Best Setup?

[Wheadon]

Hello RIU. Very new here, but i was hoping you could help me with a little issue. A friend of mine has leukemia, and has just gotten everything in order to grow his own. I am helping him, however ive hit a brick wall. I understand most of it... except the lights. we definately dont want HPS/MH.. so that leaves LED or Induction lights. LED seems to be the big new craze, but are any of you currently using Induction? Basically, if any of you feel so inclined, i would like to know 1. how long have you been using your light choice (LED or Induction) 2. What issues, if any, have arisen from using your light 3. If you have used other lights, how would your current lights compare as far as quality and yield. 4. would you recommend one type of light over another depending on if i am growing in dirt or hydro? 5. What brand, in your personal opinion, is the better choice. 6. What kind of yeilds are you experiencing for what strain and growth period? Now... I have seen threads get hijacked here by people who disagree on what is the best and what isnt. With that said, i am looking for personal opinions from people who have used the equipment. im not looking to start a debate on whose right, or what light is best. im merely looking for the opinions of people who have the experience in this industry that i lack. If someone says something that you dont agree with.. please refrain from turning it into a giant debate. kinda kills the spirit of the thread. lol.
Thank you all

 

[Slipon]

hi and welcome

I use LEDs, on my second run with em and I just love em, used to run a 600W HID

best thing about LEDs compared to HIDs is that they produce next to no heat, at max 1-2C more under the light then the ambi temperatures, the HID made it jump +10C

worse thing about the LEDs compared to HIDs is the space they cover, pretty much one directed, logic as the HID is a bulb it will spread out the light, the LEDs dont, and wont cover much more then a few inch`s out to the side/ends of the panels, so keep that in mind

IMO you will have to use about the same watt as with the HID to cover the same ground, maybe 20% less, but you will have superior spectrum and next to no heat, so not so much cooling/ventilation needed, and I also feel more safe overall running a LED panel then a 600W HPS

here is some of my plants under the HID and under the LEDs




go for quality, if your in the US look in to Area-51 they have some sweet LEDs if your not based in the US or want sumthing els, look in to Cidly (best Chinese place to buy em)

Slip



btw

I have no experience with indicator lights, tho I have been looking in to em, but couldn't find a place around here to buy em, have seen some in here mix em with LEDs and seems to kick ass, and help with the light "spread" to cover the shady parts, should also be pretty nice to use as Veg light

 

[Wheadon]

hi and welcome

I use LEDs, on my second run with em and I just love em, used to run a 600W HID

best thing about LEDs compared to HIDs is that they produce next to no heat, at max 1-2C more under the light then the ambi temperatures, the HID made it jump +10C

worse thing about the LEDs compared to HIDs is the space they cover, pretty much one directed, logic as the HID is a bulb it will spread out the light, the LEDs dont, and wont cover much more then a few inch`s out to the side/ends of the panels, so keep that in mind

IMO you will have to use about the same watt as with the HID to cover the same ground, maybe 20% less, but you will have superior spectrum and next to no heat, so not so much cooling/ventilation needed, and I also feel more safe overall running a LED panel then a 600W HPS

here is some of my plants under the HID and under the LEDs

View attachment 2729182View attachment 2729184


go for quality, if your in the US look in to Area-51 they have some sweet LEDs if your not based in the US or want sumthing els, look in to Cidly (best Chinese place to buy em)

Slip



btw

I have no experience with indicator lights, tho I have been looking in to em, but couldn't find a place around here to buy em, have seen some in here mix em with LEDs and seems to kick ass, and help with the light "spread" to cover the shady parts, should also be pretty nice to use as Veg light

ive been looking at the inda-GRO Pro 420 PAR. one thing that interests me is that they also offer a "pontoon" which appears to be a row of red LED lights that goes down the length of the main light on each side for flowering. any thoughts on weather this addon would be a necessity or a luxury?
Beautiful grow. if ours ends up half that pretty i may not wish to harvest it. lol. How would you compare your yeilds? LED Vs. HID?
[h=2][/h]

 

[Slipon]

dont know the gro por 420 or the pontoon, sorry, but LEDs have come a long way over the last past years, newest once have a lot of white`s in em and some red`s

here is a link to the A51 lights

http://area51lighting.com

and yeild is as I said, if you want the same as a HID you will need almost as many watt to cover the same space and grow the same amount of plant`s, but once you have that you will be able IMO, to grow better quality with less hassle, that is atleast my experience, bud`s is minimum as potent and compact as with the HID but the 280W LEDs I now run only cover about 60% of the space as the 600W HPS

hope that give you a better picture of what to expect

in form of light intensity and penetration I find the LEDs atleast as effective as the HID

 

[Slipon]

ahhh the gro pro is a indicator light I see now, yes well then the Red LEDs is there to supplement it, like with the white/Red LEDs the white/indicator cover all of the spectrum, the Red hit it where its most needed, spectrum at 630nm and 660nm (red and fare red) is highly useful for MJ, specially in the flowering stages

 

[Wheadon]

Ok, so then it would be best to suppliment the induction light with red LED... then the question that begs to be asked is... can i use any red led as long as it meets my spectrum needs? or is their pontoons specifically calibrated to add to the existing spectrum of the main light to equal the spectrum. i will have to look into that more. lol. i looked at the area51 light. very nice. question about your lights tho. you said they cover 60% of your grow area.. just out of curiosity (and if you feel inclined to answer. lol) how big is your grow area? the area i plan to grow in is 10X20'. any suggestions on what best lighting combination to use to cover it?

 

[Slipon]

you will need Red`s in the 630nm and 660nm that is red and fare red, inferred is also pretty useful in flowering (+700nm)

my LED panel is about 55x35 cm and cover roughly 75x55 cm of grow area witch is about 60% of the 95x95 cm my HID use to cover, with out doing the math I must admit

but as we speak Im actually waiting for GLS to deliver a second fixture (92x3W =192 actually watt) so Im able to cover 75x110 or so, with about 470W used, still 130 less then the HID and with better spectrum and no heat to speak of

that give me the option to grow 4 nice size plants agin like I used to with my HPS, with only one LED panel I had problems covering 3

if it was me who was keen on indicator lights I would for sure get one to veg with, but for flowering I would go for a quality LED fixture, and maybe add a small indicator bulb on each side of it, both to cover more ground and to "hit" the shady parts the LEDs leave with some full spectrum light, that LEDs panel should of course be customized for flowering or as the A-51 light have the option

flowering plants do/yield best when the blue spectrum is keeped around 10-20%, here is a chart if your interested and it don't get to nerdy for you ?

 

[Wheadon]

definately not too nerdy for me. lol. thank you. so, are tomatoes a good comparison as far as light requirements?

let me ask you this... and anyone else who chooses to answer... lets say someone handed you $7,000 and a 10x20' space and said "build me the best growroom you can for this much." what would YOU do? how many lights? what size? keep in mind it has to be hydroponic and as energy efficient as possible without sacraficing quality of yeild.

 

[ginnzy]

ahhh the gro pro is a indicator light I see now, yes well then the Red LEDs is there to supplement it, like with the white/Red LEDs the white/indicator cover all of the spectrum, the Red hit it where its most needed, spectrum at 630nm and 660nm (red and fare red) is highly useful for MJ, specially in the flowering stages

BTW, its "Induction", not "Indicator"..... and to the OP, why not just use HPS? there's nothing like the tried and true HPS for budding. If its just a couple plants go with a 600, and for more, and if you have the room/ventilation, go with a 1000, IMO. scrap all that other stuff, hell, for one induction light, you can get a bunch of HPS.

 

[nouchebag]

I agree with ginnzy. If your doing a small stealth grow led and cfls are the way to go. This is mainly for heat reasons. If you have a 10x20 grow room and 7000 go with hps. Spend the majority on your lights and ventilation. Those are your two most important areas. Temp control and lights. Go with 1000w. Don't even mess with 600.