Need advice on T5 bulbs

[jlapan32]

I am getting ready to start my first grow. I will be starting my plants under a 4' 4 lamp HO T5, vegging with MH, and flowering with HPS. My question is, does it matter which bulbs I use from the time I plant my seeds to when I move plants to the veg room?

I bought my fixture and it came with 4- 4100k 54w bulbs. I also ended up buying 4- 28w 6500k (the only 6500k t5 bulbs they had).

Which of these 2 bulbs should I use?

Thanks.

 

[JJ Bones]

The 6500k but you should purchase High Output to get the 54w per bulb

 

[jlapan32]

is it worth spending the extra money seeing how the plants will only be under this lighting for a few weeks? Will the extra wattage be at all beneficial to the plants?

 

[Hosebomber]

The ballast is what controls the wattage used on florescent lighting, not the bulbs. If you put standard T5 bulbs in a high output fixture, it will simply overcharge the bulb. You will get less photon production (lumens) with a 28 watt bulb than you will with the 54 watt bulb. It will also degrade the bulb at ~4 times the rate of normal usage.

Likewise, you can turn any fixture type into high output (with the above mentioned degradation) by rewiring the ballast. This is high voltage electrical work and should not be done by those without the knowledge.