Things to Know About Lighting

chazbolin

Well-Known Member
Did you test a 400 watt bi-spectrum induction? the reason I ask is that without having to switch lamps there is definitely less stress on the plants and the growth is explosive compared to other fluoro options. I have an extra one if you're interested in it PM me.

Ride Fast,

More info would be good. However, with respect to lighting (to stay on topic), your yield will increase big time if you move into an HID. Even a little 250watt self contained ballast metal halide with an HPS conversion bulb for flowering will due to get you started. At the very least get an HPS for flowering.

Depending on the strain, you may be able to sex them right now with a good eye. If not, you can tell for sure about 2 weeks into flowering.
 

docrock

Member
Hold your hand at the top of the plant, palm down. If after 20 or so seconds it is uncomfortable or burns your hand, move the light up.
 

Stalwart

Well-Known Member
A conversion from watts to btu would be useful. The light cost of glass over the lights, The light increase due to installing a half a 20 oz water bottle reflectors over cfl's?
 

Stalwart

Well-Known Member
businesslights.com is about the best place to get things unless you are willing to disconnect your deliveries from your own life and then PropertyRoom.com is the bomb next to stealing from the freakin police!
 

Superdan01

Member
been using 600w (HPS) sunmaster dual spectrum from start to finish for some time and some great results. also use 250w powerplant envirogrow lamp for cloning and mother, fanastic growth every time. peace
 

D''

Member
my friend is running a 150 hps in a bathroom but with no ballst it is in a fixture that holds 150watt. is it safe? and is it putting off as much as if he had a ballast?
 

I already Node

Active Member
want to know theses any gud...........

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif][SIZE=+1]Control the shape and growth of your plants with light - Photoponics. [/SIZE][/FONT]​
Introducing Nlite™ - a range of Quality Fluorescent lamps designed for PLANTS (also perfect for aquaria and reptiles).

Each lamp has choice of 3 colours :- Blue and Red and PURple™.


[SIZE=+1]PURple™ ? YES. Introducing the Nlite™ PURple™[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+1]PUR stands for Photosynthetically Useful Radiation.[/SIZE]

Humans are most sensitive to green light (green curve below). Wide spectrum light with lots of green appears to us as white.
Plants use a part of the sun's spectral range to grow. This is known as the PLANT ACTION SPECTRUM. (yellow curve)

Light energy in this range is measured as PAR - Photosynthetically Active Radiation.
Plants look green because they reflect most green light, and absorb most red and blue.
Plants therefore respond more to light from the RED and BLUE ends of the plant action spectrum.
PURple lamps have this ideal spectrum shaped the way plants "see" the light. (white curve) ( a little spike of green is left to allow US to see plants lit by PURple)

[SIZE=+1]PUR is the amount of the PAR that the plants use efficiently. [/SIZE]

Nlite™ lamps are made in 3 PUR colours. Plants change their growth response to different levels of these PUR colours :-
  • PURple - The Ultimate 100% PUR. Purple is perfect for all stages of plant growth, germination, root development, tuber and bulb formation and gives lots of internodal growth, and budsites. Great for orchids, cacti, ethnobotanicals, coral, sea plants etc. A small amount of NEAR UV ensures good production of essential oils - Great for Basil and other aromatic herbs.
  • BLUE. stimulates chlorophyll production more than any other colour, encouraging thick leaves, strong stems and compact vegatitive and leafy growth, keeps internodes close. Great for seedlings and cuttings. Perfect for plants cropped before flowering stage, such as lettuce and cress. With only blue light your plants stay short, and maturity takes much longer
  • RED encouages maturation of fruit and flowers towards the end of growth cycle. Use exclusively for the finishing period to maximise your fruit or flower yields. Perfect for flowers, peppers, and tomatoes. Too much red and no blue early on will S...t......r....e.......t.....c....h... your plants and increase internode distance.
(Blue and Red Nlites™ are available here)
(By contrast HPS lamps give out 100% PAR, but only 33% PUR ! mostly they give out green and yellow and harmful infra red)

We recommend greater than 50 watts of Nlite™per 30cm x 30cm (square foot) of horizontal canopy. Light distance can be as little as 3cm, the closer the better.



All Nlites™ are T5HO ! Thats 48% more light than standard T5.
Nlite™ Fluorescents have these Features and Benefits:-

  1. Low Power Operation , thus saving costs and earth resources
  2. Low working temperature allowing more light closer to your plants because of massive heat reduction.
    • 200W professional versions use separate ballasts to massively increase control over infra-red radiation (damages all plants), heat build-up, safety and humidity problems.
    • Seperate ballasts reduce future Economical and Environmental costs, only replacement lamps are needed. This significanly reduces replacement costs in subsequent grow cycles.
    • Separate ballasts increase light output, reduce electricity use. and run silently
  3. Plastic shell is made of recycled material.
  4. Reliable.
  5. 6 MONTH GUARANTEE against manufacturing defects.
  6. Best Quality well engineered PLANT fluorescent lamps.
  7. Compatible with ordinary E40 screw lighting fixture.

FAQS
What is Lumen output of these lamps ?
Though given, it is irrelevent ! Lumens are for Humans not plants ! Lumens measure how we see light. Our eyes prefer green light. Green light has the most Lumens, Red and Blue the least. Most fluorescent lamps are made to look bright for humans by adding huge spikes of greeny yellow light.
Lumens only measure how BRIGHT the light appears to us.
Lumens cannot measure light useful to plants - PUR

*What is the Kelvin colour temperature of these lamps ?
The Red and Blue lamps DO have a Kelvin colour specification, but the PURple™ does not.
The Kelvin color simply describes to which temperature a block of Carbon must be heated in order to match the apparent colour of the lamp.
It does not measure the Quantity OR Quality of the light for growing plants.
PURple™ does not appear in the Kelvin scale as it is a mix of TWO colours.

What is the CRI ?
CRI allows comparison between different lamps ability to render color, It measures how much the Red and Green and Blue reflected light, looks RIGHT to our eyes.
It does not measure the Quantity or Quality of light useful to plants - PUR
I'm not disagreeing with you or this analogy but to my understanding is, your saying don't worry about Lumens and get Purp color lighting, at least as an added color spectrum to your grow lighting situation. Post some pictures of grows aupporting this thesis; I am very interested! Especially because all the purple lighting that I have seen so far is around $7.00 for 100 watt's.

I've got this dank bag seed grow coming up; I'm pretty sure is a girl, got her scrogged out with like 27 bud stems, under CFL's because at the moment I'm on a budget. However In a month or two I'm gonna buy a 150 watt HPS Floralux and add it to the Box! Had several successful grow's so far with CFL's but I'm alway's interested in better ways to do things. If purple light has better specs I'm all for it, as knowing LED's have supposed better penetration.

Although, I found this thread stating in one thread that UVB specs are only good in short intervals and should be cut off completely after the trichome development has started to diminish or has gottin cloudy.

UVB Reptile Bulb
 
Color rating- Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum.

How much light is needed?
The minimum amount of light required by marijuana plants is around 3000 lumens per square foot. However, it's not 100% accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and reflectivity of the grow box. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens/sqft, and as long as the plants do not burn, as much light can be used as you want.
(*note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens/sqft, on a sunny summer day).

Determining lumens for your grow area:
Determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet)
If you have a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium, that produces (approx.) 107,000 lumens.
Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 / 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot.
So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of Sq ft, and thats your lumens per square foot.

How far away from my plants do the lights go?
The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much, unless there is sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings and clones, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these stages.

Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, as you can see below, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. A 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.

Approximate light production:
Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt
Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt
Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt

Incandescent lights: Incandescents are the most popular type of lights in the world. They may come advertised as incandescent, tungsten, quartz, halogen, or simply standard. The important thing about incandescents is this: they suck.
There are some incandescents which are sold as 'grow lights.' They usually have a blue coating and usually come in 60W and 120W sizes. While they may seem like a good choice to new growers, they are next to useless; they produce some light at a usable spectrum, but only have about a 5% efficiency and generate more heat than usable light. Most of us have these in our homes right now. Don't use them for growing, instead opt for a Compact Fluorescent as a cheaper but more efficient alternative.

Fluorescent lights: Fluorescents are a lot more useful than incandescents. Their efficient enough, and cheaper than HID lights. Compact fluorescent tubes are popular with growers because of their good output to size ratio. Compared to standard 4' tubes, compact fluorescent bulbs are smaller, and more can fit into a given area. Fluorescents are good for small grows on a tight budget, and for novice growers, since they do not require any special sort of wiring or understanding of the necessary bulbs for a given fixture, and are very widely available.
Fluorescent lights come in many different Kelvin ratings; often the spectrums are labeled on packaging as being 'cool white' or 'warm white.' Cool white is more blue, and is good for the vegetative stages of growth, and warm white light is more orange or reddish, and is best for the flowering stage.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lighting Systems:

Mercury Vapor (MV)
Mercury vapor lights are not the most efficient light for growing free online movies[/url]. They are very bright, and relatively cheap. They do emit light at the wavelengths necessary to support your plants growth, but not nearly as good as a MH or Hps light. Much of the light emitted by MV lights is bluish-white. Street lighting is what most MV lighting is used for.

Metal Halide (MH)
Metal halide lighting systems are optimal for use in the vegetative phase of growing. They emit mostly blue light, which encourages vigorous growth of foliage. They are very efficient, but can get rather expensive to start with; fluorescents may seem more appealing because of their lower price, and they are not much different when compared on a lumen-to-lumen cost level. These lights can be used through-out the grow, but will most likely result in light, fluffy buds.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
High pressure sodium lights emit mostly orange, yellow, and red spectrum light, which is perfect for the flowering stage of the plants growth. They are (in my opinion) the most efficient type of light available for any application. HPS lights can be used through-out the entire grow. They produce more dense and usually larger buds than any other light.
HPS lights are generally a little more expensive than MH systems of similar wattage. They are more commonly used by experienced growers because of their ability to produce tighter buds, higher lumen-output-per-watt, and will produce from start to finish.

I'll also add this graph below, i hope this post helps some of you out.

:leaf:


Great post! It's very nice. Thank you so much for your post.
 

chazbolin

Well-Known Member
There's a Dr. Tesla at the door and he's asking why he wasn't invited? What should I tell him?

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/401594-blue-dream-800w-induction-lights.html


Color rating- Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum.

How much light is needed?
The minimum amount of light required by marijuana plants is around 3000 lumens per square foot. However, it's not 100% accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and reflectivity of the grow box. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens/sqft, and as long as the plants do not burn, as much light can be used as you want.
(*note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens/sqft, on a sunny summer day).

Determining lumens for your grow area:
Determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet)
If you have a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium, that produces (approx.) 107,000 lumens.
Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 / 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot.
So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of Sq ft, and thats your lumens per square foot.

How far away from my plants do the lights go?
The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much, unless there is sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings and clones, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these stages.

Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, as you can see below, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. A 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.

Approximate light production:
Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt
Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt
Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt

Incandescent lights: Incandescents are the most popular type of lights in the world. They may come advertised as incandescent, tungsten, quartz, halogen, or simply standard. The important thing about incandescents is this: they suck.
There are some incandescents which are sold as 'grow lights.' They usually have a blue coating and usually come in 60W and 120W sizes. While they may seem like a good choice to new growers, they are next to useless; they produce some light at a usable spectrum, but only have about a 5% efficiency and generate more heat than usable light. Most of us have these in our homes right now. Don't use them for growing, instead opt for a Compact Fluorescent as a cheaper but more efficient alternative.

Fluorescent lights: Fluorescents are a lot more useful than incandescents. Their efficient enough, and cheaper than HID lights. Compact fluorescent tubes are popular with growers because of their good output to size ratio. Compared to standard 4' tubes, compact fluorescent bulbs are smaller, and more can fit into a given area. Fluorescents are good for small grows on a tight budget, and for novice growers, since they do not require any special sort of wiring or understanding of the necessary bulbs for a given fixture, and are very widely available.
Fluorescent lights come in many different Kelvin ratings; often the spectrums are labeled on packaging as being 'cool white' or 'warm white.' Cool white is more blue, and is good for the vegetative stages of growth, and warm white light is more orange or reddish, and is best for the flowering stage.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lighting Systems:

Mercury Vapor (MV)
Mercury vapor lights are not the most efficient light for growing. They are very bright, and relatively cheap. They do emit light at the wavelengths necessary to support your plants growth, but not nearly as good as a MH or Hps light. Much of the light emitted by MV lights is bluish-white. Street lighting is what most MV lighting is used for.

Metal Halide (MH)
Metal halide lighting systems are optimal for use in the vegetative phase of growing. They emit mostly blue light, which encourages vigorous growth of foliage. They are very efficient, but can get rather expensive to start with; fluorescents may seem more appealing because of their lower price, and they are not much different when compared on a lumen-to-lumen cost level. These lights can be used through-out the grow, but will most likely result in light, fluffy buds.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
High pressure sodium lights emit mostly orange, yellow, and red spectrum light, which is perfect for the flowering stage of the plants growth. They are (in my opinion) the most efficient type of light available for any application. HPS lights can be used through-out the entire grow. They produce more dense and usually larger buds than any other light.
HPS lights are generally a little more expensive than MH systems of similar wattage. They are more commonly used by experienced growers because of their ability to produce tighter buds, higher lumen-output-per-watt, and will produce from start to finish.

I'll also add this graph below, i hope this post helps some of you out.

:leaf:
 

Canibitual

Well-Known Member
Hey Guys, I got a funny question based on the inverse square law...

If I have a 4bulb t5ho (5k per bulb), is that 20K?, or is it just 5K spread out... (I have 2 of these on each side of a 3x3 table)

I've been reading different explanations of the square distance, and there are conflicting notes... some say 6inches away is 50% (t5ho) and some say 1ft is 50% less (HID) ... which is it?

now if I figure ...

they're combined at 20k, what's the lums at 1ft away... is it 10k?
they're not combined and only 5k what's the lums at 1ft away....is it only 2500?...

When My plants are small and the light is about 6inches or less away, the plants grow really well, but as soon as my table fills up with different size plants, then The lights are about 1ft away and they slow down...

I'm basically considering changeing the t5's out and moving a 400w Mh to my veg area as I think 400w of hps is going to make the plants grow faster/bigger with more lums... (it will be vented) it would prob have to be 1.5ft away though to spread light completely over the 3x3 table... but I think it will still have more light overall... what do you guys think?
 

highonbud

Active Member
This Forum really helped me out thank you for posting this great information that is helping in the creation of tomorrows Marijuana industry
 

realmeatdildo

Active Member
How Long Before the 600w HPS Bulbs Lumen Output Decays to Where it Needs Replacing?

I read the guide here that said the life of the 600 watt HPS was between 10,000 and 22,500 hours which translates to about 2.5 -5 years @ 12/12.

However, I also read somewhere that the lumen output decays far more quickly than that and that it would be a good idea to replace bulbs after about 1 year because otherwise they are putting out fewer useable lumens and just producing heat and light without 'the juice'.

Does anyone have any idea about this, please?
 

Stalwart

Well-Known Member
I tell yah what just lookin at that chart with the lumen/watt ratio for LPS makes me wonder what is wrong with them again?
 

chazbolin

Well-Known Member
LPS would be one of the worst choices for growing. These lamps are considered monochromatic. The dull yellow is a result of the lamp only producing light in the 580 nm range. If you look at the radiometric light output on a graph the lamp only produces one narrow tall peak in that range. Plant pigments ignore this spectrum in search of 610-720 nm ranges for flowering.

LPS is actually a good example why lumen/watt ratios are meaningless when discussing proper plant lighting.


I tell yah what just lookin at that chart with the lumen/watt ratio for LPS makes me wonder what is wrong with them again?
 

bonman

Member
you need a good light? go to any large construction site and steal a 400w mh wobble light. they are all over large site.
Since you've let everyone on this board know you are a thief,
why don't you just make things easier on yourself and steal your pot instead of stealing the equipment to
grow it !

Geeze, What a low low life!
 
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