Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi
This is a, 31*31cm 225 red/blue 14w led. £20 on E bay.
It’s cold grey and wet here.
I want it for seed germination.
Could I have spent my money in a better way?
Titus

Hi Titus,

Being cold there the LED's probably weren't a good choice from a radiant heat (or lack of it) point of view.

Also, not all LED's are created equal, if fact far from it, and the old saying "You get what you pay for" has never been more applicable. I don't sell them, but I've had a bit to do with LED's through my store for many years now and there are only a couple of brands that I would recommend, they aren't cheap and to be effective you need an array that uses approximately 50% of the power that a HID light (HPS & Metal halide) would use over that same area. For example, for the area you have there I would've recommended the following 120w unit, and at nearly $600 + postage, it's not cheap:

https://www.hydrogrowled.com/84X-PRO--- ... 84C60.aspx

That array is suitable for not only germination, but can be used for growing veggies indoors right through to harvest. If you want something just for germinating and getting seedlings to a few inches then maybe a 125w or 130w Compact Fluoro (CFL) would be more suitable pricewise and would also provide a small amount of radiant heat.

LEDs have a lot of cool factor, but there are a lot of lamps that will be pretty disappointing out there. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation and aggressive marketing of LED fixtures right now as well. LEDs properly occupy at best a niche market at the moment, mostly for propagation (seedlings or clones). Full grow lamps that can produce robust fruiting need to be AT LEAST 3 watts per LED, and ideally 5. Good LEDs that can compete with HID lighting are really expensive, and the more you save the more you'll probably decide LEDs are bunk. This would be an unfortunate over-generalization, but as Damage said they really do need to be very carefully selected to be truly comparable. One would need to become familiar with comparing not only spectrum and lumens but intensity, penetration, manufacturing process (a lot of fixtures that seem great on specs turn out to be poorly built, causing premature diode failure or inability to meet specs in reality), and a lot more.

I'll agree with the others.

However, since you've already bought them, and have them seeded and setup. Can you post progress shots of the seedlings? If they go leggy? Or just die out?

I'm curious about how they go.

I tried to grow some seedlings with the wrong sort of LED light I had lying around, they did worse than when they were in complete darkness, started to sprout, almost sent out the first few leaves, then dropped and died .

Thanks Colum for bringing us 'round to "helpful" . Yes with your setup I'd recommend bringing the lights much closer to the seedlings so they don't get leggy and weak. I suppose it's reasonable to offset it so only one row is close at first on the off chance that your lamps are strong enough to burn them.

Hi
In the interests of scientific accuracy the neon sign is only illuminated during opening hours.
Titus
PS other beers are available

Why is there a sign for cheap American beer in UK? Hope you did not pay too much for it.

I recently ordered some led lights for my indoor system. I ordered them based on amazon reviews. They were 50watt 3 band LEDs for $70 each.the setup is by a window, but I need more light. I will post the results I get from them.

Hi
I could not resist the photo to give you the wider picture.
Thank you for your responses.
I guess it’s all about compromise. I was germinating seeds out doors in good weather and windowsill in, not so good.
Leggy and bending to the light.
Mr Damage. I remember reading one of your posts where you said LED were only good for germination. 100% you get what you pay for.
All my growbeds ( 200 + 60+40+40) are outside. I have HD plastic curtains.
I have no plans at present to grow indoors under lights.

The watercress seeds were planted last friday 10/10/14 ; day1 (no light)
When dealing with very small seeds I use a wet ended plastic chop stick.
Approx 10 seeds per pot.
PH adjusted to 6.6
Day 2 sun shining 12 hrs sun light
Day 3 windowsill
Day 4 windowsill
Day 5 50% windowsill 50% LED
Day 6 12 hrs LED
Day 7 12 hrs LED

On day 5 I added spring onion and leek seeds

The seeds are 16 cms from the light source
They are in an unheated but insulated shed at approx a fairly constant 15*C

Should I increase the hours of LED light?
Titus

Hi Ron
ERm erm My wife liked the colour
Titus
other beers are available

Hi
Off topic
Other signs are available!
It's a man room!
I believe that in the USA you call them ; dens'
Titus

Or man cave.

What's a fishporter?

I watched a documentary on the billingsgate fish market recently. Fish porters were licenced operators who moved the fish around the market. I believe they were recently abolished

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billingsgate_Fish_Market


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Well storing fish in a closet does seem a little ill-advised.