Sureshot

INDOOR LIGHTING

[AUTHORS NOTE : I see (here and elsewhere so many questions regarding lighting and try to give some input where I can, maybe this will help a little more for anyone who needs to know the gist of indoor lighting. Over a couple of years I've archived so much "stuff" it's getting lost, so here it is.]

[AUTHORS NOTE : This is discussing only light, where linked subjects come up I will try where possible to provide links]

SO WHAT'S UP WITH THE SUN THEN?

When setting up an indoor grow two of the most important elements are quality and quantity of useable light that the plants receive.

Plants have the rare ability to manufacture their own food, this process is called photosynthesis. The main substance in this production, chlorophyll, uses light energy to convert carbon dioxide from the air and water and nutrients from the ground into food sugar. When these elements abound in a perfect environment, the production of food is limited only by factors that effect photosynthesis, namely the intensity, colour and duration of the daily light the plant receives.

Plants mostly use the same light spectrum as we do in that they too primarily are affected by the VISIBLE spectrum of light (there are theories surrounding the part UV plays in growth but more on that later).

The Visible Spectrum of light can be seen below...measured in "nanometres".

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Sureshot

The next image shows the same spectrum but measured in Kelvin’s and marked with common light sources and the spectrum they produce.

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Sureshot

Although plants react in some way to all forms of visible lights certain parts of the spectrum have the most efficient and important roles.

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Sureshot

As you can see from the above diagram, chlorophyll activity is at it's greatest in the blue and red parts of the spectrum (5,500 Kelvin to 6,500 Kelvin and around 2,500 Kelvin respectively).

Cool (blue) light is most pronounced during the summer months when the sun is highest in the sky. It is responsible for vegetative growth.

Warm (red) light, such as when the sun is lower in the sky during the fall harvest months, is responsible for triggering reproduction in cannabis in the form of male or/and female flowers.

Bringing your grow indoors allows the grower to control these factors, these seasons if you like. Indoor gardeners must attempt to mimic these natural tones, summer and encroaching winter, blue and red, to maximise their gardens potential. This can be done in two ways, control of the plants lighting schedule AND the correct choice of light source.

This thread is about the latter, choosing the correct light and amount of for your garden.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

There are basically three commonly accepted types of lights that can be used to grow marijuana (beyond the sun of course but then i did say INDOOR growing).

1) Fluorescent Tubes & Compact Fluorescents (CF) (commonly known as energy saving bulbs);

2) Metal Halide (MH) - High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp;

3) High Pressure Sodium (HPS) - High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp.

Before discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these lights it's worth passing comment on the common measuring units used in lighting and how much is actually needed, these terms (and terms of reference) should shed some light onto the waffle in many lighting threads, my own included.

Watts - This is a measure of the POWER needed to produce the light and is NOT in anyway a measure of the actual light, obviously though it serves as a good rough guide.

Lumen - "The unit of luminous flux in the International System" {Source : OG Glossary}. This is a measure of the actual light produced by the lamp. This is also the measure (along with Watts) you will hear most in lighting issues, it is not technically a measure of the light useable by the plant to photosynthesise (PAR - see below), but as it is assumed that the grower is using a light with an appropriate spectrum PAR is not often useful on a general level.

Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR Watts) - A measure of the light energy available to the plant for photosynthesis (i.e. the amount of light in the correct spectrum) that the lamp produces.

How Much Light??

Indoors, 2000 lumens (about 20W) per sq. ft. is about as low as you can go indoors. Under this mark, plant growth will slow, and internode/stem length will increase as the plants s t r e t c h for the light. More adjusting, more work, grr.

I tend to think that an optimum level is about 3,500 - 5,000 lumens per square foot of grow space.

This means that a 400W HPS pitching out 50,000 lumens will cover about 10 foot square optimally (@ 5,000 lumen per square foot). This is the equivalent of around 40 Watts per square foot.

You often hear 30 - 50 w per square foot touted as a rough rule of thumb, I think it's most however efficient to be at the lower end of this and could point to grower after grower who get great results from this amount of light, though could equally point to those who would go to the upper end of this as their optimum. Not all is simple already you'll note!

*chuckles*

For note though, I run my flowering at 35w per square foot unless it's a particularly high demand Sativa.

As a further note, there is a general tendency amongst growers that there is "no such thing as too much light".

This is bullshit. Go over the top and regardless of whether you have your heat under control you will bleach your plants.

Note - This whole post assumes that other factors (temperatures, nutrients, ph etc.) are correct.

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Sureshot

PUTTING THE SUN IN A WARDROBE

Light Innards

All the bulbs discussed above are made up of both a bulb (or tube) and a ballast. The ballast effectively steps up domestic power in order to power the demands of your lights without burning anything down, they basically consist of a transformer, capacitor and in some cases an ignitor.

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Sureshot

In Fluorescent tubes this ballast is usually found in the fixture (Compact Fluorescents are a different matter, as these are primarily used in domestic light sockets the ballasts have to be built into the bulb itself).

This is similar in many low W HPS and MH lights.

It is however desirable to have the ability to separate bulb and ballast for heat reasons and this "remote" ballast layout is usually the preferred one for HID grow light setups :

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Sureshot

This layout is used to enable the grower to remove the ballast from the direct growing space (or at least to a better position e.g. high or cooled) as it is another source of heat apart from the bulb.

Ballasts run HOT! Hot enough in some cases to give a nasty burn. DO NOT handle a ballast that is running (unless you got ya
oven gloves on!!).

HID lamps with non remote ballasts can be converted but some knowledge of electricity and its magic is helpful:

Convert a Security Light Ballast into a Remote Ballast

When running high wattage HID lighting with a timer you will also need a contact relay, this has two plugs, one of which plugs in through the timer and the other straight to a socket, the timer therefore only has to turn on the contact relay (rather than a fucking great big ballast) which in turn starts up the ballast.

If you keep getting home to your lights on (or off) when they shouldn't be, buy one. This one cost less than £30 (or two decent timers, lol).

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Sureshot

Notice the different gauge of the wires going to timer and full draw.

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Sureshot

With some knowledge of electricity it is possible to build most of your setup yourself, but that is an entirely different thread. A few links are below:

Building and Buying HPS Lamps

Ballast Information

Relocating An Internal Ballast

Newbie HPS FAQ

Tick Bends A $15 Reflector

I tend to think that purchasing is better because I'm not a whizz with electricity but for those that are it's not that hard, just remember the platinum rule : SAFETY FIRST.

Another thread too is where and how much but below are a few hydro shops to get you started.

1000bulbs

Sunlight Supply

Greenfields

Grow Systems

BG Hydro

Esoteric Hydroponics

Fluorescents

Fluorescent tubes and CF bulbs are incredibly useful and cheap lights that can be used to good effect both in the seedling stage and vegetative stage of plant growth. They work by passing an electric current through a mixture of gases in order to make them glow, this glow is the light. Be sure to select a tube with a useful K (Kelvin) rating (see above) and these lights can be used very effectively; there are however some fairly straightforward drawbacks to the light they produce.

1) The lumens per watt rating of a fluorescent light is rarely a touch on the equivalent MH/HPS.

40w of flo light is around 3000 lumens, or 30,000 lumens per 400W, now your average MH 400W will produce 36,000 lumens and an HPS 45,000 lumens.

2) The lights intensity is substantially less than MH/HPS and penetrates less distance into the canopy. For this reason Fluoro's are best kept as close to the growing tips of your plants as possible, this has its own problem... more adjusting!

There are though arguments FOR the use of flo's in certain situations.

Fluorescent tubes and CF's (which are a little hotter but not much) run comparatively cool against MH/HPS meaning that they can be utilised in situations where space is tight and/or ventilation is poor. The disadvantages must still be kept in mind and plants grown under fluoro's should be kept low (to make up for low light intensity) unless there is substantial side lighting as an addition to the main top lighting. The ability to side light is indeed a further advantage to fluoro use.

Flo's are also extremely useful for cloning and seedlings. MH/HPS can be too intense for these early stages of growth as the plants cannot absorb water fast enough (developing root system) to equalise the amount being lost through transpiration through the plants foliage (or at least that's my way - if you do use MH/HPS for your seeders/clones keep the lights a decent decent away particularly for clones).

Most people however seem to argue for using flo's on a cost basis, these people, in my humble opinion are misinformed and/or short sighted....

Quote:

Originally posted by Sureshot: Buying flo's for cost is a short termist point of view. Long term a small HPS will soon save more money over a fluoro (even when you chuck in the cost of ventilation). For the amount of useable light produced fluoro’s are less efficient, hence you need to use MORE wattage to get the same amount of useable light, this leads to larger electricity bills ongoing. Beyond this a fluorescent tube works at peak intensity for a relatively short life span (it may still look as bright....but it ain't (get your slr out and check)) when compared to the equivalent HPS. More bulb changes = more cash. Beyond this the extra yield given from HPS will more than make up the INITIAL cost differential. And don't forget the daily light adjustments that need to be made with fluoro’s to keep the distances optimum, more adjusting = more time, and time not spent fucking around with chains, when it comes right down to it, is worth something. NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG, I LIKE fluoro’s and there are definitely places where they are useful (indeed sometimes more useful than HID - I myself veg under fluoro to 6 - 8 inches) like small space high heat grows but to use fluoro because of a perceived cost saving is a false economy.

So yeah, flo's...

Passable but limited

Available everywhere and locally, cheap up front, good for clones and seeders and available in a wide range of spectrums.

Your vegetative growth will be fine unless the flo's are too far away (or of too little intensity) in which case the plant will s t r e t c h but during flowering buds tend to be a little airy. The initial s t r e t c h phase of flowering can be a real pig as you will be moving the lights so often to match the pace of the s t r e t c h.

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Sureshot

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps

The most commonly (and best) used lamps in this category are MH and HPS lamps, these individual lamps have best use purposes but HID lights in general have several advantages (and indeed disadvantages) over fluorescent lamps and tubes.

HID lighting is generally accepted as a better light for growing cannabis for a several reasons:

- Deeper penetration (oo err ladies);
- Higher lumen rating per watt;
- Better suited light spectrums.

It does however pose problems, namely a higher temperature and hence the requirement for MUCH more substantial ventilation.

Metal Halide (MH)

MH lamps are largely recognised for their performance during vegetative growth, they produce a light in the blue spectrum which is known to be influential in stem and leaf growth. They work by passing an electrical current into a tube inside of them which is made of quartz and further enclosed in a glass layer, inside the quartz tube is a mixture of mercury, argon, and various (guess what) metal halides (for example sodium iodide). The charge passed through this induces both a visible light and an invisible (UV) one.

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Sureshot

(Useable) Lamps come in ranges from 100 to 1,000W and produce between 9,000 to over 120,000 lumens of light. This light is largely around the 4,000 Kelvin mark but if you shop around you can buy bulbs with a more efficient rating around 5,000K.

Because of this "blue" light range MH lamps are best used during vegetative growth, they can however be effective in flowering too though not as effective as HPS. HOWEVER, due to the added invisible light from the UV produced resin production MAY be greater under an MH lamp, this is UNPROVEN however.

More on MH Vs HPS below.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

The HPS lamp is often regarded as the best all round lamp to have. Not as effective as the MH in vegetative growth, more effective in flowering and generally a higher par and lumen output per W than MH. HPS lamps work in a similar way to MH lamps except the inner tube is ceramic rather than quartz (withstands higher temperature) and this tube is filled with Sodium, Mercury and sealed with Xenon gas.

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Sureshot

HPS lamps come in ranges from 70 to 1,000W and produce upto 145,000 lumens. They produce light in a redder spectrum (2,200K) that is very efficient for flowering. These lamps do not emit any UV light.

Some newer HPS (son Agro) have an extra coil to produce a small amount of blue light these bulbs are available in 250, 400 and 100W and, for example, the 400W bulb would be 430W, these bulbs can be used in a standard HPS lamp holder and ballast.

This allows HPS users to reap the benefits of MH (tighter internodal space, stronger stems etc.) without giving up the benefits of HPS.

HPS Vs MH

The HPS Vs MH argument continually rages.

It is clear that MH has added benefits in vegetative growth and HPS has added benefits in flowering, what is unclear however is how these benefits weigh up in choosing an overall lamp, I would say that given the option to exclusively use one lamp for the entire cycle I would go for the HPS and use HPS son agro bulbs mostly due to them being generally more efficient lumen wise than MH.

Note : You must remember that HPS and MH bulbs use different ballasts, you cannot plug an HPS into MH ballast or vice versa, or at least not without spectacular effects!

DO NOT USE......

Incandescent (normal household) bulbs - they produce too little useable light and emit too much heat in doing so.

Halogen bulbs - Again, too little useable light, too much heat.

Mercury Vapour bulbs - Now MV bulbs have a larger amount of useable light but like incandescent and Halogen they emit far too much heat for each lumen of useable light.

Candles - *laughs*

Blacklights -

Further Issues

So, that's a bit about light. What it is, how it works and what you need. Obviously using indoor lighting brings about related issues...

1) Heat and ventilation -

HID lighting rigs (lamp AND ballast) produce quite a lot of heat whilst running. If you touch a warmed up HID lamp with your bare hands you will burn immediately, even remote ballasts are difficult to handle with bare hands when they have a load going through them.

The heat from the lamps can be combated using a variety of cooled hoods which can be bought or made (search OG for ghetto heat dispersal).

Ghetto Hood:

Ghetto Hood

Ghetto Hood 2

REALLY Ghetto Hood

Build Your Own Cool Tube

Some examples (bottom of page) of some More Ghetto Hoods

It is advisable to have thought about ventilation (intake, exhaust and circulation) before planning your grow and buying your light. There is no point having a flash 1000W lamp that burns all your plants.

I'm quoting myself here but:

"DON’T SKIMP ON FANS AND VENTILATION. So many new growers spend ridiculous money on lights and skimp on fans which at a later date burn out unexpectedly and leave your whole crop sweltering in the heat."

2) Hanging Your Lights -

Your lights are going to need adjustment fairly often as the plants grow.

Most people use a simple chain system but I find it to be a pain and very messy and so invested in a set of the below, they work fantastically well. Working much like seat belt rollers they allow you to set a height, tighten a wingnut and from then on your lights will only travel up, just push them up and the cable is all stored on the roller, fucking great, no more struggling with chains ever again.

3) Safety -

Safety is everything, don't let your grow kill ya!

Fire and smoke alarms should be installed near the entrance to your grow and all care should be taken with all the water used in your garden.

Mount ballasts off the floor.

Run your room for a few days/weeks supervised before leaving it for too long.

Safety Readme

4) Lamp Ratings -

So glad I didn't have to compile this:

Lamp Rating Information

And that, is just about that.

Except to say that most of this is just reinventing the wheel, compiling, if you like, so to those who taught me...

Thanks . Smoke up.

Everyone grow well.

SS

[Comments, corrections/amendments and additions welcomed ]

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UnKnownThug

Which item from this page

http://www.ezhydrokit.com/default.php?cPath=21

Has the best solution for ligth sorce...is a 65w too little for growing on a hydroponis system?

Sureshot

I seem to remember you're growing a single plant?

One of them with a couple of extra supplementary screw in compact fluorescents. You can pick them up anywhere and they fit straight into a normal desk lamp fitting - which you can then play with to make a decent reflector for your space.... remember mounting a bulb like this _ rather than like this | will give you more light, particularly when combined with a well made hood.

You might even get a reasonable yield. Let us know how you get on.

BUT....vould you do me a favour and read the thread, from the stats on the bulb that you gave me, knowing how much space you are using and the information given in the thread you could have worked that out for YOURSELF.



Thanks man.

Good luck.

SS

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UnKnownThug

3 X 3 FOOT CLOSET... so which is the best from thsi page?

http://www.ezhydrokit.com/default.php?cPath=21

and yes its a 1 plant

Sureshot

Couple of the 65's and some additional CF's as stated above...

You could probably get away with a small HPS though with that space if you ventilated well. Would take some planning though.

If you are growing in stealth and have no ventilation then you might get away with 2x65 and a couple of additional standard CF's.

Bring the space into 2x2 and flower at 12", might yield an ounce. Even in 2x2 you could squeeze in another plant.

4 square foot, 8000 lumen from 2 x 65 w bulb on that page, another 6,000 from some standard CF's (or fuorescant tubes). 14,000 total, 3,500 lumens per square foot. It's on the low end but it's not too bad.

Just bear in mind, as I stated repeatedly in the thread, that fluoro's don't penetrate far so flower short.

SS

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UnKnownThug

I don't understand the key words and stuff like CF's and stuff, cuz i got a kit with jsut 1 65w bulb i dunno if thta is enough to grow my 1 plant?

Sureshot

READ THE THREAD THAT YOU ARE POSTING IN...... ALL OF IT.

AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.

Long and short of it is yes, but not very well.

SS

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UnKnownThug

Read it so a dom with two 65w lights and a dome of illuminum foil wall would set the moment?

Sureshot

Yeah, if you use aluminium foil use it with the dull side as the reflective side.

Just flat white painted board is probably a bit hardwaring.

SS

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