought was a cheap GalaxyHydro 300, then I bought a Viparspectre 450 with the 2 switches, And I have had way better luck flowering with the GalaxyHydro than I did with the Vipar450, with both switches turned on. The Vipar does a fine job vegging, but the buds are always, fluffy, and never dense an hard, at least that's my experience.
The GHydro ,I hard hard buds, , with the Vipar450 fluffy buds. But that's just my experience, everyone's got different opinions, I'm sure.
But I have grow a bunch of different plants with both lights, and the GHydro was the winner for growing dense bud.
GoodLuck with whatever you choose.

[D.A.A.S.69]

I've even used GHydro cobs ,and they are not expensive either, that produces better hard buds than the Vipar450,
Buying an expensive Led light, doesn't make sense to me, unless you are growing a whole lot of plants, all i grow is mostly 2plants at a time. And I use my 315cmh now anyways, it does a nice job.
But if I ever buy another Led light ,it's gonna be a Mars 600, I got a couple of grow buddies that use them, and their buds look awesome, with using the Mars led lights.

[Cab1080]

I am just learning or finding these cobs, they seem like a good fit for what I'm doing with such small space.

[Weed Pharma]

D.A.A.S.69, MarsHydro 300w has grown rock hard buds compared to the MarsHydro Reflector series (48&96) which grows bigger buds that are great, too.
I decided to see if there was any reason for this and I found that there is more (higher percentage) red LED's in the Mars Hydro 300w than the Mars Hydro reflector series.
I use both in a grow and have ordered another MarsHydro 300w, and will be placing one on each side of a MarsHydro reflector96 during flower!

[Flockshot]

I have some experience with 2 Viparspectra's. I am not impressed with their flowering ability, however, dollar for dollar they are a good consumer mid-grade light. They are a good light for the price, and they are still used here.

[Cab1080]

Thank you for the input!