# MarsHydro LED



## mindtrip

*Question*
I'm thinking of switching to LED for flower, but money is somewhat tight.  But cutting back on heat and energy consumption would be nice.  For my 2x4 tent, can anyone say how a 600w Mars Hydro LED would do?  I see great and awful reviews everywhere.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Indoor-Growth-Flowering-Spectrum/dp/B00XC3LBI2/ref=pd_sim_86_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=0RFN6XYX574WF0260EW5[/ame]


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## Dr. Green Fang

Use two of the 400w's, for a more versatile foot print and better use of wattage. 

More fixtures > Large fixtures :aok:


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## Dr. Green Fang

Also, buy direct and don't get them from Amazon / eBay. 

http://www.mars-hydro.com/led-grow-light/mars-ii-series


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## mindtrip

Dr. Green Fang said:


> Also, buy direct and don't get them from Amazon / eBay.
> 
> http://www.mars-hydro.com/led-grow-light/mars-ii-series



:\ Just had my birthday and got an Amazon gift card.


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## Dr. Green Fang

If they are represented properly in photos, then this is the exact fixture I have. I have 8 of the 400's. I put 4 of them in each 4.5' x 4.5' tent. :aok: 

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Hydroponic-Growing-Spectrum-Penetration/dp/B00XMQOO9W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1439720389&sr=8-3&keywords=Mars+Hydro[/ame]

Hopefully that works for you. Happy birthday!


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## mindtrip

Thank you!


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## mindtrip

One other question, DGF - do you use your LEDs in veg, too?


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## Dr. Green Fang

I have, and currently are when I flip from veg room to flower room. I'll veg them an extra 10-14 days usually, get them to the size(s) I want them, then flip. These work great for veg, as they are full spectrum. :aok:


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## Dr. Green Fang

Stop into "The Dr's Office" (below in my sig) and read the last... 500 pages or so. LOL


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## mindtrip

Thanks!  I have perused your thread quite a bit, but as you pointed out...there is a LOT of information there!


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## Dr. Green Fang

Plus, you can always hit me up.. I don't mind helping


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## mindtrip

Thanks, man. Much appreciated.


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## The Hemp Goddess

For a longer narrower space, you will do a lot better with a couple of smaller lights rather than 1 larger one.  I have a 3 x 6 space and have a 700W Mars II and a 768W Apollo Purple Sun cob unit in there.  That seems to be a good choice for my space.  

I do have to say though that they produce a lot more heat than I had been led to believe.  I am running just a bit over 700 actual watts and they really do not run that much cooler than my air cooled HPS.  And I have only cut my wattage by about 300W, so the energy savings is not great.  What draws me to the LEDs are the higher amount of trichs that you seem to get with LEDs.


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## mindtrip

Thanks, THG. Less heat and better trichs both attract me. I don't know that I can afford two 400watts. I'm gonna have to debate this with myself quite a bit. I've only got three plants going. Hmmmm...


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## Dr. Green Fang

> than I had been led to believe



hah.. led... LED ... GET IT?!?!?!!!!! 

lol!!


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## Dr. Green Fang

> And I have only cut my wattage by about 300W, so the energy savings is not great. What draws me to the LEDs are the higher amount of trichs that you seem to get with LEDs.



Yeah, for your situation, you only cut that much.. if you do direct replace, you cut it roughly in half.  

And yes, the trichs produced are easily doubled in my opinion and terrapins are throuuuugh the roof more! Also, with a detailed analysis from a credible lab, LED vs HPS shows both major increase in trich production, and terrapin.. but also brings out terrapins that HPS doesn't. In the test comparison, they ran a NY Diesel grown exactly the same besides HPS/LED, and in the tests a terrapin called "Limonene" was vastly present in the LED sample and didn't even register in the HPS sample. So, LED's are proven to expand the vast array of terrapin combinations and available terrapins.


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## Dr. Green Fang

mindtrip said:


> Thanks, THG. Less heat and better trichs both attract me. I don't know that I can afford two 400watts. I'm gonna have to debate this with myself quite a bit. I've only got three plants going. Hmmmm...



LED's are *concentrated down*
You can not cover a large area, with a 'larger' light fixture, and hope for "splash lighting" like you can with HPS. LED is more direct lighting. Save money and go with the proper lighting for your space, don't ***** foot about :aok:


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## mindtrip

Dr. Green Fang said:


> LED's are *concentrated down*
> You can not cover a large area, with a 'larger' light fixture, and hope for "splash lighting" like you can with HPS. LED is more direct lighting. Save money and go with the proper lighting for your space, don't ***** foot about :aok:



Thanks.  Unfortunately, two 400w MH LEDs like you have are out of my budget.  Would two 300w MH LEDs be a waste?  Again...2x4 tent with 3 plants.


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## Dr. Green Fang

If that's the reflector series, then yes.. a waste.


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## mindtrip

Dr. Green Fang said:


> If that's the reflector series, then yes.. a waste.



Not the reflector series...just the one I linked to earlier.


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## Dr. Green Fang

You would want 3 of those for your space. One for each plant in the 2x4. 

Power Consumption: 140W 

That's what they claim, but I bet actual draw is closer to 120-130w. The ones I have are 180w, rated with a meter. 
I wouldn't go with this line as I believe this is their old line of lights.


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## mindtrip

Dr. Green Fang said:


> You would want 3 of those for your space. One for each plant in the 2x4.
> 
> Power Consumption: 140W
> 
> That's what they claim, but I bet actual draw is closer to 120-130w. The ones I have are 180w, rated with a meter.
> I wouldn't go with this line as I believe this is their old line of lights.



Damn.  It's either that or continue with my 600w HPS.  Due to new circumstances, I've got to put my tent in a small bathroom...this means I need to produce a lot less heat.  I do have a great exhaust fan (& filter), but the exhaust will have to be in the bathroom, right next to the tent.

Do you think three of these lights would produce much less heat than my 600w HPS?


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## Dr. Green Fang

No, I think the heat would be equivalent. Especially if your HPS is in a sealed / air cooled hood and you have a good fan. :aok:


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## Grower13

if your bathroom has an exhaust fan you might be able to remove it and exhaust through the hole.


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## mindtrip

I don't have an air-cooled hood, but I have a good fan.  In the past I've kept the tent around 78 with the fan.

G13, I do have an exhaust fan in the bathroom.  It would help a little, I'm sure.

Thanks for your help, guys.  Still trying to decide. :\


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## Sin inc

from what ive been reading and seeing is that there a lot of copy of the mars hydro out there be careful what you buy. go to the mar hydro website . i almost got duped into buying one of the fake white ones. they only come  in black and there like 20 pounds where the fake ones come in at 8-10 pounds and they don't make a 600 any more. mars2they only come in 400,700,900,1200,1600 the Reflector type only come in 48x3,96x3,144x5,192x3. and there twice as big as the fake  ones. the reflector leds from mars only come in green with a silver face. and the sun series only come in 200 watt in is also black.
the old style did come in white but mars do not sell them any more and they are a lot of fake old styles white ones out there. stay a way from the white because  if there not selling them any more  then you will have to buy from a reseller you never know what your getting. go to their website and buy from there if your not sure of your seller.
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NZVF24oXE[/ame] video you should watch. they do make fake of the all mars led so be careful


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## Dr. Green Fang

Thanks Sin!!! I KNEW I saw this somewhere in the past, but couldn't reference it... so I just mentioned the old series. I remember watching this video just before making my purchase! :aok: 



> i almost got duped into buying one of the fake white ones. they only come in black and there like 20 pounds where the fake ones come in at 8-10 pounds and they don't make a 600 any more



^^ Exactly.


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## mindtrip

Yes, thank you for the info!


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## mindtrip

To be fair, that video compares two very different lights.

And MarsHydro still sells the white models on their Amazon page.


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## The Hemp Goddess

Mars Hydro and 2 of their authorized dealers sell on Amazon and E-bay and they are selling the white LEDs.  These appear to be genuine, not counterfeit, but just the older models.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-MarsHy...-True-Watts-/370961986470?hash=item565f0eb3a6


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## Dr. Green Fang

> These appear to be genuine, not counterfeit, but just the older models.



Indeed.. just check your sources (as THG did) and it'll "seem" to pan out they are selling the older models (my original thought) 

Just check your source, otherwise you'll get the fixtures you saw in that video.. and that would suck :aok: 

(Good one THG)


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## mindtrip

I've ordered three of the 300w white ones, one from Amazon and two from eBay. I know they're older, but given my financial situation, this is easier to do than two of the newer 400w models. Thanks to all for the help. I'm excited to get them here and put one over my seedlings. What distance do you all keep your LEDs at over the plants in veg?


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## Dr. Green Fang

> What distance do you all keep your LEDs at over the plants in veg?



Depends on the light and other varying factors.. I keep mine around 24" or more when vegging.


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## mindtrip

Dr. Green Fang said:


> Depends on the light and other varying factors.. I keep mine around 24" or more when vegging.



Thanks.  I'll update my grow journal when I get an LED here and switch out the CFL for it.


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## my my

hey THG... 
i followed your link(s) to ebay.. and i even found this one..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/37129184483...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=371291844831&_rdc=1


for 66.48 each ..
so i went ahead and bought 3 of them to add to what i got going now.


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## Sin inc

thanks for the backup mom/thg I knew that the olders was on ebay some where I just could not find them. but I did not want to take a chance and put them out there and they where fake. good looking out I was on the fence about buying 2 of the 300 watt ones. and because I am cheap these would work I think I am just going to save up and get the mar2 700 watt led for mt 3x3 tent:vap_smiley:. and I see has updated the old white ones to 5wchips from 3wchips


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## The Hemp Goddess

Cool, cool.  Are you going to veg and flower with them?


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## Sin inc

yea I will do both . I think I will have to switch to leds because the new place I moved to do have central air and my tent temps are around 90's .
making me pull up my 400 watt to over 2ft from my tops


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## techrons78

I have lumigrow 650 and spyder  600..there is way less energy but heat it not all that great especially when you get intop bin leds...see its the amount of light per watt that you want that why your probably running hot ..for example lumigrow in 14 es 330 put out 12 percent  of light per watt...the new 325 is but out 44% more light...Mars are over driven they must achieve  high watter to get high par so kinda defers the purpuse...


[Q.  UOTE=The Hemp Goddess;946073]For a lo nger narrower space, you will do a lot better with a couple of smaller lights rather than 1 larger one.  I have a 3 x 6 space and have a 700W Mars II and a 768W Apollo Purple Sun cob unit in there.  That seems to be a good choice for my space.  

I do have to say though that they produce a lot more heat than I had been led to believe.  I am running just a bit over 700 actual watts and they really do not run that much cooler than my air cooled HPS.  And I have only cut my wattage by about 300W, so the energy savings is not great.  What draws me to the LEDs are the higher amount of trichs that you seem to get with LEDs.[/QUOTE]


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## Dr. Green Fang

> Mars are over driven they must achieve high watter to get high par so kinda defers the purpuse...



Mars drives their 5w diodes at 33%... they are extremely under driven actually :aok:


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## techrons78

Dr. Green Fang said:


> Mars drives their 5w diodes at 33%... they are extremely under driven actually :aok:



OK but what's lights to Watt ratio?  that's what's matters when trying to save money...I just don't Bellerive what Mars says. .so called sara .
I.don't trust them


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## Dr. Green Fang

lol.. the lights have been put on par and watt meters etc. They are decent enough 

180w draw, 5w diodes driven around 33%. I'm not a "builder" or entirely an enthusiast, so I do not know too many more technical things about them beyond that. I just know they are very under driven. :aok:  

Either way, trust them or not.. it's not like these are pro level pieces of equipment. Just some very decent lights *considering *a very low cost, and after testings show that they produce good and dense bud, with little electricity. Remember.. I have 8 of these Mars 400 fixtures, and one of the Mars Sun Series fixture's. 

With that said, I'll soon be upgrading. BML Spyder / Illumitex / "LEP's" (this is something new I may be getting into) seems to be where it's at. Or, custom builds if you know your spectrum's etc.


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## techrons78

Dr. Green Fang said:


> lol.. the lights have been put on par and watt meters etc. They are decent enough
> 
> 180w draw, 5w diodes driven around 33%. I'm not a "builder" or entirely an enthusiast, so I do not know too many more technical things about them beyond that. I just know they are very under driven. :aok:
> 
> Either way, trust them or not.. it's not like these are pro level pieces of equipment. Just some very decent lights *considering *a very low cost, and after testings show that they produce good and dense bud, with little electricity. Remember.. I have 8 of these Mars 400 fixtures, and one of the Mars Sun Series fixture's.
> 
> With that said, I'll soon be upgrading. BML Spyder / Illumitex / "LEP's" (this is something new I may be getting into) seems to be where it's at. Or, custom builds if you know your spectrum's etc.



You said that perfect Fang. ..I'm scared  to start messing with color changes. ..I can on. My lumigrow just full  power it lol


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## Dr. Green Fang

> You said that perfect Fang



Thank you :aok:  

In my last run with the Mars 400's, I hit 669 g with 720 watts which is is 0.929 GPW. I call it success, and see that with the right strain I will hit over 1 GPW


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## Keef

This Old Fart needs to get out more !--- I run an aero under LED rotation-- Copied an aerocloner  a d build my own boxes !--- The big black boxes with a yellow checkboard  lid --396 gph pump shooting straght up to a PVC manifold with micro sprayers !  About a half square yard each !-- I swing a Mars Hydro 300 Reflector Series over each at about 18 inches !--- Works well enough and I'm still learning --As I get my nutes tweaked and win the war with bugs production is increasing !---
What U been up to Green Fang !---U should swing by the O.F.C. sometimes !--- I on my second round of inducing polyploidy !---It's  a different technique than colchicine but Keef building himself a tetraploid mj plant !--- 
THG --I was looking for U how U been ? Did U ever experiment with making that Liquid Weed ?--I'm not talking vaping hash oil but reconstructing the weed in Liquid form !


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## The Hemp Goddess

Keef, I made an e-cig liquid that I am pretty happy with--is that what you are talking about?


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## Sin inc

well i have been using 3 of the mars 300 white and i have to say that the three run about the same heat as two 400 watt hps air cooled. i am running the 2x400 watt hps cool tube plus the three 300 watt leds. my temps get no higher the 80s at the most. the mars are will start to fry my leaves at around 20". the 800 watt cool tube will not start to hurt leaves at around 10-12". as you can see in the pics the leds are the same hight as the cool tube and the leds are starting to bleach my leaves . the hps side seams to allow the pants much closer the the three leds . 

View attachment 133.jpg


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## mindtrip

Post-grow review: I'm not using these lights anymore. I finished one grow with them and was horribly disappointed in my yield and quality. The plants went downhill from the moment I started with these LEDs. I've tried two more grows with them and had very poor results. Went back to MH/HPS and changed nothing else, and plants thrived.

Others may have good luck with these lights, but I did not. I'll stick with MH/HPS for the time being.

Lesson: good LEDs are expensive.


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