by Nebula Haze
480W Premium LED Grow Setup
Grow light: Mars Hydro FC-4800 480W LED grow light
- Average Yields: 9-17 ounces
- Grow space is 4’x4’x6.5’ or larger
Estimated Setup Cost: $770
- costs more to get optional equipment
Buy an all-in-one kit with this 480W LED.
About the Mars Hydro FC4800 LED Grow Light in this Setup
Mars Hydro does testing on live cannabis plants and it shows. Cannabis plants grow fast and healthy under every Mars Hydro LED grow light I’ve tried, and it gets some of the best LED yields.
Pros: The Mars Hydro FC-4800 s a bar style quantum board with a great spectrum and ultra-high efficiency chips that seems to get better yields than some other LEDs for the amount of electricity. They’re gentle on plants and easy to use.
Grown under Mars Hydro LEDs
Complete Grow Supply List
This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to harvest.
Mars Hydro FC-4800 480W LED grow light (designed to be used from seed to harvest)
- Yields: 9-17 oz per harvest
- Simple to use and hang. Works exactly as you’d expect.
- Much cooler than a 600W HPS or other cannabis grow lights that produce 1+ lb yields
Cost: $350
A single Mars Hydro FC-4800 can produce up to 17 oz (over 1 lb) of weed.
This setup can grow many plants at once so you have a good amount of strain choice
Plants grow fast and healthy with buds from wall to wall.
Grow Space
- Grow Tent Recommended Sizes
- 4’x4’x6.5′ – an example is the Vivosun 48”x48”x80” Grow Tent
- Learn more about grow tents.
- Cost: $130
- Exhaust Fan + Carbon Filter
- When you’re growing enough weed to fill a 4×4 tent, you need to make sure that smell isn’t escaping. A good fan and a reliable filter installed properly ensures no smells leak outside the tent, even when plants are at their most smell.
- Example: Exhaust Fan + Carbon Filter combo (perfect for this size tent)
- Cost: $140
Learn more about choosing and setting up an exhaust fan.
The carbon filter must be used with an exhaust fan to effectively remove smells. Learn more about controlling odors. Setting up right is key, and then you don’t need to worry about smells any more.
Adding a fan and carbon filter inside the tent prevents the smell of weed from getting out. Learn how.
Plant Pots
I prefer fabric pots or air pots because cannabis plants grow faster but need to be watered more often than standard hard-sided plant pots. Both types work great for growing cannabis indoors. Often the best plant pot is whatever is cheap and easy for you to get.
- Recommended: Fabric pots between 2-7 gallons (any fabric pots work great so I pick whatever is cheap or looks the best to me)
Cost: $15
These 5-gallon fabric pots work great in this setup
Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)
Grow mediums can include coco coir or soil (hydroponics for more advanced growers) but if you’re not sure, a coco-based soil like Coco Loco is perfect for beginnners.
- Recommended Soil: One 2 cu ft bag bag of coco-based soil with perlite should be able to fill 15 gallons worth of pots. For example, it will fill 3 x 5-gallon fabric pots.
Cost: $40
Coco Loco is a coco-based rich airy soil that cannabis plants thrive in
Nutrients
Many nutrient systems have a nutrient schedule so you give your plants the right ratios for each stage of life. Basically, you follow a schedule on the side of the bottle, which has a different ratio to support the “vegetative” stage for the first part of your plant’s life and a “bloom” or low-nitrogen nutrient ratios after buds are forming. Tip: Always start at half-strength with a new base nutrient system, since the recommended amount can be too high for cannabis plants, especially if you give nutrients every time you water your plants.
Recommended Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora trio nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis indoors.
- Directions: Follow the directions on the bottle at 1/2 strength.
Learn about other cannabis nutrients we recommend
Cost: $40
General Hydroponics Flora trio is my recommended nutrient for serious growers. Follow at half-strength of what it says on the bottle.
Cannabis Seeds
See a list of recommended seed sources here.
Other Supplementary Items
- Get your seeds – $5-20/seed (on average, can be more or less depending on the breeder)
- 24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule). Why do cannabis plants need to be on a day/night schedule? What about autoflowering light schedules? – $10
- Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon or 5-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients, but anything can work) – Much cheaper at Wal-Mart ($5-15) than online!
- Extra 1/8″ Rope Ratchets (sooooo handy) – These can be used to hang your grow light or carbon filter from inside the tent, and still be able to easily move it up and down without needing any strength. Your grow light usually comes with a set of rope ratchets, but it’s a great idea to get an extra set to hang the carbon filter. – $17
- Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent – $10
- PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph – $20
- Measuring spoons or syringes (for smaller amounts) for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $10
- Learn about other cool growing tools
Estimated Cost: $770 plus the cost of seeds
