Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO Review

The new Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO is an extraordinary and revolutionary fixture. It is the first LED Bar Array fixture specifically designed and marketed for Ultra High PPFD in sealed rooms with supplemental carbon dioxide. It delivers an incredible 2429 µmol of usable light which is double the output of a 1000w HPS. It is ultra-efficient and generates very little heat, which allows it to find a home in sealed rooms that rely on air-conditioning. With 10 removable LED bars, it offers flexibility for growers with and without a sealed room and CO2. It is easily the best fixture for spaces 5’ x 5’ and above that I have tested or have seen on the market.

Photontek is the sister company of Lumatek eu, a European horticultural lighting company with an excellent reputation. The Photontek brand is sold in North America. The Photontek X-Series fixtures are sold in Europe as the Lumatek Zeus. They are a great company with excellent after sale service and one of the best warranties in the industry.

I reviewed the Photontek X 600W PRO in August 2020. It performed exceptionally well and has earned solid reviews from growers. The XT 1000w CO2 PRO is the newest addition to the series. It is a remarkable new fixture.

The Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO is a true 1000-watt LED grow light. It features a Photontek high-efficiency driver and top end diodes from Lumileds and Osram. The Lumiled full spectrum diodes are model 3030 HE Plus. The Osram diodes are 660nm SQ3.24. Each LED bar hosts 288 Lumileds along with 24 Osram diodes. There are ten (10) LED bars, which gives the XT 1000W CO2 PRO a total of 3120 diodes or 3.12 diodes per watt.

The Photontek X-Series feature removable LED bars. Lumatek/Photontek were the first to develop a removable bar fixture as an upgrade to foldable LED bar arrays. Other companies are following their lead. I have seen and tested several new lights that use this design. Through time, I expect to continue to see more and more brands move from a foldable design to copy the superior design of the Lumatek Zues and Photontek X-series.

Photontek was the pioneer of removable bar array fixtures, and they are still the leader. The build quality is exceptional. Their design uses magnets, and the bars click into place with a simple magnetic connection. The driver is segmented for each bar, so you can run the fixture without all the bars. In fact, you can choose to run anywhere from one bar all the way to ten. This feature gives incredible flexibility during the course of a grow. It also allows the XT 1000W CO2 PRO to be used in numerous different applications with and without supplemental CO2.

The Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO is the first LED bar array fixture that is specifically designed and marketed for sealed rooms with supplemental CO2. However, there are many potential applications for this fixture. Growers without supplemental carbon dioxide can run this fixture in a larger space, slightly dimmed, or without all the bars. With the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO at less than full power, I was able to generate the best PAR maps I have ever seen for a 5’ x 5’ space without supplemental carbon dioxide. I will discuss those applications below, but first let’s review the intended application.

The normal PPFD limit for healthy indoor cannabis photosynthesis is 1000 µmol/m². With supplemental carbon dioxide, the PPFD limit can be up to 1500 µmol/m² (see the chart below). Most LED Bar arrays are not capable of producing a photon density that high with an even distribution. LED fixtures have typically been designed for ventilated grow spaces where the PPFD limit is lower. For this reason, High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting like High Pressure Sodium (HPS) is still dominant in sealed rooms running supplemental carbon dioxide.

The engineers at Photontek designed the XT 1000W CO2 PRO to deliver ultra-high PPFD up to 1500 µmol/m² to a 2.25 sq meter (about 5’ x 5’) space. I discussed the fixture with them during the development phase. I was impressed with their approach and excited to test it when it finally arrived.

I set up the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO in a 150 x 150cm (about 5’ x 5’) test area. For the official CO2 PAR test, I set the maximum PPFD to be 1500 µmol/m². The XT 1000W CO2 PRO hit that target at a hanging height of 52cm (20.5in).

The PAR map produced by the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO is impressive. You can see the incredible density of light in the map above. A third of the map is in the ULTRA high PPFD range above 1200 µmol/m². More than half the map is above 1000 µmol/m². Indeed, there are values at or near 1000 µmol/m² from top to bottom and edge to edge. The lowest corner is still in the maximum production zone at 719 µmol/m². It is an exceptional PAR map because the XT 1000W CO2 PRO produces a ton of light and distributes it very well across the 5’ x 5’ canopy.

The average PPFD was way up at 1079.6 µmol/m², which means that the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO delivered 2429.1 µmol of usable light to the canopy. This is really an impressive number. It is more than twice the amount of light generated by a typical 1000w HPS bulb. The XT 1000W CO2 PRO had a power draw of 1012 watts during the test, which gives it an incredible 2.40 µmol/w. It is among the most efficient LED grow lights on the market.

To take maximum advantage of the ultra-high-density light that the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO can deliver, growers must seal their grow spaces and elevate the carbon dioxide levels. With a maximum PPFD of 1500 µmol/m², we recommend CO2 concentrations of 1200-1500 PPM. A sealed space allows high concentrations of CO2, but it also means that the grower must control and condition the climate.

Growing in a sealed space makes managing heat a significant concern. Growers with ventilated spaces can remove the heat generated by the lights with their exhaust fans. In a sealed room without exhaust, the best option to cool down the space is Air-Conditioning. This adds considerable expense and needs to be considered in the total efficiency of the system.

By now, most growers are aware that efficient LEDs put out less heat per micromole of light than HPS and other HID bulbs. However, HID bulbs can be run in air-cooled hoods which can remove about 80% of the heat that they generate. LED arrays generate less heat, but it is dispersed throughout the grow space and cannot be removed from a sealed space. Because of this, many growers believe that air-cooled hoods with HID are the most efficient way to grow in a sealed space that relies on Air-Conditioning. However, this is no longer the case.

In the chart above, we compare The Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO to two different HPS set-ups that are common in sealed rooms. The XT 1000W CO2 PRO is about twice as efficient as the HPS bulbs, so you would need two 1000w HPS set-ups to get a similar amount of light. Although it produces double the light, The XT 1000W CO2 PRO generates less total heat than one HPS bulb. Single-Ended HPS bulbs are less efficient and run hotter than Double-Ended bulbs. However, Single-Ended 1000w bulbs are often run in air-cooled hoods.

We calculated the cooling power needed based on the total heat output in BTU of each of the set-ups. When the power needed to run the lights and the Air-Conditioning are considered together, the significant advantage offered by the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO becomes clear. In a sealed room it will be about 80% more efficient than either HPS option.

If you have a sealed space with supplemental CO2, I think the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO is the best fixture on the market for your space. It was designed for you! However, it is also the best fixture for grows at least 5’ x 5’ even if you do not have supplemental CO2. I ran two different tests in a 5’ x 5’ area with a maximum PPFD set at 1000 µmol/m². Both tests required me to run the XT 1000W CO2 PRO at less than full power. I ran one test with the dimmer set to 75% and a second test with the dimmer at 100% but with two of the bars removed. Both of these 1000 µmol/m² Maximum PPFD tests produced incredible 5’ x 5’ PAR maps.

At 75% power, I had to raise the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO to 67cm (26.5in) in order to lower the maximum PPFD to 1000 µmol/m². It is a pretty high hanging height, but it generated a fabulous PAR map. The vast majority of the map is in the maximum production zone above 700 µmol/m². Most 5’ x 5’ PAR maps cannot get the corners up to 500 µmol/m², however, in this test the lowest corners are 618 µmol/m². The average PPFD was 797.8 µmol/m², which means it delivered a Usable PPF of 1795.1 µmol. The power draw was 753 watts, so in this set-up, the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO had a Usable Photon Efficiency of 2.38 µmol/w.

The removable bars provide a different way to lower the total PPF output from the fixture. I ran a separate test with the dimmer at 100% but with two of the bars removed. I left three bars at each end and two bars in the middle. If counting bars from one end to the other, I removed numbers 4 and 7. This test produced the best 5’ x 5’ PAR map with a maximum PPFD of 1000 µmol/m² that I have seen.

With the eight bars, the power draw was about 80%, but with less light near the middle, the hanging height was slightly lower than the test at 75% power. At a hanging height of 65.5cm (26in) I recorded a maximum PPFD of 1000 µmol/m². There are high density values all across the map and the lowest PPFD in a corner is way up at 652 µmol/m². The average PPFD in this test was an incredible 822.2 µmol/m², which equates to a Usable PPF of 1850.0 µmol. With a power draw of 800 watts, this test had a Usable Photon Efficiency of 2.31 µmol/w.

If you have more space and sufficient hanging height, then you could run this light at 100% power without supplemental CO2. I estimate that it would perform well in a 6’ x 6’ space at a hanging height of about 80cm (31.5in), but that is beyond the limits of my testing area. It is so much light!

The flexibility, power, and efficiency of the Photontek XT 1000W PRO are all exceptional. It is capable of filling in a 5’ x 5’ PAR map like no other fixture on the market. The fact that they designed this LED bar array fixture to be run in sealed rooms is revolutionary. It produces so much more light and so much less heat than HPS. Even though you cannot put it in an air-cooled hood, it still crushes in terms of total system efficiency.

It is a large powerful fixture that is exceptionally well built, so it carries a considerable price tag. The list price is $1599. Our discount code takes 5% off, which makes your cost about $1520. Use code CocoPTK5 on Photontek-lighting.com. It may seem steep, but it breaks down to only $0.63/µmol, which is a great price.

Grower’s often ask me, “What’s the best grow light for a 5’ x 5’ space?” I have an unequivocal answer now. It is the Photontek XT 1000W CO2 PRO. You may not need all this light; you may not even be able to use all this light, but there is no other fixture that offers as much power and flexibility. My colleague, Dr Photon, is so impressed with it that he got one for his personal grow. Using it ourselves is the most significant endorsement that we can give to a grow light.