Grab a J, this one is alittle long also.
Here's a few SPD's and pics to show what I meant.
This panel on the left is my current veg panel, it replaced the top panel on the right... They are exactly the same except the top right panel has 2 6500k's in the 1/4 slots where the left (1st) panel is using ZooMed FloraSuns in the 1/4 slots... Its hard to tell next to the blue bulbs but they are quite pink, despite containing blue and green just like the 6500k's, they have 630-660nm red instead of 610, so they appear rosy/pink vs pure white.
The 2nd bulb down in both panels (left and top right) are both ReefWaves @420nm, and the 3rd down are BlueWave (actinic 430-450nm) only $8 for any of these bulbs
Here's a better pic to show the rosy glow of the FloraSuns.
My current Flowering Panel.
very bottom and 4th down are both flora suns. Same bulb as in my current Veg panel.
Here are some graphs to show what the plants "see" .. PAR.
Remember, lights that arent designed for growing are designed for people, and we see green best so they'll all be heavy green, and we dont "need" true red so they wont pay the extra cost of the rarer phosphors that emit above 610nm.
When reading the peaks on these graphs, The highest peak of a color spike will relate to a specific color or nanometer wavelength, whichever spike is highest is where the most photonic energy is being expended, the wider a peak is the more strength that color will have in the overall hue. A shorter spike that is wide may have more overall output than a tall narrow spike. (theres alot of other factors involved tho)
here's an example of a 5band phosphor (the spike at 400 is due to the mercury in the bulb). This is more of a specialty bulb, and will have a higher CRI meaning it will render colors more correctly to the human eye. CRI and Kelvin temps mean relatively little in the horticulture world. Notice here the red is still only at 610nm, compare this to the PAR absorbtion spectrum above.
View attachment 2065047
Here are some general SPD's from different bulbs and Kelvin temps, granted the graphs will look different (some detailed others very general) but compare the peaks (points of highest intensity) to the PAR spectrum and you'll see that their light is far from optimal. Most are cheap tri-band phosphors (3 main spikes, other smaller spikes are caused by the mercury) Agian, they will all work but would be like SuperSize me, they'll live but wont thrive, where a good spectrum would be like a healthy diet for us
View attachment 20650792700k.
3000k.
3000k.
4100k.
5500k.
6500k.
HPS
Eye Hortilux HPS (notice how Hortilux wants you to think that green and yellow are used alot more than they really are by showing that wack ass PAR curve in the background, cuz HPS is nothing but yellow/green.)
Solarmax HPS
So you can see how, given the fact that some can grow from seed using only HPS, it
is possible with less than optimal light. But when you can dial in your spectrum you can get the tight nugs and short node distances every grower wants. There are LOTS of complaints online about T5's producing light and airy buds, and little penetration... all due to improper spectrum in flowering. With T5's you want to keep them as close as possible to the tops to really get the most out of the available light since they wont burn your foliage. you wont be able to grow monster trees with only 8 bulbs, but if you keep the bulbs close to the tops, you'll get good penetration down to 18"-24", which is comparable to HID since you gotta keep them at least X distance AWAY from your tops anyway.Here are some SPD's for good quality bulbs that I would recommend... These wont match
exactly to the PAR spectrum, but you can get pretty damn close by combining bulbs in specific combos.
View attachment 2065141View attachment 2065142ZooMed FloraSun (almost the same as the PlantGrow, but cheaper)
AquaMedic Plant Grow.
OsramFlora77, excellent bulb (almost perfect) but EU only
View attachment 2065146AquaticLife Roseate 650nm.
View attachment 2065147CoralLife Colormax
View attachment 2065148
UVL RedSun/RedLife. Almost pure Red, the smaller spikes are "mercury spikes" and are inherent to Fluoros. A panel with all red suns would grow reallly fast but would be stretchy and spindly
View attachment 2065143
Pure Actinic (blue), Almost any actinic bulb will look like this so cheaper is better, will promote stockier/bushier plants (although slightly slower)
Wavepoint bulbs, I dont recommend the triband bulbs since they give only 610 (they are developing the UltraWave which will look like a FloraSun w 660nm) The BlueWave,ReefWave and CoralWave all kick ass, only $8 at petmountain.com Aquariumguys.com has florasuns for $8. good luck finding Red Suns
...damn, where'd the last 3hrs go?
I just hope a few can learn from it for real tho
Been looking at different pet sites for hours now...Very good job, thanks for all your help.
