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Grow light advice

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Foxtrot7

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I just completed a 3 x 6 indoor grow with 5 autos in super soil & totally organic. Had some issues with meg deficiency with two plants. Environment was spot on. Two Miezhi 600w lights. Very low yield...131 dry grams. Dinafem genetics.

I think the light had a lot to do with the low yield. thinking of either adding an Optic 4 for my next grow (4 x 8) or selling the two Miezhi's and getting one quality light at a reasonable cost. I just cant do a $1000 light.

Any advice would be great.
 
I've got a little SolarSystem 275 in my 3' x 3' tent that's working well, I like it. But if I had a do over I'd buy a 315 ceramic light. I run the SolarSystem with the spectrum controller according to the recommendations on the California Lightworks website.

I got about 5 Oz off this Humboldt Blue Dream last summer in a 60 liter DWC setup. Clone went in the tent March 14. Harvest was mid June

My next light is going to be a small LEC or some supplemental fluorescent that throw UVB. I think the LED UVB spectrum lights might have a way to go, but that's just based on what I've read, not experience.
 

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If the grow space can be vented easily, HID is without a doubt the answer. If you have issues with venting and temp control, like in small tents, LEDs work great. With the yield trade off, comes a substantial power and operating cost saving. You'll never have to replace your LED light, but a HID bulb will only get you though a few cycles. For a commercial grower, the costs might not be relevant, but for a personal grow, it matters. $$$
 
Never have to replace the LED? Funny, I was replacing diodes left and right. Even had to replace a power drive on mine once.
With cheap LED lights, there is no operation power cost savings. You must be thinking about gas discharge lights. I would agree with that, but he specifically said he didn’t want to spend a grand on efficient LED lights. So there goes any perceived efficiency out the door.
You believe costs are not relevant to commercial growers? With these taxes and competition from the black market, commercial growers have to be more cost efficient than ever before.
Yes, a cheap $20 bulb will get you through a grow or two. A $60 bulb from digilux or hortilux are guaranteed by the manufacturer dot to degrade a bit for a year from purchase.
If you consider all start up costs plus operational costs LED’s are hard to justify. That’s why most professional growers choose HID as the work horse and LED as supplemental.
 
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Love the discussion if I may say from personnel experience and being a "hobby grower" who enjoys a decent yield. I run 2 450 viparspectars now in a 38x38x72 have had very good results for under 300.00 for both. One lasted 3yrs only blew out last winter do to power surge several times during storms driver gone. But the other one is still doing well and I purchased another new one. I have been pleased with the ease and cost of using this brand. But it's all up to Foxtrot7 the new LEC seem to be very popular, changes rapidly now a days with legalization. I am totally bound by $$$ for my rec. grows. Good luck which ever you choose.
 
Wow...thanks for all the great info. I was considering HPS or HID but as mentioned a little worried about excessive heat/cost. I'll do some research on LEC. The research continues...
 
Steep learning curve, isn't it? Your yield kinda reflects the amount of light you are supplying with the pair of Meizhi's. I think they are about 250 watts/fixture so you're only spreading about 27 watts/ sq ft of pretty inefficient diodes. That's about 1/2 the amount of power those fixtures will need to get the job done in your space.
I'd take a really good look at a pair of 315w CMH fixtures.
 
so, i use 1 MEIZHI 600 and 1 Viparspectra 600 AND a 600 watt HPS, in the same tent, led on 1 side hps on the other....the LEDs have a lower yield than the HPS, heres the thing though, i grow every single way there is, i have no till runs, coco runs, organic bottled nute runs, DWC runs, even RDWC....when your doing totally organic, your yield is gonna be lower, its not so much the lights fault, ive pulled 12 OZs out of the LED side of my tent on 4 plants using coco and bottled nutes, same goes for the HPS side of my tent, the organic yield is always way lower....but its more than the LED, but then again so is the electric bill.....this comes down to the main question, why are you growing?? are you growing just for you or is quantity you goal? and how much quanitity is needed, if your needing alot more bud then HPS, with a good nute line such as canna or advanced or if you wanna stay organic as possible aurora soul will blow you mind, some numbers as high as 32 oz depending on strain....but if your looking for around 6 to 10 ozs then that LED you have will do the job, i would look at Pro-mix with aurora soul, or use a lighter soil that doesnt have as much nutes and bottle feed earlier.
 
A watt is a watt is a watt. This can directly be converted into BTU. It describes a unit of energy per amount of time. LED, LEC, HID all adhere to these same principals. The amount of watts used is directly related to the amount of heat produced, period. All the garbage about LED’s being more efficient with creating photons from electricity is mostly hype (unless we are talking over $1000 per light efficiency does not apply) The cheap LED fixtures are not very efficient at all. No matter what that manufacturer has claimed.
LEC is nicer because it’s gas discharge, but still less efficient than HPS.
LED has better heat sink technology. True! But the air cooled technology out cools the heat sink technology by far.
I suggest a simple air cooled HID, with a MH for veg and HPS for flower. Go double ended bulb set up if you can afford it.
If you do go, LEC expect to pay a bit more for starting up. But they do have some sexy air cooled LEC technology out now.
LED, expect to pay the most. Or suffer the consequences in final yield. Been there, done that.
Hope this helps you make your decision.
 
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