LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

[overTHEman]

Just got off the phone with the professor at my local school, he said if I had my fixtures and bulbs already I could bring them up today and he'd run home and get the special computer to run his meters and we'd have a spd for the Fiji and for what a PAR setup is actually outputting both in wavelength and radiant flux. W-2's hurry the heck up so I can order mah stuffs!

aoyanagi! You're awesome!

This community will greatly benefit from your contribution.

 

[BlueB]

Here's a little teaser while we wait for the results for the Fiji Purple

His latest addition Fiji Purple was again a true innovation from Korallen-zucht
that has up to 6% red spectrum to mimic the natural sunlight & agitate color pigments
,for outstandingly amazing coral color & growth.
Here is the link, the paragraph is about half way into the article.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/proline/T5promo.pdf

With only 6% Red, I don't think this would be a very good stand alone light. In another article it says these bulbs consist mainly of light under the 400nm range.

If I had to guess, the Fiji Purple is a 6500K daylight mixed with an Actinic. It will sure be interesting to find out where the red 6% peak.
My guess is the graph will be something like.......

 

[BlueB]

Check this out.
I took a photo of a white wall with the light from my Spectra 100s LeD bouncing off of it.
I took another photo of the same wall with the light from the mixture of T5 lights I just got in the mail today.
I then cropped the photos down to just a small area on the wall to show the difference in color. It's almost the same.
Spectra 100s color:

Color from my T5 mixture:

 

[TheHeathen]

Your picture there reminds me of an idea I had the other night when I first discovered this thread. I wonder if, theoretically, you could use a lcd display as a grow light. Program it to cycle through a sequence of colors mimicking par values. Just an idea.

 

[BlueB]

Your picture there reminds me of an idea I had the other night when I first discovered this thread. I wonder if, theoretically, you could use a lcd display as a grow light. Program it to cycle through a sequence of colors mimicking par values. Just an idea.

That for sure is a unique idea.

 

[UnderCurrentDWC]

I wonder if, theoretically, you could use a lcd display as a grow light. Program it to cycle through a sequence of colors mimicking par values.

Nope most tv sets only produce 700 ft candles.. not even close to enough light
some of the best projectors only produce 2500 lumens..

 

[BlueB]

It sure would be an expensive light source

 

[TheHeathen]

That for sure is a unique idea.

I think it could be worth a look. LCD's either use cfl's or led's as backlighting, with the led backlit displays topping out somewhere in the 175 watt range. A 40" LED/LCD could be had from walmart(I don't condone shopping there, just for the sake of argument.) for right around $350 plus tax. No bulbs to buy. I just don't know about the UV spectrum. Seems to me that it wouldn't be able to emulate it, which, from my meager understanding about light waves and how LCD's work, thats all it would be able to do with any color. Still, an interesting idea, I think.

 

[TheHeathen]

So, the idea has already been pondered here?

 

[TheHeathen]

It sure would be an expensive light source

I don't think it would be any more expensive than buying a quality fixture and subsequent bulbs. Not saying it would work...

 

[BlueB]

I have no idea if that idea has been brought up before or not, I just joined this forum a couple days ago. I think you would have to design your own super bright LCD screen. Why not just go LeD? It would probably be cheaper. Still a cool idea though.

 

[reactiv8ion]

I would like to use an 18" fixture as opposed to a 24" fixture due to space contraints. Not much bulb selection for the 18". Would it be ok to run 2x 454 and 2x Red Sun, in a blue/red/red/blue setup?

 

[Calrt]

I DID have a meter. The probe died- slowly. Most likely, the readings were inaccurate for well over 2 months, and got worse over time. I was adding more and more acid, not thinking the probe was dying.

ahhh, this makes more sense, bummer though!

 

[Undercover Cop]

Well, no one else is going to do it for us, right? And I decided when I applied for my state medical license that I was going to put my ass where my head and heart are. The only way to get rid of a taboo is to openly and unashamedly discuss the topic and keep your cool / keep your side of the debate "clean." If this somehow results in my getting some time, well then I'll just go full activist. Putting a mom in jail for trying not to be a pilled-out zombie or neurotic hypervigilant meanie all the time SHOULD embarrass the powers that be.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to aoyanagi again!

 

[pr0fesseur]

I would like to use an 18" fixture as opposed to a 24" fixture due to space contraints. Not much bulb selection for the 18". Would it be ok to run 2x 454 and 2x Red Sun, in a blue/red/red/blue setup?

1x454 1x75.25 2xred sun

 

[pr0fesseur]

I have no idea if that idea has been brought up before or not, I just joined this forum a couple days ago. I think you would have to design your own super bright LCD screen. Why not just go LeD? It would probably be cheaper. Still a cool idea though.

LED TV are only BACKLIT with LED... so it doesent work...

 

[pr0fesseur]

There are a few things I need cleared up. Do I have this right? Lumen refers to only the visible spectrum? I thought lumen referred to the brightness of all light. So, how do you refer to the light intensity of the non-visible spectrum? Also, don't plants mainly use light within the visible spectrum? I thought the visible spectrum was between 380nm and 760nm. It makes sense to me that the brightness of a light source would determine the amount of energy or photons given off by that particular light source. I know it would take some precise measuring, but if a 6500K light produces let say 15,000 lumens and a PAR specific light produced only 1,000 lumens, I would think it would be safe to assume that the 6500K light would grow plants better due to the higher lumen factor.
Plants mainly use light within the visible spectrum as far as I can tell.
Wiki:
Electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 380 nm and 760 nm (790–400 terahertz) is detected by the human eye and perceived as visible light. Other wavelengths, especially near infrared (longer than 760 nm) and ultraviolet (shorter than 380 nm) are also sometimes referred to as light, especially when the visibility to humans is not relevant.

P.S.
Wouldn't it be possible for a 6500K light bulb to have more PAR than another 6500K bulb? I thought the Kelvin representation was just an average of color temperature. So wouldn't it be possible for a 6500K bulb to have more blue and red light than let say green or yellow and it just happens to average out at the 6500K zone? For example, when I was at the aquatics store the other day I checked out some lights they had glowing in a few different aquariums. In one aquarium they had the Coralife Nutrigrow lights and in another they had the Zoomed Ultrasun lights. The Nutrigrows had far more pink and the Ultrasuns had far more blue. This was detectable by looking at them. The color difference was obvious, yet they are both listed as 6500K!!

Black Body Radiator (Degrees Kelvin)
The Kelvin rating of a light bulb can be misleading depending on the type of bulb. A black body will radiate at ALL wavelengths. The amounts at each wave length may be high or so low it is immeasurable but all wave lengths are emitted from a black body. Incandescent lights and the sun both represent a black body well in that ALL wavelengths are emitted. With these types of light one can measure the energy out put at two points in the light spectrum (normally near red and blue) and calculate the Kelvin rating.

Fluorescent lights as well as all gas discharge style lamps do not fit in this category. These have an interrupted spectrum. Light is not emitted at all wavelengths. There can be sections of the spectrum missing or there can be large spikes at various wavelengths. Since the Kelvin rating refers to a black body it does not accurately apply to fluorescent or gas discharge lamps. In the past, lighting companies used to use the term Apparent Color Temperature meaning that the color appeared to be at a particular Kelvin but was in fact a little off, due to the interrupted spectrum. This term was replaced with Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) and soon lighting companies just used the term Kelvin to refer to a lights apparent Kelvin rating.

 

[pr0fesseur]

Black Body Radiator (Degrees Kelvin)
The Kelvin rating of a light bulb can be misleading depending on the type of bulb. A black body will radiate at ALL wavelengths. The amounts at each wave length may be high or so low it is immeasurable but all wave lengths are emitted from a black body. Incandescent lights and the sun both represent a black body well in that ALL wavelengths are emitted. With these types of light one can measure the energy out put at two points in the light spectrum (normally near red and blue) and calculate the Kelvin rating.

Fluorescent lights as well as all gas discharge style lamps do not fit in this category. These have an interrupted spectrum. Light is not emitted at all wavelengths. There can be sections of the spectrum missing or there can be large spikes at various wavelengths. Since the Kelvin rating refers to a black body it does not accurately apply to fluorescent or gas discharge lamps. In the past, lighting companies used to use the term Apparent Color Temperature meaning that the color appeared to be at a particular Kelvin but was in fact a little off, due to the interrupted spectrum. This term was replaced with Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) and soon lighting companies just used the term Kelvin to refer to a lights apparent Kelvin rating.

AND for this reason I DO NOT LIKE 6500k bulbs...
FOR YOU OKTHANKS2

 

[BlueB]

Black Body Radiator (Degrees Kelvin)
The Kelvin rating of a light bulb can be misleading depending on the type of bulb. A black body will radiate at ALL wavelengths. The amounts at each wave length may be high or so low it is immeasurable but all wave lengths are emitted from a black body. Incandescent lights and the sun both represent a black body well in that ALL wavelengths are emitted. With these types of light one can measure the energy out put at two points in the light spectrum (normally near red and blue) and calculate the Kelvin rating.

Fluorescent lights as well as all gas discharge style lamps do not fit in this category. These have an interrupted spectrum. Light is not emitted at all wavelengths. There can be sections of the spectrum missing or there can be large spikes at various wavelengths. Since the Kelvin rating refers to a black body it does not accurately apply to fluorescent or gas discharge lamps. In the past, lighting companies used to use the term Apparent Color Temperature meaning that the color appeared to be at a particular Kelvin but was in fact a little off, due to the interrupted spectrum. This term was replaced with Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) and soon lighting companies just used the term Kelvin to refer to a lights apparent Kelvin rating.

They should have labeled the Zoo Med Ultra Sun bulbs 8500K or 10000K because they appear way more blue than that chart shows. Sure is confusing how they label them now. So does the CRI rating of 98 mean anything good for these lights? Or is that another meaningless number for growing pakalolo? What do you think of the lights I am using in my sig, will they be a good mixture?

 

[BlueB]

LED TV are only BACKLIT with LED... so it doesent work...

No, I was trying to humor the lad by saying go LeD grow light instead of trying to invent an LCD tv light for grow.