Experience with 8500k T5 Purple lights?

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doktorV

420 Member
hi everyone, apologies for another Q; Indoor noob still in process of gathering gear together for first indoor grow, but off the ground soon I hope.

Last minute change of plan re lighting from a single Halo LED for a small box, to T5. Got a set today that comes with 8 x 2ft 24W bulbs that can be linked together in 2 x sets of up to 4 bulbs. Or less as required. Seems nifty and light and I thought a 4 light set would be good for a small box with a single plant.

Problem - set comes with 8 bulbs which on opening, are 8500k PURple. Guess I was expecting 6400k 'daylight'. This temperature is described as bio tropic, for exotic plants etc. Any experience with this colour? Think it would be ok for vegging? Just wondering if there is any point trying them or just try to get retailer to replace for a 'white' (6400k) set.
 
Do they have any sort of spectrum rating or graph on the side showing what light spectrums it/they produce? That will tell you more than anything if the bulb will work for what you want. Can you provide a picture of the box or even what brand of light it is?
 
Ascended said:
Do they have any sort of spectrum rating or graph on the side showing what light spectrums it/they produce? That will tell you more than anything if the bulb will work for what you want. Can you provide a picture of the box or even what brand of light it is?
Click to expand...

8500k_spectrum.JPG

Thanks Ascended - here's the pic on the box although it's not particularly scientific as it doesn't provide actual values - just an idea of which parts of the spectrum there are peaks. The blurb to the left seems to be pretty general too. Higher peaks in the UV range might make the purple need some glass or perspex covering?
 
The graph says that the PURple produces more light in both the red and blue bands, so that would be a good thing. I wonder if the lumen rating is as high ...
 
From what little I can tell it looks like it should work, but without having some more info its hard to tell for sure. I would likely add at least one either cool white or warm white depending on if you're in veg or flower, because to me at least it seems like the purple might be lacking on some of the spectrums (mainly red and orange/yellow).
 
Yes i've already decided to order 4 of the white(6400k) bulbs so thought I could try 2 white/2 purple together and see how that goes. I also still have my originally bought light - the supergroLED Halo full spec 25W LED light - another thought was to use this as an additional light so long as I can keep the distance in my box.
Height restraints means I am also looking into LST or perhaps topping or FIMing.
 
Personally I'd like to see someone experimenting with different spectrums, there's a lot of stuffy thinking that there's only one way to grow. But in nature there are factors that no one takes Into account..... Just like this, I experiment with growth patterns though. Since I'm in pretty deep to my hps set up I have to stick with that ( my girlfriend would have a baby if I bought more supplys) I'd also be I.terested in seeing a little actinic light thrown in to. Maybe one day....
 
doktorV said:
Yes i've already decided to order 4 of the white(6400k) bulbs so thought I could try 2 white/2 purple together and see how that goes. I also still have my originally bought light - the supergroLED Halo full spec 25W LED light - another thought was to use this as an additional light so long as I can keep the distance in my box.
Height restraints means I am also looking into LST or perhaps topping or FIMing.
Click to expand...

Hey DoktorV that purple spectrum is the best out of the three they show on the box it is the spectrum most LED light companies try to produce and is providing light in the strongest part of photosynthesis. the 6400k is mainly green so I would expect it to add stretch and to make your buds more fluffy. if you are looking to experiment then definitely add the white. knowledge is power. if you are looking for the best plant then I recommend the purple by itself or with the 2700k because it is so heavy in the red spectrum which is so important when in flower. it would do a lot more to make you have a larger yield with more dense buds it is closest to hps.
 
hey thanks chlorophyll and neon.
i'm pretty excited to get things going and about to start building. Amazing how ideas and plans are constantly revised but i'm superkeen to get experimenting. This forum is second to none for valuable info and experience. Currently going more in depth to learn how to LST as I will need to utilise the lower grow space.

Planning to experiment with some hermy seeds got from my outdoor grow (of bag seed, totally naive and had never even known of 420) - can't even tell you the basic mistakes I made...I cringe to think about what I did now that I've read for a few months! Amazed I got a 4ft plant out of it to be honest.
So i'm going to try to germinate these and play around with lights - 8500k with or vs 6400k +/- my Halo LED full spec (hence need to learn minimising height as much a poss whilst promoting yield). I think i'll lay off the LED until i've got a few nodes going and start bending...
 
So the bulbs arrived today but they sent 4 of the 2700k bulbs when I asked for 6400k! With the additional advice provided here though and looking at those spectrum graphs again I think I'll just keep em and give them a go, mixed in with purple - seems like i'll have more of the relevant spectrum covered this way - who knows, it may work out best this way and I do have my LED to supplement things. I can always buy 6400k bulbs in the future if this doesn't work out.

Right, back to construction!
 
Oh i'm still going to use the 8500k bulbs! I've got 8 of them!! I'm just undecided as to which and how many. I put 2 of them together with 2 x 2700k bulbs to see how they look and thought I might go with this as a starter as I've read a number of posts from people who use 6400k with 2700k right through veg and flowering.
On the other hand, it would be interesting to see how they veg under 4 x 8500k and then add in 2700k bulbs when flowering begins (i.e 2 of each type, 4 bulbs altogether)

With only ~1m height to my grow box and ~65cm wide I only have room for a set of 4 bulbs in an overhead position but I could always attach another 4 up the side wall. Then there's the LED (which I so want to use...perhaps mainly cause I spent about 200 bucks on it alone! Was my first light purchase before I realised distance might be an issue).

Needless to say I will be reporting back when I finally get going to let everyone know how things worked out!
 

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