Question about lighting cycles

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916Fisherman

916Fisherman

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I have a clone tent with T5 lights on a 24hr light cycle and want to move a few Clones into my veg/flower tent. I don’t want to run the MH for 24hrs as the electricity bill kills me. Would there be any issues running the MH 12 hours and having a small fluorescent light on the other 12 hours so they don’t go into flower?
 
Vagician

Vagician

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That'll be fine. I used to use ~75w fluorescent bulbs every 5 feet when I was in the nursery world to keep hundreds of trays of pansies from flowering. You could probably get away with doing 12 hours of MH then 6 hours T5 then 6 hours dark. Depending on how far along they are they'll really like the break from light, plants need rest too.
 
916Fisherman

916Fisherman

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I normally run an 18/6 but I had an issue and lights were on 24/7 for about 2 weeks so I was afraid if I switched back they’d flower. Maybe I can reduce an hour per week or so?
 
Vagician

Vagician

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I agree with @MIMedGrower, you would have to go below 16 hours light.

FWIW I root cuttings under a T5 at 24/0 for 2 weeks (if they pop roots quickly I'll go to 18/6 early). Then I transplant into a 1 gallon and bump down to 18/6 under a 600W MH for another 2 weeks. Then I transplant into a 3 gallon and the same day switch them to flower at 12/12 under a 1000W double ended HPS. I'll start blasting them with an additional 270W UV bulb at the end of week 2 because week 3 is when most 8-week plants form the majority their trichomes at a microscopic level, the rest of flowering is just the trichomes filling with oils and the calyxes swelling.
 
visajoe1

visajoe1

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Vagician said:
I agree with @MIMedGrower, you would have to go below 16 hours light.

FWIW I root cuttings under a T5 at 24/0 for 2 weeks (if they pop roots quickly I'll go to 18/6 early). Then I transplant into a 1 gallon and bump down to 18/6 under a 600W MH for another 2 weeks. Then I transplant into a 3 gallon and the same day switch them to flower at 12/12 under a 1000W double ended HPS. I'll start blasting them with an additional 270W UV bulb at the end of week 2 because week 3 is when most 8-week plants form the majority their trichomes at a microscopic level, the rest of flowering is just the trichomes filling with oils and the calyxes swelling.
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Scope out this video. Its long but informative. It may change your lighting situation at the flip and finish

www.thcfarmer.com

Hid Vs Led - Best Thing I Have Ever Seen

This video is incredible. The presenter is very knowledgeable, with tons of experience. Admins: I posted this on the LED board first, thought it would reach more people here. Feel free to delete one or the other. Some notes: HPS puts out 50% of its energy in green/yellow light which...
www.thcfarmer.com www.thcfarmer.com
 
Vagician

Vagician

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visajoe1 said:
Scope out this video. Its long but informative. It may change your lighting situation at the flip and finish

www.thcfarmer.com

Hid Vs Led - Best Thing I Have Ever Seen

This video is incredible. The presenter is very knowledgeable, with tons of experience. Admins: I posted this on the LED board first, thought it would reach more people here. Feel free to delete one or the other. Some notes: HPS puts out 50% of its energy in green/yellow light which...
www.thcfarmer.com www.thcfarmer.com
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Much appreciated! I'm alright with 45 minutes, I'm on the clock and half of the office is gone 😏

Always love new information. The Indo Expo presentations I've been to have all been pretty solid. I've been interested in LED for all the obvious reasons but have been waiting for the technology to come up and the price to come down.
 
maximusluminous

maximusluminous

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Vagician said:
Much appreciated! I'm alright with 45 minutes, I'm on the clock and half of the office is gone 😏

Always love new information. The Indo Expo presentations I've been to have all been pretty solid. I've been interested in LED for all the obvious reasons but have been waiting for the technology to come up and the price to come down.
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The value is already there easily.. You can build a 4 x 4' 8 bar 640 watt DIY build for $800 & have the very best of the best diodes & spectrum, or you can do a 2 x 4' 320 watt 4 bar build for $400 & people pull 1 Lb with a light like that if not more. How does anything else compare? I use to pay about $400 for 430 watt son agro HPS's back in the 90's & I sure couldn't yield an LB from them!
 
Vagician

Vagician

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maximusluminous said:
The value is already there easily.. You can build a 4 x 4' 8 bar 640 watt DIY build for $800 & have the very best of the best diodes & spectrum, or you can do a 2 x 4' 320 watt 4 bar build for $400 & people pull 1 Lb with a light like that if not more. How does anything else compare? I use to pay about $400 for 430 watt son agro HPS's back in the 90's & I sure couldn't yield an LB from them!
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Nice. Do you have links to information on how to build a lightbar from scratch? I haven't spent enough time on this forum to know if there's already a solid thread somewhere. I'm definitely interested in trying it out. I can solder pretty well so that'd be a fun project.

Are there any commercially available LED models that you'd recommend? I've been T5, HPS, MH, and UV for years but I'm all about updating equipment if it makes better medicine.
 
maximusluminous

maximusluminous

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Vagician said:
Nice. Do you have links to information on how to build a lightbar from scratch? I haven't spent enough time on this forum to know if there's already a solid thread somewhere. I'm definitely interested in trying it out. I can solder pretty well so that'd be a fun project.

Are there any commercially available LED models that you'd recommend? I've been T5, HPS, MH, and UV for years but I'm all about updating equipment if it makes better medicine.
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No soldering in this build!

My next build will be with these strips & nothing else.. The first vid shows how to build his first reference design, the 2nd video shows his new improved redesign but just the frame not the wiring or building, good info on drivers in the vid too

I have 3 HLG set ups & 1 Chilled/Growmau5 set up from Rapid LED. Really love the HLG stuff a lot but the coverage can be so much better with a strip build like in these videos & the strips he sells have crazy high efficiency backed up by lots of testing including sphere testing.. in his set ups hes running the boards at 40 watts each which is right above 2.70 umols/j which is about as good as it gets with LED's #'s.


 
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Vagician

Vagician

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maximusluminous said:
My next build will be with these strips & nothing else.. The first vid shows how to build his first refrence design, the 2nd video shows his new improved redesign but just the frame not the wiring or building, good info on drivers in the vid too

I have 3 HLG set ups & 1 Chilled/Growmau5 set up from Rapid LED. Really love the HLG stuff but the coverage can be so much better with a strip build like in these videos & the strips he sells have crazy high efficiency #'s.
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Down the rabbit hole I go!
 
maximusluminous

maximusluminous

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Vagician said:
Down the rabbit hole I go!
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Its a good rabbit hole tho! I mean if you want the best of the best for cheap! Half what a same wattage Fluence LED would cost ya & just as good easy! He has a parts lists on his site for the old reference design, the new design just changes the frame & he tells ya what he is using in the video to make that new frame. Good luck!

Oh PS IMO I don't think LED's make superior medicine however they make much more of it! lol
 
916Fisherman

916Fisherman

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You can find HPS setups for $50 so while LED is what I want, my wallet can’t afford $800+ lol

thanks for the info guys, always appreciated!
 
maximusluminous

maximusluminous

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916Fisherman said:
You can find HPS setups for $50 so while LED is what I want, my wallet can’t afford $800+ lol

thanks for the info guys, always appreciated!
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then you have to figure in 35% more electricity usage & bulb changes. In a year a 640 watt LED saves me $180 per year in electricity costs ($15 per month) over a 1000 HPS & the SHPS bulbs I used in my HPS were Hortilux SHPS bulbs that are north of $100 & changing them 2 x per year.. so right there is $400 saved in a year between electric & bulbs... & then there is the yield increase with LED's, I get darn near 50% more yield out of my LED's compared to what I get with HPS.. the yield increase alone makes it worth it & in 2 years you save $800 on electricity & on bulb changes. Lots of $$ pissed away on maintenance & electricity. Going to LED is free IMO or the same cost as HPS but when yield increase is figured in I see HPS as a joke now days but don't get me wrong I am still running 1 with all my LED's but when I can afford to upgrade soon the HPS is going bye bye!
 
916Fisherman

916Fisherman

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Trust me I know all about it. I’ve been a Reef Aquarium hobbiest for 20 years so I’ve seen the LED lights go from $5k to $129.99 and provide the same results lol. I already have a ton of bulbs and the electricity I can pay monthly. So it’s either stop growing and save up for the LED or use what I have until I can afford LED. Hopefully that day will be soon
 
maximusluminous

maximusluminous

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916Fisherman said:
Trust me I know all about it. I’ve been a Reef Aquarium hobbiest for 20 years so I’ve seen the LED lights go from $5k to $129.99 and provide the same results lol. I already have a ton of bulbs and the electricity I can pay monthly. So it’s either stop growing and save up for the LED or use what I have until I can afford LED. Hopefully that day will be soon
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reef tanks are pretty cool! and sure you gotta do what ya gotta do, I understand!
 
MIMedGrower

MIMedGrower

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maximusluminous said:
then you have to figure in 35% more electricity usage & bulb changes. In a year a 640 watt LED saves me $180 per year in electricity costs ($15 per month) over a 1000 HPS & the SHPS bulbs I used in my HPS were Hortilux SHPS bulbs that are north of $100 & changing them 2 x per year.. so right there is $400 saved in a year between electric & bulbs... & then there is the yield increase with LED's, I get darn near 50% more yield out of my LED's compared to what I get with HPS.. the yield increase alone makes it worth it & in 2 years you save $800 on electricity & on bulb changes. Lots of $$ pissed away on maintenance & electricity. Going to LED is free IMO or the same cost as HPS but when yield increase is figured in I see HPS as a joke now days but don't get me wrong I am still running 1 with all my LED's but when I can afford to upgrade soon the HPS is going bye bye!
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I agree led can be more efficient. And the spectrums available now are much better. But your numbers argued are quite inflated for me. I pay .11 on average for electric and horty 600’s cost $65 shipped and last a good 10 months before i see any degradation.

Also i got 2 new solis tech balasts for only $210 shipped so im going on 6 years and i still couldnt pay for a top of the line led with the money spent.

And i might need a heater in winter during lights on with them in my cold room so they would actually be less efficient then.


Best tool for the cost and the job is a better way to look at this.

Also no one talks about diode failure. There is a lot of it put there.


Just some counter points i think are important.
 
916Fisherman

916Fisherman

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MIMedGrower said:
I agree led can be more efficient. And the spectrums available now are much better. But your numbers argued are quite inflated for me. I pay .11 on average for electric and horty 600’s cost $65 shipped and last a good 10 months before i see any degradation.

Also i got 2 new solis tech balasts for only $210 shipped so im going on 6 years and i still couldnt pay for a top of the line led with the money spent.

And i might need a heater in winter during lights on with them in my cold room so they would actually be less efficient then.


Best tool for the cost and the job is a better way to look at this.

Also no one talks about diode failure. There is a lot of it put there.


Just some counter points i think are important.
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Same for me but power is more expensive lol
 
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