I’m starting from scratch. I just ordered a 48x48x80 grow tent and I’m stuck on what kind of lights to purchase. I know I want LED but I have no clue what size, brand, etc. I’ve been doing research but there is so much out there that it gets so confusing. If someone could recommend a light for my size tent I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I would love to hear any tips that anyone has for a newbie like me. Thanks so much!!!
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The forum is full of tips. Use the search bar up top and search for things you’re interested in.
How committed are you to growing long term? If you’re certain you’ll be growing for a while, check out two qb 260 xl kits from horticulture lighting group.
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Welcome to the forum/community. There is a vast amount of knowledge and a tremendous amount of experience here and I think that you as I have will find that everyone is willing to help. 
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You can find some amazon lights that will flower a plant or two if you want to get into it a bit and then decide.
I used hps rig with cold air intake for a while
Found horticulture lighting group from a buddy saying he wanted to but didn’t want to spend double on a light that the hps was.
Supplemented the hlg with a fat red king led until hlg came out with rspec series.
So all in all if you want to do it and not waste money get an hlg rspec 260 and see how it goes for you
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I would like to welcome you to the community, this is a very enjoyable Hobby, always a little challenge along the way which is a good thing. You have received great advice from the community. If you think it’s something you’re going to stick with I do recommend stepping up and buying a good light. Good luck
Buy quality genetics, but don’t expect uniformity. Look for Grow Diaries dot com journals for things you’re interested in. Check here as well, but grow diaries has a broader base.
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Welcome to ILGM.
As a new indoor grower myself I was having the same issue with trying to find the best lights for my tent and budget. I found a lot of really nice LED lights, but when I saw the price for them I almost had a heart attack. Something about paying over $200 USD for a board that emits red, blue, and some of them white light I thought was outrageous. I started my first crop 6 weeks ago in a 24 x 24 x 48 tent. For my lighting I found at walmart 2 foot LED grow lights for around $14 each I bought 3 and daisy chained them together plus a 12 x 12 LED board I got online for $20 USD. Now the way I had them mounted in the tent looked like garbage but it worked very well. Just yesterday I upgraded to a bigger tent, after a few posts about my setup on the forums here I came to realize I needed a bigger tent so I am using a 48 x 24 x 60. I got a Antlux 4 foot quad LED light for $70 USD and moved over my 3 LED light strips from my old tent to my new tent and my plants are just loving it already, 2 inches of new growth in the last 24 hours alone. So you don’t have to break the bank on lighting…but I am not stopping you either. Just make sure you get a light setup that gives you full coverage of your plants or else you could run an issue of one side of our plant or plants getting plenty of light and the other side not getting enough. Hope that helps.
I think we have to ask ourselves what we’ve been paying every year for cannabis, and use that to help set a reasonable budget for setting up a grow. With state of the art LEDs, I’d amortize the cost of lights over 7 years, and compare that to flower costs in the same timeframe.
Flowers are $240-440 per ounce here. I don’t really care what the lights cost, myself.
I appreciate where you’re coming from, but I also think if you initially bought a 600w HPS/MH kit you’d have better product for less money. As they say, but nice or buy twice.
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If you want fat dense buds stick to QB boards and HLG you get what you pay for.
Amazon and Walmart or lizard lights are going to give you very sub par results and efficiency, glad you asked.
Thinking you can be smart and cheap out on lights is well… Not smart ask anyone who has been growing and researching for over a year they will say the same thing.
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Thank you all!!! I’m going to start checking these lights out that were suggested.
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