Back in the game.....need 2x4 lighting advice!

[Mozzy]

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The dark stuff is always interesting

I've grown the "standard stuff" - Gorilla Glue, Gelato, and a few other common strains so the leaves change color as they age but everything else is just plain old green.

FWIW, I've had seeds I grew numerous light/fall-color harvest plants from, and then due to environmental factors I started getting some super-dark stuff:

 

[KingRatt]

Hello everyone! I'm the OG HotBunz. I can't get into my old account so had to start over with this one. I am working on gathering up equipment to start up a 2x4 grow. If anyone cares to look back at them as far as I recall I had the largest Mephisto Sour Crack and Grape Crinkle. My game plan is DWC using simple General Organics nutes. I will be putting together another cabinet similar to what I did before. Most likely repurposing a wardrobe or armoire. This allows my grow space to blend into my house a little better. It's been 5 or 6 years since I did any growing. At the time COB LED's where the big deal in the lighting game. I scrapped my nice custom COB LEDS years ago. Looking around it looks like LED diode strip lighting has made leaps and bounds in light output and are the next big thing in lighting. So I am hunting for a 2x4 setup . I am really leaning towards the Spider Farmer SE4500. Reviews seem all good on this light rig. What are the thoughts of users here? Is there another light I should be looking at?

I like spider farmer stuff because thats what i started on and have really good results, but since then i think im leaning towards mars hydro just because its basically the same specs for less money. Sometimes tho the spider farmer stuff is cheaper depending on coupon codes and sales and what not. I dont know tho, i do love my spider farmer gear. Got my g3000 300watt bar light for 199 on sale.

 

[Delps8]

My last grow was in 2017. Back then COB LED's were all the rage. Fast forward to today and I agree the lighting has radically changed with the majority to diode LED's. I would have gladly built another custom COB fixture for the enclosure but cost wise it didn't make sense as an off the shelf unit more budget friendly. During the course of my research I compared the PPFD maps to both the Mars SP3000 and Spider's 4500 and while I am a little concerned with the radicle difference in intensity away from the center of the SP3000 keeping my footprint in mind it was the best choice out of my options. I believe it will work great as I get my first grow in 8 yrs underway. Heck I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'll get 12oz dry off 1 plant from under the Mars SP3000. I appreciate you taking the time and offering your advice.

Sorry for the late reply and thank you for your reply.

"Heck I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'll get 12oz dry off 1 plant from under the Mars SP3000." - The gauntlet has been thrown! (How's that for torturing the language!).

There's enough photons; I just hope you can get them to land in the right place. And, of course, I hope you hit the mark.

 

[Drownomatic]

I have this light, and its one of the best watt/$ ratios out there for a name brand.

It includes a wifi dongle, but there are potential security risks with that. I use a mechanical timer.

When I got mine the code on the mars hydro site gave more discount than the AFN code, so try any codes you have and see whats better.

199 shipped no tax.

I am getting well over 2g/watt with this.

 

[Drownomatic]

So in a 3 x 6 area I pulled 24oz in under 100 days with this light. a little over 2g/Watt.

 

[Delps8]

So in a 3 x 6 area I pulled 24oz in under 100 days with this light. a little over 2g/Watt.

3' x 6' tent? That's huge! Nice harvest!

 

[Delps8]

My last grow was in 2017. Back then COB LED's were all the rage. Fast forward to today and I agree the lighting has radically changed with the majority to diode LED's. I would have gladly built another custom COB fixture for the enclosure but cost wise it didn't make sense as an off the shelf unit more budget friendly. During the course of my research I compared the PPFD maps to both the Mars SP3000 and Spider's 4500 and while I am a little concerned with the radicle difference in intensity away from the center of the SP3000 keeping my footprint in mind it was the best choice out of my options. I believe it will work great as I get my first grow in 8 yrs underway. Heck I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'll get 12oz dry off 1 plant from under the Mars SP3000. I appreciate you taking the time and offering your advice.

Did Mars change the light or did they change their web site?

This is the PPFD map for the original Mars SP3000 light. I bought one in 2021 based on a number of factors, including the review on cocoforcannabis who tested the light. I'm pretty certain that this screenshot is from the Mars site. That's a good PPFD map with almost 1k in the center and 900'ish across most of the center portion of the grow area.

Below is the graphic that Mars was using for their 2024 model SP3000.

This is not a good PPFD map for a tent light but it was marketed as a "greenhouse" light. As I wrote earlier, it's got a huge drop off as soon as you move off the center strip of light. That's how greenhouse lights are designed but, in a tent, there's just not much light outside of the 1' strip in the center.

When you said that you got great results from your light, I was happy to see that but I scratched my head. If the light was turned down so that it was only 1000mmol that's about a 33% reduction in wattage so the entire 6" strip around the edges is going to be 400 or 300µmol. Ouch. Well, if you got a great harvest out of that, more power to you.

A grower on another site is selling two Mars SP3000's for $100 which is a really good price. I checked out the Mars site today and…

Much, much better. The 12" PPFD map is superb for the center 3'.

Did Mars change the light or did they have the wrong graphic on their web site?

 

[Drownomatic]

I have the newer version of this, and yeah, its hot in the center. I have it at least 48" above the plants, and reflective sides on my grow space for this.