LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

**polyarcturus** · 07-15-2012, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by hyroot

The zoo med flora suns have more 660nm band than any other part of the spectrum. The guiesseman flora suns have more 630nm than any other part of the spectrum.

your right smoking out my ears. do'h

**Fonzarelli** · 07-15-2012, 10:58 PM

You were right, my Red Sun fixture is rocking the shit right now! In my 8 lamp fixture I got 4 Red Sun, 2 Blue Plus for the 460nm, and 2 Flora Sun for VEG and it is fucking growing amazing! Holy fucking shit, this is so cool! This combo is a keeper as it is the best I've seen so far. The leaves are all standing and reaching completely vertical. Putting an inch of growth a day in my F and D table! Glad I gave it a try! Thank you for the suggestions. So I will be able to do a comparison between the UVL 660 and the Red Suns as I have equal proportions in both fixtures. 4 UVL 660nm, 2 Blue Plus, 2 Flora Suns in one and 4 Red Suns, 2 Blue Plus, 2 Flora Suns in the other. Game on time!

I really think this is the perfect amount of red to blue for a veg setup. It's pretty much between 2:1 and 3:1 red to blue.

Peace

**Fonzarelli** · 07-16-2012, 12:26 AM

Advanced Lighting Spectrums for T5 Floro and LED

**novice11** · 07-16-2012, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Fonzarelli

You were right, my Red Sun fixture is rocking the shit right now! In my 8 lamp fixture I got 4 Red Sun, 2 Blue Plus for the 460nm, and 2 Flora Sun for VEG and it is fucking growing amazing! Holy fucking shit, this is so cool! This combo is a keeper as it is the best I've seen so far. The leaves are all standing and reaching completely vertical. Putting an inch of growth a day in my F and D table! Glad I gave it a try! Thank you for the suggestions. So I will be able to do a comparison between the UVL 660 and the Red Suns as I have equal proportions in both fixtures. 4 UVL 660nm, 2 Blue Plus, 2 Flora Suns in one and 4 Red Suns, 2 Blue Plus, 2 Flora Suns in the other. Game on time!

I really think this is the perfect amount of red to blue for a veg setup. It's pretty much between 2:1 and 3:1 red to blue.

Peace

Questions:

(1) Which Flora Suns - Zoo Med or Guiesseman ?

(2) What will you go to for Bloom?

Thanks.

**Fonzarelli** · 07-16-2012, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by novice11

Questions:

(1) Which Flora Suns - Zoo Med or Guiesseman ?

(2) What will you go to for Bloom?

Thanks.

Zoomed are the only Florasuns. You are thinking of aquaflora or something from giesemann.

I use a 5:1 red/blue ratio for bloom. Doesn't matter what brand lamp they are.

**novice11** · 07-17-2012, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Fonzarelli

Zoomed are the only Florasuns. You are thinking of aquaflora or something from giesemann.

I use a 5:1 red/blue ratio for bloom. Doesn't matter what brand lamp they are.

Thanks! Appreciated.

**novice11** · 07-17-2012, 10:37 AM

Bad news today - one of the 4 660's is dead after 4 days. Not dim - dead. Contacted UVL, awaiting response.

**Fonzarelli** · 07-20-2012, 12:07 AM

Originally Posted by novice11

Bad news today - one of the 4 660's is dead after 4 days. Not dim - dead. Contacted UVL, awaiting response.

Must be Karma, LOL J/K

This happens with any T5 brand. If the glue/end caps isn't seated quite right on the end caps, the gas can leak out quickly. I just had to replace one of my TrueLumen lamps I just bought after firing it up once.

Don't sweat it, they will send you a replacement. It happens with T5's more than T12's or T8's because of the size factor I am guessing.

It won't cost you a cent extra, just don't get irate.

**Fonzarelli** · 07-20-2012, 12:15 AM

I believe the reason that some lamp manufacturers choose NOT to put 660nm in their lamps is because any extra 660nm can speed up algae growth. This is due to the high photosynthetic response that 660nm causes to plants.

630nm has less of a photosynthetic response, so they put it in the lamps to boost the "florescence" of the corals without increasing algae growth.

This is the reason I believe the ProColors were taken off the market. That and people said they washed out the appearance of their corals.

Overall, the 630nm wavelength is going to make the colors "pop" more in your aquarium because it is a visually "brighter" red light source.

660nm is going to increase growth rate faster than 630nm, I just haven't figured out how much faster yet. I would estimate it to be around 3 or 4 times faster growth with the 660nm over the 630nm.

It really is best to have both wavelengths in your spectrum in a 1:1 to 1:3 ratio of 630nm/660nm.

**kpmarine** · 07-20-2012, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Fonzarelli

I believe the reason that some lamp manufacturers choose NOT to put 660nm in their lamps is because any extra 660nm can speed up algae growth. This is due to the high photosynthetic response that 660nm causes to plants.

630nm has less of a photosynthetic response, so they put it in the lamps to boost the "florescence" of the corals without increasing algae growth.

This is the reason I believe the ProColors were taken off the market. That and people said they washed out the appearance of their corals.

Overall, the 630nm wavelength is going to make the colors "pop" more in your aquarium because it is a visually "brighter" red light source.

660nm is going to increase growth rate faster than 630nm, I just haven't figured out how much faster yet. I would estimate it to be around 3 or 4 times faster growth with the 660nm over the 630nm.

It really is best to have both wavelengths in your spectrum in a 1:1 to 1:3 ratio of 630nm/660nm.

Don't set your hopes too high. 300-400% is a huge difference. Blue heavy in veg was turning 4" clones into plants bigger than 5gal buckets in 15 days. If you can triple to quadruple that, I'd be genuinely shocked. Honestly though, it doesn't take particularly awesome light to veg. Save your money and expensive bulb life there. Flowering is where you really see the payout. By all means, feel free to experiment though; that's just my thoughts on it.