Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone tried thes lights?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_66826-3-14842_4 ... g_rating|1

I'm also looking at a T5 bulb or LED.

My set up is only 2 ft^2

I think you'd be hard pressed growing a small pot full of bean sprouts under that globe!



That's 6 lumens per watt!... as an example a 400w HPS lamp puts out around 140 lumens per watt... and a 130w CFL puts out about 55-60 Lumens per watt, at least that's what I've been told by the distributors.

A 130w CFL would be okay in that area, 6400k for vegetative plants and 2700k for fruiting plants.

Until now I've never been a big fan of LED's... after getting burned a few years back importing a few sets of the "leading brand on the market".

However, some of my customers have been keeping up to speed with the latest generations, all have been failures... until recently... a customer bought in a set made by "Hydro Grow", they are a 126w unit, which he uses in an area approximately 2ft x 3ft... and he's getting brilliant results for vegetative plants... the jury is still out on fruiting plants.

At this point in time I wouldn't buy ANY other brand... especially the no-name brand ebay "cheapies"... they are only suitable for lighting your dunny... trust me, I know of scores of people that have bought them.

They do an 84w unit which is recommended for a 2ft x 2ft area: http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Penetrator-84X-PRO-LED-Grow-Light-P84.aspx

Correction!... sorry... I've just checked the technical specs for the LED's mentioned in my last post… because upon recalling a conversation I had with him about his LED's, the wattage I quoted didn't sound right.

The model number for the unit he is using in the 3ft x 2ft area is a 126X, but that's not the wattage, supposedly it has been tested at 200w.

The smaller unit recommended for the 2ft x 2ft area is called an 84X, it has been tested at 130w

As good as those sound they are still waaaaaaaay out I my price range. What I've understood about lighting is that they serve to purposes. To get an amount of heat to the plant as well as deliver the redand green wave lengths to them. And low cost ideas that will supply these two? Maybe a purple light with a reflector?

I would have thought that LEDs for aquarium/reef would be more expensive due to it being a smaller industry. A 72watt LED fixture with high-end Cree bulbs only run around 300-400 range for aquarium, a bit more for those with built in controllers. There

If you are interested in LEDs I would suggest DIY. It’s very simple, all you have to do is buy a driver and connect LEDs to it. I’ve done it, only took about an hour with correct parts. A 72watt strip with Cree bulbs only ran me about $110 complete.

An advantage to DIY is that you can space the bulbs out to your needs. Those ready made fixtures tend to cluster the bulbs so you don’t get an even spread through out the grow area. The most light will generally be directly under the fixture. I’ve taken par readings; the lost in par is substantial just inches outside of the fixture. Another advantage is you don’t have to raise the fixture high above the plant to spread the light.

I got my parts from this site. http://rapidled.com/

You can also try Par38 bulbs which is cheaper but I don’t know if they are made in spectrum needed for green plants.

Are there any sites that show spectrum if bulbs?

I recall seeing a document from cree with engineering specs somewhere; I would check there website.

The easiest way to go about putting on together is looking at existing fixtures and using the same bulb combination. The easiest way to go about putting on together is looking at existing fixtures and using the same bulbs combination. Cree is the standard for high end fixtures for reef aquariums. Dimmers can also be used to adjust the spectrum.