News

New Products - Unit Farm UFO LED Grow Light 0

We're happy to announce that we now have the all new Unit Farm UFO Series available in the store.

Unit Farm is one of the newest LED makers on the market and they're definitely worth taking a look at.

Their UFO LED grow light series features CREE and OSRAM diodes at an affordable price.

There are so many different LED grow lights to choose from these days - so where does Unit Farm fit in?

They're the perfect middle ground.

New Products - Pro MAX Grow LED Grow Lights 0

The award winning Pro MAX Grow LED Grow Lights are now available in our store. 

They feature custom manufactured diodes that are perfectly designed for your plants. The Pro MAX Grow 1200 and its little brother, the Pro MAX Grow 600 both feature an all white spectrum that can handle every phase of plant growth.

Custom Diodes Make All The Difference

They're amazingly efficient. The Pro MAX Grow series sip power and are passively cooled (no fans required). No heat management required. 

No need for separate veg and bloom modes, your plants will flourish under the same light from seedling to harvest.

Pro MAX Grow LEDs Fresh Off the Assembly Line and Ready to Grow

Pro MAX Grow lights are assembled in the USA and feature a 3 year warranty and amazing grower support.

I first found out about these lights from Cen Cal Cultivator on YouTube. After seeing the results he was getting, I knew I had to make them available to all of you. 

Ready to start growing with Pro Max Grow LED Grow Lights? 

LED Grow Lights We Love - NextLight Mega Commercial Series 0

Many experienced growers come to us wanting to replace their 1000W HPS with a high performance LED grow light. We understand. At some point you want to reduce that electricity bill and stop worrying about heat management. While many LEDs claim to replace a 1000 Watt HPS, many either don't deliver the same level of performance or end up consuming so much electricity and running so hot that you end up losing any efficiency gains from LEDs in the first place. 

One light that has consistently impressed us and our customers with its solid performance is the NextLight Mega. It's on the top of the list of lights we recommend to both personal and commercial growers that need a no-nonsense LED that truly delivers.

If you've never heard of the NextLight Mega, here's a quick intro video:

Here are the highlights:

• Designed to replace a DE 1000W HPS grow light.
• 5' x 5' Flowering Footprint
• Draws Only 650 Watts
• 1400 PPF
• 2.15 PPF per Watt (beats out nearly all HPS and competing LED grow lights)

Some good things to know about the Mega:

• It's a full fixed spectrum grow light, it doesn't have separate veg and flowering modes.
• Uses passive cooling and stays cool without using any internal fans
• Daisy chain-able so you can easily use multiple lights together
• 100,000 Hour Life-Rating
• Made in the USA
• UL and DLC Premium Certified listed

Design

The first thing you'll notice about the NextLight Mega is that it's physically a very large light. It measures in at 37" x 37" while most competing LED grow lights are usually around 18" x 18", a quarter of the size.

The Mega is designed this way to promote an even coverage over its 5' x 5' grow footprint and to minimize hotspots (areas of extremely concentrated light). While plants love intense light, the problem with hotspots is that they're accompanied with a large drop-off in intensity outside of the hotspot area. You'll get excellent growth directly under a hotspot, but you won't get even growth across your whole grow area.

The Mega's design also allows the fixture to take advantage of passive cooling. Most LED grow lights require built in fans to dissipate their heat output. Fans aren't neccessarily a bad thing, but they are one more component that can break. While many fans run nearly silent, they'll never be as quiet as no fan at all. The passively cool ed Mega runs cool to the touch.

Customer Photo - NextLight Mega in Action

PAR

The NextLight Mega boasts an impressive 2.15 PPF per Watt, a measure of the efficiency of the total light output by the power consumed. For comparison, most top of the line HPS bulbs are under 2 PPF per Watt. If you're looking to reduce your power bill without compromising your grow, the NextLight Mega delivers.

This is the PAR chart for the NextLight Mega measured from inside a grow tent with reflective material. Measurements were taken in this environment to more closely simulate what you'll see in your grow environment. 

One thing that you should definitely be aware before you start growing with a Mega is that it's designed to be placed close to the plant canopy. While many LED grow lights are designed to be at least 2 ft from the plant canopy, the NextLight Mega operates best at about 18 inches. If you've used LEDs before, that may sound like it's too close and will burn or bleach your plants. This isn't a problem for the Mega. It can safely operate close to the plant canopy because of its even light output and full white spectrum diodes.

Spectrum

The NextLight Mega uses an all white spectrum as opposed to focusing on the blue and red wavelengths like many LED grow lights. Visually, this is very obvious - instead of the purple light you see in many LEDs the NextLight Mega produces white light that looks more like light from the sun or an HPS bulb.

There's currently a debate in the LED grow light world over which one is better. On one side, the blue and red LED supporters claim that their lights output only the wavelengths necessary for plant growth. Since they aren't wasting output on other parts of the spectrum, they are more efficient. The white spectrum camp argues that plant growth is more complicated then that. While you'll get decent growth using only the blue and red spectrum, plants evolved to grow under sunlight and can't reach their full potential unless given a complete spectrum of light. While this comes down to preference and experience, we're big fans of full white spectrum lights.

Here's what the NextLight Mega's spectrum looks like compared to a DE HPS and a blue and red spectrum LED grow light:

Diodes

The reason the Mega is able to produce its PAR output and spectrum comes down to its diodes. It uses mid power Samsung LM561B diodes split across 6 panels. These diodes are designed with high efficiency in mind so the Mega can run without any fans and stil be cool to the touch. You can see the spec sheet for the diodes here if you'd like to do more research.

Warranty

When making a big investment like purchasing an LED grow light, it's important to go with a company that stands behind their product. This is where NextLight really shines (pardon the pun).

The Mega, along with the entire NextLight Commercial line, comes with a 5 year warranty. Most competitors top off at three years and some offer only one. NextLight also has a special loaner program should you have any problem with your light.

Let's say one day your NextLight Mega just refuses to turn on. In most cases you'd have to send it back to the manufacturer for repairs. It's going to take time for the light to get shipped back, more time to get it fixed, and then even more time for it to get sent back you.

So what happens to your plants while all that's going on?

This can be a huge headache and result in extra expenses or even a failed crop. NextLight doesn't let that happen to you. If you have any issues with your light they will overnight a loaner light to you. You can ship your light back in the box that the loaner arrives in and continue your grow like nothing happened. 

This service should not be overlooked as it could really save your butt one day and most competitors don't offer an equivalent. Hopefully you'll never need it, but if you do you'll be glad you have it.

Conclusion

Hopefully you can now see why the NextLight Mega is one of the first lights we recommend when growers are searching for a high end 1000W HPS replacement. It's efficiency is unparalleled, it has a full white spectrum that your plants will love, and it's got one of the best service warranties in the industry.

Have any questions about the NextLight Mega? Ask away in the comments!

Ready for your own? Get it here.

New Products - Black Dog LED PhytoMAX-2 LED Grow Lights 0

The Black Dog LED PhytoMAX-2 series is an update to the extremely popular PhytoMAX series. 

You get 60% MORE light with the new upgraded version of the lights at the same price as the original phytoMAX series. 

The PhytoMAX-2 series has a maximum flowering footprint of 6.5 ft x 6.5 ft. It's Huge. 

And just like the original, you get the Phyto-Genesis Spectrum™ and powerful canopy penetration without the hotspots. 

The whole PhytoMAX-2 series is ETL listed so commercial growers rejoice, you can use these babies. They'll serve you well and with an Industry-Leading 5 Year warranty, you know you're in good hands should anything go wrong. 

Need the most power? The PhytoMAX-2 1000 has got you covered. It's the strongest light in the series, drawing 1050W and yielding 60% more than a traditional HPS.

Check out the whole PhytoMAX-2 series here.

Amare LED Grow Journal Resources 0

Finding the right LED grow light is difficult. Everyone claims that theirs is the best, has the ideal most perfect of perfect spectrums, the most tremendous canopy penetration, and on top of that barely uses any energy. 

So who do you believe?

That's why it's a great idea to check out grow journals. They're maintained by independent growers (usually) that want to document and share their passion with other growers, no marketing speak allowed. If you want to know how a grow light will perform in the real world without actually trying it yourself, you've got to find a good grow journal.

To make it easy for you, we've compiled the best grow journals out their covering one of the top grow light companies out there - Amare Technologies.

The Amare SolarEclipse 450 with UVB

Amare is a smaller company so you might not have heard of them yet. Their most popular lights are the SolarEclipse 450, SolarPro4 and SolarPro9. If you're looking for the best, they should definitely be at the top of your list. 

But, don't take my word for it, let the grow journals speak for themselves.  

My Amare Full-Bore Pro-4 Grow #1 by hybridway

Grow Lights: 1x SolarEclipse 450, 6x SolarPro4
Grow Area: 15’ x 4.5’
Plants: 9
Nutrients: Technaflora 

My Amare, Hydroponics Hut, & SunCloak Grow by hybridway

Grow Lights: 1x SolarEclipse 450
Grow Area: 10' x 4’ 
Plants: 9
Nutrients: Technaflora 

Amare SolarPro9 & SolarEclipse 450 UVB by smittywilson

Grow Lights: 1x SolarPro9, 1x SolarEclipse 450
Grow Area: 7' x 5’ 
Plants: 4
Nutrients: Emerald Harvest

Pep's Solar Eclipse 450 Lights Up Some Gorilla Glue by iampepe

Nutrients: FoxFarm Trio, Botanicare CalMag, Grandma's Molasses

A Builders Edge in Grow Room Construction. Dream room by BigSm0

This one is *very* cool. The Amare SolarEclipse 450s are used for flowering in a flood & drain setup but the room also includes a veg area and drying cabinet.

Amare Tech SE-450 and Mephisto Genetics by BigSmo

Grow Area: 9' x 3'
Nutrients: TechnaFlora

Skywalker OG + Amare Tech SE450 LED (1000W) by Rundskop

Grow Area: 8' x 4'
Nutrients: General Hydroponics

AMARE HI-LED Adventure- Revolution to Revelation

Nutrients: Sunshine Mix #4 and Pro Mix BX

Organic Flower Tent by HuntAK

Grow Area: 5' x 5'

Do-Nothing Garden by donothinggardening

Grow Lights: 1x SolarEclipse 350 (since replaced by the SolarEclipse 450)

Organic Soil Sips and Solar Specs by mrsilly

Grow Lights: 2x SolarEclipse 350 (since replaced by the SolarEclipse 450)

Done tearing through those grow journals and ready to join the White-Light revolution?You can check out our whole line of Amare LED grow lights here.

Do you have your own grow journal or can you recommend one that I missed? Drop it in the comments!

New Product - SuperCloset SuperPonics XL 12 Hydroponic Grow System 0

The all new SuperCloset SuperPonic XL 12 is an all new, easy to use, 12 site hydroponic system that lets you grow big!

It's perfect for growers that want larger plants then the SuperPonic 8 or SuperPonic 16 can hold but aren't quite ready for bigger systems like a Bubble Flow Buckets set up.

Want a quick rundown? Check out this video.

It uses the same proven, super effective, hydroponic grow techniques as the other SuperPonic systems but with more space for your plants to grow.

You may be wondering why the SuperPonic XL 12 is called the "XL" when it has four fewer grow sites than the SuperPonic 16. Well let's take a look!

Size

The SuperPonic XL 12 is 11" wider and 2" taller than the SuperPonic 16. Your plants will have way more space to stretch out instead of bumping into their neighbors.

Reservoir

The SuperPonic XL 12 has a 35 gallon reservoir, 10 gallons more than the SuperPonic 16. That's a lot more yummy plant juice for the girls to drink so they grow up big and strong.

Net Cups

The SuperPonic XL 12 has 3.75" net cups compared to the SuperPonic 16's 3" net cups. Noticing a trend here? Bigger. Bigger. Bigger. These net cups will allow a larger root mass to develop more easily. 

So while the SuperPonic XL 12 has fewer grow sites, it's bigger where it counts. The increased space, reservoir size, and larger net cups will let you grow XL sized plants from seed/clone all the way up to harvest.

Ready to start? You can order your SuperPonic XL 12 here.