Anyone add UV light to LED Grow?

Merlin1147

Well-Known Member
Yeah burn can be an issue. Dennis from Solacure said start at 15 minutes a day at 3’ then increase every few days until you start to see the first hind of damage. I have mine hanging above the strip light on a separate hanger so I’ll be getting some shadowing but according to Dennis the entire plant will respond even if just part is exposed. Think of it like getting a tan you don’t want to fry.
 

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I finally found a 1-10v dimmable balast for my Agromax PureUV T5's called Philips HF-Regulator 114-35.TLS5. These are so called multiwatt balasts and can work with 14-35w T5 bulbs and for dimming you need a 1-10v dimmer like the one from rapidled or you can use the Osram Pico SL20 dimmer which are made for dimming T5/T8 bulbs down to ~3%. But the Pico costs 3 times more like the one from rapidled.

I really like the Solacure bulbs because of their build in reflectors but the T12 form factor is a serious problem cuz when you are forced to use their T12 balasts they become much more costly compared to the Agromax bulbs. Got my DIY fixture with two 2ft bulbs(2x 24w) running for less than 60 bucks(incl. bulbs).
 

Bigfries

Active Member
Yeah, I finally found a 1-10v dimmable balast for my Agromax PureUV T5's called Philips HF-Regulator 114-35.TLS5. These are so called multiwatt balasts and can work with 14-35w T5 bulbs and for dimming you need a 1-10v dimmer like the one from rapidled or you can use the Osram Pico SL20 dimmer which are made for dimming T5/T8 bulbs down to ~3%. But the Pico costs 3 times more like the one from rapidled.

I really like the Solacure bulbs because of their build in reflectors but the T12 form factor is a serious problem cuz when you are forced to use their T12 balasts they become much more costly compared to the Agromax bulbs. Got my DIY fixture with two 2ft bulbs(2x 24w) running for less than 60 bucks(incl. bulbs).
I was able to source ballasts outside of them, you just gotta do some digging.
Fulham sc-120-115-ct8 sugarcube is what I’ve been running.
 
Yeah, I've used reptile bulbs with 12% UVB and the spectrum chart of the 10k finisher looks almost identical.
View attachment 4247181

I have them changed against PureUV bulbs and these bulbs need a min. distance of 24" to not harm the plants. I have 5 different strains below them and 2 of them are also more UVB sensitive. BlueDream, ColumbianGold and GreenPoison have shown no wilted leaves till now, Amnesia and SuperSilverHaze have shown heatstress and wiling leaves.

View attachment 4247182

I've build so called super-spreaders. Do you remember them from the adjust-a-wing HPS reflectors? Its in fact just a 18mm small and 2ft long alu strips made from reflector sheet, bent by 90° along the length side. I've mount them in ~5mm distance in front of the bulbs so that the light hitting the spreader is thrown back into the reflector. This should reduce the readings in the center area and distribute the UV light more evenly.
I've also reduced their usage to 2x 30 minutes per day because I dont wanna loose the whole crop. I got also much less stretch as usual. BD, SSH and CG are known to stretch out for at least 4 weeks or more. This times they stopped stretching already end of week 2. I've added the trellis net too late because of this unexpected behavior and now I have a few gaps in the canopy. I've added more far-red from now on to get a little more stretch but maybe it's already too late. If you look closer you can see the most heatstress in the upper left corner on the Amnesia cross.
View attachment 4247183

I have a minute timer and will try my best to find a way to use them at the same height with my LED's(I prefer ~16"); currently its still 24-28" above the canopy(UVB intensity should be below 170μW/cm² according to Agromax test results). If its impossible I'll switch back to reptile blubs cuz they are much less damaging and I've already used them with good results. My small 3sft area has a 24w Arcadia with 12% UVB and ~150w LED and I use both with only 8-10" distance and UVB for 5h every day(2x 2,5) and there in not a single damage and with such a low distance the UVB intensity is at least 150-200μW/cm² according to the test results with different types of reflectors(pdf below).
A little heatstress yes but no wilting leaves. It could be that the pureUV bulbs have already a few % UVC; the spectrum chart is unfortunately not exact enough to figure that out. But it could be a reason why these bulbs are too strong even if only used for a shorter period.
With reptile bulbs at 8" you already get 150μW/cm² for 5h that means you get a dose of 27kJ/m², with the 2x 30 minutes PureUV and 28" distance you would have less than 150μW/cm² and 1h means a dose of only 5,4kJ/m².
There must be a reason why these bulbs cause so much damage while the reptile/10k finisher bulbs cause no damage even after much longer use and same UVB intensity.
Apogee has a new UV sensor called UV-100 and the guy from Migro(youtube) is willing to do some spectrum tests and comparisions. So maybe will will know the reason pretty soon..
Could I add a single Arcadia 12% 22" reptile bulb and ballast to a 2x4' for veg and flowering. Is one 24 watt bulb enough? Should I start the last week of veg and then gradually work up to 12 hours or should I start earlier during veg? Currently my lighting is 3 qb96 elite v2 all on drivers with a combined wattage of 505.
Thanks.
 

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Could I add a single Arcadia 12% 22" reptile bulb and ballast to a 2x4' for veg and flowering. Is one 24 watt bulb enough? Should I start the last week of veg and then gradually work up to 12 hours or should I start earlier during veg? Currently my lighting is 3 qb96 elite v2 all on drivers with a combined wattage of 505.
Thanks.
Reptile bulbs can literally run all day long without damaging the plants. I would start with the switch to 12/12h and give them 2h at the beginning. 1 with lights on, the 2nd before lights off. Increase this weekly by 2 hours until the bulb runs the whole 12 hours. This way the plants get the full 12h from end of week 6.
But for a 4x2' area I would use two 24w bulbs or one 4ft/54w bulb. A 2ft. bulb covers a 2x 2' area pretty good with 12-14" distance. With only one 2ft bulb half of the tent would get almost no UVB.

You can also use less hours(3+3h for instance) but the effect is stronger with more UVB. Each strain reacts a little different. So maybe you will see a little heat stress here and there. In this case you need to figure out how much the can handle without getting stress. But usually there are is no trouble when using reptile bulbs.

BTW, Arcadia has also the reptile dragon bulb with 14% UVB. 14% means the light reach a bit deeper so this one is best for peeps with a higher hanging height(16-20").
 

killakanna

Well-Known Member
http://www.solacure.com/horticulture.html

Look under the horticultural section. Uv-b has quite a few lab tests to show that using it in small doses can increase THC levels quite a bit. Even finishing times seemed to decrease pretty regularly.

5-10% of total room wattage in 15 minutes increments between 2-4 hours daily. Is what I've seen the most success with. And I think Solacure does have the best bulbs. Followed by agromax pure uv, but the levels of uv-b are pretty intense when ran at this wattage. The most efficient, and cost effective, uv-b or uv-a will be in a florescent right now.

Not too much confirmed data on Uv-a though.

Even Stephen from HLG talked about implementing the Solacure UV-b bulbs to the hlg 550 himself, and as a possible future product for hlg over six months ago.

Edit: here is a cannabis specific page.
http://www.solacure.com/cannabis1.html
Call Dennis at Solacure. He has some 2’ bulbs that were miss printed “Solarcure”. He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable and gave me a super price break on them. They are T-12s. I bought his fixtures. They run on the same ballast as the 4’ bulbs as it is nearly impossible to get the ballasts anymore for the 2’ T-12s. They are hung but I haven’t run them yet.
Solacure puts a reflector inside of its bulbs that is white. White does NOT reflect UV-b so their bulbs reflect 75% less UV-b than a similar homemade aluminum reflector would.

is a video on this. I almost bought the solacure before learning this too, since they had the best rep in the industry. :/
 

killakanna

Well-Known Member
Could I add a single Arcadia 12% 22" reptile bulb and ballast to a 2x4' for veg and flowering. Is one 24 watt bulb enough? Should I start the last week of veg and then gradually work up to 12 hours or should I start earlier during veg? Currently my lighting is 3 qb96 elite v2 all on drivers with a combined wattage of 505.
Thanks.
I don’t think it makes sense to run your UV all day. I’m setting mine to run 15 on, 45 mins off, 3-4 times a day. If you add too much UV it can stunt growth. We just want the plant to increase THC and resin production, not growth less.
 

Warpedpassage

Well-Known Member
Solacure puts a reflector inside of its bulbs that is white. White does NOT reflect UV-b so their bulbs reflect 75% less UV-b than a similar homemade aluminum reflector would.

is a video on this. I almost bought the solacure before learning this too, since they had the best rep in the industry. :/
Lol. Let me start by say i appreciate migro and his videos. But this has been discussed elsewhere. It is preety likely that his test protocols and gear is not really up to the the task. I can tell you from personal experience that the solacure flower power lamp is quite powerful.
 

killakanna

Well-Known Member
Lol. Let me start by say i appreciate migro and his videos. But this has been discussed elsewhere. It is preety likely that his test protocols and gear is not really up to the the task. I can tell you from personal experience that the solacure flower power lamp is quite powerful.
Oh I’m sure it is. I mean even if it is 1/4th the UVB as per his video, it’s still a TON more than without a UVB addition and would make drastic improvements on ones grow imo.
 

Gond00s

Well-Known Member
I love the agromax pure uv way to powerful but really makes a difference in frost imo. I usually run them 15 mins on for 2 times a day with a hour delay between them. then I do it four times for the last week.
 

killakanna

Well-Known Member
I love the agromax pure uv way to powerful but really makes a difference in frost imo. I usually run them 15 mins on for 2 times a day with a hour delay between them. then I do it four times for the last week.
Do you use a digital timer or analog?
 

killakanna

Well-Known Member
I love the agromax pure uv way to powerful but really makes a difference in frost imo. I usually run them 15 mins on for 2 times a day with a hour delay between them. then I do it four times for the last week.
How many weeks into flowering do you begin?
 

Gond00s

Well-Known Member
I use a 15 min timer analog easier to switch when u want them on I usually do it around week 6-7
 
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