First Grow: Lights

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by SmellyBongRips, Dec 21, 2012.

  1. CFL's seem to be slow growing as well, all the LED and HID grow journals have so much more growth right off the bat. I'm using CFL's currently and they are working but it has been real slow going for me which is why I jumped an bought the LED. It should be here in about 2 weeks since he sent the order today for it to get built. The Apollo is very affordable I got a 375watt model that has more usable PAR then most 600-1000watt HID lighting for $397 shipped. It has a nice cooling system and everything built in to the unit. Customer service seems good other than a little broken English since they are Chinese.
     
  2. #42 aj69420g, Dec 25, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 25, 2012
    Very nice! I would use LEDs myself but as an electrician, I couldnt trust LED the technologies too new still idc how many successful grows there are. Light Emitting Diodes were originally intended as indication lamps that use little to no power. Now they retrofit them and the circuitry behind them to use lots of power and be for long term use.

    Just knowing how its all put together makes me nervous about them. Cause if 1 capacitor bulges you lose a whole section of diodes. and when they go out, they go out in the base system they were wired in parallel to add the voltage to its operational draw.

    Theres just too many little parts for me to trust chinese made electronics. plus once a part goes, its not plug n play like ballast lamps and sockets. your whole 375$ is shot..

    If you want Higher Photosynthetic Active/Available radiation, simply do what I did. Order a 600w bloomerang MH, & A 600w Lumatek High Par HPS Bulb

    Plus i see 300w LEDs putting out only 27,000 lumens. which means your 375w cant be more than 40,000 lumens. I got my lightsetup for 90$ on craigslist from another medicinal grower.

    My bloomerang MH 600w puts out 70,000 lumens at 6400k. Which according to my chlorophyll chart it gives mt 45-55% Chlorophyll Activity. Which isnt bad for a 45$ bulb. Plus most cheaper bulbs barely get 10-15% and people dont even know it.

    The High par HPS bulb I already have is 2500k, 99,000 lumens. Which can provide 55-65% Chlorophyll activity I have about 600$ in the grow in my signature. You just gotta know what to spend the money on. PAR is not that big of a factor in plant growth, as say A cell reproduction, chlorophyll or C02 enrichment.

    [​IMG]
    I just dont see LED being comparable to HID. as far as overall grow usage.
     
  3. This apollo light is all assembled with plug and play modules. If you have an issue for the first 3 years parts are covered after that you have to pay, but they have everything available. You also only lose one panel with 15 leds if there is an issue and I will still have the other 7 working so the light isn't worthless. The member who gave me all the info on this light already addressed my concern about that because I wire LED's into car clusters as a hobby and I am familiar with all the technology and wiring as well. All the info is on Cidly.com if you are interested in just reading about them.

    I also had someone explain to me that lumens are a worthless rating and PAR pulls the individual wavelengths that the plant uses for those processes and although the LED as less lumens almost every bit of the light it emits is usable to the plant. With HPS and MH the plants can only use about 10% of the light thats coming out the rest is in worthless wavelengths to the plant.
     
  4. Oh I wasnt intending to make you think they were worthless. I just dont know enough about them applied to growing. My apologies mate. Will do.

    You have a journal? I'd like to follow it and use the information towards a future grow if ya dont mind. need to expaand
     
  5. I have just a bullshit one for my CFL's, once the Apollo shows up I will make a new thread so I can organize it nicely. I'll post a link in here or PM you a link once I get it set-up.
     
  6. update:

    went away for about 2 days (watered before i went away) and came back noticing they were stretching really bad.

    added 2 more 100w CFLs today.


    thanks for advise so far.
     

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  7. haha. that stretch aint too bad. how old are they in the pic? about a week?
     
  8. Oh ok good.

    Yes about a week is right.
     
  9. Smelly bong rips, 95% of the lumens off each CFL Bulb luminates from the side of the swirls. Not the top as you have them hanging vertically. They need to be horizontal. best way is to counter weight the bulb and support it from the center, so it stays horizontally balanced.

    EDIT: & remember, keep the side of the bulb 3-4 inches from the tops of the plants
     
  10. Update:

    changed things around a bit.

    temp. 81F, humidity 38%.

    any recommendations on getting temp a little lower and humidity higher? (i believe its supposed to be 50-60%?)

    (note: there are probably a couple different strains in there thats why some look different.)

    i do not want to keep all of these i only want to keep like 2 but im waiting to see which ones are male..?
     

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  11. old computer fans, & and old cell phone chargers. match the voltage and you have a cheapo exhaust fan.

    lights need to hang like this man
    [​IMG]
     
  12. any suggestions on which ones i should keep and get rid of? still to early to tell?
     
  13. too many plants for not enough of the wrong lighting. i wouldnt have germed so many knowing i only have enough light for 1 plant.
     
  14. Only did it for the purpose of making sure I have at least one female.

    Perhaps I should go ahead and narrow it down to 3?
     
  15. way too early. if you want, you can switch the lighting schedule to 12/12 for about 2 weeks until the plants show their sex, get rid of the males (unless you want to breed a lot of seeds) and then switch back to 18/6 to veg longer.

    or you can switch to 12/12 now and keep it that way, and have buds in 8 weeks from some mini plants, like im doing
     
  16. He is right I concur.
     
  17. any suggestions as to why there are saggy leaves?

    also is it still too early to tell male/female?
     

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  18. they dont look droopy, they look good

    youll be able to tell male/female 2 weeks into 12/12 light cycle.

    unless you have an auto strain. then im not sure
     
  19. They actually look really healthy for having such low lumens. I don't know how you have kept them this healthy. How old now?
     
  20. #60 SmellyBongRips, Jan 3, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2013
    approx. 10 days.

    just added a 5th 1650lumen (100w equiv.)

    keeping humidity 40-50% 18/6hr temp. 75-81
     

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