Lighting Suggestions

[GreeDE]

I'm looking for lighting suggestions, opinions, and preferences from experienced growers. The area is 5 wide by 11 long. Ceiling can be 7-10 foot tall. Does growing medium affect these decisions? I prefer soil but could convert to hydro if that's believed to be the better option. There will be six plants with 1 foot spacing between each other and the walls. Any answers are greatly appreciated!





Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Icemud]

I'm looking for lighting suggestions, opinions, and preferences from experienced growers. The area is 5 wide by 11 long. Ceiling can be 7-10 foot tall. Does growing medium affect these decisions? I prefer soil but could convert to hydro if that's believed to be the better option. There will be six plants with 1 foot spacing between each other and the walls. Any answers are greatly appreciated!





Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

What is your budget for lighting?

Do you already have a light? if so, what kind and will you be using it with supplemented light or replacing it?

Do you have any feeling towards LED or HID lighting, any preference, notions or pros/cons that are pushing you toward one type or the other?

420 Magazine has a ton of sponsors that offer many types of solutions.
Sponsors : 420 MAGAZINE (R) - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking


All depends on budget really what to choose.

For the cheapest, HPS 2x 1000w fixtures would be the best route for great results but economy start up cost.
For middle of the road, Cheaper LEDs will work but won't be as efficient as top notch LEDs, may not last as long or have other issues, howver slightly more cost than HPS and still fairly cost effective without too much upfront cost.

But if you wanted to go with premium LED panels, which last longer, have better parts for more efficient operation...etc. .then realistically you could be spending $3000 or more.

 

[GreeDE]

Cost really isn't an issue, I'm just trying to make sure that whichever route I go that I don't over do it. Currently I run cfls but they do not bring out the true potential of the plants, and having a ton of bulbs all over the place is inconvenient. At first I was really interested in hps. I like the brighter light and since things get cold around here the heat they let off cuts back heater usage while providing light. On the LED side of things I like the simplicity of them. No major residual heat, longer life, and a more compact design is very inviting. If two 1000w fixtures would cover my needs, that's my be the route i go for no until it's time to upgrade again. Right now I'm just trying to get a handle on things but would someday like to be fully automated.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Icemud]

Cost really isn't an issue, I'm just trying to make sure that whichever route I go that I don't over do it. Currently I run cfls but they do not bring out the true potential of the plants, and having a ton of bulbs all over the place is inconvenient. At first I was really interested in hps. I like the brighter light and since things get cold around here the heat they let off cuts back heater usage while providing light. On the LED side of things I like the simplicity of them. No major residual heat, longer life, and a more compact design is very inviting. If two 1000w fixtures would cover my needs, that's my be the route i go for no until it's time to upgrade again. Right now I'm just trying to get a handle on things but would someday like to be fully automated.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

I think for the size of your tents, 2x 1000w HPS would be just about perfect, and should run around 500-800 bucks depending on if you opt for economy brands or more well known ones. Make sure when you get them to get a hood that will allow the light to spread, and not one that is too boxy which will restrict spread and push most of the light downward.

Hortilux and Ushio are some of the better bulb brands for HPS which offer a slightly higher output than other brands.

Ballasts I am not too familiar with so maybe others can give recommendations for ones they have had good luck with. I used to use Lumatek and Sun System however they were lower wattage and older designs so I'm sure there probably are better options now.

HPS also is fairly easy to grow plants under and as long as they stay far enough away were they don't burn, operation is pretty much flawless.


Now as an alternative. If money isn't an option, then I would suggest looking into COB LED's which can be DIY or come prebuilt and ready to grow. Make sure if you go this route you stick with CREE CXB, Bridgelux VERO or Citizen LED CLU, chips. Those are the top 3 performers currently in the industry. Color temp you wanna go with 2000k-3500K so heavier in the red end of the spectrum.

This would be much more pricey though going this route up front... for example Budmaster, which I use, makes COB panels, and the ones that would be best suited for your needs would be either the COB9 which each one retails around $1200, and my guess is that you realistically would need 4 of them at bare minimum and 6 would be nearly ideal... now obviously 4 of these is almost $5000 so quite a price difference between these and HPS... but what I have seen in multiple studies is that LED (white spectrum) can produce a better product than HPS, and generally the LED will have a 3-4% increase in THC content, as well as more robust terpene profiles. (personally verified in a controlled test as well as have seen others done online).


The myth that LED's produce less heat is only partly true, and mainly because you can generally use 20%-30% less electricity therefore with heat load to a room based on total wattage, 20%-30% less wattage means 20%-30% less heat. If you used 1000w of LED and 1000w of HPS..the heat added to the room would be virtually identical (only influenced by air cooled hoods, the small percentage of photons that get absorbed and stored by the plants, and the walls of the grow area whether they transfer heat easily or not.

with HPS you will have to buy new bulbs every year to keep maximum output, but at around $120 a pop, 2x every year... it would take quite a few years for the Cost to pay off with LED in your circumstance.

There are other LED companies and brands out there with COB technology and they may be slightly cheaper, but realistically it still will run you at least $3500 or more to properly illuminate your tent.



A third option for you would be getting a smaller wattage LED for each of the 6 plants to be placed directly above each plant. In this case each plant will get a good 2'x2' area (with most LED grow lights on the market) so in between spacing on plants will lack in light, but each plant will have its own light, and this would work fairly well for you too... You would want at least 300w (actual wattage draw) per Light/per plant and this method would cost you on the low end. This would cost for economy LED's around $1800 and for premium LED's you would be looking at $4000 to $6000 or more....



As you can see, LED is quite an upfront cost, but does produce a better quality product overall, but HPS is very cheap compared to LED so really its a tradeoff if you want to Invest in LED or slowly convert from HPS to LED over time... or just stick with HPS and call it a day.

 

[GreeDE]

I just received an HTG Supply catalog in the mail. I'm first looking at lighting and oh my it's overwhelming. MH/HPS is my choice and the 1000w system is what's suggested for my growing area. My question now is how do you decide which one to go with? There are dozens of MH/HPS 1000w kits but I don't know one from the other. It seems that they have all the same specs and the only difference is the price.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App