hps vs led grow same time

I have currently decided to try some led growing.

to start i bought a 120 led from a local company here in denver its red one for budding.
next split my closet into to gave them the same conditions same nutrients same soil same clones. the other light is a 400whps
the clones are pink pez from bcseeds.com
they are a week in and it seems the hps has the lead so far but its to close to tell i will document my entire grow and even have thc levels tested in the end.

grow conditions 65 degree room temp
home made fertalizer
soil fox farm home made mix

correct me if I am wrong but shouldn't the LED light be waaaaaay closer to the plants? I've never used an led but my understanding is the create almost no heat so they can be placed very close to the canopy.

yea that led looks pretty far away especially if thy are only 1w leds

LED's too far, move them about 5 inches from the tops

To be fair thats not going to be a fair battle the hps is 400 watts the led is only 120.Im quite sure the hps will produce more than the 120 led.But i would love to see the results.

its supposed to yield what a 400w hps can do
its closer now about 8 inches so they all get coverage will have update tomorrow

coryjames said:

its supposed to yield what a 400w hps can do
its closer now about 8 inches so they all get coverage will have update tomorrow

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Well it wont dont believe the manufacturers claims.I would do a test to seen if 400 watt of led can compare against hps

An all red 120 watt LED can't compare to a 400watt HPS. It is just unfair, and your distance is way too much from the plants with the LED's.

Everybody chill out, he's testing the manufacturer's claims, sounds like a great test to me.

Can't wait to see the results, good luck

InThEwOoDs said:

Everybody chill out, he's testing the manufacturer's claims, sounds like a great test to me.

Can't wait to see the results, good luck

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This test has been done with a 90 watt ufo led that compares to a 400 hps.Thats why i say it would have been better to do 400 led vs hps.The manufacturers claims are bullshit they just say that to get a sale.

Not all manufacturers are the same, unfortunately someone has to try to find out in most cases.

But good luck with the grow, i LOVE to see people run these comparisons, they are a lot of fun to see and the more information we can get for the different makes and models the better.

subbed (for the first time ever) so please keep updating for good or bad.

karr said:

Not all manufacturers are the same, unfortunately someone has to try to find out in most cases.

But good luck with the grow, i LOVE to see people run these comparisons, they are a lot of fun to see and the more information we can get for the different makes and models the better.

subbed (for the first time ever) so please keep updating for good or bad.

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Yes i love seeing this aswell for different reasons but its all good

any updates?

I was itching on buying a mother/clone led recently, just couldnt pull the trigger, so many scams out there

i have little hope for the LED, plants need more then one or 2 accute spectrums of light for ultimate terpiniod, and canabinoidal production. LED's, or light emitting diodes only produce one spectrum of light. Sure, 650nm has a very high photosynthetic response, but the plant is also responsive to lots of other light spectrums, the photosynthetic response range is believed to be between 350nm and 700nm, and the fact is, an hps light produces a much, much more wide spectrum, with a slight focus on the five to six hundred nanometre spectrum, meaning a more wide spread photosynthetic response. Sure, the LED will grow a plant, but the HPS will grow a much better, stronger, and potent plant.

This chart shows different points for optimal photosynthetic response

Btownbud said:

i have little hope for the LED, plants need more then one or 2 accute spectrums of light for ultimate terpiniod, and canabinoidal production. LED's, or light emitting diodes only produce one spectrum of light. Sure, 650nm has a very high photosynthetic response, but the plant is also responsive to lots of other light spectrums, the photosynthetic response range is believed to be between 350nm and 700nm, and the fact is, an hps light produces a much, much more wide spectrum, with a slight focus on the five to six hundred nanometre spectrum, meaning a more wide spread photosynthetic response. Sure, the LED will grow a plant, but the HPS will grow a much better, stronger, and potent plant.

This chart shows different points for optimal photosynthetic response

Click to expand...

Thanks for this post + rep

Yea, good luck.. Yea the results are obvious. There are no LED lights that can compare to hps. Now there are some close comparisons, but the fact is no LED light can do what hps can. Its already been proven again and again. Can you take the LED back when your done to get your money back. Those lights are real expensive.

Great thread! Can't wait to see how the LED can compare!

We all understand about the single spectrum of LEDs but people argue that HPS has a extremely broad spectrum which it in fact does not. It is broad but it lacks intensity at most spectrum and is focused into a range of spectrum. The reason behind this is because HPS systems were not designed for horticultural use, rather they have been adapted(yes quite successfully)

So if you really want to get into a broad range, do like i am and hold your breath for the onset of mass produced Sulfur Plasma lights They offer a near sun spectrum(and i mean really near) and use less watts for the same (actually better) PAR. Also produce little heat(external heat), more than led less than hps. Bulbs have no degradation over time as they are inert, generally the units last 100k hours estimated.

There are now available Metal Halide Plasma grow lights (the solar genesis) but these are not the full spectrum of a sulfur plasma. The spectrum is really good, but lacks the reds to flower well. Again this is another light that was designed for mass lighting (parking lots, stadiums, museums, etc) and not directly for horticultural.


The next 5 years should bring the effective LED units price down(and has started to already, which is why these tests are great) as well the onset of new revolutionary lighting systems.

This time we live in now is, for indoor growing, what the 80s-90s were for computers, big advancements in no time at all.

Right now though HPS are kicking Led lights asses. I can't remeber which one but the only LED light that comes close to competing with just a 400w hps is couple thousand dollars like 5.

seems like you need a shitload LEDs to compare to a HID. although i cant really say cause i never used LEDs. a local hydro shop actually recommended NOT using LEDs unless its just like supplemental lighting. nice experiment though. be interesting to see results. im kinda anxious to see in about 5 years where LEDs stand. im sure then they will be much more affordable and maybe better quality. i know they're saying as far as lighting homes, before 2020 LEDs are supposed to replace CFLs because of even more efficient energy usage.