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Should I use UV strip lights or UV T8 flourecent tubes to suppliment my SIL setup

Red October

Active member
Hey guys, I'm about to add some UV lights to my setup and need some input which is the better route to go, the cost between the UV strip lights and the T8 Florescents is negligible, so that's not a concern.

I'm not finding any discussions specifically about UV type lighting and would appreciate a bit of a guiding hand here.

So far the plants are doing good, they're 3 weeks into flower now and I'm getting really high PPFD readings using my samsung s10 as a meter, the cost for proper LED growlights is extremely high here and that's just not something I can afford at the moment.


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Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
I used one T8 fixture as side lighting and was pretty happy with the way it shined white light on the plant's buds. The light is a 4ft, and 4 bulb T8 fixture. Heres photos
 

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Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
The main difference between LED and fluorescent lights is LEDs shoot a beam like a spotlight and fluorescent send light out like a floodlight. Spotlighting from the side is mostly a waste of light where floodlighting saturates the area with protons. 😎
 

Red October

Active member
I used one T8 fixture as side lighting and was pretty happy with the way it shined white light on the plant's buds. The light is a 4ft, and 4 bulb T8 fixture. Heres photos

Thanks man, yeah I am leaning more towards using the t8 fixtures, the lack of UV is bothering me in the back of my mind the whole time so I'd rather just do something to fix it and get it done with.
 

dlxtpnuo

Active member
Save your cash. Save up for a new state-of-the-art LED lamp with as much lumens as possible, or use High Pressure Sodium (HPS) for flowering. In my opinion, SIL's are ok for vegging. But look at your height gain. In the old days this would have been relatively good. Nowdays, growers claim much shorter squatter plants at this growth stage. In short you need more lumens to reach the lower branches to get a decent yield. State of the art LED growers claim to produce much shorter plants which helps you with this problem. The greatly increased lumens of state-of-the-art LED's produces more yields and resin too. SIL's are a good idea for newbs, but are not really the be-and-end-all of growing. For a start they increase stretching. You could benefit from using more blue SIL's, and this will give you more vegging time. However, my plants went into flower at about this height under blue SIL's, a bit like auto-flowers. The better lamp you can buy will be beneficial. Instead of perpetial small grows, you can get bigger yields less often. :biggrin:
 

Red October

Active member
My air exchange won't allow for 1000w hid lamps, that's what I did want to do but it's not possible, at 45cm from the lamps I'm getting just over 1000ppfd and at 75cm I'm getting 700 ppfd over most of the canopy, I hear you on the led lights but they are very overpriced here at around $1000 for a 650w, to do what I did here costs around $200 and there will be 4 tables on castors when it's done.
 
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dlxtpnuo

Active member
A tall grow tent is beneficial. Many manufacturers like Gorilla tents are now offering tents over 2.3m (no affiliation). You need room for hybrid plants to reach their natural height, without all-that complicated manicuring bull. You also need to allow room at the top for lights too, with at least 30cm gap (or more) between the lights and plants. Invest in a watering system too, but this also adds quite a lot of height to the setup.

 

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
LED UV strips just aren't where they should be yet. Go for tubes, but don't bother with aquarium type lights. You really only need to use them 2-3 weeks before harvest.
 

dlxtpnuo

Active member
Here is a hydroponic watering system made from a wide storage box. I think this guy has overdone things a bit. But their low and wide storage box adds less height to the setup (than taller storage boxes). A simple hose from a water pump to a large garden-tray with a SMALL hole in it, creates flood-and-drain. Don't forget to allow for overflows, which may be minimal if the timer is set to about 1 minute per watering. Water pumps are also highly adjustable. Sit your plants in the flooded tray, and the water is absorbed upwards into the pots. A simple electronic timer switches the water pump on & off at intervals from 1 minute. Hold the nutrients, as compost already has too many nutes for cannabis. To stop over nutrient release, mix half (or less) pure peat or coir with half compost. 80% peat / 20% compost mix is ok. Better still, go fully hydroponic, which is much more forgiving. Two or three plants can use 750mls to 1 litre of water a day (or two) when fully grown and in flower. Hope this helped. :biggrin:

 

dlxtpnuo

Active member
Here is an example of good water pump (not affilliated) available anywhere in the UK, including UK B&Q stores hozelock-mains-powered-fountain-feature-water-pump Here is the hose too, but I am sure you can get this much cheaper, and I cannot guarantee the fit of this one hozelock-hose-pipe-l-3m Don't get a water pump that is too small. This water pump has good capacity with adjustable flow, from virtually nil flow to about 11 litres per minute. To make the basic setup above, just need to buy a peice of hose. As this water pump comes with a handy removable outlet, this makes it easy to fit a suitable peice of hose from a DIY store. :biggrin:

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Red October

Active member
LED UV strips just aren't where they should be yet. Go for tubes, but don't bother with aquarium type lights. You really only need to use them 2-3 weeks before harvest.

Thank you I appreciate that, I went with the tubes, had to go to the hardware store and they had the ballasts on special so took it as a sign😅
 

Red October

Active member
Here is a hydroponic watering system made from a wide storage box. I think this guy has overdone things a bit. But their low and wide storage box adds less height to the setup (than taller storage boxes). A simple hose from a water pump to a large garden-tray with a SMALL hole in it, creates flood-and-drain. Don't forget to allow for overflows, which may be minimal if the timer is set to about 1 minute per watering. Water pumps are also highly adjustable. Sit your plants in the flooded tray, and the water is absorbed upwards into the pots. A simple electronic timer switches the water pump on & off at intervals from 1 minute. Hold the nutrients, as compost already has too many nutes for cannabis. To stop over nutrient release, mix half (or less) pure peat or coir with half compost. 80% peat / 20% compost mix is ok. Better still, go fully hydroponic, which is much more forgiving. Two or three plants can use 750mls to 1 litre of water a day (or two) when fully grown and in flower. Hope this helped. :biggrin:



Thanks man, im trying a flood and drain system on a 4x4 ft grow tray using Coco and perlite and so far it seems good, I have to flush once a week to keep salt build up away but the plants seem to enjoy it. This is the first time for me not growing in soil and it's been way less work intensive
 

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
Couple hours at the end is all you need. More than that and you get substantial diminishing returns.

Contrary to popular belief, UV only enhances terpenes and flavor for hydro flowers. If you don't harvest at the right time of day, you'll lose the benefit. Not completely, but if you're looking to max it out, then be aware of it. For example, terpene production is at it's peak just before light ON. At dawn. So an early morning harvest is best. I grew a couple plants in the house this fall and I'd wake up at 3-4AM every single day by the intense smell of skunk. It was so strong, I could taste it. Pissed the wife off completely.


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Red October

Active member
Couple hours at the end is all you need. More than that and you get substantial diminishing returns.

Contrary to popular belief, UV only enhances terpenes and flavor for hydro flowers. If you don't harvest at the right time of day, you'll lose the benefit. Not completely, but if you're looking to max it out, then be aware of it. For example, terpene production is at it's peak just before light ON. At dawn. So an early morning harvest is best. I grew a couple plants in the house this fall and I'd wake up at 3-4AM every single day by the intense smell of skunk. It was so strong, I could taste it. Pissed the wife off completely.



Thanks again TychoMonolyth, will the UV black light bulbs suffice or is there something better to use in the ballasts?
 

Peg

New member
https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600389200196/UV-IR-Separately-Contorl-Kingbrite-120W.html

I'm replacing my entire room.. Wiring about a million of the fuckers straight to the power lines unless someone talks me out of it. Checked every Marijuana grow forum for feedback before I send my Biden bucks to China. Found nothing. Don't know shit about light myself. Weed forums don't know shit, unless it's an old story from a crackhead. Like always. Guess I'll be the guy to find out. Like always. Boron levels and ambient temps are so fucking high the plants are evolving into new species. Is this enough UV to limit that? Who the fuck knows. Guess I'll become a light specialist. Maybe they'll send me a couple dozen for free if I grow some cool purple American weed on youtube.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600389200196/UV-IR-Separately-Contorl-Kingbrite-120W.html

I'm replacing my entire room.. Wiring about a million of the fuckers straight to the power lines unless someone talks me out of it. Checked every Marijuana grow forum for feedback before I send my Biden bucks to China. Found nothing. Don't know shit about light myself. Weed forums don't know shit, unless it's an old story from a crackhead. Like always. Guess I'll be the guy to find out. Like always. Boron levels and ambient temps are so fucking high the plants are evolving into new species. Is this enough UV to limit that? Who the fuck knows. Guess I'll become a light specialist. Maybe they'll send me a couple dozen for free if I grow some cool purple American weed on youtube.

I believe it might be you with the cracked head. Coming back to tell us we don't know shit again. It's not Boron, its Boring. Yes, go and find something out that's worth showing a picture of.



LED's can barely make it out of the visible spectrum, while still calling themselves a meaningful proposition. So bad is the situation, that some have used UV LED to aid the blue end of the spectrum. Knowing as the light interacts with material, it's wave gets longer. So it wouldn't be UV once in the canopy.

I'm not sure what is meant to be wrong with reptile lamps. What is better?
 

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600389200196/UV-IR-Separately-Contorl-Kingbrite-120W.html

I'm replacing my entire room.. Wiring about a million of the fuckers straight to the power lines unless someone talks me out of it. Checked every Marijuana grow forum for feedback before I send my Biden bucks to China. Found nothing. Don't know shit about light myself. Weed forums don't know shit, unless it's an old story from a crackhead. Like always. Guess I'll be the guy to find out. Like always. Boron levels and ambient temps are so fucking high the plants are evolving into new species. Is this enough UV to limit that? Who the fuck knows. Guess I'll become a light specialist. Maybe they'll send me a couple dozen for free if I grow some cool purple American weed on youtube.
You'd get more UV on a window sill.
 
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