LED Grow Light Forum

I am considering buying two SolarFlare 200w Bloom Boosters to go into a 2.5x4 foot cabinet.
Has anyone tried this unit?
I have also considered the SolarStorm 400w, but price is a consideration.
Let me know what you think!

I'd say that it's too big of an area (10sqft) for those two lights if you plan on using the whole space. A single SS400 isn't big enough, imho, either.

The CLW lights are very well made but you're trying to stretch them too thin at less than 34w/sqft. Perhaps if the room was 2x3 or something smaller than you planned...

SME, what type of worm bins to you have, and how do you use the castings?
I have one Can O Worms and another home made bin. I mainly use the castings for making compost tea.
When in California I had 38 bins, which equate to about 800 lbs of herd. I gave them all to the Boys and Girl Scouts units in the area. So started all over here, brought only the worms in my COW, but lost them the second year I was back here, hard freeze and was out of town and was not able to get the heater turned on. So started fresh last year and have had one harvest of about 35 lbs of castings.
I will be using them in this grow if I can decided on the lighting unit I want to use. Seriously considering one of these three.

CLW's SolarStorm 400w = one unit 5w leds
CLW;s SolarFlare 200w = 2 units 5w leds
ProGrow 260X = one unit 3w leds
Black Dog = BD360 U 5w Leds

Grow Cabinet 2.5 x 4 x 6 feet. I can configure the cab in three sizes, 2.5 x 2.5, 2.5 x 3, or 2.5 x 4 feet. Looking at the 2.5 x 3 or the 2.5 x 4 as my chosen grow area.
Will be growing in soil and would like to do a two plant SCROG.
Not sure on nutes yet!

Thanks,
GR

I have a Can-O-Worms too but my worms died due to neglect after I hurt my back. I was too lazy to sort the castings so I just used the vermicompost in the yard/garden and/or made tea.

Before you make lighting decisions you should know how they're going to be used. Veg, flower or both? Either way I'd eliminate the light with 3w diodes. BD has some dubious claims and marketing propaganda on their web site and their lights are *very* inefficient for LED lights.

With just 6' of head room you'll definitely want very short plants and Indicas rather than Sativas.

I think I still have friends in the LA/SD area that are still worming, when your ready to restart your herd I will look them up and give you their info. Can get a good price on restocking.
Hell they want $25 a pound here for composting worms. In Cal. I was paying like $10 a pound.

Since the SF200w has a flower footprint at 2'x2' with two I should be able to cover my 2.5'X4' with those two lights. With the SS400w I think would be overkill, and with the promotion deal I got in the email they sent me I can get two of the the two 200w for $200 less than I can get the one 400w. That would be close to 40w per sqft. if I have to go to a 2.5X3' area I can do that. If I scrog i can control the area by the size of the screen, in other words use a 24 inch wide screen instead of a 30inch.
I want a good grow and quantity is not the issue, quality is. It is for my own meds.

More opinions are welcome, wanting to get this right.

Thanks,
GR

I think I paid more than 25 last time I bought worms. After my surgery (whenever that happens) I definitely want to start back up.

The area covered is overstated by every LED manufacturer I've ever seen, especially if you want high end results. In SCROG the screen size will *help* restrain the width/length but not completely. There is still some minimal lateral growth above the screen.

Let's do the math:
The SS400w is 225 actual watts in veg mode, 310 actual watts in bloom mode and an additional 30w UVB for bloom boost.
The SF200w is 165w actual watts so 2 would be 330 actual watts with no veg mode and no UVB.

2.5x2.5 = 6.25 sqft (49.6w/sqft for the SS (not including the UVB)) (52.8w/sqft for the 2 SF200w lights)
2.5x3 = 7.5 sqft (41.3w/sqft for the SS) (44w/sqft for the SF)
2.5x4 = 10 sqft (31w/sqft SS) (33w/sqft SF)

Based on those numbers I'd go with the 2x SF in the smaller area and buy supplemental fluorescent UVB lights with the $200.00 savings. You won't have as good of a veg spectra with the SF over the SS but you won't be vegging that long with a small area either. You could mix a full cycle SF with a bloom booster SF but then you'll have to rotate the lights since you can't rotate plants in a SCROG.

YMMV...