Comment

Comment by Tom OBrien on July 1, 2013 at 9:02pm

I don't have as much room as I would like between the HID and the grow bed, but it's only 400W and the grow beds are about 4x4 so everything is more compact. I find the tops of the snow pea plants get a little cooked every once in a while now. I need to pull them soon and start a new crop.

Comment by Leo White Bear on June 29, 2013 at 11:13am

Tom-

  With the limited space between the grow beds and the celing, flat grow lights will be my only choice.  Plus we atill have to paint the walls and celing which will also raise the ambient light.  I don't have pics yet of the upper area of the barn but believe me I measured from the floor to peak and with the 40' available, the HID lights will be the way to go.  I already have 15 of these lights at my disposal.  We just got to work with what we got and I will be planting a variety of vegetables and see which ones will grow best.

Comment by Tom OBrien on June 29, 2013 at 7:54am

I started with flourescents because the fixtures were cheap, but I bought an HID light recently and it does make a big difference. The flourescents have been good for growing lettuce and sprouts, but not much else. I might be more positive about the effectiveness of flourescents if I had changed the bulbs every six months as some here have recommended. But they aren't cheap if you have to change out the tubes twice a year.  You could try a mix if you want to experiment, or have concerns about the cost or the heat generated by the HID fixtures. You also get some sunlight through the windows, so you have an advantage over my basement setup there.

Comment by Leo White Bear on June 27, 2013 at 12:37pm

Thanks TC, I'll look into the HID and decide if there is enough room between the lights and grow beds to actually be a fiesable combination.  Up stairs I can see the HID working out very well as the usable height from floor to peak is 40'.

Comment by TCLynx on June 27, 2013 at 9:59am

My opinion about using Florescent for Aquaponics is that they are probably only appropriate if you are just growing micro greens or all the same size lettuces under them and only under the exact footprint of the fixture.  You have to hang the florescent fixture so that the tubes are no more than a few inches from the plant leaves to get enough PAR for good growth.  That means for an IBC footprint grow bed you would probably need two fixtures and they have to be adjustable height and the plants under them have to all be about the same size.

Also, Florescent tubes need to be replaced about every 6 months to keep the PAR useful to the plants.  they may still look as bright to us but the plants are no longer getting what they need.

For the wattage used per grow space, some sort of HID light like Metal Halide may well be just as cost effective and allow you to grow a far wider range of plants and sizes under the same fixture.

Comment by Leo White Bear on June 27, 2013 at 6:49am

Yes- tours will be offered and classes will probably be offered on the basics and build-your-own.  In the future stages, we will also be building vertical grow towers and NFT herb systems.  The build on these are anticipated to begin in October or November so many more pics will be posted.

TC-

These are the bulb ratings that we will be using in our system.  These bulbs are in both the blue and red spectrum for leaf growth and fruiting.  The bulbs ar 2, 3000K and 2, 6500 K bulbs with a 20,000 lumens rating.  These were found on this web site (below). What is your opinion on this choice?

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights2.shtml#ultra

 

Grow Light	Watts	Growing Area		Heat Output	Recommended   Light Height Above Plants	Bulb Life   (hours)
		Primary	Secondary

4' T5 (4 bulbs)

216

2.5' x 5'

4' x 6'

Low

6" to 3'

20,000

Comment by Tom OBrien on June 26, 2013 at 9:17pm

Are you going to be giving tours when it's done?

Comment by Leo White Bear on June 26, 2013 at 8:32pm

I just got back from out of town and checking my email came across your post.  I am planning to use 4', 4-bulb florescent t-5 bulbs in the blue and red spectrum.  At the time, now, the information eludes me on the lumens.  If you all are interested I will post the info and manufacturer of what we plan to use later, for now, I'm bushed.

Comment by TCLynx on June 26, 2013 at 10:28am

What sort of lighting do you have planned?