My first real indoor grow, please help

Hello,
This is my first post here but I've been stalking all of your threads for a year now.
I just want to say you guys are awesome.
I'm a hardcore stoner and have been repairig electronics since I was 12. I want to get into designing LED fixtures eventually but for now I am going to get my own grow room set up.

I helped my little brother last year by building him an overpriced low pressure aeroponics system and I am a hardcore DIY kind of guy but I don't really have the cash to build a real COB/QB and HPA room yet and I need some feedback.

I want to scrog 6 plants in rotation to harvest every 2 months. I probably shouldn't have done it but I bought myself 2 Viparspectra 900 reflector series from Amazon. One was actually free but that's beside the point, I am aware they are glorified Chinese POS. After everything I've seen and read it seems a 315 cmh would have been the better route.

I want to have a 6 plant veg scrog with one of the viparspectra 900 and a 315 cmh on a light rail. Is this enough light if I use a mover to cover the space for a 6 plant scrog? Is it too much? Keep in mind I'm aiming for the true watt value to be able to produce a yield like hps, without the cost in electricity or in cobs.

For planters I'm debating 10gal smart pots vs air pots to start until I can afford to build a HPA system for each phase. Will HPA kill the taste of my bud? I was thinking for now I can start with ocean forest and happy frog mixed 50/50 with some perlite and coco mixed in.

I'm almost 100% positive my plan is flawed so help me please lol

might i suggest trying the indoor gardening forum? bigger audience as only led guys are over here and a lot of your questions arent really LED specific

Hi, thank you. Sorry I thought I posted in the right place, indoor grows.

Would LED guys know if the 900w and 314cmh can cover what I need on a rail? Seems applicable to LED

well forst ff those fictures arent anywhere near 900w figure out what they are and for either cmh or led go 30-35 W/SF.

most people dont use movers anymore. ive ruined too many crops when the motors stall or burn out. just hang your lights higher.

Right, at full spectrum it's still under 450. That's why I said true watts. With the 315w cmh I'd be pulling 765w give or take from the wall.

Not having movers would make for a very uneven spread of light if I ran the 2 side by side. What brand mover did you use

light rail3 i believe. theyre fine but the rubber wheels wear out eventually, no problem if youre there every day. if youre away for a few days and it dies youre fucked as half your plants burn and the other half stretch.

Its really not important how many plants you're going to run as they could be any size. How large is your flower area?

If you look at the viparspectra on Amazon, it is 418w (and if the drivers are approx 85% efficient then we're down to 355w), and since the leds are not that efficient.... if you look at the chart at 24' there is a hot spot maybe 1.5 feet wide in the center that has enough ppfd to flower under

Not trying to bum you out, just its important that you know exactly what you have so you can plan accordingly

Isn't the vipar light like $280? Qb 260w is $325...

Not bumming me out at all, that's why I want to supplement it with the 315w cmh. Every grow I've seen under purple or cob produced a denser nug if not smaller nug than hps. I want that density among other benefits of LED but also want to round out my spectrum and get bigger yield. The reds on the VS 900 are low in my opinion and that is probably the main contributor to the lower yields in the side by sides I've seen it used in.
I want to scrog 6 plants in about a 5'x10' area. I'm growing strawberry kush, pineapple haze and blueberry once my seeds come in. All 3 strains said they fill out roughly a 3-5 cubic foot area indoors, i assume thays without lst and scrogging.

How long ago did you buy it? I'd return them if I could. But I did the same thing before joining here. Bought 2 vp 600w. I knew they weren't going to be enough. Found some p300s on Craigslist and bought 5 of them. Just recently bought 3 260w qb kits. Bye blurples and a little learning curve with leds lol.

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

Isn't the vipar light like $280? Qb 260w is $325...

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Yeah it was 280. The only thing that worries me about the QBs is penetration. I want to try some on a sog and see how it goes. One of the reasons i ended up with the viparspectra is a friend uses 2 of the 600w in a tent and the veg growth was impressive. I was shocked at how dense the nodal structure was. So I rushed in and grabbed the 900w. I still don't really understand all these damn watt vs par etc values enough to adequately compare LED to other light technology and determine the best option. I almost bought a 250w cree cob kit instead, but I couldn't find any real data they supported that side btly side vs the 900w vs or similar.

Running high efficiency led you will want at least 30w per square foot. Running cmh you'll be need around 40, I would put the viperspectra even higher than that, so you can do the math.

Edit- just to elaborate... Its NOT 900w its 418w inefficient watts (it will prob produce less than your 315.

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

How long ago did you buy it? I'd return them if I could. But I did the same thing before joining here. Bought 2 vp 600w. I knew they weren't going to be enough. Found some p300s on Craigslist and bought 5 of them. Just recently bought 3 260w qb kits. Bye blurples and a little learning curve with leds lol.

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I cant return it, it was technically never delivered so Amazon sent a replacement. A week later USPS "found" my original one, which theybhave marked as delivered the week before. So yeah I got a second one for free. I don't think I can return it lol. Maybe I can and keep the freebie.

Bro the qb is going to have way better everything than those vp 900s

Or sell them both on Craigslist lol
Man when I seen the difference in the p300 vs vp600 I knew the p300s were a better light.
But when I seen the difference in the qb vs p300 it was pretty insane.
The QBs are no joke. They're bright as fuck

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

Bro the qb is going to have way better everything than those vp 900s

Or sell them both on Craigslist lol
Man when I seen the difference in the p300 vs vp600 I knew the p300s were a better light.
But when I seen the difference in the qb vs p300 it was pretty insane.
The QBs are no joke. They're bright as fuck

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What's the penetration like and is the spectrum similar to say a cree cmx3590?
If you have a link that would be awesome.

Also what's the footprint on that?

DrBlaze said:

Running high efficiency led you will want at least 30w per square foot. Running cmh you'll be need around 40, I would put the viperspectra even higher than that, so you can do the math.

Edit- just to elaborate... Its NOT 900w its 418w inefficient watts (it will prob produce less than your 315.

Click to expand...

Yeah I figured as much, at least for now it will increase many good qualities in the bud if used along side the cmh

Listen to the Grand Master Level show where he interviews Stephen from HLG and talks about the HPS vs qb side-by-side they're doing (spoiler... the qb fixture has better "penetration")

A high efficiency cob or qb build will do the same thing

Anyways, the upshot of all this is that you need way more light than what you have to do a 5x10. The cmh and viperspectra are good for 9-10 square feet each, and you want to do 50

DrBlaze said:

Anyways, the upshot of all this is that you need way more light than what you have to do a 5x10. The cmh and viperspectra are good for 9-10 square feet each, and you want to do 50

Click to expand...

Yeah hence the light rails. If they don't fail on me would that work? How much actual footprint does one gain with a mover anyway.
Better yet, how do I light that area without spending $1000+ or creating tons of heat?

NewBKind said:

What's the penetration like and is the spectrum similar to say a cree cmx3590?
If you have a link that would be awesome.

Also what's the footprint on that?

Click to expand...

Have to talk to guys with more knowledge than I lol.
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/260w-qb-led-kit