Does anyone out there use T5 lighting?

[SmokeyMcMedic]

High! I was wondering if anyone out there uses T5 lighting for vegging AND flowering. I am looking to get a T5 setup for a cabinet I have planned, and I would love to hear suggestions/ideas/reviews from anyone who currently uses a T5 lighting system. Here is the rundown; I am looking at two different models: the Sunlight Supply Sun-Blaze 2ft, 4 bulb unit, and the Sunlight Supply New-Wave 2ft, 4 bulb unit. Anyone used these, or had a buddy who has?

[Weed420]

Have used them for both. They have different bulbs for flower and veg. I had a 16 bulb 4 feet system that I used. Worked very well.

[SmokeyMcMedic]

Is it possible to have them in a tight space to create compact plants? I have seen a couple grows on here where the plants produced were super-lanky.

[DroJo]

Originally Posted by Weed420

Have used them for both. They have different bulbs for flower and veg. I had a 16 bulb 4 feet system that I used. Worked very well.

16 bulbs? wowwz

do you have a journal up?

how was your grow? (yield etc..)

[Dain Bramage]

one draw back i found is thay give off a lot of heat ,i think thay would beifit from some sort of externale balist

[tgadfgadgf]

I use the Sun System New Wave 24 T5. Gives off very little heat but of course I have a small fan blowing at the lights and plants. I only use the T5 for seedling and clones. I never used it for flowering but you can.

[SmokeyMcMedic]

Thanks for the responses!! I would like to try to keep my heat output as low as possible, while still getting great yields. I am thinking about getting a 250watt HPS system to use for flowering, but I dont know how well that would do in a small space. I need to make a decesion soon, as I have 12 seeds germinating in the Jiffy-Garden. I really enjoy reading other peoples opinions on this topic.

[gio77]

Agreed with DB. I have several 8 lamp ballasts & they can produce a lot of heat, so much so that I never ended up using all the bulbs. Tinkered with a few seeders & flowered those under the T5's aft pollenating. They did fine. Run them for veg mostly, including mums/ctg's. I'm invested but if had the option anew, would rung MH & air cool the fixtures, without any doubt. You can not vent any of the heat the lamps/ballast create & it is substantial with mult bulbs (period). Fan on top of the ballast & between the plant tops was the only solution along with additional a/c running. This was really shitty as the second main reason I got them was due to their "low heat emissions". The primary reason was 5k lumens per bulb brand new... fig 4200 lumens per at median operating output.

BTW, you should bump the 250 to a 400... and once you are there you might as well as go to a 600... lol! The 600hps (air cooled) will give you the best results for your buck/time. Properly vented you will be cool. Best.

[SmokeyMcMedic]

Thanks Gio!!! There is alot of hype around the T5's and how they have 'low heat emissions'. But I kind of thought with that many bulbs it would still get hot. I was originally thinking a 400, but I have some space constraints right now. A 600 would be just waaaayy too much for the space I would like to use (plus too much heat). I wish the water-cooled HID fixtures werent so f-ing expensive. That would solve all my problems. Anyway, thanks for the honest input, as I was looking at getting one of those 8-light behemoths.

[gio77]

They make an inline chiller now. I'm assuming it operates like a mini a/c unit & requires either a water drip and/or it runs through forced water & requires a separate pump/rez. Don't know but you can check it out.

BTW I wouldn't think about the liquid lumens as this just seems too very dangerous to me. I mean chilled water circulating all around a glowing hot bulb & socket... yikes! All it takes is one mistake and/or gasket failure & you will likely have a flash evaporation explosion. There are other/safer ways to cool the fixture/room. Also, the other main attributed benefit is bogus, imho... if you drop the lights to 4-6", sure you will create a huge lumen hot spot. However, you will also be cutting down the overall width of the illuminated area (draw a diagram with plant tops, lights & a straight-edge... the line of sight on the light rays is reduced on the outer sides). Also, the most scientific evidence that I have seen (a chart diagramming plant photosynthesis vs total lumen availability correlated to co2 levels) shows plants beginning diminishing returns of growth at about 8000 lumens. Plants get 12000-15000 total lumens at peak sun during the summer & they simply don't use most of that, though canopy penetration is extreme. Diminishing returns on co2 is achieved around 1200-1300ppm's. Best brah!

[SmokeyMcMedic]

Very good point about the flash explosion gio. I didn't even think about that! So they make an in-line chiller for T5 units? Interesting. I havent seen those anywhere. I'm stuck on lighting right now. I've got the cabinet design pretty much down. Now all I have to do is decide on a light to purchase. Info on HPS/MH is everywhere on this site, while I have only run across a select few threads that have used T5 all the way thru flowering. I want to make an educated buy here. I really appreciate the help.

[gio77]

No chiller for t5's- design of the ballast makes very difficult to enclose.

Chillers for in-line tubing 6-8", used with regular hid hoods. Sorry for the miscommunication!

IMHO, don't use the t5's. The 600hps has the best lumen:power ratio's, i.e., the best light you can get. Best brah!

[SmokeyMcMedic]

Gotcha. Thanks Gio. After talking to you and some others on here, I am really leaning away from T5. Though I don't know if I can swing a 600. I have seen alot of guys on here get really great results with 400's, but I am with you about the 600 being the best over-all value. My only real concern is the power bill. I am worried that with a 600 watter, the bill might jump up alot higher than I want. Any thoughts?

[gio77]

Ya know, I never really broke out the power with my living consumption from total bill. Have a lot of stuff going on, but the diff between a 400 & 600 can't be more than 10 per month or so...? I guess this would really depend on where you live but lets fig it:

200w @ 12hr/day = 2.4 kwhr

2.4 x 30 days = 72 kwhr

72 x .107 rate multiplier = $7.70 per mo appx

This is if I did this correctly... never really tried it before... just know what my bill is along with a/c variance. Odd, I know, oh well. Hope this is correct. So we can fig a 600 would appx run you $23 per mo during flowering. It think this is correct because I had always felt that when people were hyping energy savings, they were talking single digit dollars...?

If you can deal with the heat, then go for it! Best brah.

[gio77]

BTW, there is the ballast consideration... if magnetic coil you can fig 70-90W consumed. Go with a digi & it's around 40-60W. This is where they get their advertised 30% power savings!!! It's not like you save 30% off 600W, no it's the 90W that the magcoil runs! Not exactly that much once you think of it... single digit dollars.

Don't buy into the lumen output increase. If you go with a high-end magcoil, you will get 100% of the 600W needed at the bulb. Some digi's are microchiped to not do that, presumably to get more power/heat savings. Quality digi's will give you 100% of 600W as well.

The lumatek switch that pumps out 110%... if it really sends 660W to the bulb, it will burn out very fast. It will burn hotter, so send out more lumens initially. Bulbs aren't designed for this & the lumen maintenance will also depreciate very fast. So, it will be hotter, burn out faster & will have less lumens overall during the life of the bulb.

I checked out the "Ice Box"... pretty cool idea. I pull air out of the room through my hood fan, so it also acts to reduce my humidity. If I completely closed off it would spike. Have to rework entire vent system. Interesting though, especially if 1 box can remove all heat of 1000w. Best brah!