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DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:24 pm
by universalmaiden
Specs.

2 GreenLamp DiamondBrite10 LED lights. 360 watts per lamp. Fair price, made in Canada, lifetime warranty.
4' x 8' homemade SNAP hydroponic table. Simple to make and inexpensive ..... hydroponics made easy
5 grow slabs (rockwool or fibre), 8 foot lengths
30 plants (80% Sativa and 20% Indica)
200 Litre (50 gallon) reservoir bucket
room fan from Walmart
1" hose for inlet of room air
General hydroponics liquid nutrients (use the Lucas formula, GH floramicro, and GH florabloom)
ec for seedlings was 0.3, for early veg is 0.7
pH in veg state is 5.6

01.jpg
day 8
01.jpg (58.43 KiB) Viewed 10409 times

02.jpg
day 9
02.jpg (31.96 KiB) Viewed 10409 times

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:51 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
I was unable to find specs for those lights:
Is that 360w actual draw or is that 360 1w diodes, 120 3w diodes or 72 5w diodes? Either way, 2 of those lights doesn't seem like it would be enough to cover a 4x8 tray, even with a higher density 15 per light SOG. Not that I expect a flower failure; it's just with such a low w/sqft I'd expect the flowers to be smaller and less dense.

What genetics did you chose? There are a lot of hybrids. I see that you started from seed this time. Are you planning on keeping a mother plant to use for clones in the future? I thought one of our other canadian growers said that 25 plants or less was the legal limit there? Clearly, not everyone cares about the laws since it's illegal almost everywhere. ;)


I look forward to seeing how this one progresses, we have a number of SCROG grows but I think this is the first SOG here...

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:06 pm
by universalmaiden
Hello SME:

The DiamondBrite LED's are made in Canada, they are the only LED maker with a lifetime warranty. They use 120 x 3 watt diodes for their DiamondBrite10. When I called them, their customer service was exceptional. They gave me discount pricing because they are spreading their name and they let me test try a 130 watt. Even without this excellent discount, their prices were still about 25% lower than most other makers. I find this number of watts per square foot fine, as the first test I ran in soil gave the same bud result as my MH systems. This time, I made my own SNAP hydroponic table, not just to work with LED lights but also to test SNAP hydroponics as developed in the Philippines. Easy and cheap to run.

I use seeds from Vision Seeds in the Netherlands. They don't have issues at all shipping to Canada, and the prices are very good, using seeds in Canada is much easier than using clones. Plus, that way,I get to try to nice variety of strains.

The law in Canada is 6 plants or less, including clones. Thus another reason seeds is better here. Only 6 plants is a less effective use of light and time, for me anyways.

The journey/al continues...............

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:53 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
universalmaiden wrote:Hello SME:
I find this number of watts per square foot fine, as the first test I ran in soil gave the same bud result as my MH systems.

I use seeds from Vision Seeds in the Netherlands. They don't have issues at all shipping to Canada, and the prices are very good, using seeds in Canada is much easier than using clones. Plus, that way,I get to try to nice variety of strains.

The law in Canada is 6 plants or less, including clones. Thus another reason seeds is better here. Only 6 plants is a less effective use of light and time, for me anyways.

Since MH lights aren't very good for flowering I'm not surprised; those lights are more for veg as they don't have enough red spectra. Since they use 120 3w diodes, it's not really a 360w light but the actual draw varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I can only guess that each light is really only putting out somewhere between 215w - 280w which makes for some pretty low w/sqft numbers. :(

I was asking about the name of the strain. ;)

Maybe Frank will chime in here, I'm pretty sure that he said 25 but I'm not an expert in canadian mmj laws. There are pros and cons on the seed vs clone decision. Even with F1 seed genetics there is a lot of variation from plant to plant making an even canopy harder to achieve which is very important for most growing styles. Some feminized seeds can have hermaphroditic tendencies. Clones, as you point out, raises your plant count (once rooted) and requires some work to take cuttings and root but they're exact copies of the mothers. Pros and cons... :D

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:14 pm
by FCGFrank
universalmaiden wrote:The law in Canada is 6 plants or less, including clones. Thus another reason seeds is better here. Only 6 plants is a less effective use of light and time, for me anyways.


You are misinformed. The number of plants allowed depends on the gram/day amount set by the prescribing physician. Usually, 5 plants per gram/day are permitted.

A 2g/day Rx would result in a 10 plants allowance, 3g/day 15 plants, 5g/day 25, etc.

Apparently no doctor prescribes more than 10g/day (and usually only for category 1 diseases) so the theoretical limit in Canada would be 50 plants, with a minimum of 5 plants for a small prescription of 1g/day.

The MMAR is changing though, so this information may be inaccurate within the next year.

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:53 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
Thanks Frank...

I finally found their website, though we don't allow links so I won't be advertising it here. Like a lot of unscrupulous manufacturers they claim that their smaller lights can replace much bigger HID lights which might only be true if growing orchids, algae or lettuce. Another BS claim: "Almost zero heat" is pure propaganda as anyone with high powered LED grow lights in a small tent will admit. The sub-15w/sqft claim is VERY suspect too, nobody is growing commercial quality meds with such little light so it appears to be either a lack of real experience or typical sales propaganda aimed at other crops besides mmj.

Also I noticed that while UM says that they're "made in canada" the actual website just says "assembled in canada" so it's possible/probable that most of it is made in china and just put together in canada. In fact, their "UFO" light looks exactly like a chinese knock-off of the ProSource light made by a chinese company that has tried repeatedly to SPAM here and is banned on sight. Coincidence? Maybe...or perhaps they buy their parts from that company and put them together in canada like they say. Either way, I can't say that I'm impressed. :(

The 360w light that UM is using is a 7 band light and they do list the specra used (which I do give them credit for) but not the actual draw which the more reputable companies provide.

I'm still looking forward to seeing the results, despite my doubts, since this is the first SOG grow it should still provide valuable data and we'll still help UM maximize yield if possible. At a density of nearly 1plant/sqft it still has potential to generate a decent yield but without more w/sqft I expect smaller, airy, popcorn buds rather than the bigger flowers that large HIDs typically produce.

As I've told others, I'd love to be proven wrong... :D

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:34 am
by universalmaiden
Hello SME:

The plants are a combination of AK-49 Sativa and Mastadon Kush from Vision Seeds in the Netherlands. The Kush has nice big dark green leaves as you can see.

I am attaching pictures from day 14 growth now. The plants seem to like the watering schedule (15 minutes out of every hour) and don't show any signs of overfeeding or under watering or heat scorching.

The growth with the DiamondBrites is better than I've had with much higher wattage MH, likely a combination of hydroponics and good lighting. The heat reduction factor is not entirely untrue, it does not exceed 24 degrees celsius in the closed room, so from personal experience, it is a 95% heat reduction at least. If it wasn't, then all the other makers wouldn't be making them either.......yes? The only vent is a one inch inlet hose for air from outside with CO2 so that I do not need CO2 tanks in the room. I asked the company about their assembly in Canada, and they do so with custom heavy duty transformers and heat sink dissipators. At the end, they were the only ones to have a lifetime warranty, that must show something about commitment to quality. Even the US makers don't match that warranty it seems, believe me, I inquired with them also.

Time and pictures will tell us as too the wattage needed and bud result, so rather than write more, I will attach pictures of day 14 growth.

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:05 am
by SisterMaryElephant
I do love fat leaf indicas. :D

I wouldn't expect signs of under watering, 15/hour is a lot for rockwool since it holds water so well. They do make a faster draining Grodan product so perhaps that's a factor.

There is some "reduced" heat, compared to an uncooled HID but "zero heat" "no heat" and "zero thermal footprint" are all untrue. Call it an exaggeration, sales/marketing propaganda or outright lies; either way it's not true. Most growers air-cool their HID hoods which removes most of the heat easily. Water cooled HID hoods remove even more heat (97+%) but obviously add complexity and cost. While your room, way up north, may stay a certain temp (for now (it's not summer yet)) you're still skimping on light at less than 15w/sqft so it *should* run cooler than a room with better lighting. I will give them credit for their warranty too, assuming it's not one of those "limited lifetime warranties." ;)

You do know that you sound like an employee, right? :lol:

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:09 pm
by universalmaiden
I am very happy with the room temp. I agree it is cooler here right now, but we have been getting days near 60 degrees Fahrenheit. That being said, the room temp is still consistently 22-25 degrees Celsius. I just like that because the watering schedule doesn't need to change. The SNAP hydroponics really makes it easy. pH and ec just stay the same in the resevoir so, no fiddling around.

Re: DiamondBrite LED grow lights and SNAP hydroponics

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:22 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
Near 60? Brrrrrrr, it was in the 80's here last week although it's in the 70's this week. :D