Northern Lights in a 2x4 Tent w/ CXB3590s and BXEB Strips

Hi all, it's been a long time since I've posted. Been taking a long break and just enjoying life. Recently got hit with the bug again and saw all these led posts. After a long time spent researching I ended up with the following setup:

- 6x Cree CXB3590 3500k DB Bin running at 1.4A on 2x HLG-240H-1400A (3 per driver)
- 4x Bridgelux BXEB-L0560Z-30E2000-C-B3 running at 1.0 Amp on HLG-185H-C1400A

Total watts from the wall: ~440W

This is all in a 2x4 with a 6" vent and carbon filter. Lights are hung about 18" from canopy.

Plants: Northern Lights
- 5ga pots
- FF HF

Nutrients regime:
- Feed, Feed, Tea
- NFTG Sample Pack
- SLF100 (5ml per gallon every feed)
- Recharge (< 1/4 tsp every feed)
- Cultured Biologix Sample Kit (all the teas)
- pH: 6.5

Temperatures average around 75F at the canopy and humidity is kept at a constant 45~50%.

Pictures are from Day 29 Flower. She was heavily lollipop'd and TOP'd.

Enjoy!

Running a little experiment as well. Pulled some of the fan leaves on the right plant to let light get through a bit more. Didn't pull all of them, just the ones in the middle that were shielding light reaching the inner nugs. The left plant will be left totally alone.

Both are identical cuts of NL, not sure which pheno though..

aquanaut said:

Hi all, it's been a long time since I've posted. Been taking a long break and just enjoying life. Recently got hit with the bug again and saw all these led posts. After a long time spent researching I ended up with the following setup:

- 6x Cree CXB3590 3500k DB Bin running at 1.4A on 2x HLG-240H-1400A (3 per driver)
- 4x Bridgelux BXEB-L0560Z-30E2000-C-B3 running at 1.0 Amp on HLG-185H-C1400A

Total watts from the wall: ~440W

This is all in a 2x4 with a 6" vent and carbon filter. Lights are hung about 18" from canopy.

Nutrients regime:
- Feed, Feed, Tea
- NFTG Sample Pack
- SLF100 (5ml per gallon every feed)
- Recharge (< 1/4 tsp every feed)
- Cultured Biologix Sample Kit (all the teas)
- pH: 6.5

Temperatures average around 75F at the canopy and humidity is kept at a constant 45~50%.

Pictures are from Day 29 Flower. She was heavily lollipop'd and TOP'd.

Enjoy!

Click to expand...

Scrog em !!

I wish I had the forethought to build a scrog thing for this. I've always seen the SCROG grows but never attempted to build one. After this run I'll try to. Looks like I can get away with a simple PVC frame.

Luckily I think she's done stretching and all the TOP'ing I've done has spread out the canopy.

Is your light running at max? If so, then hot damn, that's a shit-ton of light. Looking good though!

Humple said:

Is your light running at max? If so, then hot damn, that's a shit-ton of light. Looking good though!

Click to expand...

The CXB are running at 100% 1.4A from the drivers. The BXEB strips are over driven the 700mA nominal, at 1A with room up to 1.4A from the driver..

Without a PAR meter, I'm kind of afraid to turn up the BXEB strips to 1.4A. I feel like I'm on the cusp of "high" light.

Temperatures don't seem to be a problem...

You guys know of a PAR meter that I could afford?

Fed her today, she's drying up pretty well every 2-3 days. I think next time I'll use 7 gallon pots.

aquanaut said:

The CXB are running at 100% 1.4A from the drivers. The BXEB strips are over driven the 700mA nominal, at 1A with room up to 1.4A from the driver..

Without a PAR meter, I'm kind of afraid to turn up the BXEB strips to 1.4A. I feel like I'm on the cusp of "high" light.

Temperatures don't seem to be a problem...

You guys know of a PAR meter that I could afford?

Click to expand...

I just got the apogee with full spectrum sensor it was $520 I fell like it helps alot if you don't have a totally even canopy and it's nice when they start to stretch alot you can keep the lights at the perfect distance

Looks good
What are you using for heat sinks?
Cheers
CCG

Canadain Closet Gardener said:

Looks good
What are you using for heat sinks?
Cheers
CCG

Click to expand...

The CXBs are on two of RapidLeds 6x20" https://www.rapidled.com/6-x-20-premium-heat-sink-and-enclosure/

And the BXEBs are on 2"x30" 1/8" thick aluminum bar stock. Just a flat piece of alu. Barely gets warm to the touch at 1A and 2 strips on each bar.

Full view of the COBs

Lovely looking ladies Aqua. With a lot of rec's out there for ~30w per sq. ft. with led, at 55w I'll def be peepin in on this.

Why won't You pull the strips apart even more ? All the way to the edges to limit the overlap ?

Pulling up a chair

T-Time said:

Why won't You pull the strips apart even more ? All the way to the edges to limit the overlap ?

Pulling up a chair

Click to expand...

Yea, after giving it some more thought I should pull the strips all the way to the end. I'm waiting on an order of aluminum U/C-channels that are 2" wide. Once those come in I'll redo the BXEB strips. I wanted to build a frame that holds the cob heatsinks along with the strips so I'm not using so many hangers.

aquanaut said:

Temperatures don't seem to be a problem...

You guys know of a PAR meter that I could afford?

Click to expand...

Looking good.

LED has less radiant heat, people say run temps in the low 80's.

Grab a $15 lux meter, they are useful with white light. Multiply lux by .015 for approximate PAR.

Flower Day 31
Getting warmer around here. Temperatures at the canopy are now around 78F and humidity 45~50%.

Hmm.. starting to think I'm getting some bleaching on a few of the very top colas. Re-measured and looks like they stretch'd up a few inches and the distance to canopy was only 14". Re-raised lights to 20". Really need to get that PAR meter on order..

Day 37
The twins have been chugging along just fine. Starting to smell really pungent and super skunky

Today's watering will be with Cultured Biologix EZ Tea Bloom.

Finally figured out the white balance on my camera. Hope you all enjoy!

Nice twins, mate! Looks like you have some snow on top of the "hills", lol!
I would further increase nutes and give them some calmag too. Plants under intense LED light are more hungry. And make sure the temps are around 80°F, LED has not enough IR radiation to increase leaf temps.
Maybe you should also consider to reorganize the COB's and stripes to get a more even illumination. The COB's are a bit tight together, which may be the reason for the whitening in the middle.

Good move on raising the light, I definitely see light stress and bleaching going on. I cuurently run a 4x4 wity 600w of samsung f series and im just starting up a personal 3x3 garden with ~315w of samsung f series in a 3x3', aka 1 sq foot bigger (and a lot more height).My ppfd is easily at 900 umo/m^2/s or even higher in both setups. The key is uniformity.

Id run 300-340w if I were you. 18-24" in.