I have to say… "Im happy to see you using that light! " I’ve wanted to see one in action! I’m gonna pull up a seat and watch how they treat you!
I went thru 2 LED lights when I made the switch over from HPS… the final decision was:
Spider Farmer SF1000, equivalent to about a 400hps light I used to have… the trick for
excellent growth, I hate to say, is getting away from the Blurple Lights and switch to a Daytime Spectrum light… my growth almost tripled when I made the switch from blurple to daytime spectrum… the SF1000 puts out dual spectrum and adds a single UV light for late flowering, this thing has it all… HGL makes the same light using the same diodes…
check out my growth, 4wks old… 3wks of veg and a week into flowering… GMOP strain…
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I use T5s for clones , seedlings , and veg and use 2 x 1000w hps for flowering.
I would like to use something more powerful for veg but can’t because of power constraints. But ya this set up has served me well over the last few years.
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I just started running a sf4000 in one of my 4x4s to replace a 600w hps. I love it. will be picking up a few more soon
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Update on the results from the ts1000 in a 2x2:
Strain is Dutchie Jones (yes, I’m an idiot for putting a very stretchy sativa in a 5ft tent…took some super[duper]-cropping to wrangle her height). Ended up with a little over 3oz, which is a bit less than I was hoping for. Flower is extremely airy - not larfy, just not especially nice nugs. Effects are weird, very strong, uplifting and focused, almost driven in a task-oriented way, but quite anti-social.
Just for an anecdotal point of reference, I simultaneously flowered another strain in another small space giving roughly the same feeding/watering/light schedule which yielded around 2oz per sf. Canopies were similarly dense, and DJ was harvested a good three weeks after the other.
I can’t blame the light for the lower-than-expected yields per se especially given the way I had to treat her, and that this is only one pheno/seed from a 5pack, but my vaguely educated suspicion is that the Mars TS series may veg better than flower.
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I’m using off the shelf led light bulbs with the plastic dome removed. I put 5 30” bathroom vanity lights (5 bulbs each) together to evenly light my 3x3 space. The 25 bulbs themselves will span 30”x25”. Currently I only have 3 strips installed, and using few bulbs at lower wattage for veg.
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I love this as a counterpoint to the fraught conversation about what makes for “good” grow lights. The Migro guy on YT recently did a build and test of a similar fixture and the efficiency was not bad at all - I don’t recall the figures exactly. Maybe a pricey fixture would veg moderately better, but not hundreds of dollars better, imo.
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Over on ICmag forum, with proper canopy management, people are getting over a g/watt.
I don’t have any soldering equipment or experience with wiring or circuits whatsoever. So I went with a simple as you can get and still look decent.
This is the thread that I read through and what I based my decision on,
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=8491878&postcount=2687
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=314806&page=449
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Thanks for the link - some of those builds are really beautiful, and I’m not at all surprised that they are proving effective.
This is a little 16x16ish box, similarly lit, with a couple of gals stressing out/“reversing” with some STS for pollen (just making some backups, not really breeding anything). I do notice that the more direct light from the led’s with globes removed seems to be a little harsh on the plants. Other than that and their unhappiness over enduring an involuntary sex change they seem reasonably stable.
I’ll be doing the same with a small cloning box, but leaving the globes on for more of a diffuse “bath” of light for the cuts.
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ipower 400w hps/mh cheap and effective for a personal grow.
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and you could do a pound every 8 weeks or so
I vouch for this 100%
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Just switched up to LEDs and I absolutely love them. I just finished my first grow and the plants love the new type of light. I have 2 iL8x and Ive had no problems with them. Really god product
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2 600 watt metal halides in vented hoods for vegging and 1 1000 watt hps for flowering in a dominator xxxl hood. Ballasts are all solistek digital 400/600/1000 watt mh/hps. I use a t5 for starts until they are ready for the bright light.
Stay kind,
Paws
Used to use 600w hps in cool tube, served me well for years, heat was always a battle
switched to tents and LED lights 4yrs ago… went thru 2 el cheapo crappy lights I gifted away…
referred to as blurple for their spectrum…
Switched to Spider Farmeer, HGL has same lights really… for my small tent, 2x2x6.8ft
I went with their small SF1000, about a 300w light IMHO, but grows much bigger… my veg
game is better then many long time commercial growers, the light is amazing… in 2wks my plants look better then many at almost a month old…
I still have my first tent… 2 x 2 x 4 cool grow… thinking the next light size down, their smallest I believe… SF1000 D… because these T5’s are not cutting it for rapid grown… okay for cuts or whatnot… but then, so is the SF1000 D… about $80, a bargain…
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I had been around some leds , i started with a CRXSUNNY 250 real watts, some burple cobs, then after that i went to smd mixed with cob with a burple option that had a lot of red in that moment was no that bad BloomBeast a520 210w from wall, after tha i wen with Osram smd diodes with the GrowAnt G800 , was a 300 watts from wall led , this one instead of been the classic burple ended been a high pink color due extra ir and uv , led did his work properly, then finally saved money for a year and ordered a HLG650R, works awesome, shit is overpowered one of the best units i had so far, after that one wanted something low profile to cover the 4x4 and a good 3x3 so went with a TSL Hortitech Growers Choice ROI e420, plants love this led a lot ,impressed on the 3k spectrum, is really yellow but the mix have a really good amount of blue that makes her awesome for veg and flower too, Got sponsored by Bloom Plus with a BP3000 300 watts from wall and im impressed by results so far, is the one i have a current grow under now and is doing awesome, samsung diodes but not the one that we use for horticulture and still she have impressed me for the price tag of the unit, and Now the last acquisition will be a HLG350R on her way on the mail as i write this, is been a nice journey and have learned a lot about lights and electronics and electricity, my goal is efficiency, i use Big led units in smaller spaces so i can run the unit in lower power getting better efficiency and work life, another really expensive but really useful tool is a PAR meter, if you are a person like me who love to try to maximize and run efficiently is a big deal, is expensive but have saved me a lot of money in power bills, and if you have different Led options the meter is a +++
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You really have to get away from the Blurple and Pink lights bro… #1 they damage your eyes…
#2 they just don’t veg up at all… slow veg I call eventual grow instead of perpetual… LOL.
HGL and Spider Farmer use the same Samsung Diodes top rated and meanwell drivers…
when I switched to this light, it was amazing… I’ve never in my life had plants grow this
wonderful… I took my vegging plants and placed them under the SF light for 2 days and omg
what a diff… gotta get me the other SF1000 D light for my veg tent…
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Mars Hydro makes a much better light without the Blurple affect… I too begain with this light or
something very similar… it did ok, but vegged so slow it was rediculous… I gave it away, bought
a diff blurple light… gave it away, did more research and found out daytime spectrum was killing it with the inexpensive lights… although this one was a bit more, omg was it worth the $$… check out their daylight spectrum lights… I run their smallest in a 2.x 3 x 6ft tent…
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I’m running two Viparspectra V300’s too. Do the job just fine! No complaints. 
Just received my il8x three days ago!! Very eager to try it out. Just waiting for the seeds now…