led light question?

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depetreono

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I'm ganna be setting up a veg/clone/mother plant tent, and I was considering going with led for this bc of its extremely low electricity usage. Has any used LED lighting for this? And how much heat do LED's produce? And what's there effective distance? Bc it will need to support a mother.
Any real knowledge on this will be helpful and if you have done it before how does it compare to t5?
 
I haven't messed with the LEDs myself but I have done a lot of research on them and I have some some experimentation with T5s. I think the LEDs are cool and can be used for vegging but in my opinion, the cost of them to get what you need for the plants is not worth it.

The key that I think a lot of people don't understand is that MJ is a very high energy plant. It needs a lot more light energy than many other plants in order to grow healthy and to its potential. And right now I believe the most efficient lighting(meaning the most lumens per watt) is the T5HO bulb. And even with the most efficient lights sources, "Watts equal energy", so if you take LEDs to use for plants, they may put out the best and most useful spectrum of light that the plants are able to use, they still don't pu out enough light energy for the plants' needs.

In order to have the potential needs met for high energy plants, you would have to spend a lot of money getting litterally hundreds of LEDs in order to achieve the light energy needed by the plants. That's not to say that LEDs will not work, but what you are doing in essence with LEDs is giving less light energy but in a focused beam of light which will only work for the smaller plants or for a set of plants with a thin canopy. It all comes down to watts. When the LED manufacturers can make 10watt LEDs that cost $5 a piece instead of $50 a piece, then we will be able to say the LED panels are the way to go. Until then the T5HO6500k floro is the way to go for vegging. :)
 
I read a 250w led setup can replace a 600w hps/mh. I seen online for around 200-300 dollars. That's what I was leaning towards. Do led produce less heat then t5? And between the two which has the farthest range of usable light? There are a couple things I'm looking dor. It's ganna be continued grow so I want energy and heat as small as possible.
 
THERE'S no way a 250watt LED has better light penetration then a 600watt hps, let alone a 250watt hps.
 
7greeneyes said:
THERE'S no way a 250watt LED has better light penetration then a 600watt hps, let alone a 250watt hps.

I never said it did. I said it is an equivalent to 600w. In usable light is what I read. Bc it uses electricity more effectively. I asked what its penetration was. I don't want to use mh/hps for this bc of the heat. I will for flowering bc I can vent it better.
 
You can certainly try it and see how it does. Test it out and let us know how well it works :)
 
I bet if you hook it up to a watt meter to the LED unit that it will be no where near 250w... and thats even with the fans running...

Do more research... your being swept up by the HYPE...
 
How far can a t5 setup penetrate. I thought cfl is only about 12" of effective light.
 
depetreono said:
I never said it did. I said it is an equivalent to 600w. In usable light is what I read. Bc it uses electricity more effectively. I asked what its penetration was. I don't want to use mh/hps for this bc of the heat. I will for flowering bc I can vent it better.

You're reading hype from someone wanting you to buy their product.
 
my LEDs (90watt ufos) work just as well, maybe better, still debating that, than my new t5 system.

they work great for veg, 4-6 weeks, after that you need something else. they are absolutly terrible for flowering.
 
depetreono said:
How far can a t5 setup penetrate. I thought cfl is only about 12" of effective light.

T5s are not cfls.... T5's are high output flourecents... Ive had no problems veggin plants to 2+ feet with T5s...
 
depetreono said:
I read a 250w led setup can replace a 600w hps/mh. I seen online for around 200-300 dollars...

That is simply not true. I do not believe that a 250W LED can replace a 250W HPS, let alone a 600W. Do not believe the hype from those selling LEDs.

I believe that many believe that if they can get the heat down, they do not need ventilation. This is also not true. You need ventilation regardless of the type of light you are using and the heat it is producing. Plants need a continual supply of fresh CO2 all the time the lights are on for proper photosynthesis.

T5s are high output tubes and really cannot be compared to CFLs. The T5s put out about the same lumens per watt as a MH--most MH are 90 lumens per watt, T5s are 92 lumens per watt.
 
The LED waters are full of unscrupulous people trying to pawn their cheap units off as the more expensive units IMO.....first sign you shld watch your wallet is when they make outrageous claims like a 250 watt led replaces a 600w HPS. Jmo
 
The 250watt replacing a 600watt wasn't from a company selling it. It was from website giving information on led for grow reasons and compairing electric cost. The price I found was from going to amazon and typing in 250watt led grow light.

And I know I need ventilation regardless of light. But I live in a very hot climate and good ventilation doesn't mean less heat especially in a tent. I understand a lot of ppl are against led for grow. But I'm just trying to find facts and get info from actual use of it to make my desicion. If I don't feel comfortable with led I'm not investing in it amd will go with t5. I'm doing thay research now.
 
PuffinNugs said:
my LEDs (90watt ufos) work just as well, maybe better, still debating that, than my new t5 system.

they work great for veg, 4-6 weeks, after that you need something else. they are absolutly terrible for flowering.

That would be perfect! I'm ganna buy a tent to set up a perpetual grow. Using the tent as my veg/mother room. How many plants can you run off that? And what did it cost you.
 

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