Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180 - Multiple Strains - NFT Grow 4.0

Ok everyone; it's time to start the journal for Grow 4.0. If you followed my last grow you saw a 20+ oz harvest from my 2x6 grow space. In that grow I was using two 300w LEDs from a former sponsor (won't mention name) with an Advanced 180 in the middle of them. I really thought the Advanced would be the "stop-gap" between the two larger "more powerful" LEDs. What really surprised me, and everyone who followed that grow, was that the little Advanced 180 outperformed the two larger lights–by a lot.

I started the last grow thinking that the bigger lights would be better. I guess what I learned is that "better is better". The first thing I noticed was the difference in the color of the light output from the two different companies. That must mean different spectrum and intensity, the Advanced was much more "pink" than the other brand.

In my ongoing attempt to find the best setup for a hobbyist grower, getting every possible gram per sq ft out of my space I have decided to see what works best now. I can say with some confidence that "in my opinion" the Advanced LED is a better light based on the performance of the 180 vs the other guy's 300s. So, how will Advanced compete against themselves? I just received my new 360 watt light today and I will pit it against its smaller brother in a head-to-head battle for the small grow space.

So here's what we have.
- Two Advance LEDs, their 360 vs. their 180.
- A 2x6 foot print divided in half, separated by a reflective curtain to prevent spill over of light
- 3 strains (Pineapple Chunk, Twilight and Gigabud) all from the same moms, all topped/fimmed the same way.
- An Aeroflo 20 NFT system
- The same nutrients regimen as grow 3.0. I won't mess around with the nutrients until next grow–one thing at a time. I know what to expect from Cutting Edge Solutions and will continue with them for this grow.

So, what am I hoping to find out from this grow? I know that Advanced has a great light, but which of their lights is best for the small space grower? If we see a similar gram per sq ft at the end of the grow, then we will know that the 180 is the best bet for a small space like this, if the 300 just walks away with the competition then we'll know that is the best light. Either way I think you win with the Advanced LEDs. I think the last grow pretty much proved that.

I know that this sounds like an advertisement for Advanced, it's not meant to be. If they don't deliver then you will have the unbiased opinion and results of the grow. From my personal experience though, dealing with a few vendors, Advanced has very good customer support, a dedicated sales staff and their own R&D team. I've done my homework on a few companies and have found these guys to be the best to deal with. I won't bash anyone else, I haven't talked to every LED company so I can't speak to their strengths and weaknesses, I am sure there are some great companies out there, but for me I am going to continue to use the Advanced lights.

And most importantly, they are a sponsor on this site. In order to keep this community growing, we need to keep the sponsors onboard. I am a huge proponent of supporting those who support us.
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Let's start off the new strains:
Pineapple Chunk
Twilight
Gigabud

All plants were started from seeds. I used Root Riot plugs. 100% success rate on germination, i did lose one plant due to my own error though.
DSC_8610.JPG


I placed the plugs in a moist coco/perlite/vermiculite mixture in a cup and all sprouted within 48 hours. Once they had a good set of mature leaves I transplanted them into the same coco mixture with some TRF nutes (ala hempy-style) and placed them under the T5-HO in my mom tent to get bigger:
DSC_88211.JPG


My first attempt at hempy growing and it is simple, perfect for growing out your moms, the coco mixture needs to be watered about every three days which is nice. They grew pretty quick under the T5 and were ready to give up clones in about 3 weeks:
DSC_8894.JPG
DSC_8893.JPG


I placed the clones in my new 60 site EZ Cloner, and planned on using the colored disks but they were to tight to use. I ended up using them as an index in the front of the rows.
Blue = Twilight
Yellow = Pineapple Chunk
Green = Gigabud
DSC_8895.JPG


After about 5 days they all showed signs of starter roots (callouses). At the 2 week marked I fimmed/topped all of the clones. At 3 weeks in the cloner they are ready to move into the grow room:
DSCN01485.JPG
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

I am putting the finishing touches on the grow room and will have all of the updated pics on that after the weekend. I should have the full update on Monday complete with the space, the new lights, mods from Grow 3.0 as well as a bunch of pics.
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

dude looks good !!! :thumb: like the mix you got.. i got this stuff that just came on to the maket and its got everything in it.. take a look at the grow im on now, its in the desciption..but yea im definitely subbed as well!!
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

New grow looks great so far, they look so healthy. I love the 180 vs 360 idea. Does the 180 use the 3watt chip or the 1watt? Are the other 2 300’s just going to be sitting this one out or are you going to put them in a mother tent or something else? Great start!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see the room changes!!!
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

:popcorn:Watchin this! :popcorn:

LEDs have peaked my interest. Haven't tried them yet, but I may give them a go in the near future. I will be watching closely. Maybe even asking some dumb questions along the way.

Good luck with the grow!!
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Dude, I am suuubbbeedddd!!!:popcorn:
GodsTrichome,
Thanks for stopping by. This should be a good test, there may even be a surprise guest involved.


dude looks good !!! :thumb: like the mix you got.. i got this stuff that just came on to the maket and its got everything in it.. take a look at the grow im on now, its in the desciption..but yea im definitely subbed as well!!
SuKaFr33,
I like your setup, and I might try that on a future grow. I haven't tried the soil route yet, still learning the hydro system first. Using hempys for the moms (almost hydro, almost soil, somewhere in between). I'll be watching your grow too. I love to learn something new every day.

New grow looks great so far, they look so healthy. I love the 180 vs 360 idea. Does the 180 use the 3watt chip or the 1watt? Are the other 2 300’s just going to be sitting this one out or are you going to put them in a mother tent or something else? Great start!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see the room changes!!!
Surfin,
The 180s have the 3watt chips, just less of them (120 vs 288 for the 360watt) which is one of the reasons you don't put them too close to the plants, it will definitely bleach out your buds if they get too close. Penetration is not an issue with these lights.

I may put the other 300s into a separate tent. I will have extra clones that I don't want to toss out, so I might as well use them. I might let the other clones veg for a couple weeks and see how they compare against a clone-12/12 yield. Too many clones, too many options. On top of that, I have 4 new seedlings I started of TH Seeds Darkstar that will be ready to give up clones in a few weeks, non-femmed so I am waiting for them to show sex.
Nice the last thread was great, this one will be even better.

Maer,
Thanks for stopping in , always a pleasure. I hope this grow journal is more informative and entertaining than the last. I think that the more of these you do the better you get at documenting them. Hydrologist is a perfect example, his new journal is the shit! Definitely recommended reading.
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

:popcorn:Watchin this! :popcorn:

LEDs have peaked my interest. Haven't tried them yet, but I may give them a go in the near future. I will be watching closely. Maybe even asking some dumb questions along the way.

Good luck with the grow!!

ConqueringLOJ,
Didn't mean to leave you out. I'm not the duty expert on LEDs but I will be glad to answer any questions that you have. If I don't have the answer, I can point you in the right direction. This site is all about sharing information so that we can all become better growers.
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Subbed and Excited dude! I love the EZ cloner man that thing is awesome!
Are you running the same deal as last time jumping from cloner to bloom no "true veg" cycle or are you going to incorporate that this time? Its lookin like your ganna just bust the cloner to bloom style that I admire, question-how big do you let your roots go? If you check out a few images I posted on page 3 of my journal towards the bottom you'll see the latest pictures I have of Cycle 3 and im just wondering if you think those are large enough to produce good sized buds if I were to switch them to 12/12 right now? It's amazing how much Cannabis really does stretch in those first two weeks of the bloom cycle, my cycle 2-the only two in bloom right now have almost doubled in height already and today was day 10 of flower.
Also definetly digging those hempy buckets but I gatta ask what ratio did you mix your coco to perilite and did you mix hydroton into the whole bucket or did you just put it at the top layer?
So far i've been very happy with my coco-perilite seedlings, they are getting very nice, big, healthy growth without much work at all, just water every 2 to 3 days like you said and kick back!
I CAN'T WAIT TILL JULY 15TH!!! That's when I get to harvest cycle 2 and by that point cycle 3 should be at its 1 month mark and i'll be moving in a yet to be created-cycle 4.
Just gatta figure out where im ganna put those clones when they arrive!! haha.
Take it easy.
Can't wait for that update come monday!
-Hydrologist
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Subbed and Excited dude! I love the EZ cloner man that thing is awesome!
Are you running the same deal as last time jumping from cloner to bloom no "true veg" cycle or are you going to incorporate that this time? Its lookin like your ganna just bust the cloner to bloom style that I admire, question-how big do you let your roots go? If you check out a few images I posted on page 3 of my journal towards the bottom you'll see the latest pictures I have of Cycle 3 and im just wondering if you think those are large enough to produce good sized buds if I were to switch them to 12/12 right now? It's amazing how much Cannabis really does stretch in those first two weeks of the bloom cycle, my cycle 2-the only two in bloom right now have almost doubled in height already and today was day 10 of flower.
Also definetly digging those hempy buckets but I gatta ask what ratio did you mix your coco to perilite and did you mix hydroton into the whole bucket or did you just put it at the top layer?
So far i've been very happy with my coco-perilite seedlings, they are getting very nice, big, healthy growth without much work at all, just water every 2 to 3 days like you said and kick back!
I CAN'T WAIT TILL JULY 15TH!!! That's when I get to harvest cycle 2 and by that point cycle 3 should be at its 1 month mark and i'll be moving in a yet to be created-cycle 4.
Just gatta figure out where im ganna put those clones when they arrive!! haha.
Take it easy.
Can't wait for that update come monday!
-Hydrologist
I definitely am going straight cloner-to-bloom. No veg for these girls, they get all the vegging they need in the cloner. The roots are VERY healthy, I'll put some pics up in a few before I call it a night. I won't actually get them into the bloom box until Monday morning. I am out of town for the weekend and didn't get all of the final touches complete before i leave in less than 12 hours.

I have about 60% coco coir, 30% perlite and 10% vermiculite in the hempys. I added some time released ferts in with them and then just give them some good ole' R/O water when they feel light, about every three days. The coco and vermiculite do a great job of holding moisture and the perlite keeps it airy enough for the roots not to get rot. I also put straight perlite in the bottom of the buckets just up to the top of the holes so that the bottom of the bucket (the res) would stay more aerated. The hydroton is only about an inch thick (at most) on the top of the buckets to prevent algae growth, slow down evaporation and to minimize channeling when I water.


I took a look at your girls, they are ready for the 12/12.
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Per Hydro's request, here is a picture of the roots of the clones:
DSCN01493.JPG


These went into the cloner on the 13th of May, so they will be 3 weeks in the cloner tomorrow, which is what my target is. You can see that the Pineapple Chunk (P-Chunk) in the middle has the best root development of the three strains. I had 100% root with the EZ Cloner, just followed the directions and every thing went as planned. I will add a little growth nutes in before I leave for the weekend, and then it's off to the 12/12 LED disco party for them on Monday.

I had a DIY cloner that was almost the same as this, but the EZ Cloner is so much more convenient and you can find it online for a great price, then my local Hydro guy price-matched it--bonus!
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Yeah dude, I like your set up more and more man and I love the Cloner, may have to invest in one of those one day :)
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

@hydro,
THe EZ Cloner is worth the investment, you can find the 60 site unit online for about $240, just do a quick Google search for it.

@OMM,
Thank you for stopping in. I always enjoy your threads and it's an honor to have you onboard. Sending positive vibes to Jo!

@Vaporeyes,
I'll be pitting the Advanced 360 against its little brother the 180 to see who wins the battle of the small grow space. I know the 360 would dominate in a larger tent, but how will it compare in a smaller (stealth) space when put head-to-head with the 180 from the same company. I think this is an important comparison for growers limited on space and money. I was asked by a lot of people last grow for my opinion on what they should buy, and it was only an opinion that I was able to give. This grow should deliver a quantifiable result that will give small-space/stealth type growers the best option for their LED purchase. And let's face it, I think the 180 outperformed the 300s last grow, so this should be a good one.

I am heading out for the weekend, so I won't be updating until Monday. It would really be awesome to come back to find a 5-star rating (wink, wink...nudge, nudge...say no more).

Everyone, thanks for stopping in and have a great weekend. I'll catch you all up on Monday.
:Namaste:
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

Gotta build me a cloner, dammit!! I clone in soil, always hate not being able to do that!!!
 
Re: Stevehman's Advanced LED 360 vs. 180, multiple strains, NFT Grow 4.0

thanks Stevehman, i appreciate it!!! and thanks for joinin my journal, i haven't really dealt with growing hydro yet, im sure one day i prolly will, but for rite now im still learnin how to grow it period, know what i mean, but yea im definitely subbed, and thanks again for joinin mines, i can never have to much help or encouraging words!!! :tokin:
 
Back
Top Bottom