Pro-Grow 260w LED, 6-Site Hydro Grow

ex1stence

Member
This entire grow is compliant with SB 420, Prop 215, and is being done on a scientific/medical basis.

Hey everyone, here with my third grow, first grow journal, and first grow on a completely new set up. I recently moved to a new apartment that has an electrical bill being watched by/paid for by my landlord, and because of this I've had to ditch all of my old equipment and start fresh. Now after about a month of forum crawling and research I've decided to go with a Pro-Grow 260w LED Light, and will be growing 6 identical Platinum Daddy clones from Elemental Wellness.

Light seen here; Pro-Grow 260 (Cree) | Hydroponics Hut

I'll be running them through a basic 6 bucket, single pump continuous-drip hydro system, and feeding on your average three part GenHydro nutrient solution. No flair, no frills, as basic and reproducible as possible, that is the goal of this journal. To completely and totally focus on the benefits, faults, and decisions that are involved in running a 100% ventless and LED exclusive set up.

While I wait for the lights and watering system to arrive in the mail, I figure I'll get the pot stirring and put in my two cents about the current LED climate and where it stands in regards to the rest of the community and marketplace. The first thing I believe that needs to be understood about LED is that it asks the consumer, and the rest of its competitors, to believe there is an equally powerful alternative to the archaic and bumbling technologies that have become the industry standard for well over 40 years now. Not only are bulbs, hoods, and reflectors a huge part of their profit margin and cycle, but the systems necessary to move all the heat they generate away from the plants they are growing has become a multi-million dollar business. Ventilation, fans, carbon filters, and what I’m sure is a fairly decent contribution to Home Depot, Lowes and the like, have all become a part of the standard for what it means to budget a growing room, and I myself had been a slave to everything ventilation related before I moved here. Now when I moved I was excited at the prospect of free electricity, but also came to realize my landlord wouldn’t tolerate sky high bills, so I was forced to shut everything down and figure out something new. Luckily I was granted a closet with a decent amount of space and a near super-building ability to contain odors as long as the door is closed properly, so I decided to look into the prospects of LED and what they could offer me. Several months I’ve spent in total now coming to this decision, and overall this where I think the debate stands as of now, yesterday, and tomorrow.

LED’s are experiencing the same pushback that the computing industry felt when vacuum tubes were still the standard way in which computers were built and processed information. Like Halide and Sodium bulbs, the amount of electricity and technology required just to keep these systems cooled down and operating efficiently was a multi-million dollar business, which also had no intention of going anywhere. Silicon had to prove its worth time and time again, but eventually the industry came to realize it was simply the smarter, more economical, and more advanced choice, and many, many businesses that manufactered vacuum tubes and the machinery necessary to cool them either adapted, or when out of business, so is the nature of capitalism. I belive LED’s scare the shit out of old-schoolers, light reps, and ballast companies, because they represent a threat to their very industry and a large chunk of their profit in between it. I genuinely believe the technology necessary to match HID and HPS in 2011, is here, but the mere fact alone that the demand is being surpressed by common uproar in places like these is preventing that cost from going down with increased demand and production. This journal will be a continuing effort to disprove an archaic industry, and welcome a new standard, so to the companies holding tight to their ideals that we’ll never be as good, as productive, or as worth it, I show you this, and whoever might like to join me in this fight.

No equipment or clones yet, but I’ve attached a picture of the room I’ll be using, and will update shortly with the completed setup and all its stats. See you all soon!
 

Attachments

ex1stence

Member
Second post for this grow, just finished working on all the plumbing and bucket table. Right now it is functioning as an ebb-and-flow independent bucket system, with a 20-gal reservoir and 240gph feed-return pump (might be switching to DWC, not sure yet). Still waiting for both the light and the clones, more to update with fully reflective, fully lighted and ready to go room!

 

ex1stence

Member
Finally! 057.jpg052.jpg050.jpg048.jpg

Sorry for the late updates everyone, my roomate that was making attempts to report me to the landlord and police, has finally moved out, and I can resume posting and journaling for HydroponicsHut and the ProGrow 260w!

Been a few changes of plan since the start, as I'll now be flowering four small hydroponic drip plants, Blue Shiva, and two Mango Trainwrecks in soil. This won't be the final set up for how I plan to run grows in the future, but the two teen soils would go as the same price of the clone hydros if I bought all six so, who's gonna say no to a deal like that .

As you can see the soil Wreck is twice as tall as the Blue Shiva, but I'll be throwing them all into flower simultaneously, just to get a good feel for coverage and viability before making the final switch. The two buckets to the side will be used for the soil grow, and yes, I know I need to wrap my buckets, but so far I've managed with some pretty decent light blocking techniques. Updates with those developments to come soon!

Current stats;
Light cycle; 18/6
Nutes; FloraNova 2-Part from GenHydro
PPM: 1400, off of 400 base.
pH: 5.5
2nd week of veg

(and you'll see at the bottom; New! From Prescott Pharmecuticals, the Filt-o-Tron 6000! Warning; do not operate around/if you want to have children.)
 

ex1stence

Member
Next update;

Everyone is looking lush and healthy for the time being. Got the Trainwreck into a bigger patch of soil so it can stretch its legs, and now the entire system as been thrown into flower. I'm hoping the Soils stretch enough before I have to raise the light on the clones, but for right now I've got them all staggered and angled so it's basically even light all the way through. More updates as the first pistils come in!

Stats;
PPM; 1500
pH: 5.8
Light cycle: 12/12
Time: 1st week of flower




 

ex1stence

Member
Third update;

Was having some problems with pH swing and narrowed it down to my buckets not draining fast enough, and after battling gravity for awhile I decided to tilt my table while angling the tops and inserts of my buckets to keep everything level. So far the drainage/pH problem hasn't flared up since so, fingers crossed. Wrapped my buckets for insulation and light blocking. The black inserts take care of the rest, which thankfully keeps the bucket from heating up, but still keeps the roots themselves in the dark without worrying about it.
Everything's reflective, running them on 12/12 for one more week, once pistils come in, and then I'll be switching to 14/10 to finish out the cycle.

Stats;
Room temp; 76 degrees
Humidity; 58
pH; 6.1
PPM; 1200, 3-1 FloraBloom to Grow
2nd week of flower.


In the pics; wrapped bucket, new watering rings I put together, insert system, tilted plants

 

ex1stence

Member
I've also been moving the light about once a day, from left to right and back, just to get even coverage. Some plants are coming in shorter than others and I'm trying to keep a level canopy so any slackers get extra light when they need it.
 

ex1stence

Member
Fourth update;

Pistils! Super quick on the flowering response...only 5 days now on that cycle in full so that's good new. Nothing new on the nutrient front, still 1200 ppm, 3-1 Bloom to Grow, and the soil weren't stretching as fast as I would have hoped (uneven canopy in pics), so I lowered the CFL I was running in the ceiling, should be a decent boost to kickstart them. Did a little LST on 4 of the plants, 3 hydro 1 soil, leaving one soil and one hydro left to grow non-LST, no special treatment, straight under the light to get a controlled result. The rest is all profit baby :slide:

Stats;
Temp; 76
Humidity: 54
ppm: 1200
Water Temp; 64
pH: 6.2
2nd week of flower
 

ex1stence

Member
Fifth Update, 12th day of flower;

Pistils, pistils, pistils, get ya pistils here! Nothing much new about the plants so far, same feeding sched, cleaned up the reflective tops a bit, found a better LST method. One pic of hydro pistils, one of soil, one of the light heights and new room config.

Stats;
Air Temp; 77, Water; 64
Humidity; 59
PPM; 1200
pH; 5.8
 

lucasjriv

Member
Hi I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to do a review of the HH Pro-grow260.
I have currently been using t5's and am getting ready to switch to leds. I got offered a really good price on the pro-grow180 and wanted to see how well these lights did for flowering. I see you havent updated in a while. Do they seem to be pretty dense?
 

Dan Casus

Member
Hi I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to do a review of the HH Pro-grow260.
I have currently been using t5's and am getting ready to switch to leds. I got offered a really good price on the pro-grow180 and wanted to see how well these lights did for flowering. I see you havent updated in a while. Do they seem to be pretty dense?
Looking forward to an update as well.

I'm a soil guy, but very interested in the Cree 260... sub'ed
 
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