300w LED vs 1000w HPS Hydroton Drip Grow

Ok guys I am doing this grow as an experiment to show if LED technology is really up to par as it claims to be. I have been communicating with a representative from Sunshine-Systems.com and Stealthgrow.com and have decided after heavy questioning of both reps that I will be going with Sunshine-Systems products because they are the original makers of the UFO and they really have their shit together.

In this grow I will have (5) 4x4 tables drain tables that I will have set up for a drip setup. One will be used for veg and the other four will be used for flowering. I am starting from seed with white widow from amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com.

Lights:
I am going to use a 1000w Mh for veg of all plants.
For flowering I will have (2) 1000w Hps and (2) 300w LED GrowPanel Pros by Sunshine Systems. The flowering room will not be divided but the drain tables will be grouped according to light type used.

Here are some pictures of the girls fresh out of pre-veg stage after they have been put into the veg drip system.

Holy shit, nice!

your using 1000w to veg? man, you're gonna roast your seedlings. is the veiwing angle of your led 120? good luck

Hey man, don't mean to be a hater but LED's are not up to 'PAR' if you know what I mean? Keep in mind the outrageous start up cost of the LED unit and that you need to pay off your equipment, and power then see what's left money wise.

The way I figured it was to take the 300 watt LED cost and get the most HID I could for the cost. I figured I could get 3 600W systems for the cost of one 300W LED. When I was done with the math.. weed would have to drop to 100 bucks a pound or power would have to go up to 8 bucks a kwh (500% increase) to make LED's worth a dam and that's IF they did the work of one 1k lamp like they claim.. and they are nothing even close to a 1k.

I would have 3 600's with money left over, and every run out perform the LED, on the 2nd run I'd be able to pay off the LED lamp and all it's power and still beat it money wise every time, exponentially.

LED's are nice but the start up cost is stupid and insulting.

Whew. A lot of money to experiment with. Good luck I will come back to see the remains after the led VS hps firefight that will surely insue. I say bravo for tryin it and goodluck just don't lose ur cool when people start hating and get urself banned I wanna see this one through lol

Good shit dogg I've been wanting to see a side by side comparison.. I'm gonna have to pull up a chair for this one.. Keep us posted dogg.. +rep

Mark5:9 said:

Hey man, don't mean to be a hater but LED's are not up to 'PAR' if you know what I mean? Keep in mind the outrageous start up cost of the LED unit and that you need to pay off your equipment, and power then see what's left money wise.

The way I figured it was to take the 300 watt LED cost and get the most HID I could for the cost. I figured I could get 3 600W systems for the cost of one 300W LED. When I was done with the math.. weed would have to drop to 100 bucks a pound or power would have to go up to 8 bucks a kwh (500% increase) to make LED's worth a dam and that's IF they did the work of one 1k lamp like they claim.. and they are nothing even close to a 1k.

I would have 3 600's with money left over, and every run out perform the LED, on the 2nd run I'd be able to pay off the LED lamp and all it's power and still beat it money wise every time, exponentially.

LED's are nice but the start up cost is stupid and insulting.

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High Times did 3 seperate grows using the 90watt UFO against a 400w Mh, a 400w Hps, and a 600w Hps. They said in the first against the 400 Mh, the LED outproduced. In the second vs the 400Hps the LED produced the same only it took a week longer to crop out but had way more resin production. In the third vs the 600Hps, the LED produced a 1/4 less but the quality was the same.

I've been growing for about 5 yrs and I'm not taking sides on which is better until I finish this grow, but I live in a part of the US where I could do 5-20yrs for getting caught with the size operations I run. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to put in the initial investment. Why? Because even if I'm getting a 1/4 less a crop, I won't be using all the cooling equipment, including reservoir coolers, extra canfans, air conditioning, etc. And what is the main thing that gets you caught besides getting narc'd on. High electricity bills and thermal scans. The benefits offered by low electricity and heat waves alone are enough for me to have those acceptable losses in total crop output. Keeping myself out of jail is always my number one concern.

Oh and the cost of the 300w growpanel pro is 1300. Now I've always bought the best products as far as lighting is concerned and ballasts bulb and xxl reflectors for a 1000 watt total up to be (prices vary for diff locations) about 900 per set. 1300 for something that just might work seems reasonable to me.

Just my thoughts.

dirtyshawa said:

your using 1000w to veg? man, you're gonna roast your seedlings. is the veiwing angle of your led 120? good luck

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I started the seeds off in a wet paper towel til the taproots were well developed, then I moved them into a rapid rooter system under t5s for almost a week and a half. The stalks look young but the root systems were well developed before I put it under the hid. As long as I keep it cool I think they will be fine although I usually use a 600w.

Ill subscribe to this

almightyfig said:

I started the seeds off in a wet paper towel til the taproots were well developed, then I moved them into a rapid rooter system under t5s for almost a week and a half. The stalks look young but the root systems were well developed before I put it under the hid. As long as I keep it cool I think they will be fine although I usually use a 600w.

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cool, i'm about to switch over to leds myself. i'm trying to find the company with the best lights, but, it's proving to be a very hard task. anyway, have you heard of any other companies with good lights?

subscribed!!

almightyfig said:

High Times did 3 seperate grows using the 90watt UFO against a 400w Mh, a 400w Hps, and a 600w Hps. They said in the first against the 400 Mh, the LED outproduced. In the second vs the 400Hps the LED produced the same only it took a week longer to crop out but had way more resin production. In the third vs the 600Hps, the LED produced a 1/4 less but the quality was the same.

I've been growing for about 5 yrs and I'm not taking sides on which is better until I finish this grow, but I live in a part of the US where I could do 5-20yrs for getting caught with the size operations I run. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to put in the initial investment. Why? Because even if I'm getting a 1/4 less a crop, I won't be using all the cooling equipment, including reservoir coolers, extra canfans, air conditioning, etc. And what is the main thing that gets you caught besides getting narc'd on. High electricity bills and thermal scans. The benefits offered by low electricity and heat waves alone are enough for me to have those acceptable losses in total crop output. Keeping myself out of jail is always my number one concern.

Oh and the cost of the 300w growpanel pro is 1300. Now I've always bought the best products as far as lighting is concerned and ballasts bulb and xxl reflectors for a 1000 watt total up to be (prices vary for diff locations) about 900 per set. 1300 for something that just might work seems reasonable to me.

Just my thoughts.

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Your reasons are your reasons and I can understand that.

What I'm pointing out is that is does not do what it says and a 600W system would cost less to set up and out preform it. The value of the crop is so high that it justifies the power use.

It's like trying to market better fuel mileage to dragsters. They don't care what it cost they just want to go fast. The reward pays for the fuel.

It only takes one or two OZ to pay the power. So if your system pulls 1/4 more of a 2 lb pull then it's well worth it. I mean it's a 1/2 a pound sitting there that you'd rather not have? Let's just say it's 3k an lb. We're talking about 4.5 vs 6k every run. But only costing 60% more in power. 30 bucks a month vs 100 bucks a month over two months.. 60 vs 200.. 140 buck difference over two months to make 1.5k more.. I'll take that deal every time. 10:1 sounds good to me.

If you really want you can find those 300W units for 800 bucks and even cheaper used..

dirtyshawa said:

cool, i'm about to switch over to leds myself. i'm trying to find the company with the best lights, but, it's proving to be a very hard task. anyway, have you heard of any other companies with good lights?

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from info I've gathered through talking to reps. Sunshine systems is who I am going with although Hightimes used a UFO bought off of hidhut.com I don't know what brand UFO it was.

Curious why you went with the more out of date Grow panel pro? If I were to pay that much I would probably get the 300w from Hydro-Gro-Led.com They cover more of the Red and Blue spectrums and has the IR + white light for penetrating, and the little IR I personally think all LEDS should have.

darkcloud said:

Curious why you went with the more out of date Grow panel pro? If I were to pay that much I would probably get the 300w from Hydro-Gro-Led.com They cover more of the Red and Blue spectrums and has the IR + white light for penetrating, and the little IR I personally think all LEDS should have.

Click to expand...

I hadn't heard of that company but I have since checked it out and I think that I will be going with their products instead. Thanks for the heads up! I will put the updates in the following post. Thanks again

interesting... subscribled

OK GUYS.
UPDATE NUMBER 1 AND A FEW CHANGES IN THE AGENDA.

INstead of using Sunshine systems I will be using Hydro-gro-led.com as my LED supplier.

Instead of using their 318w setup I am going to use (4) 126w units. I talked with the president of the company and he said for a 4x4 area he guarantees that it will out produce a 1000w HPS. If this is the case that will be amazing. Also I think I might open a commercial account with them allowing me to receive their products at a highly discounted price, of coarse this all depends on the ability of the LED light.

Also instead of using the 1000w MH for the entire 2 month veg, I will be dividing the plants in half and putting one half under the LED for month 2 of the veg and that LED will be used for the same plants throughout the flowering phase.

Here are some pics of the girls at the end of week 2 as well as a better scope of the grow room. Don't be too harsh on the mess...it will all come together in the next two weeks. The closet space will be used as my storage and cloning area. The room looks small but it is 11ft by 17ft. The closet is 2.5 ft by 11ft.

update????

Here they are! Now the clones look pretty terrible but I'm not too experienced with clones so if anyone has any advice I'd be happy to hear it. Its hard to see but the clones are in rapid rooter plugs. I have an adjustable temp heating pad keeping them warm. They are slumped over but it is only day 2.