Need suggestions on new light! Help!

heliman

New Member

OK so here's my dilemma. I need to decide on a new light. The objective us to save money on the hydro bill. I need to cover approximately a 4x6 to 4x8 area. Veg. only. I currently use a 1000 w mh. I'm thinking either t5 or t5 led or led. Anyone have any suggestions? Limited budget. Grow3 to 4ft tall plants . thanks in advance.
 
I'm going to have new lights WAY before that Sara! Can you please send me an email to heliman65 @yahoo.ca I'm ready to buy right now. Looked at mars and am interested. You need to sell me on them. I'll have new lights within a week. I need to discuss my needs vs your light models . OK?
 
In veg Ive been using a 1000 watt Hortilux with a 9 inch Raptor Hood x 3 x 54 watt Hortilux T5 Power VegPlus UV. 162 watts per 4 x 4.

For my uses the new Hortilux T5 PowerVeg are great.

They also have different spectrums available, but for me + the Hortilux, the Full Spectrum + UV is perfect.

I also use ARCADIA D3+ 12% Desert Reptile Bulbs in Flowering x 162 watt per 4 x 4.

Arcadia are much more powerful UV Wise, watt per watt than the Hortilux, but Hortilux are fine for Veg/Seedlings.

The color rendering on the T5 Hortilux are near perfect, and as I said, have several different kelvins, I prefer Full Spectrum + the 1000 Watt Hortilux.

The 1000 watt Hortilux also has very high PAR watts, and is also BLUE Enhanced, and is what I use in both Veg/Flowering.

The Arcadia is more straight up UVA/UVB. Arcadia also has mix/match bulb, but for simplicity Id use Hortilux for Color Rendering/PAR watts..

But for flowering I go with the Arcadia.

Arcadia is probably the most used bulb by Zoos for Reptiles.

Both the Hortilux/Arcadia can cause extreme eye damage, and should be turned off when you are in the room.

I usually have the UV come on after 1.5 hours in flower, and go off 1.5 before darkness.

In veg I give it to them from the equivalent of 9am-630am. Then off from 631 am-859 am.

I veg usually on 24/0, and have the UV bulbs on 19 hours. I turn lights off 3 hours every 3 days in veg to rest ballasts. Sometimes in the summer though I will veg 16-18 to keep heat down.

In flowering I have them on 9.5 hours.

I generally use the UV around 80% of the time the lights are on.
 
Hortilux is Super Bulb 145,000 lumens ect.

I use Hortlux PowerVeg Plus UV Full Spectrum T5s for UVA/UVB, in Veg, and 12% T5 Arcadia Desert Reptile bulbs in flowering.

I'm not using the T5s for extra light, although that is s byproduct. 108-162 watts per 4 x 4. 2-3 T5 bulbs.
 
I have been growing pepper plants under 2' x 2' T5HO and 1' x 2' T5HO. I bought 2 F24T5HO-LED18B(blue) 460nm and 2 F24T5HO-LED18R(red) 660nm for direct replacement in my EnviroGro FLT24 fixture. These are direct replacement for the T5HO tubes. The foliage under the LED lights has become very dense, thick and compact verses the peppers under the T5HO lights are loose leaved, but not leggy. In the fixture, I alternate between the red and blue lamps in each fixture. I would say the plant under the LED has shown more growth than the plants under the T5HOs. I will be upgrading the T5HO to the LED bulbs.
 
Do they sell those replacement LED bulbs in those spectrums IN 48" length?
If yes then where?
Yes, LightWise sells the 48" bulbs, go on Amazon and do a search for LightWise T5 LED, you want the ones that are retrofitted for direct replacement of the T5HO. One person reported that their ballast burned up. If you have a quality fixture like EviroGro, you will not have a problem. I used red and blue leds, You could mix white in with the bulbs, which is a cost savings. Since these bulbs are suppose to last 50,000 hours, possibly 15 years, then I would buy the red and blue. Two Red 48" bulbs cost $60 and 2 Blue 48" bulbs cost $70, they are also sold in 5 and 8 packs. You will also have a cost savings as the 48" bulbs are 36 watt and the 24" bulbs are 18 watts.
 
I wanted to post a new photo, the pepper plant under the LED has shown substantial growth. I am wondering about the plant being so dense, am thinking about adding a white LED to the mix. Open to suggestions.
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I wanted to post a new photo, the pepper plant under the LED has shown substantial growth. I am wondering about the plant being so dense, am thinking about adding a white LED to the mix. Open to suggestions.
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I've been experimenting with far red (730nm) lights and they help stretch out the plants that grow tightly and compact. Still toying with the different schedules but was running the far red light for 6 hours during the 18/6 schedule (running during peak sunlight) and most of my plants that were indica dom really stretched a lot. Not sure if this will help, but figured I would suggest it.
 
So...you'll think I'm nuts BUT I ended up getting two new Gavita 1000w DE fixtures complete with bulbs.
I'm running them at 825w ea. and getting WAY better results over my old 2000w set up and I'm already saving 400w. I also removed an led panel that was using 600+w at the wall so I'm saving 1000w currently. I may however put the led full spectrum panel back for more varied light spectrum.
The Gavita were an error but it's the best error I've made yet!
 
I wanted to give an update on the T5 LED lights and an update on the pepper plant pic I had posted earlier.

First the T5 LED tubes, the source that I was obtaining the T% LEDs has dried up, reason unknown. I have searched everywhere on the net to locate more tubes, to no avail. I have looked at alternatives for T5 lighting, I have not found anything that could come close to the T5 LED I have been using. Since I look for T5 tubes on a daily basis, I came across a Canadian company that seemed to carry them.

Upon further investigation, growlights.ca does have these LED tubes in 2' and 4' sizes, blue 440nm, red 640nm and wide spectrum tubes, advertised as direct replacement for T5 tubes. I have ordered 2 red and 2 blue tubes and am waiting for their arrival. Growlights.ca also carries T5 fixtures for these tubes in both the CFL and LED varieties. They will ship to the US, but their website is not US compatible, so you have to email them with what you want and would need to pay through PayPal. Canadian folks can order directly without any issues.

Second, the LED tubes are reported to be 3 times stronger than the T5 CFLs, the LED tubes produce very little heat, luke warm to the touch and produces stronger growth than when the plant was outside. Right now my pepper plant is 4 inches (10cm) away from the LED and seems to be doing fine. I feel that this T5 LED setup would be ideal for a small home grower. Maine just passed recreation marijuana on a voter initiative. Yeah!!!

 
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