AquaS Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 (edited) Hello everyone, found this forum while researching what i need and the advice, knowledge and members here are invaluable! I'm a new grower looking to grow indoors and i've been putting a list together on the futurama website but i need some advice on lighting (i'd prefer to get everything or at least almost everything from the same place for ease) if anyone knows any other sites that sell at decent prices or that might have equipment that futurama doesn't have then please let me know! This is what i'm looking at so far : 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m grow tent Inline Axial Fan - 100mm Ducting & clamps Desk clip fan for circulating the air in the tent Bio-bizz grow/bloom for the nutrients. I have good red soil around where i live so i'll just use that and i already have pots. The only thing i have no idea about is lighting, i'd prefer LED's and the one i'm looking at is the Apollo 4 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light - 180W however i'm not sure if it's overkill or not enough (i'm looking to grow about 2-4 plants in the tent) Could anyone lend their knowledge to this? Many thanks and good to meet you all! Edited December 28, 2020 by AquaS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkunkPharm Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Howzit. Rather buy a bag or two of soil. Freedom farms or jamies or organics matters. Buy a 240w quantum board. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreX Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 whats up and welcome @AquaS! good to se you putting in some effort! there are a few vendors on the forum under the vendors list, take a look at them all and you will find a great deal. https://www.420sa.co.za/forum/7-sponsors-vendors/ the apollo will grow some great weed! but it really is not a light you should be investigating. LED diodes have made leaps and bounds in the right direction and a true full spectrum diode is much more efficient than the Blurple tech of old check out the Quantam boards that are all the rage currently from the vendors. lets talk about your tent. 1.2x1.2 is a nice size man! you could definately put more than 4 plants in there so you have future proofed yourself a bit hehe. but in doing so, you have asked the wrong question about the light needs! that tent will need about 400w of LED lighting to get great coverage corner to corner. but you will only need about 200w for 4 plants so keep that in mind. so the apollo 4 is a bit on the weak side for that many plants also, that red sand, be careful with it as it tends to compact quite a bit in pots and cannabis does not like compact soils... if you can, get some perlite and coco and mix it into the red sand... or buy a premium craft soil from your nursery. the nute line you have chosen may also not be suitable for the red sand.... start with plain water feeding to see if there are any deficiencies and then start with the nutes at half strength 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy420 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Howzit. Rather buy a bag or two of soil. Freedom farms or jamies or organics matters. Buy a 240w quantum board. Hey yeah i agree with skunkpharm on this. Rather buy some decent soil, then you cant realy go wrong and a quantum board.its more pricey but saves you money on power( when dimming for seedling and veg) and you dont realy get problems with heat. What pot sizes are you using? Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) @SkunkPharm @CreX @Leeroy420 Thanks for the replies and advice! I'm very excited to get started and i'd like to do it right however i'm also limited by how much i can spend initially. In regards to the soil, my red soil has been composting with manure (And the plant matter that dies off in it during winter) for the past few years, it's appears high quality, plants and weeds have been growing in it for years so i'm not too worried about it being too hot either, and i'm also intending to mix it with the top soil we have here which is loamy textured but not too high in clay which should help with compression and also make it more balanced. would it be possible for me to make do with a lower range light like the apollo at first and just grow 2~ plants and then expand with more lights or better lights such as quantum boards over time in the future? As investing in a 240w-400w is quite a jump in price from 120w-180w. Either that or perhaps get a smaller tent? Or Would HPS or CMH be more suitable in this case? Pot sizes i'll be using will be between 20-30L I also forgot to mention in my first post that i'm interested in starting with autoflowers but i also want to do photo's sometime in the future. I'd grow outdoors but monkeys, frost in winter and the neighbour who's a pyromaniac are the major limiting factors. Edited January 24, 2021 by AquaS added information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy420 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 yeah its all up to your budget at the end of the day. Don't know what's your budget. Growing cannabis is trial and error when starting indoors. I would do a smaller tent and put more aside for a light. I think the most important thing in growing is a light. the better the light the more the yield and coverage. When you go hps you gonna have heat issues on hot days and you probably gonna need a 6inc inline fan. You can do autos but there is no room for error on them really. If you mess up then your yield wont be as good as if it could of been. But at the end you can use what ever you pleased with. hps, blurpels,qb's they all work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 @Leeroy420 I'd like to start with photo's however i'm worried their veg state will get shafted by Eskom and their shenanigans. I'm thinking what might work for me is keep the same sized tent so that i can go higher capacity but go for a smaller light (like the apollo or similar) and just not utilize the full tent size just yet, keep my growing tailored to how much light i have and then increase that in the future as i upgrade for more light. So at the start grow 1 or 2 plants max and move on from there and as i get my bearings and increase my budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 If you are dead set on a specific sized tent, get a smaller quantum board with a single QB288.These are normally advertised as 120w lights and later on you can purchase some more quantum boards.A 240w quantum board is generally 2x QB288's Check out the vendors and see what specials are currently available.Not all quantum boards are the same in terms of heatsink and the accessories which come with them.Something you'd want to look into, the vendors on this forum are a good place to start looking.You've already been given some great advice from fellow members. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 @PsyCLown Thanks for the information! I checked out the forum vendors for QB288's and found lightitup.co.za (didn't find any good results for QB288's when just searching google, only takealot which has the same set at R5000) which has exactly that board and the double 240w one for only a little more than the appolo i was looking at (R3900 VS R4250 without sale discounts) the single board at R2900, they also come with heatsinks, power meter and ratchets. I think that all makes it a no brainer to go for the 240W double board they supply. This is probably the wrong place to ask, but they also offer a 240w board with additional diodes, what's the purpose of that? would it just give it higher longevity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 How many plants would be optimum for a 240W board? For best growing? (Auto's and Photo's) Thanks so much everyone for advice and help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 It's not so much how many plants for the light, it's more the sqm area which the light will cover well.You can fit 1 large plant inside a tent of whatever sqm or you could fit multiple smaller plants... However the 240w light will work in your sized tent alright but more than 1 would be preferable for flowering in your 1.2 x 1.2 tent.Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ill_Evan Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 1 hour ago, AquaS said: How many plants would be optimum for a 240W board? For best growing? (Auto's and Photo's) Thanks so much everyone for advice and help! Four plants in 17L pots each would be shap. Or one massive plant in a 40L pot ..or two? In like.. 20L pots? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 @PsyCLown Right that explanation helps a lot thanks, i was thinking about it more in terms of direct power instead of how much space it'll cover @Ill_Evan Much appreciated 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 @AquaS That 240W light is good for around 0.82 sqm - so it depends how many plants you can fit in such a space. I have managed to fit 6x 20L pots inside a smaller space before (0.72sqm). You could fit more plants under the light, especially in veg... even in flower, it just won't be the ideal intensity - however I feel it is common for most growers to not have the optimum amount of light for their sized grow as lights are expensive. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rol Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) I have the 240w liontree . Highly recommend this. They are made in SA so you get great local support. Give them a look. Edited January 3, 2021 by Ill_Evan No linking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ill_Evan Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 1 hour ago, Rol said: I have the 240w liontree . Highly recommend this. They are made in SA so you get great local support. Give them a look: www.liontree.co.za "Made in SA", more like assembled in SA. We don't make any of those chips locally so at the end of the day the most complex components are still imported. In any case, I'd rather go for the Samsung LM301 chips than the Bridgelux chips that Liontree uses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I had some led strips which used Beidgelux diodes and have had some strips which used Samsung lm561c diodes and then QB's with the lm301b diodes.The lm301b diodes have been the best so far.But once again it all depends, not every diode is the same.You'd want to compare the Beidgelux diode which lion tree use to the Samsung lm301b and see which offers better performance.The Samsung diodes are tried and tested, used in lots of high end lights. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) Good news! Seedlings just sprouted from the soil and starting on their first set of true leaves. Should i turn on the ventilation now? (inline fan and/or rotary fans) or wait until their leaves are more developed? How much light should i give them and how high should the light be above them? (2 QB288 board) i currently have it set at 100W Edited January 24, 2021 by AquaS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 @AquaS I would turn the extraction fan on and have fan for air circulation on as well - but not blowing directly on the seedlings. 100W is fine, you could get away with less power, around 50c to 60c above should be good. Seedlings really do not need much light. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaS Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 @PsyCLown Thanks i'll do so and drop the power a little 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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