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

[Propa Gator]

I said, Steve: "white light is best". Fortunatly, you did not obey

When does porno become fine art? Are there stages in-between?
Fifty years ago(obscene number), I enjoyed a cheesecake photo of a classically built model posing with red velvet background. I remember that shot well. Bettie Page was beautiful like a '56 Chevy.

Watch out keyboard, this is hot!

 

[SteveHman]

Believe it or not, I had a 500w halogen point at it and my Nikon has a huge SB800 flash, and still got the pink background. I was more focused on getting the accurate color of the plant and I like the way the background came out, I even did a little white balance adjustment to get it closer to true. You can see how intense the LEDs are, compare the white marker stake to the white square an the left, both are bright white PVC material, but you can see on the square that the flash and white light only barely washed it out.

I could have taken it with the LEDs off, but I guess it wouldn't be a "stevehman" photo without some LED's in there.

I'll be posting a pic of a NOTM entry later today. (no pink in that one--I promise)

 

[Propa Gator]

I'll be posting a pic of a NOTM entry later today. (no pink in that one--I promise)

Uh, but... I like pink

 

[SteveHman]

My Nug of the Month entry. This is from the G-bud I cut a few days ago. That plant ended up with 10gr of dried buds after trimming. I lost the top 3 inches so, it would have been close to 12~14 with the top. Not a huge yield, but a reference point for the others.

I took a couple shots in the same spot with different focal points under the microscope, it has a very shallow depth of field so you can't really get a good idea of how frosty it is..

 

[Mr Smith]

Nice macro. That's a pretty bud. Could be the winner. The comp is stiff this month. Good bud and good luck.

 

[OldMedMan]

Think I'll wait another month before I enter POTH or NOTM...don't have chance against those beauties.

 

[SteveHman]

Think I'll wait another month before I enter POTH or NOTM...don't have chance against those beauties.

Thank you OMM, I think you could win when ever you wanted to, you always have a quality grow going on (although it would be a toss-up with you and Captain K in a best garden of the month contest, we would need an indoor and outdoor category).

I'm in all three contests this month, we'll see if third time is a charm.

 

[SuKaFr33]

good luck steve, definitely gotta shot!!!

 

[SteveHman]

good luck steve, definitely gotta shot!!!

I'm in all three contests this month, be happy to win any of the three!

 

[SuKaFr33]

i know thats rite lol!!! as soon as i get this shit down packed i'll be rite there with ya..but for now its bein a pain in my ass over here..but i'll get through it..always do..

 

[SteveHman]

Last photo update before the chop. I will be putting the girls into 24 hours of darkness and will be cutting them down tomorrow.

Here are the girls under the 360:

Under the Mystery 200w:

Under the 180W:

And now I am free to tell you what the mystery light is. It's Advanced LED's newest light called the Diamond Series, it will be released for sale in the next few weeks. They've sent an email out to existing customers and subscribers to their newsletter offering first shot at purchasing these at a great sales price. The new light has a veg/bloom switches that allows you to run the light in three modes. It can also daisy chain up to three lights off of one outlet so you can use one timer for all of the lights. The fans are bigger and quieter, they are so quiet you can barely hear them, but they move a lot of air, keeping the Diamond Series cooler than their existing lights. Each LED chip is housed in its own reflector maximizing the output. These new lights rock! It has performed on par with the 360 watt unit and once I get the final chop/trim and weigh done we'll see how it stacks up against the other lights in the Advanced lineup.

Here's a shot of the front of the light in action:

Advanced is taking orders from existing customers now, but if you call Kyle and mention that you read it here, you can order them now as well. I don't know how many they have in stock, but these things are going to move fast. I have one of their 800 watt units coming for my next grow. I'm putting that in a 4x4 tent and I will run a separate grow using two of the current model 360s comparing the height above canopy for maximum yield. I'll be a busy grower for the next 2 months. New journals will be started in the next week.

 

[SuKaFr33]

damn steve, you got all the goodies over there lol, looks good!!!!

 

[jcool09]

Advanced is taking orders from existing customers now, but if you call Kyle and mention that you read it here, you can order them now as well. I don't know how many they have in stock, but these things are going to move fast.

Couldn't help myself, bought it! FYI Advanced LED has an existing customer promo on this light. I was able to get the new Diamond 200W for less than the 180W unit I bought a couple of months ago.

 

[SteveHman]

Couldn't help myself, bought it! FYI Advanced LED has an existing customer promo on this light. I was able to get the new Diamond 200W for less than the 180W unit I bought a couple of months ago.

That 200w is going to blow you away. The 180 is a great light but the Diamond Series is going to be a game changer.

 

[jcool09]

That 200w is going to blow you away. The 180 is a great light but the Diamond Series is going to be a game changer.

I can't wait! BTW I cross-posted your pic of the light in my journal, with a reference back to the author of course, I hope you don't mind.

 

[Bassman59]

good stuff man. thanks for this.

 

[Jozo-sha]

Stevehman,

Maybe we'll have to have a Shootout after the Shootout?

 

[SteveHman]

OK, the day is here, CHOP is over, trimming is done. buds are in the dry-net and I have the preliminary results of the test.

So before I start with the pics and numbers, just a quick recap. This was not a grow to get a max yield out of the space (that was last grow and I think I knocked that one out of the park, just under 1gr-per-watt).

The purpose of this grow was to determine the BEST LED for a small footprint/stealth type grow. All three lights had a 2x2x4 space to work in. Each light had the exact same strains, identical clones with the exact same nutients, CO2, temps RH etc... The only variables would be the lights and possibly the location from where the clone was taken from the mom plant.

I started out with 2 clones of 3 strains per light, with an extra 2 under the 360. The strains used were, Pineapple Chunk, Gigabud and Twilight. As you all know, the Twilight was not a team player and got the heave-ho about the third week. This reduced the potential yield by 33%, but we still had healthy P-chunks and G-buds to test with.

So how do you determine the best light for the space? Is it grams per watt, or grams per sq ft? I have numbers for both. I weighed each plant before and after trimming so you can see the total bio-mass for each light. I then used my standard 80% water loss to calculate the estimated dry weight (the actual weight loss should be in the 75-78 range, same as last time).

So lets start with some pictures of the girls before the trimming began:

The Gbuds:

And now the P-chunks:

And a close up of a P-chunk bud that got too close to the light, this got about 14 inches from the front of the light:

To be continued.........

 

[SteveHman]

Chop, Part 2:
Ok, so I like the way the G-bud trimmed up, very easy to handle, although they didn't yield nearly as much as I thought they could. I will let the next round veg for an extra 2 weeks to encourage a little more growth. These were extremely dense little bushes. Allowing them to stretch out a little will help the yield and make it easier to trim.

The P-chunks low leaf-to-calyx ratio make it very easy to trim. Let me tell you though, this was some sticky buds. I placed them in a large punch bowl after weighing them and when I wen to put them into the dry-net, they were all stuck together like glue. I went to pull them apart with my bare hand and they stuck to my hand. 10 times stickier than the caramelicious was or the G-bud. This is going to be some quality smoke.

Here is the aftermath. The punch bowl is a large one filled to the top with P-chunk, the G-bud is in the 9x13 container next to the bowl:

So, the big question is this, which is the best light?

I had in the box three lights from Advanced LEDs:
Current Model 180w Extreme Flower
Current Model 360w Extreme Flower
New release, 200w Diamond Series (previously known as "The Mystery Light)

I have two sets of numbers for the 360w light, since I placed an extra P-Chunk and a G-Bud under it. I had extra clones and didn't want to throw them out, and I had 2 spots left in my 20 site Aero-NFT system. Those plants G7 and P7 are counted separate from the others. SO the 360 will have a number for the 4 test plants and results for all 6 plants, but to keep the test even I am basing the results and recommendation solely on the 4 plant results.

So here are the numbers and results:

It looks like the 420 watermark is covering the last number on the 360w, that should read 33.05 for the grams per sq for for the 6 plant results.

So, as you can see, the clear winner her is the new Diamond Series 200W unit. It won in the grams-per-watt and came in second in grams-per-foot categories. The 180w unit came in second in grams-per-watt, but last in grams-per-foot and the 360 came in last in the grams-per-watt (even if you counted all 6 plants) but won in the grams-per-foot numbers.

The 360w had a higher overall yield than the 200w unit but is almost twice the price.

So for a small space grow in the 2x2 range I recommend the Diamond Series light over the lager 360w. I still love the 360w units, in fact I am running two of them in the box for my next test, each in a 2x3 space and varying the height to test the optimal distance for maximum yield. A whole run of G-Buds with a goal of breaking the 1gr-per-watt standard.

If you have a larger space the 360s are still a great light and I will continue to use mine. I will have a chance to give the Diamond Series' big brother a run in a 4x4 tent soon too, so things are going to get very interesting next journal(s).

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left comments and provided input and assistance. Don't forget to vote in this month's contest (I am entered in all three).

 

[Mr. Krip]

Steve,

Congrats on your harvest, but special kudos (& +reps!) for a great test on the differences between these three LED lights! That new 200w sounds like a great light and demonstrates that LED technology just keeps getting better. Can't wait to see the next round!