CFL or LED for my grow?

Coljb614

Member
I'm looking for some input on light for a small personal grow. I have a 3'x2'x3' tent so its not very tall or big so HID is out of the question. Basically I'm trying to figure out if I should go with a led panel like mars reflector-96(https://www.mars-hydro.com/Home-Gardening-LED-Grow-Lights-Relfector-96.aspx) or should I just use multiple smaller CFL Bulbs. I would rather go with the led but being as there's only 3' of head room I'm worried about bleaching the plant. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

jeroly

Well-Known Member
While the link you show says it should cover a 2x3 area, I'm not sure that light will quite do the job.
It's ~ 200 watts which would be 33 watts per square foot, which is on the low side for LED in general, but given the known inefficiency of those epistar LEDs, you're probably needing upwards of 50 watts per square foot using that type of panel.

On the other hand, it's a cheap light, and lots of people report having success growing with it. You might just want to keep the canopy to 3 or 4 sq ft rather than filling up the tent.
 

Resinhound

Well-Known Member
With the limited head room cfl seems like a good option.Just make sure you do it right,use reflectors and y splitters.T5ho tubes are also a viable option,most leds require ~18in spacing from the light.t5's or cfl can be used to harvest with good results if done correctly.
 

az2000

Well-Known Member
mars reflector-96(https://www.mars-hydro.com/Home-Gardening-LED-Grow-Lights-Relfector-96.aspx) or should I just use multiple smaller CFL Bulbs.
MarsHydro is junk. People who get good results tend to run 50 to 90w/ sq ft. At that rate, you can do better with T5HO at 40w/sq ft. It costs about the same amount to get into. And, you have a lifetime investment (a fixture using commodity components which you can replace without a lot of drama, nor discarding the fixture. You can sell it on Craigslist, etc.).

You won't lose much money buying MarsHydro (or any of the inexpensive epi-whatever lights on Amazon or eBay). You could do as lot worse spending a fortune on rebranded epi-whatever lights (like Lush, Kind, BlackDog, GrowBlu). It's not the end of the world to spend $200 on a disposable MarsHydro.

T5HO is a better investment. Pure numbers. Nothing personal or hype. In shorter spaces like yours, I like to use Cree LED lightbulbs.

Yesterday I was looking at the 10w GE BrightStik. Because the diodes are mounted facing forward (not circulular like the Cree), it appears to produce 30% more light in a reflector (with the plastic diffusion cap broken off). I hope to try these sometime (using a GFI outlet to reduce safeguard against the slight electrocution hazard of removing the diffusion cap).
 
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