Choosing Lighting for Indoor Hydroponics

[@brandonrose4722]

I've been thinking about gardening, and I started researching hydroponics out of curiosity. I soon stumbled upon your channel and I watched most of your videos because they provide a lot of clear and useful information. I then moved on and studied other sources so that I could decide what type of hydroponics system I should use. I have an engineering background so I like to study my options pretty thoroughly before I spend any money. Well, as I studied more, I realized that you must have studied many of the same things and came to the same conclusions before me. Using a recirculating deep water culture is such a good choice for not only good yields but excellent space efficiency. The ability to grow from seed to harvest at one small station cuts the work and space required down so much! I just want to say thank you to your family for sharing your experience and build specs online so people like me could learn. Your website has been a great help for building a shopping list, and I'm impatiently waiting for most of my new stuff in the mail. I am excited to grow some delicious foods with my wife and daughters in the next few months. Thanks again, and keep posting new videos!

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

I love reading comments like this! Thank you! I'm excited for you to get started!

[@chadtitan4159]

Tip for ya. I noticed some of your stems were a little thin at the base. When a seed first starts to sprout 🌱. Leave the light on the new sprout for 72 hours. This helps to grow a strong base stalk and will help with that wilted look that some hydro-plants get. 😜 Good job on the vids keep em up.

[@ECMVAQ137]

Love your video very smooth easy to pickup on and really GOOD information. Thanks I was feeling down and this was just what I needed. peace!

[@tangobayus]

Any cool white LED will work for greens. Remember the inverse square law of light: if you halve the distance you quadruple the photons. LEDs are cool, so you can bring them just 3 inches from the top of the plant. Use chains or rope to adjust the height of the lights as the plants grow.

[@ail2470]

I'm learning to grow hydroponic and your video has a wealth of information about lights. Thank you for that. I've noticed that you have fans installed. Is this essential for hydropic? how long do you turn it on? I so appreciate your video!

[@jeffreynorris7212]

Big fan of your channel. Putting the finishing touches on 2 systems for strawberries and lettuce. Being in the North do you guys temp regulate your nutrient tank ?

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

Yeah we keep an aquarium heater in the reservoir during winter months to hold it 55-65 F.

[@SnifterRoux]

What do you prefer? The Mars Hydro or the Led tubes you have? I want to grow greens and not sure whether to go for the LED T5 replacements or something like the Mars Hydro

[@wyzgyz5]

Thank you for your videos. I haven’t seen any information regarding the best temps to grow the vegetables in. I was thinking of setting this up in my basement, but it’s cooler down there than in the main level - probably only 60 degrees. Thanks for any information you can provide.

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

60 degrees is probably fine for lettuce, especially since the light will warm it up a bit.

[@tangobayus]

Most greens are cool tolerant. But you may need 70 degrees for them to germinate.

[@wwtv361]

I found this video a little too late so need to make do for a while. I have two-foot, double-tube grow lights (19W LED), each covering two rails. The fixture has no structure other than the bulb sockets on either end. Could I increase the usable light by tenting the fixture with foil/metal? Or, how about carefully positioned mirrors? I'm learning on lettuce, but want to do strawberries next. Thanks for taking the time to put this info out there!

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

Yes, there is also reflective material (similar to mylar) that you can place around your setup to reflect light. Putting the lights closer to the plants can help as well.

[@tangobayus]

Move the lights close to the top of the plants- 3" is fine.

[@jrmint2]

Very informative! Thank you!

[@ktan6738]

There is t5 led n t8. The energy lesser than half. Just need to have 25-40w per sq feet. So this setup more have more than enough lights. Can set it at lesser brightness n reduce the power consumption. Or lesser led. The easier method is 1 row of LED per 2 row of vegetables.

[@davidwalker575]

Is there anything special about grow light leds? Rather than other led strips?

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

Grow lights are usually designed to give off specific spectrums of light that are more beneficial to plants. Some wavelengths go unused by plants and so would be a waste of energy. But it probably depends on the light strip and the plant. If you already have some light strips you could give it a shot and see how they work!

[@ImasBiag]

Thanks for sharing. Subscribed ☺️

[@hudson8865]

Thank you.

[@justink1209]

Do you run your water pumps 24/7?

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

Yes

[@waihoe1783]

Hi... thanks for the great info posted on hydroponics. A light question.. there has been a lot seller selling on red led light.. said to help with fruiting and growing. Is it true compared to the just normal led color lights?

[@waynehatfield1166]

I’m sorry but I can’t find those links you spoke of in your video.

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

Hello! They are in the description of this video otherwise you can find all the info and links on our website here: www.simplegreenshydroponics.com/posts/rail-system/part-4-lighting

[@simonac688.]

very helpful 👍

[@JithinJose2]

@Simple Greens Hydroponics , How about using LED strips? 5m 120w strip we get for 15$

[@SimpleGreensHydroponics]

I have not tried them but it might work!

[@JithinJose2]

@@SimpleGreensHydroponics thanks for the reply, may be a comparison video 🙂

[@TheVansar]

@@JithinJose2 different LED stipes have different efficiency. those 15$ strips are not going to be very efficient compared to real grow light, or T5 bulbs. However some strips like Bridgelux EB or Samsung H series have very high ratings, and can be built to provide better lightning than mars hydro, with less power consumed.

[@JithinJose2]

@@TheVansar yeas i can assume ut will be less efficient, but how much and it worth 15x price of grow light? Those are the some questions i have.

[@TheVansar]

@@JithinJose2 depends what you put the price on. I'm pretty sure it's not 15x more efficient, but there are many aspects like diodes longevity, heat generated (better efficiency = more light than heat from single watt of energy). in my opinion mars hydro lights are greatly overpriced, and spiderfarm ones would be a little bit better, but the best quality/cost balance would be DIY LED light with good quality samsung/bridgelux stripes. Especially that 300W from mars hydro is way too much for vegetating plants on this area. You could easily go with 1/3 of that power with good panel.

[@fritzeph6550]

Can you use ordinary T5 LED day light?

[@nmc052able]

Yes, i use T5 for leafy greens since 2017.

[@apple-on5pq]

you can use shop light as grow light.