dude i was looking at the MedicGrows, unfortunately the 6 bar light is too big for the 3x3 and the next step down is only that 150 watter, so i think theyre out of my reach there, but very intrigued
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question for the group, do the bar style LEDs tend to produce more or less heat than the QBs or is the difference negligible?
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Any difference in heat output is gonna be negligible, assuming same watts, in my experience.
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I haven’t used bars, but I think the physics of it says same watts into the same number of the same diodes would be the same heat output as waste. The difference could be how hard the diodes are driven, whether on the low end for high efficiency or the higher end for max lux and maybe more waste heat?
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yea, so then the big difference really is how close you can get the plants to the light itself without narrowing the effective spread right? in a small tent that seems like the thing i gotta think about the most is head room, thats what
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For what it’s worth, I used my 550 hanging about ten inches off the roof of my tent last time I flowered, it was fine.
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I find that the quantum boards, while probably a lot more gentle than that QB96, still like at least 18" at full power from the plants. Any closer than that and I have to turn them down from the about 120w per board my ballast tops out at. I’ve driven a QB288 up to 155 watts without any trouble, with a fan on it.
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HLG 600rspec in my 4x4. It has run continuously for 2 years. Bullet proof.
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Hlg 350 R spec would be perfect
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Big Perm over at Chucker’s Paradise did PAR tests on that 300L R-spec when he got one. It’s hard to read but I don’t have a login there to pull the full res images. I think it reads out 12", 15", 18", 24" and onwards as you go down.
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I’m literally back and forth by the hour. The price on that 300L is crazy
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Hi . i use the mars hydro tsw2000 plenty of light for a 3x3… I also use a 3ft x 3ft x 6ft high… Tent . but i think the spider farmer pulls less real watts i think… Look at the maker of the diodes mars are sony 
i smoke 2 much… Lol
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I think I’m gonna have to at least sleep on it 
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I was just thinking about getting a pair of 465w to upgrade my 8x4 lighting. These folks have a good sale:
Something like that would be nice for a 3x3
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Upon some further research the Vioarspectra KS3000 looks pretty intriguing:
This has the best fit I’ve seen dimension wise for a 3x3 (widest coverage might be a more accurate way to describe it) and was actually designed for a 3x3 like @knnth said. Only thing that gives me pause is the brand of driver they use I’ve never heard of, can you replace a driver on one of these if it goes out?
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It’s a remote driver, so it should be plug and play to replace it with one of similar spec. You might even be able to push the diodes a little harder than factory spec if you ever did. The most comparable one would be a Meanwell 320w, which is around $90.
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One thing I was told not just by my mentor but by many many growers.
You can skimp on pretty much everything in a grow but one thing you don’t want to skimp on is your lights…
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No longer a Cadboy now a CADMAN
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Wouldn’t let me use cadman to start with haha
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So I literally just woke up and had an epiphany. I run a pole mounted mini hurricane in this tent for airflow, pretty necessary to leave the full 3x3 footprint open for either 4 5-7gal pots or, now, two earth boxes. With one of the bar style lights, I would be limited as to how much I could raise or lower the light based on the position of my fan. Especially with the viparspectra, they recommend a flowering height of like 12-16” which means I’d have to sit that fucker right on top of the canopy, making it difficult to work on the plants without raising it up out of the way, which would be limited by where I have the fan positioned. The HLG would allow ample clearance to be able to move the light as needed without contacting my pole fan. The pendulum has swung out in favor of the QB with this little discovery
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