Hey guys, relatively new listener but man have I learned a lot in a short period of time. You guys really kick ass.
I’m on my 5th grow and I’ve been using the Mars Hydro Reflector blurples since the beginning. It wasn’t until I started listening to you guys that I was really informed on how poor these lights actually are. I also have a collection of 23 different Aloe varieties and for those plants I started using Sansi’s full spectrum bulbs with great results. I know, I know….. they’re Chinese but what really attracted me to them was the full spectrum light was way more pleasing in our living space than the blurples. I started supplementing the Mars lights with thee Sansi’s. Now they just released a new 70w panel light and my plants are really digging it. According to the manufacturer, they are CRI 90+: 17.4% Blue + 36.4% Green+ 38.8% Red + 7.4% Far Red. Some of the reviews show that these are pulling closer to 56w than the advertised 70w, which if I understand correctly is a bit of a red flag.
https://www.sansiled.com/70w-led-grow-light-full-spectrum.html
My question to the show is, are you guys familiar with these at all do you think it’s possible to have a successful grow with this brand/technology? I believe they have some patented technology and these are so new, I haven’t really seen any cannabis-related reviews on them.
It could work for clones or a small veg plant but not enough light to flower with. You’d need one per square foot with that low of wattage. Save your money and get a real grow light.
The best thing I ever did for my grow was to buy a HLG light. It seriously changed the way I grew my favorite plants.
Please stop wasting your money it will only benefit you. You can only get in what you put out. Not saying that they don’t work because honestly they prob do. But if you were to segregate your plants and run a test i guarantee you’d see a difference all around. Yield and flower potency. Don’t forget that the plants help build themselves off what you give and feed them. You give them shit they’re going tk give you shit. You give them love compassion and care. That bitch gonna rub you to sleep every night. And even wake you up sometimes with a nice little surprise lol.
Just saying I know someone who yielded over a Qp off one hlg 300 v1 on their first grow. That’s pretty wicked man.
I got a blurple too on my first light actually now I think of it it was a 12w led strip which a grew a huge stretchy male with, don’t feel bad so many people do. Honestly I would say a light like you are showing here would be a step back from the blurples since the wattage is so low. What is the size of your grow space? The people here could probably help you out recommending a light that would fit your space and be a good value. If I understand it right you need something like 50 watts per square foot to flower properly so you would need a ton of these if you had a large space like jmystro mentioned. On the other hand the aloes will love them. I have a huge aloe and it loved being under 12hrs of light while other succulents like kalinchoe couldnt handle the light that bright for that long
Dude… stop buying your lights on Amazon. You’re wasting your money on bottom of the line pieces of crap or the most part… Head on over to heavygardens.com growershouse.com or cobshop.net rapidled.com horticulturelightinggroup.com migro.com or get yourself a spectrum king or something.
To be honest, I wouldn’t take advice from anyone here who is using blurple Amazon lights… or Amazon lights in general, but that’s just me. I have a 2×4 tent with RapidLED lights + their supplemental LED lights, I have a 2×2 with a T5 for some seedling and a single COB for other seedlings (it’s got “two floors”). Then I have a 5×5 with 630w CMH and a 600w hortilux ceramic HPS.
Most of us bought blurple lights or amazon lights for our first grows. Do yourself a favor and start shopping at a real grow shop… you will only have to buy things once, and they will work as expected. Nothing worse than most of the grow shit on amazon – worst and most inaccurate ph pens, tds meters, terrible lights).
Theres a reason many “top notch” growers, big time growers, use Hurricane fans and HID lights still. And buy a lot of products from companies owned by Hawthorn GC and HydroFarm…. because they are what work.
LED lights are great, and are perfect for commercial grows and home grows because they use less power, produce less heat, and have increased gram per watt…. But, many people still prefer HIDs. Whether they are using LECs or HPS or MH or Dual Arc bulbs, or Daylight Blue, or Ceramic HPS, or whatever other crazy bulbs they are coming out with.
The point is, light spectrum plays a big influence in plant morphology, and different strokes for different folks. Hell, thats why I run both…
When I say “Amazon Lights” — I mean lights you won’t find at any hydro stores, lights that can only be found on Amazon, Alibaba… Ebay and craigslist lmfao
You can find decent lights on alibaba, heard bad things about Meiju but Shenzen Kingbrite makes a killer light.
Fuck that, those companies on Alibaba just steal ideas from US companies for the most part. Kingbrite is just stealing HLGs IP. I’d never do business with a company like that, I’d rather spend the extra money and go the HLG than support that type of bullshit. Plus those Chinese manufactured lights are notorious for manufacturing defects. After 6mo-1.5y, LED strips go out, fans die, etc.
Spend the money once and buy a good light, and you won’t have to replace it because of unforeseen issues…
I can’t say I would ever recommend anyone buying a light on amazon or alibaba. I know people do it, but those are the types of folks who skimp out on everything trying to buy cheap shit and end up spending 3-5x in the long run replacing all their crappy shit lol.
you get what you pay for, 100%.
Also, Amazon is wayyyy overpriced for most grow stuff. I have amazon prime, and it’s really not worth it to buy ANYTHING on amazon prime. I can always get a better deal at my hydro shop, or a way better deal at an online hydro shop.
I have had prime for like 8 years it seems like, however everything sold via prime that is gardening equipment tends to have the shipping cost factored into the price. Might not make a difference if you buy it once and dont need to buy it again for a very long time, but I prefer to just get multiple things at once from places like horticulturesource, heavygardens, zenhydro, growershouse, etc that way I’m really only paying for shipping once.
Seriously, most of the stuff on prime is 2x what I find on other sites….
their are plenty of cheap Samsung quantum boards on amazon now, you want too look for one of them with the new Samsung diodes you dont need to over pay for average technology if you dont want too, but you do need to do your research. i wouldnt take advise of anyone that isnt an expert because people are very opinionated HID is dead dont invest in it youll just be buying expensive bulbs forever or running bulbs that need replacing
sorry that was intended as a reply too your comment just a s general statement on the post
Well I would disagree completely that HID is dead. In fact I turned to HID lighting because I wasn’t satisfied with any of the LED options available on the market today. There is no “full spectrum” diode that emits light on the same scale as HID. HID provides UV, far red, and infrared all from the same bulb. There is no LED on the market that does that from a single diode. There are quantum boards that may put in deep red, but you have to add far red and UV yourself and since it’s not from the same diode, you don’t get even spectral distribution across your canopy.
I started with blurple LEDs, then moved to Amazon Cree COBs, then built my own RapidLED lights, then decided on a whim to test out the hortilux ceramic HPS bulb after seeing what an impressive red spectrum it provides, particularly in the far red spectrum which, if you have learned about the phytochrome system, is responsible for putting the plant to sleep and triggering flowering.
So I put that 600w CHPS in a tent with another 440w of COBs and I was so impressed with the growth under the CHPS, that I decided to buy two 315w LECs, separate my RapidLED COBs + far red + Emerson board + ur board into its own tent so that I can do a proper side by side. In my 5×5 tent, I still have 3 far red initiator pucks in there with my two 315s and the 600w HPS. I have a dedicated portable AC for that tent, but because of leaf surface temperatures I only ever run all 3 lights at once for 4 hours a day.
Essentially the CHPS comes on first because t has the longest sunrise, which gradefully wakes the plants up rather than shocking them like my LEDs seem to do (though with an arduino controller you can make your own sunrise, but this is a “built in” feature of bulbs needing to heat up).
Then the first LEC/CMH comes on and stays on for 8 hours. After 4 hours, the second LEC/CMH comes on. 4 hours later the first CMH goes off. This kinda gives a “rising in the east, setting in the west” type of vibe, with the exception being that the center light, the CHPS, stays on for 5 minutes later than the others and starts 15 minutes earlier.
I can do this 12.30 on / 11.30 off with the far red pucks. But I think I can also do it with just the ceramic HPS, but that’s an experiment I haven’t tried yet.
That being said, there are multiple reasons why somebody might choose LEDs over HID and vice verse. HID is proven technology that works. LED is just now able to surpass HID in overall yield per square feet, but only because HID uses a single light source and thus has less penetration.
Personally, I find that certain HID techs like CMH, CHPS, and Hortilux Blue provide the best spectrums and those bulbs are well worth the price. I am certainly not a budget grower. I started out buying budget things, but after having to replace so much of the BS I was buying on Amazon, I started shopping at my local hydro store and couldn’t be happier. For instance, they give me sick deals on hortilux bulbs which normally cost $150 and I get them for $100 without having to worry about shipping. And the Hurricane fan I got is way better than the Honeywell fans I bought on amazon/Walmart.
In the coming months I will have more more info comparing my HID setup to my LED setup. I still have enough COBs to completely replace the HIDs in my 5×5 with COBs, but I am going for quality over quantity.
Also, I’m assuming it’s going to take me a little bit to test my hypothesis. But I’ve noticed that my CHPS produces better quality than my LEDs. I was kinda shocked because I was originally just intending to run it as a hybrid LED/HID setup.
Idk, I like science. I want to do something experiments, but right now I’m kinda space limited. I do have 3 tents so I suppose I could do some legit science – a control tent with just cob leds, an LED+far red +IR+uva tent, and an LEC/CMH + CHPS tent.
But, alas… different strokes for different folks. I have the money to play around with these different lights, and a desire to learn as much as I can about botany and horticulture and commercial ag in general (my family operates two farms totaling 320 acres and has been doing no til since the 80s).
What light someone should buy really depends on so many factors.
What is the budget? What is the space being lit? What type of plants are you growing (only one type here probably, lol), etc. then you have to ask yourself if you care more about quality or yield. In my humble and non-noob/non-master opinion, LEC and CHPS and perhaps even Hortilux Daylight Blue will produce the best quality spectrum which should produce the best quality flowers (subjective). You get it all from a single source of light. LED will provide best yield, with the downside that there’s no sunrise/sunset (which plants have adapted to naturally) and there is no UV/far red/IR which plants have adapted to naturally. You can supplement those spectrums for a cost, but that doesn’t help the low budget consumer and has the uneven distribution issue I mentioned earlier.
Personally, for most growers I think something like a DIY HLG or COB or logic puck is perfect for the budget grower concerned with cost who wants to maximize grams per watt. Spectrum King, migro, etc for growers who want to maximize grams per watt and don’t mind spending a pretty penny. There’s other brands too. For commercial LeD growers, def want something like the Gavita 700s or whatever they are called.
Now, for those who want the best quality spectrum I would say LEC/CMH. Depending on if you use it for veg or flower, you can stretch your bulbs two years or more. Personally I think there’s a benefit to swapping them out sooner than that, as 10% loss in yield can be a lot (Again, your LED won’t last forever either. But it will def last at least 50,000 hours whereas I think CMH is rated for 20,000). The 315s are the highest efficiency HID option and produce an amazing spectrum. I def wouldn’t want to to run HPS or MH.
There’s still new innovation happening around HID technology, so your presumption that it’s going away is misplaced. For instance, hortilux is def an industry leader in creating new HID tech. And ballasts are becoming even more efficient, just like LEDs are. Time and a place for everything.
Awesome info here I need to make like a file with all the interesting stuff like this categorized and stuff so I can go back to them. If I had more room and a way to get rid of the heat I would love to try these other technologies. Alas I don’t have the room or the money. What would you reccommend for a veg that is approx 2.5x3ft and about 5 high. Using a closet as veg and my 4×8 for flower. I have a blurple in the veg as they seem to do ok but was thinking about buying something that would work better however I am on a pretty tight budget need to be 300 or less dollars. Or would I be better off using my better blurple in veg and buying a couple more 240w quantum boards for my flower. I have 2 i there now with the better 330w actual draw blurple..
I too was lured in to buying blurple lights. Only advice I can give is scrog everything on one level and get your light over it. I find with mine it has no penetration to the secondary buds and forget anything below that. And then save up for some hlg’s. I’m getting mine at the end of the month.
Thanks for all the info guys. These have only been on the market for a few months so I’ll try and follow up after I complete a grow with one (auxiliary light).