- Thread starter
- #21
T5s, grow light recommendations
- Thread starter MVcowboy
- Start date
mojuan
Well-Known Member
that's a hell of a setup, i have a guitar lolIt looks like a stage ready for a light show! Who's playing?
Jaymiller
420 Member
Found a great t5 for 89 bucks on amazon. Its a 4ft 4 bulb tho.. Still pretty damn decent! Just type in t5 on amazon. It also can be daisy chained as well..
Greenlizard
Well-Known Member
Hi Old Salt.
The local hydro store (not sure if I am allowed to say it's name here) in Sackville NS sells Sunblaster fixtures and bulbs. They always have a bunch if your having trouble finding some. Cheers!
Thanks, Steve's is my local supplier. I sold all but one of the Sunblasters I had. That on will go on Kijiji soon, along with my blurple, and a few other supplies I'll never use. Some of it is new, and was acquired for a DWC system I was unable to use due to my well.
Gazoo
Member
T5 Fixtures are very cheap on CL, Only issue is I now have 3 different makers 
but they still all
daisy chain together so not a real issue.
BTW Hortilux sells the PowerVeg LINE with full spectrum UVA/UVB and four different spectrum output bulbs
420nm
460nm
633nm
660nm
only other spectrum I use is the Far-red 730 from little LED pucks
SIDE NOTE I had originally started with 4 foot T5s running up each side tent pole but after reading
about them I found the best output on a t5 is at the center of the tube so figured if I go 2 foot
fixtures I have twice as many centers using 8 instead of 2, plus I have much better control of were
I can position them
but they still alldaisy chain together so not a real issue.
BTW Hortilux sells the PowerVeg LINE with full spectrum UVA/UVB and four different spectrum output bulbs
420nm
460nm
633nm
660nm
only other spectrum I use is the Far-red 730 from little LED pucks
SIDE NOTE I had originally started with 4 foot T5s running up each side tent pole but after reading
about them I found the best output on a t5 is at the center of the tube so figured if I go 2 foot
fixtures I have twice as many centers using 8 instead of 2, plus I have much better control of were
I can position them
I've got 2-48"X4 bulb T5HO fixtures and I've had decent results, so I'm happy until I can upgrade to LED. I run the lights 8-10" from the tops of the plants. On the first three crops (autos) I used one fixture for veg and one for bloom. Four plants will fit, but as they grow you might notice better results with only three plants. Once the plants went to flower, I moved them under the bloom set up to finish. In this way I did a continuous grow for three crops. However, on the fourth and last crop, knowing I was going to shut down for a while I moved the fixtures side by side and ran half bloom spectrum and half veg spectrum. This gave me the equivalent of one 8-bulb setup. I was able to fit 4 plants total, otherwise things would have been too crowded. Below is a photo on the left of the last crop and 41 days and how the lights were arranged. The photo on the right was taken about 10 days later, just b/f harvest (I harvested sequentially, as each plant was ready). Total harvest was about 4.7 ounces dry at 50% humidity. Jarred for curing with 62% Broveda, so I suppose the weight might have approached 5 ounces, ounce I brought up the humidity.
- Thread starter
- #28
MVcowboy
Active Member
What was your temp at?
Temp of the room? About 80 degrees at the top of the plants (it's a large storage room in my basement - temp in the room itself was about 70 degrees).
Temp of lights? 6400K veg, and I think the bloom lights are 3000K.
webeblzr
Active Member
I fell in love with the T5's for vegetative growth, as they fit right into my perpetual set up, and saved me a few bucks to boot, from using my old 150hps/70mh set up, security lights, gutted to make grow light, I used for many years.
Sometimes as a moldy oldie, I get set in my ways, and do not seek out new items as these work fine.
Once I saw the T5, the reduced power got to me, I had to buy a pair of 48" x 8 tubes, and some single sticks to hang for sprouting, and houseplant rescue.
HOWEVER, like many of us, I bought the red and blue tubes to increase production. They seemed better, in a way, stems and stalks maybe a bit thicker, but their life was VERY short, as I write my install date on the ends of a tube as I install it.
I took them back to the grow shop, and dude just shrugged his shoulders, like yeah I get it, but to bad. Some only lasted a few months.
I tend to give the finger to that kind of treatment concerning my funds.
So, I get online, and search the industrial light sources, where I would buy HPS/MH parts then build my own light kits back in the day, and I found a box, of Eco brand T5's, HO, 48" for about $3.45 per tube over the $8.00 or $9.00 for the red/blue tubes.
My wife and I sprout seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, takes about 7-8 days to maturity for a 10/20 tray to be finished.
I hung a pair of single stick T5's, under the shelves, for each level and as tubes would burn out, I just swapped them out.
One day, as I go to my room for sprouting, I see a very odd sight, and as I walk toward my shelves, 3 shelves have 3 10/20 trays across it, and from the way I walked in, I could see only on the shelves that I added a cheapo Eco tube, every sunflower sprout, turning and twisting to reach that light!! Some were bending right past a blue tube, to get to that Eco tube!
I was shocked, like getting jolted, kind of shocked, as I had always promoted to folks how good they (red/blue tubes) were.
The box I bought, cost about $75.00 with shipping for 25 tubes.
I started buying LED's maybe 5 years ago now, one was worthless, one is keeping up with the 1k, very nicely.
I apologize to the OP, as I did not answer his question as to how many can be under a T5: IMHO different strains will hold more or less plants due to their structure.
I tend to stuff a early veg area, and then when they go into another tent set on 18/6 or a late veg area, to be boofed up for flower time, I do NOT stuff them in, but give them some space between each plant.
Same with my flower tent, I find maintenance, and plant health to be better when they are not stuffed into that flower tent. Just my way!
Best to ya, sincerely webe
Sometimes as a moldy oldie, I get set in my ways, and do not seek out new items as these work fine.
Once I saw the T5, the reduced power got to me, I had to buy a pair of 48" x 8 tubes, and some single sticks to hang for sprouting, and houseplant rescue.
HOWEVER, like many of us, I bought the red and blue tubes to increase production. They seemed better, in a way, stems and stalks maybe a bit thicker, but their life was VERY short, as I write my install date on the ends of a tube as I install it.
I took them back to the grow shop, and dude just shrugged his shoulders, like yeah I get it, but to bad. Some only lasted a few months.
I tend to give the finger to that kind of treatment concerning my funds.
So, I get online, and search the industrial light sources, where I would buy HPS/MH parts then build my own light kits back in the day, and I found a box, of Eco brand T5's, HO, 48" for about $3.45 per tube over the $8.00 or $9.00 for the red/blue tubes.
My wife and I sprout seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, takes about 7-8 days to maturity for a 10/20 tray to be finished.
I hung a pair of single stick T5's, under the shelves, for each level and as tubes would burn out, I just swapped them out.
One day, as I go to my room for sprouting, I see a very odd sight, and as I walk toward my shelves, 3 shelves have 3 10/20 trays across it, and from the way I walked in, I could see only on the shelves that I added a cheapo Eco tube, every sunflower sprout, turning and twisting to reach that light!! Some were bending right past a blue tube, to get to that Eco tube!
I was shocked, like getting jolted, kind of shocked, as I had always promoted to folks how good they (red/blue tubes) were.
The box I bought, cost about $75.00 with shipping for 25 tubes.
I started buying LED's maybe 5 years ago now, one was worthless, one is keeping up with the 1k, very nicely.
I apologize to the OP, as I did not answer his question as to how many can be under a T5: IMHO different strains will hold more or less plants due to their structure.
I tend to stuff a early veg area, and then when they go into another tent set on 18/6 or a late veg area, to be boofed up for flower time, I do NOT stuff them in, but give them some space between each plant.
Same with my flower tent, I find maintenance, and plant health to be better when they are not stuffed into that flower tent. Just my way!
Best to ya, sincerely webe
Less is more.
I didn't realize my HO T5s could be converted to LEDs. Very interesting! I found a price online: $162 for a 12-pak, which is a whole lot cheaper than a quality LED setup. I'd only need 8 bulbs, but what the heck. Any comments?
jetsgrower
Well-Known Member
wow im glad I just went with leds
Do you have a link?
12-Pack-100-277V-Ballast-Dual-End-UL
It sounds good until you check the details.
T5H0: 5000 lumens, 54W, 92.6 lm/W
LED: 2800 lumens, 22W, 127.25 lm/W
The efficiency is higher, but they produce only 56% of the light that the T5HOs do. You'll need almost twice as many LED tubes as the florescent ones to get 10% more light.
T5H0: 5000 lumens, 54W, 92.6 lm/W
LED: 2800 lumens, 22W, 127.25 lm/W
The efficiency is higher, but they produce only 56% of the light that the T5HOs do. You'll need almost twice as many LED tubes as the florescent ones to get 10% more light.
Those are LED shop lights and not growing LEDs. I did not check the price to compare those against LED grow tubes like what I find at the local grow shops after I noticed that. You will end up with the same problem people had when trying to grow under the old style T12 fixtures years and years ago. The bulbs back then were designed to provide bright light for humans and while they seemed bright enough for us to work under there was not enough for plants.
Another thread just reminded me of another example.
I have a 4 foot T8 fixture over my large aquarium and it is great for lighting that tank up for a couple of hours in the evening. But, if I wanted to have living plants in the tank I would have to switch bulbs to a "grow T8 florescent" or a "grow LED tube"
...
I have a 4 foot T8 fixture over my large aquarium and it is great for lighting that tank up for a couple of hours in the evening. But, if I wanted to have living plants in the tank I would have to switch bulbs to a "grow T8 florescent" or a "grow LED tube"
Think of it more as you are not converting the fixture over to LED but instead being able to replace the florescent bulbs with LED tubes. Have not found anyone saying that I can't do it so I have been replacing one florescent at a time with a LED tube in my 2 foot fixtures. If all goes according to schedule I will have a couple extra dollars so another LED from the store on Tuesday.
...
Gazoo
Member
it may not all be about the PAR
T5s UVA/UVB is a big factor and is not measured in PAR Reading
T5s UVA/UVB is a big factor and is not measured in PAR Reading
Log In ‹ EYE Hortilux — WordPress
eyehortilux.com
