Fluorescent tubes pointless?

Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
First of all, a big thankyou in advance to anyone that takes the time to reply to this :mrgreen:

Secondly, i'm in the UK were this sort of thing is frowned upon so my question will refer to growing 'tomato' plants....

Anyway, the crux of it is that i'm an infrequent smoker, maybe twice a week. For this reason i'm not after massive yields or for a setup that costs me a fortune. I was wondering though, how effective a pair of decent fluroescent tubes would be in a small cabinet/scrog setup. Obviously i'd try to get the best reflector possible to use the 360 degree light output of the tubes. My main bug bear is it not costing me an absolute fortune in electricity, hence the fluro tubes. I'll probably only have 2 or 3 plants on the go, in a fully whited out purpose made cabinet but I dont want to end up 3 months down the line with only a 1/4 oz for my efforts, that said i'd be happy with an Oz :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Any and all advice will be gladly recieved, and thanks again :peace:
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Thankyou! I was thinking they should be fine, as i've used them to grow plants in an aquarium before and they thrived. Another question that comes to mind is: How easy is it to make your own purpose made reflector? Only i'm thinking of avoiding websites and grow shops and just going to a building supplies and picking up a twin tube fixture...
 
meowmix

meowmix

Active Member
My exp with T5s. I have an 8 tube T5 setup and I have yet to have surviving seedling using them. IDK if the light is too close or too far away. I normally do seedlings in soil cause thats what I know, and I had ...little issue with MH.

The one bit of advice to trump all others is make sure you get your advice from people you know are using the T5s. Otherwise dumb people come and tell you to put the T5s right on top of your seedlings/anything.

With clones, im loving it. I kept the light maybe 2 ft away for young clones and can get alot closer, maybe like 6 inches away when they pop roots, with a fan going. Might be able to go close, IDK, hard to find anyone that actually uses T5s and gives advice.


Charmwah said:
First of all, a big thankyou in advance to anyone that takes the time to reply to this :mrgreen:

Secondly, i'm in the UK were this sort of thing is frowned upon so my question will refer to growing 'tomato' plants....

Anyway, the crux of it is that i'm an infrequent smoker, maybe twice a week. For this reason i'm not after massive yields or for a setup that costs me a fortune. I was wondering though, how effective a pair of decent fluroescent tubes would be in a small cabinet/scrog setup. Obviously i'd try to get the best reflector possible to use the 360 degree light output of the tubes. My main bug bear is it not costing me an absolute fortune in electricity, hence the fluro tubes. I'll probably only have 2 or 3 plants on the go, in a fully whited out purpose made cabinet but I dont want to end up 3 months down the line with only a 1/4 oz for my efforts, that said i'd be happy with an Oz :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Any and all advice will be gladly recieved, and thanks again :peace:
Click to expand...
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Thanks Meowmix.

I havent had the opportunity to grow in 5 years, the last time I did I had a purpose built growbox for two plants, and I had 2 x 3ft T5's hung vertically in the corners. I only ended up with a 1/4 oz at the end of it. I now realise a few of the mistakes I made, but for the moment I still need to persevere with the low cost option. I'm sure I could manage an oz and that would suit me fine. The handy thing is I have some seeds from some Thai stick i've had recently, going to use them to test it all out before I spend money on decent seeds.
 
mookie brown

mookie brown

Active Member
I think if you're trying to only grow 1oz & your method is going to be a scrog then just grow 1 plant. That would be more than enough to at least get yourself an oz. If you're going with t5HO fluorescent lights & you're on a budget & lets say you have a small 2' fixture that holds 4 bulbs then get yourself two 6500k bulbs & two 2700k bulbs & put them in your fixture to give yourself a full spectrum. Otherwise if money is no object then you would use four 6500k bulbs for vegetation stage & four 2700k bulbs for flowering.

As far as making a reflector goes I wouldn't have the answer. Someone here will or do a internet search on DIY reflectors & see what comes up

Good luck
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Thanks J.Cun & Mookie

As it stands I dont have any fixtures at all, i'm starting from scratch. I know in some respects its a false economy to try and do things on the cheap like this, but I really have no option but to keep the budget tight. I plan to have a small fan on the go intially to strengthen the stem, and not planning to have any air circulation equipment, save for making sure my growbox has ventilation holes top and bottom. Hoping it doesnt smell too highly either, but i'll aim to not go for super skunk type strains that stink the place out.
 
sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
you can get 150-200 watt cfls and they make nice reflectors with the mogul socket built in. if you choose going that way you could make your box smaller into a scrog system, with more focused light. it would cost you $40 american (dont know currency conversion) and you could get a 200watt for $65, 150 for cheaper. i bought two to try out for a little extra hobby but got to busy with bigger projects so maybe next winter. they are pretty bright and you could keep em as close as any other floro. almost 2-3 inches with a fan circulating and exausting. i use t-5s to start seedlings but inever keep them under them for more than a couple weeks.then they go under metal halides. im sure you could harvest under the t-5s but you will probly need more than 2 bulbs and use some sort of scrog technique to get the most out of them. otherwise youll have some ok tops annd some very loose buds below. even at 2 ft im afraid. just some of my thoughts good luck. and make sure youve got some good ventilation even if your cabinet is not hot plants like fresh air.
 
meowmix

meowmix

Active Member
Dont go cheap on the stuff that keeps the secret garden secret though. Eventually you will have to deal with smell most likely, im a big fan of activated carbon filters.


Charmwah said:
Thanks J.Cun & Mookie

As it stands I dont have any fixtures at all, i'm starting from scratch. I know in some respects its a false economy to try and do things on the cheap like this, but I really have no option but to keep the budget tight. I plan to have a small fan on the go intially to strengthen the stem, and not planning to have any air circulation equipment, save for making sure my growbox has ventilation holes top and bottom. Hoping it doesnt smell too highly either, but i'll aim to not go for super skunk type strains that stink the place out.
Click to expand...
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Cheers Soda :)

The venting wont be a problem, i'll be running a little fan outsidethe box to push air in and through. For such a small setup as this is it possible to get an activated carbon system that doesnt cost the earth? And again how cost effective is it to run? I've got a couple of books and they point towards ionisers being better on the small scale, but i've read that they just create mess and undue hassle....
 
sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
put an exaust fan blowing out on top and passive intakes on the bottom it would be better than holes on top. im no grow guru so others that have more cabinet expierience will come along. one of my first grows was a 250hps scrog in a cabinet. it was a disaster fron heat probs lack of expierience back then there was not much info on it. but after a few tries i managed a couple good harvests befeore moving along. i would check out 200watt cfls you can get them in warm and cools.
 
sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
to get the most out of a carbon filter you need a nice fan to push the air through cheap fans wont last long. ive tried some cheap ones.
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Soda, if I stick with the fluro tubes T5 then heat wont be an issue, they'll give of hardly any heat, and the growbox will be at room temperature with ample air flow around it for the venting.

Its my own fault for wanting to set this all up when i'm out of work, rather than 2 months ago when I had cash to burn!
 
Gastanker

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
CFLs might be alittle cheaper and more adjustable than tubes. If you shop around you can find vanity light fixtures for super cheap. The one pictured cost me $8 and with Y splitters and different bulbs can run anywhere from 12w-300w of CFL in any spectrum combination you desire. Heavy duty ceramic shop lights and Y splitters work wonders as well. Really lets you get your lights in the center of things.

Hope you don't mind some pictures. I think they show how well CFLs work in tiny spaces. In two months with 6 plants I yielded 5.5 oz which isn't too bad.
 

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sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
the filter and a good fan will run as much as your lighting im afraid. stay away from the cheap filters at this moment i can not recall what works best activated carbon i believe. they go for a nice penny even for cheap ones that is cheap good ones. long night im braindead today i dont drink but i did last night.
 
sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
look up sunlight supply bright wing reflectors. $40 bucks and they handle 150 - 200 like i said. give em a look. then you also get rid of one more worry lots of wires sticking out of your sockets from lots of bulbs its safer and keeps it neet. like i said ive got two of them, have not tried them but have enough expierience to know i could produce afew good ozs with one. using a scrog. i will be putting some plants under them this week getting ready for outdoor the overflow that doesnt fit under my mh bulbs. i believe they will work well. good luck
 
sodalite

sodalite

Well-Known Member
gastanker with your setup you would get double your yeild with a good scrog with the right plant. just advice i dont want anyone mad im not knocking anything but such small lights im convinced anything under 250 watts scrog is the way to go, it would take you more time and more work, but the work part is fun. just a thought, try if you want youll be amazed at the diiferance.
 
Charmwah

Charmwah

Active Member
Gastanker - that fitting looks ideal! I'm sure somebody told me somewhere that the coiled type of lamps arent good at directing the light downwards, but I suspect thats more to do with a decent reflector / reflective surfaces in place.

Whats to stop me making a reflector from say cardboard or some such material and then covering it in mylar? Apart from the fire hazard of it of course....
 
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