Aqua Illumination Vega, an Aquarium LED used for Growing?!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqXGBQ8vwLc

Looks very interesting in terms of potential. Im been sick and tired of all the shady led manufacturors that exist in the growing business and decided to look for lights in other unconventional spots. Then I came across a multitude of aquarium and coral sites that sold name brand led lights used specifically for maintaining coral. Anyways the tech is there, just not so much the correct spectrum as they are designed to grow coral. These companies however are backed by years of research and are legit. By legit I mean they actually post what leds they use (usually cree or bridgelux) and are backed by a well established company. Aqua Illumination is IMO the best company in terms of trying to grow marijuana. The iso and vega being the best choice in terms of spectrum as with the iso you can choose a majority of what I believe is 3:1 white/blue. The vega on the other hand takes the cake when it does come out though. Watch the vid lmk what you guys think.

I wonder if they would use red diodes and make good panels for us indoor vegetable gardeners if somebody asked.

Yes, the only realy obstacle is getting them to put more red spectrum in there products.

Double post...

Also, anybody whose actually used an led knows that using just red and blue typically doesnt yield well even though its suppose to. Plant need bits and pieces of the entire spectrum, which is why leds are better off using full spectrum white and red as opposed to red and blue.

brahbrahbinks:7434258 said:

Also, anybody whose actually used an led knows that using just red and blue typically doesnt yield well even though its suppose to. Plant need bits and pieces of the entire spectrum, which is why leds are better off using full spectrum white and red as opposed to red and blue.

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I mix red, blue, and whites in my panels, mine are apollo models that I source from the factory. I'm going to try my next one with all red and white with no blues at all (maybe one out of 15 just to have it)

ghettorigger said:

I mix red, blue, and whites in my panels, mine are apollo models that I source from the factory. I'm going to try my next one with all red and white with no blues at all (maybe one out of 15 just to have it)

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Good to hear, you can also choose the kelvin rating on whites so remember that. I wonder why nobody mixes kelvin on white lights to get a spectrum closer to blue or red while still getting the colors in between. That would defeat the initial point of leds (that being focusing on specific wavelengths as to not waste energy on unusable light). But the whole concept about how plants absorb light is still very controversial. The way I see it, we're wasting time trying to find specific wavelengths to grow superweed when we should be making lights to try and mimic mother nature as perfectly as possible. Thats where the vega shines the most, by having every single color in one panel (albeit I could use without the green) you could recreate the seasons and a sunrise/sunset. It does look modular so maybe with a little bit of knowledge, you might be able to switch out the green for a red?

The green is a waste of diode

Don't be so sure about that

This was quoted from an aquarium hobbyist site on the iso:
I received my Apogee MQ-200 PAR meter yesterday. It will take some time to get the entire tank mapped and accurate measurements done ( my son "borrowed" my SLR ) and to develop a standardized method of placing the sensor as it's very sensitive - any motion skews the results. But so far....WOW

I knew these things were PAR MONSTERS, but even so, I'm really impressed at the initial measurements.

6" - 1650
12" - 1370 (water surface)
16" - 915 (4" water depth)
19" - 690 (7" water depth)
24" - 560 (12" water depth)

*Lights are hung 12" above water surface. Measurements taken directly under one AI 70W unit at 100%W/100%B with the sensor placed in the center of the unit using the Sun setting on the MQ-200. The below-water measurements are likely skewed high from light from the adjacent (5" apart) AI unit. I left both on as this likely represents actual usage (multiple units.) Those with more than 2 units would have higher readings with light from 2nd adjacent unit.

Supposedly, the vega will put out more light which I dont doubt.

If any of you remember I had a par reading thread that died a while back.
Just some quotes from some of the guys pertaining some of the lights in our 'industry':
"Apollo6
With only 200W power consumption. No heat, plug and play.
12"(30cm) distance 1159 par
20"(50cm) distance 913 par
30"(76cm) distance 569 par"

California lightworks "solarflare" 200w (165w actual)

@12inches 1319umol
@18inches 578umol
@24inches 312umol

Apache Tech AT-120: @12in 890umol.

Keep in mind that the sol uses 75watts... and the measurments were taken underwater!!!

I have a question...if you can get LED bulbs that supposedly produve 6500k, and 3000k, couldn't you just use those for grow and veg? I know Aquastyleonline.com offers some dynamite deals on DIY LED fixtures, and they let you choose the spectrums/leds if you just send an email with your order. We're talking 3w Bridgelux emitters, and they're CHEAP to build...You can roll with 100w actual for like a little over 100 bucks, plus shipping.

Metasynth:7435220 said:

I have a question...if you can get LED bulbs that supposedly produve 6500k, and 3000k, couldn't you just use those for grow and veg? I know Aquastyleonline.com offers some dynamite deals on DIY LED fixtures, and they let you choose the spectrums/leds if you just send an email with your order. We're talking 3w Bridgelux emitters, and they're CHEAP to build...You can roll with 100w actual for like a little over 100 bucks, plus shipping.

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Im going to take a look at that.

And I was going to mix all of the different whites I can, and then supplement red in with it. I have all my specific wavelengths written down somewhere... I'll post them when I get off work.

Metasynth said:

I have a question...if you can get LED bulbs that supposedly produve 6500k, and 3000k, couldn't you just use those for grow and veg? I know Aquastyleonline.com offers some dynamite deals on DIY LED fixtures, and they let you choose the spectrums/leds if you just send an email with your order. We're talking 3w Bridgelux emitters, and they're CHEAP to build...You can roll with 100w actual for like a little over 100 bucks, plus shipping.

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Looks really promising, and cheap too.

Aquastyleonline.com sells red diodes too. 420 and 450, I'm going to order one of these. It looks real promising.

jubiare said:

Don't be so sure about that

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I always thought plants deflect green, hence the colour green?

budman111:7438522 said:

jubiare said:

Don't be so sure about that

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I always thought plants deflect green, hence the colour green?

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I thought that too but I have seen research that says otherwise, but the green absorption is very low. I'll dig for it when I get home, I think it may have been for regulatory purposes or something.

That's why I've been thinking about mixing whites and reds using no blues at all. Kind of like how people supplement hid with led panels, except it's just white leds supplemented with red

Interesting, never heard this but does not surprise me. Could this be the cause of the calmag defiency thing?

budman111 said:

Interesting, never heard this but does not surprise me. Could this be the cause of the calmag defiency thing?

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could be...ive never noticed it because i've always had both of those covered in my soil mixes or with teas, but i have seen a few threads about it. I wish i could do some really good control tests with different led panel configurations but that takes money. If LED panels didn't have the "i know what your growing" markup along with all the crappy false marketing claims the technology would have made leaps and bounds by now. I can see why people swear by HPS and also why most people wouldn't reccommend LED panels to growers (especially new ones).

We're getting there, just not there quite yet.

That is what made me go with Kessil - they have been in the aquarium business for a long time and can grow plants underwater. Have you ever tried to grow aquarium plants? It is hard! I agree we could use some good research and some reasonable pricing. Do any of you have experience with light movers? I want to move my kessil back and forth to get more coverage.

Mohican said:

That is what made me go with Kessil - they have been in the aquarium business for a long time and can grow plants underwater. Have you ever tried to grow aquarium plants? It is hard! I agree we could use some good research and some reasonable pricing. Do any of you have experience with light movers? I want to move my kessil back and forth to get more coverage.

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Oh Man! Light movers... I havent used one but a guy i know who i got some lights for made a mover that i helped build and it had 4 apollo 20s on it. All 4 of them moved in unison about 4 feet. There was nothing to compare it to before, but he saved adding a light in my opinion. He placed the lights closer to the plants too so he got good flower production much farther down the plant too.Ive liked the Kessil but they are expensive, i'm trying to find ways to help myself and others save money and make LED panels compete with HPS in pricing