Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post

SQWIBB · February 10, 2021

for your setup I would start out with some 6500 k LED bulbs, fairly easy to mod a shop light, and I will explain why at the end.

I started with Fluorescents, then 6000k leds then went to some Roleadros then Viaprspectra 450's then Viparspectra 700's to be honest the Led tubes were just as good and had good coverage.
I ended up with the 3 Viparspectra 700's only because they were for an indoor grow tent and I didn't want to get rid of them so I installed them on my Seed Starting Bench.

2016

4 Fluorescent tube shop light modified with 4 additional Led Tubes.

I also added some ribbon led's 4 ribbons.

This is before I replaced the Fluors with Led's

2018

Then I went to some Roleadros.

2019

2 Viparspectra 450's

2020

Two Viparspectra 700's

2021

And just yesterday installed another Viparspectra 700 positioning them differently. It seems like overkill but the coverage is much better and since there are three dimmer switches on each 700, I can dial back the intensity of each color, (3 channel spectral control), Red White Blue and also adjust the 700's up or down.

I also have an overflow area that has a Modded four 6500k Led fixture. this is an adjustable shelf on ratchet straps.

My point is, everything I have done from Fluorescent to Led Tubes to Led Grow lights has worked. I like to tweak as you can see by this post. The only drawback about using Tube Led's on a one shelf setup like mine is that you may have to adjust the height of the plants as some may grow quicker than others this is why I like the 3 separate led grow lights as they can be adjusted independently by moving up and down and dimming each grow light.

Again this is for a one shelf setup, you have multiple shelves and I would look into cheap 4 fixture shop-lights or 2 bulb shop light fixtures for each shelf and some LED bulbs and mod them yourself.
You could do three shelves for what it cost me for one Viparspectra 700.

I think I have a post somewhere here on how to mod the shop lights to led's

Found it
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=SQWIBB

February 10, 2021	#6
SQWIBB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Philly 7A Posts: 739	for your setup I would start out with some 6500 k LED bulbs, fairly easy to mod a shop light, and I will explain why at the end. I started with Fluorescents, then 6000k leds then went to some Roleadros then Viaprspectra 450's then Viparspectra 700's to be honest the Led tubes were just as good and had good coverage. I ended up with the 3 Viparspectra 700's only because they were for an indoor grow tent and I didn't want to get rid of them so I installed them on my Seed Starting Bench. 2016 4 Fluorescent tube shop light modified with 4 additional Led Tubes. I also added some ribbon led's 4 ribbons. This is before I replaced the Fluors with Led's 2018 Then I went to some Roleadros. 2019 2 Viparspectra 450's 2020 Two Viparspectra 700's 2021 And just yesterday installed another Viparspectra 700 positioning them differently. It seems like overkill but the coverage is much better and since there are three dimmer switches on each 700, I can dial back the intensity of each color, (3 channel spectral control), Red White Blue and also adjust the 700's up or down. I also have an overflow area that has a Modded four 6500k Led fixture. this is an adjustable shelf on ratchet straps. My point is, everything I have done from Fluorescent to Led Tubes to Led Grow lights has worked. I like to tweak as you can see by this post. The only drawback about using Tube Led's on a one shelf setup like mine is that you may have to adjust the height of the plants as some may grow quicker than others this is why I like the 3 separate led grow lights as they can be adjusted independently by moving up and down and dimming each grow light. Again this is for a one shelf setup, you have multiple shelves and I would look into cheap 4 fixture shop-lights or 2 bulb shop light fixtures for each shelf and some LED bulbs and mod them yourself. You could do three shelves for what it cost me for one Viparspectra 700. I think I have a post somewhere here on how to mod the shop lights to led's Found it http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=SQWIBB Last edited by SQWIBB; February 10, 2021 at 09:41 AM.