LED fixture confusion

[2WayReef]

Hi, Im new to this forum and i plan on doing my first grow very soon. I've been keeping reef tanks for about 4 years now and have become quite good at it. To the point that i make a small income growing and selling corals that i grow in my house. Its really become my obsession lol. It amazed me that keeping a reef and growing marijuana are really quite similar! Its almost the same thing lol.

So now, onto my question! I have an abundance of T5 HO lights just kickin around my house but what i really want to use is LED lighting. The fixture i plan on using is one i use to grow coral with great results...but im not sure if it will transfer to plants well. I have two completely programmable LED fixtures. They both have 95watts. As for actual individual bulbs between the 2 fixtures, i have total of 8 Cree XM-L cool whites, 16 Cree XP-E Royal blues, 8 Cree XP-E Blue, and 8 OSRAM OSLON Deep Blues. Here's a graph to better understand their output also.

So, i'm wondering if these lights would e suitable to grow with? And any recommendations for how to do it with these lights?

Thank you, and sorry for the long read lol

 

[2WayReef]

Anybody?

 

[David Bowman]

I would think that they should work well enough for the vegetating phase, which requires blue light, for a small area, say 4-5 sq. ft. but there isn't enough red light for the flowering phase. I'm not an expert on LEDs though so maybe someone with more experience could better address your concerns.

 

[GreatLife4All]

I believe that you could augment this light with one of those All Red LEDs and have a suitable spectrum for flowering.

And since the OP seems smart enough to figure out how much to use... I won't spend anytime researching this as I have no real knowledge about how to mix these two types of lighting to get best results.

Very new to LEDs... I am trying to crawl at this point... I am sure you understand the reference there Co.

 

[David Bowman]

LOL, Yeah! When the individual diode reliability and wattage improves and the costs come down, I'll probably go with LEDs as well. In the meantime I will learn from other growers' experiences.

 

[2WayReef]

Ya, the red spectrum was what i was concerned about. So im thinking when i switch to flowering i might add an HPS light...Or would it just make more sense to have an HPS light with the LED the whole time?

 

[GreatLife4All]

HPS with an LED is fine.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Ya, the red spectrum was what i was concerned about. So im thinking when i switch to flowering i might add an HPS light...Or would it just make more sense to have an HPS light with the LED the whole time?

Yes, definitely weak on the Red spectrums.

An HPS will fill in those missing spectrums for sure.

 

[Hosebomber]

For a veg phase panel I would add 6 warm whites, 2 630nm reds, 4 to 6 Rebel 660nm reds and 2 730nm far reds. There are a number of other combinations that will work well for you but you will need to add more red to get good root growth during the veg cycle. The plant can only grow as big as the roots are and the transference of those hormones and nutrients requires red light.

 

[2WayReef]

Well i cant get my hands on any red LED lights right now, so the best option is to have the HPS on the whole time with my LED's?