VIPARSPECTRA or MarsHydro

has anyone completed a grow with vipar's??? I have '3' 300watters over '2' ladies, and the rate of growth is pathetic ... they are growing in amended soil, 4gallon pots, and I even added a 8bulb 4ft fluor for add. light... after growing for years under mh/hps, these vipars are a joke...

I've heard similar complaints. But those that say they don't grow as vigorously under LED say that density and trichome production improve. I guess one of the fun parts is figuring out what we end up preferring after trying things. Instead of buying a LED lamp, right now, I'm going to disassemble my old space buckets and create two spotlights with four LED bulbs on each.... Supplement the lower branches.... Hopefully not increase temps too much.

PersonalProvide said:

I've heard similar complaints. But those that say they don't grow as vigorously under LED say that density and trichome production improve. I guess one of the fun parts is figuring out what we end up preferring after trying things. Instead of buying a LED lamp, right now, I'm going to disassemble my old space buckets and create two spotlights with four LED bulbs on each.... Supplement the lower branches.... Hopefully not increase temps too much.

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I tooo heard increased trich production... being 5 weeks into flowering, I have to hunt to see any with the scope... I know these are not the $1500 cobb's... but I would have thought that having 3 of them + the fluor would be enough light for 2 plants... unless they suddenly take off, this will be my 1st ...and last grow with these 300watters... anyone want to buy 3 slightly used led's???

That's weird, because I'm at about five weeks, and my buds are as frosty as they've ever been. Granted, before switching to the viparspectra 450, I was using cfl's, but I HAVE used a big HPS light before.

Are you sure you have the light close enough? You can get a LOT closer with LED's than with a big ol' HPS.

Good luck!

Jellyfish said:

That's weird, because I'm at about five weeks, and my buds are as frosty as they've ever been. Granted, before switching to the viparspectra 450, I was using cfl's, but I HAVE used a big HPS light before.
Are you sure you have the light close enough? You can get a LOT closer with LED's than with a big ol' HPS.
Good luck!

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thanks... the lamps are rite ontop of the plants .. one on each plant, and one hanging giving them side light- and on the other side I have the fluor hanging for side light.. I'm going to take em to the end and see what are the results... but I'm not optimistic...

Weird. Well, good luck!

Deepdown said:

VIPARSPECTRA Reflector-Series 600W LED

Or

MarsHydro Mars 600 LED

Anyone with experience with either. Loudness of fans is going to be an issue as I am on a stealth grow.

Also general performance. Open to other suggestions though.

Thanks in advance Dd

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Do not buy VIPARSPECTRA light, I ordered their 300w, the light burned several days ago!

These girls were started under a Mars Hydro 300W (actually 115W)

Here they have been flowering 6 weeks under a Vipar Spectra 600W (actually 260W).











































I´ll show you harvestpics if wanted!

P

smartgrower1995 said:

Do not buy VIPARSPECTRA light, I ordered their 300w, the light burned several days ago!

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Just because you had bad luck, doesn't mean the whole company sucks. In fact, I just completed a run with a ViparSpectra 450, and it was glorious!!!

I'm 2 1/2 years into my Mars 600, and I have fat, frosty buds everytime, excellent yields, no issues. I need one of those ridiculously priced lights from any of those companies, like I need a hole in the head. I don't get it, nor care b/c of my results...

hey jellyfish...meraxes... well all I can say ..is the proof is in the eatin... or in this case growing... excellent grow/s... i'll try another grow with my 3x300 vipar's in the fall... its quite possible that I f...'d up... starting a grow in the northern hemi. in the spring as temp's are rising was prob a bad idea...

Sour Diesel under ViparSpectra 450 in hempy buckets. First time using LED's. I think I like them!

In mid 2017 I got me a viparspectra 300w (135 actual watt) from amazon for $80 and free shipping with Prime. I'll lay out what i got!

(1) Topolite 2x2x4 'D' style grow tent from Amazon for $49 free shipping with amazon prime!
(1) Viparspectra 300w LED for $80
(1) random clip fan for $15
(1) GE heavy-duty light timer for $10
(2) smaller bags of foxfarm ocean forest soil, enough to fill (4) 1.7 gallon nursery pots, $4 a bag as an add-on item

And thats it! lets break it down, I spent $162 on this very nice grow setup - everything arrived discreetly at my door in 2 days.

It took me 15 minutes to quickly setup this very convenient grow tent, and about 10 minutes to hang the light. I use the 6" clip fan without the clip attachment, and I plopped it facing down in the 6" vent on the top of the tent - so it brings fresh air straight into the tent! No blower or carbon filter, but that may change if smell becomes na issue but for now - this thing took me 30 minutes roughly to setup and that was it.

Inside is a single Candy Kush clone (blue dream x fall 97' phishead kush?), and it's on day 3!!!

So, unfortunately not much to see here, but I think things will be good. I know my grow method is proven, which is simply foxfarm ocean forest and distilled water, but this time I'm using tap water.

Keep in mind that it was either this led or a 150w hps... I have lots of grows with a 150w hps and I can tell you that they typically veg slow, and don't always produce the biggest buds, depending on strain - however based on some research here on icmag, it seems the leds definitely perfom very close to the similar watt hps, if not slightly outperfoming.

Overall I am happy with my small, simple, and fairly cheap amazon grow setup. If I can manage to pull 2 legit ounces from this grow, I would consider it a win. However, it looks like this setup can do more, being 4sqft at 2'x2' - this 300w viparspectra does cover the footprint well, and I am thinking the right strain could probably do 1oz per sqft - but we'll see!

As far as my reviews on the viparpectra light - it does seem to be a solid build, no complaints so far. It is cool to the touch, but I can tell that it does raise the ambient temperature of the room by maybe a couple degrees fahrenheit. Overall I'm happy with the light and the price... it does put out a more balanced spectrum good for veg and flower - with a more even ratio of blue/red and IR... THis is actually perfect for me since I plan to do a 2-3 week veg and flower with this same setup, no equipment changes - should make things easy

The topolite grow tent is super excellent - like anything else, treat it with respect and I think it will last some time.... no light leaks, plenty of flaps and the exhaust ports have double sleeves... Was easy to setup - and as far as tents go, it seems good, for $49 shipped, cannot complain. It's pure mylar inside, even the bottom drip matt, its all good.

In a couple months I will comeback and let you guys know if anything changed - but so far I can recommend.

Are you changing your lighting and your water at the same time? May make it harder to diagnose any problems. Just my

they are growing in amended soil

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zachrock, strain and medium will outweigh light intensity. I suggest using a proven medium, like unamended foxfarm soil, straight out of the bag with no ferts, this is like the most critical thing. Close second is strain, some like diesels and blueberry are just so finnicky, meaning you could have good light and medium and they just end up funky, bad. In fact, of all the dozens of good dispensary genetics have grown, maybe 1/3 fall into the category of "too finicky", meaning they just dont grow right. And then there are some strains that will just rocket so fast... like this casey jones cut I grew once... look for a thread on here "meet the jonses". You'll see this casey jones blow past everything else in the tent, like bizarrely. Strain + medium > light intensity

Jellyfish,

Do you have a link to a grow log with the vipars?

SirNuggetReborn said:

zachrock, strain and medium will outweigh light intensity. I suggest using a proven medium, like unamended foxfarm soil, straight out of the bag with no ferts, this is like the most critical thing.

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sir... we are normally using promix bx, and we amend it with some blood n bone meal,n worm castings, and def have not been happy over the last few grows- we are going to try fox farms for 1/2 the next grow, and going back to our waterfarms hydro for the other half... still experimenting ...after 15+years

Mr Jay said:

Jellyfish,

Do you have a link to a grow log with the vipars?

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No I don't.

i found out later the vipar's are inefficient. 24 lumen per watt. and I know it's eye sensitivity but still.

angelgoob said:

i found out later the vipar's are inefficient. 24 lumen per watt. and I know it's eye sensitivity but still.

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I don't know what to tell you, dude. You can see the buds MY ViparSpectra produced, doesn't seem too inefficient to me. Best lights for flowering I've tried yet. No, I don't work for them.