2x90w LED UFO 24 plant SOG closet

Hello. I've been surfing the forums here and I thought I'd share my grow setup. It is as follows:


Equipment:
Growlab 80, 2x90w LED UFO's, Botanicare Econo Jet 2'x2' ebb and flow system, 4" square pots filled with hydroton, 4" Growbright Inline fan with Carbon scrubber for exhaust, Tri-Meter for measurement, 2 dual outlet air pumps with 4 square airstones in the 20 gallon reservoir.

Nutes:
GH Flora 3 part nutrients

Plants:- 24 total, All in rockwool
Shiva Skunk
Purple Kush
GDP
Cheese
Perpetrator

Schedule:
Lights set at 18/6 since I got the clones. Watering twice a day while the lights are on. They're all about the same age, some are growing slower than others. I had some early yellowing leaf problems figuring out how the system works best, but the plants have nice new growth. The ph stays around 6-6.2. I've flushed the system a few times and I do it every 10-12 days. Temperature in the room get up to 85 degrees and goes down to about 75 degrees. The reservoir temp is around 80 degrees, which is warm. If u have any suggestions for cooling the reservoir please chime in.

This is my first grow so any advice is welcome. I'll post pics later on. Please leave comments. I'll try to update with pictures often.

I am very interested in these led grows, will be keeping an eye on this thread.

As for the cooling of the reservoir you could try moving the reservoir away from the lights/other heat sources or section off a part of a closet so it stays cooler. Maybe toss in a couple of those blue freeze packs that you put in your lunch.

The reservoir is attached to the tray so moving it isn't gonna be an option. I've attached some pics below:

This may sound crazy but if you can not keep the reservoir away from the heat you may have to increase your grow room cooling by adding more fans. This sounds crazy but has anyone ever run something like a radiator setup for external cooling of a reservoir?

casegrower said:

This may sound crazy but if you can not keep the reservoir away from the heat you may have to increase your grow room cooling by adding more fans. This sounds crazy but has anyone ever run something like a radiator setup for external cooling of a reservoir?

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The tent is in a closet, and if I leave the tent unzipped the temp is fine. I have 2 vornado fans in the tent that circulate air well. I upped the nutes to 420 ppm a couple days ago from about 360. The plants have a lot of new healthy growth. However, 2 of the purple kush are totally droopy. I topped 3 of the perpetrator to try to make clones to replace the purple kush. I had 5 purple kush, but now I've only got 1 healthy one. I'm going to add some aquashield to the mix to prevent root rot. I'll update with more pics soon.

i used fox farm for both veg and flower. never checked ph. you need to chop that big one down to the same height as the others and get those lights very close to the plants if you wanna gt better results. from my last three grows with them i have found that the lights work best with small amounts of plants with the lights just a few inches above the plants. leaving only about 8 to 10 inches of growth for flower cause the lights dont penetrate deeply.

littlegrower2004 said:

i used fox farm for both veg and flower. never checked ph. you need to chop that big one down to the same height as the others and get those lights very close to the plants if you wanna gt better results. from my last three grows with them i have found that the lights work best with small amounts of plants with the lights just a few inches above the plants. leaving only about 8 to 10 inches of growth for flower cause the lights dont penetrate deeply.

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I appreciate your comments littlegrower. I tried to keep the lights closer from the beginning and the plants started to show burn from the lights. I will try to lower them an inch a day until I see leaf problems. I have the lights about 2 feet away from the tallest plants. I'm planning on vegging till all the plants are the same height which means most will be topped. I topped 3 plants and they are showing a lot of new growth all throughout the rest of the lower nodes. Since this is my first grow I'm trying to learn as much as possible so that I can carry the knowledge to the next grow. Next time it'll be fewer plants so I can grow big happy plants instead of lots of smaller plants. I'll post more pics tonight or tomorrow.

SFcali said:

I appreciate your comments littlegrower. I tried to keep the lights closer from the beginning and the plants started to show burn from the lights. I will try to lower them an inch a day until I see leaf problems. I have the lights about 2 feet away from the tallest plants. I'm planning on vegging till all the plants are the same height which means most will be topped. I topped 3 plants and they are showing a lot of new growth all throughout the rest of the lower nodes. Since this is my first grow I'm trying to learn as much as possible so that I can carry the knowledge to the next grow. Next time it'll be fewer plants so I can grow big happy plants instead of lots of smaller plants. I'll post more pics tonight or tomorrow.

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BTW, I'm planning a reservoir flush tomorrow. I'll also begin adding aquashield to inhibit root rot and other diseases. From the get go, I was overwatering them and didn't realize it. I think I have the system prettymuch dialed in for nutrients and the 18/6 light cycle. I will experiment with the light height more to see if closer means better. I hope to veg for another 3-5 weeks to wait for some of the smaller plants to catch up.

its good your doing hydro cause wat i have seen from my previous grows is that these lights dont produce a large amount of roots. that was in soil. my latest grow is in a bubbleponics and the roots are amazingly more produced and healthy. ive got 6 under the 2 ufos and at times the tips are pushing up on the light. never really get burnt so im not sure how urs are being affected like you say. the highest my lights are ever above my plants is about 4 to 5 inches. from wat ive seen is that these leds dont produce a deep penetrating light so ive trimmed up the entire bottoms and left about 6 tops per plant. topping will be your best choice to keep them short and filled out. try and get a even canopy of topped heads and hopefully by then your roots will be enough to flower.

Ya the roots on most of the plants are already poking out of the bottom of the pots. I'll try to add root pics next time I upload. I'm using canna rhizotonic to help strenthen the root system and it's definitely working. I'm also using super thrive. I'm using both of these at about half strength. I read on some of the other UFO LED grows that about 18-22 inches from the plants is what is recommended. I haven’t seen any issues with light penetration, but there isn’t a thick canopy yet. All of the plants are pointing strongly towards the light. I’ll start lowering the lights slowly starting today and we’ll see if it makes any difference. I appreciate your info littlegrower. I wish more people would chime in with questions, comments, and advice. Any advice on how to get this thread more views? Maybe once I start flowering people will be more interested.

SFcali said:

Ya the roots on most of the plants are already poking out of the bottom of the pots. I'll try to add root pics next time I upload. I'm using canna rhizotonic to help strenthen the root system and it's definitely working. I'm also using super thrive. I'm using both of these at about half strength. I read on some of the other UFO LED grows that about 18-22 inches from the plants is what is recommended. I haven’t seen any issues with light penetration, but there isn’t a thick canopy yet. All of the plants are pointing strongly towards the light. I’ll start lowering the lights slowly starting today and we’ll see if it makes any difference. I appreciate your info littlegrower. I wish more people would chime in with questions, comments, and advice. Any advice on how to get this thread more views? Maybe once I start flowering people will be more interested.

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the leds have been bashed and nobody has had solid results to prove that they are worth using or even watching some one try to use. if you need any help with your ebb and flow go to gypsybush, he runs a sog with great results and has his ebb and flow tables nailed to the t.

littlegrower2004 said:

the leds have been bashed and nobody has had solid results to prove that they are worth using or even watching some one try to use. if you need any help with your ebb and flow go to gypsybush, he runs a sog with great results and has his ebb and flow tables nailed to the t.

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I also have a small led grow finishing up in about a month 3 plants left after hermies and males, under 2 ufo x90w will like to keep up with this grow since im looking to go to a dwc style set up after the next grow, currently have 8 fem going need about another month or so in veg , they are going in soil so we are about the same time

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What size is your closet? Do you feel the 2x90w are suffecient for this grow. Also do you think you would get better results if you had a single 400w hps? Just curious because i was also looking at doing something very similar

SFcali said:

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delusion said:

What size is your closet? Do you feel the 2x90w are suffecient for this grow. Also do you think you would get better results if you had a single 400w hps? Just curious because i was also looking at doing something very similar

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The closet space the tent is in is 3'x3'x9'. I think the LEDs are doing well, but I'm thinking about adding a CFL tube for white light. I think a 400W hps would be WAY too hot in my closet, but it may be preferred for most. I am using LEDs because I'm interested in the technology and the reduced power consumption.

Here's some more pics:

casegrower said:

This sounds crazy but has anyone ever run something like a radiator setup for external cooling of a reservoir?

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I have read somewhere recently that some people take portable refridgerator/freezers and run their resovoir hose pumps through the freezer/fridge and it cool the temps. Supposedly the fridge/freezer units do not produce much heat at all into the grow room. Consider running lots of tubing through a freezer/refridgerator and back into your resovoir. It's a DIY project, but I think that's your only options. Other than buying the water chillers from the hydroponics sites.

I switched to round airstones and the reservoir is staying much cooler now. The stupid person at the plant store sold me some crappy square airstones and they vibrated like hell in the reservoir. The nutes are at 620 ppm. I've got a 2 bulb 2' CFL fixture on the way for supplemental lighting. I lowered the lights about 6 inches and the plants are loving it. The canopy is really filling out with most of the plants. In the reservoir is Superthrive, Rhizotonic, GH Flora Micro + Grow, and Aquashield. The cheese plants are growing very fast now. The tallest plant is a Shiva Skunk. The weather has been cooler so the plants are growing much more rapidly over the past few days.

you need to get those ufos much much closer to get the full potential

trader54321 said:

you need to get those ufos much much closer to get the full potential

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Some new pics. I think the lights can go a small amount closer maybe 2-3 inches lower then they are. I highly recommend aquashield liquid compost for someone using a flood and drain system. The reservoir is staying much cleaner since I added it. I'm also considering using canazym for added enzymes. I'm going to have to top the plants after a bit more growth since I don't want them too tall.

Ok I am reall new at this but when you say. " I'm going to have to top the plants after a bit more growth since I don't want them too tall." what exactly does that mean I have asked on other threads and they told me to go to FAQ I did and found nothing I am too lazy too read all that for one question. PLEASE help.