LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Hm... didn't read the page yet, but if that is accurate, maybe I should leave the red suns in and pull the coral waves for veg. Seems crazy with the reds being so obviously red, but if 630 is good for veg and the infrared is more flower friendly, maybe I should put the blues in place of my coral waves instead for veg.

Hyroot, pr0f, interested in your assessment of this concept.

Obviously the red suns are around 630 which is (according to the link provided) being suggested to be ideal for veg... but is it worth it to sacrifice all the blue activity in the coral waves if I did the above? Keeping in mind that I'd have a handful of other blue bulbs compensating as well...

...can barely remember what my blue bulb lineup is now that they've been packed up in tubes for so long during flower. D'oh.
UVL makes both AquaSun (veg) and Red Suns/Life (flower). I think the Coral Wave is just outside (or at least at the extreme ends of) PAR.

Your point about keeping Coral Waves throughout got me thinking. Seems like as long as you don't overdo it you can run them throughout: maybe 1/8 during veg, and 2/8 during flower
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
UVL makes both AquaSun (veg) and Red Suns/Life (flower). I think the Coral Wave is just outside (or at least at the extreme ends of) PAR.

Your point about keeping Coal Waves throughout got me thinking. Seems like as long as you don't overdo it you can run them throughout: maybe 1/8 during veg, and 2/8 during flower


PAR is the number of photons in the visible spectrum, between 400 and 700 nm. So UV and Infrared spectrum is outside PAR. From my experience. 1 coral wave is too much infrared for veg. IR spectrum drives flowering. Maybe if you keep light on 24/7 it might work for veg. On an 18 hour cycle, 1 coral wave will cause flowering.

The aquasun barely has any red, like 20%. I would just throw 1 redsun per 6 bulb or 2 per 8 bulb for veg. I have 1 ati aquablue special and 5 6500k bulbs. I just ordered a uvl super atinic and a uvl redsun that im going to add to same 6 bulb. I'll see how that goes.

For flower I have 2 corals waves in the blue spots. On an 8 bulb bb.
 

organicbynature

Active Member
Coral Waves are basically Super Actinics with some infra-red. I would use (am using) Super Actinics in their place in veg. There are Super Actinics out there that are cheaper and (potentially) more accessible than the UVLs, if getting those particular bulbs is a problem. You might be able to find some Zoo Med Coral Suns (their actinic) reasonably priced at a pet shop around town somewhere.

Here's a chart for the Coral Sun:
coral sun.png

Internal reflectors will presumably increased the light that is focused at your plants, but I'm perfectly comfortable with my GrowBright panels with individual reflectors and 95% reflectivity.
 
Just curious, there are lots and lots of posts here and I must admit I am intrigued by the efforts here. Has anyone documented using all these different grow bulbs versus other types of systems? HPS, CFL etc? Is the yield better?
 

MurshDawg

Active Member
Just curious, there are lots and lots of posts here and I must admit I am intrigued by the efforts here. Has anyone documented using all these different grow bulbs versus other types of systems? HPS, CFL etc? Is the yield better?
I am trying to document my efforts. It'll take a few more months for me to finalize the findings
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
Just curious, there are lots and lots of posts here and I must admit I am intrigued by the efforts here. Has anyone documented using all these different grow bulbs versus other types of systems? HPS, CFL etc? Is the yield better?

I'm chopping down today and next week. So I will know later. From the looks of everything. I would say the yield is about the same give or take as what I pulled under a 1000w hps. The quality under the t5 is rediculous. Blows aways 1000w quality.
 

AltarNation

Well-Known Member
Coral Waves are basically Super Actinics with some infra-red. I would use (am using) Super Actinics in their place in veg. There are Super Actinics out there that are cheaper and (potentially) more accessible than the UVLs, if getting those particular bulbs is a problem. You might be able to find some Zoo Med Coral Suns (their actinic) reasonably priced at a pet shop around town somewhere.

Here's a chart for the Coral Sun:
View attachment 1915874
Think it would be worth it to track down some of these Coral Suns rather than just throw in some 6500k bulbs during veg? I've got the 6500k's on hand already, but I don't want to stunt growth by using them if I would get a lot better results with some new bulbs. It seems people have pretty good luck with straight 6500k setups for veg, so I'm probably gonna save money and just do that... Also, I'm looking on petco's site right now and they're quoting all the bulbs two inches short... 46" instead of 48" for instance... is this just an error on their site? I'd hate to buy bulbs and find they're two inches short of fitting in my fixture..
 

AltarNation

Well-Known Member
I'm chopping down today and next week. So I will know later. From the looks of everything. I would say the yield is about the same give or take as what I pulled under a 1000w hps. The quality under the t5 is rediculous. Blows aways 1000w quality.

Nice. Can't wait to see the results man.
 

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
I'm chopping down today and next week. So I will know later. From the looks of everything. I would say the yield is about the same give or take as what I pulled under a 1000w hps. The quality under the t5 is rediculous. Blows aways 1000w quality.
Awesome! I'm so psyched to see the pics. Your last set of pics looked incredible (the ones that were in focus ;) lol). So all you were using was the single, 8 lamp Badboy? Or was it 16 bulbs? If you got a comparable yield to a 1000W HPS with only 432W of T5 lamps, you may have just cured erectile dysfunction, cause I don't know how anyone could NOT have a boner after that!
 

organicbynature

Active Member
Think it would be worth it to track down some of these Coral Suns rather than just throw in some 6500k bulbs during veg? I've got the 6500k's on hand already, but I don't want to stunt growth by using them if I would get a lot better results with some new bulbs. It seems people have pretty good luck with straight 6500k setups for veg, so I'm probably gonna save money and just do that... Also, I'm looking on petco's site right now and they're quoting all the bulbs two inches short... 46" instead of 48" for instance... is this just an error on their site? I'd hate to buy bulbs and find they're two inches short of fitting in my fixture..
I'm no authority, but I expect you're fine with the 6500k's for veg, especially if you're already rocking some other PAR T5s. Just get the super actinics when it is financially convenient for you.

For what it's worth I got my zoo med bulbs from bigalspets.com for $10 each. They have free shipping on orders of $75 or more. Free shipping on T5s - nice! :)

Don't worry about the 46". I've seen 45" for some bulbs too, I think. I haven't bothered to measure, but I expect they're all shorter than a full 48" - how else would they fit in a Bad Boy fixture, which is only 46.25" long? :) As long as it's a 54w bulb it should fit fine for you, from what I can tell.
 

okthanks2

Active Member
Think it would be worth it to track down some of these Coral Suns rather than just throw in some 6500k bulbs during veg? I've got the 6500k's on hand already, but I don't want to stunt growth by using them if I would get a lot better results with some new bulbs. It seems people have pretty good luck with straight 6500k setups for veg, so I'm probably gonna save money and just do that... Also, I'm looking on petco's site right now and they're quoting all the bulbs two inches short... 46" instead of 48" for instance... is this just an error on their site? I'd hate to buy bulbs and find they're two inches short of fitting in my fixture..
CRAZY, I just bought 2 of the Coral Suns and 2 of the Flora Suns at Petco in town here today to try out. I have 2 Coral Suns, 2 Flora Suns, and 4 of the 6500K Spectralux going and it is a very bright purple hue. I think 1 Blue Plus and 1 Red Sun in place of 2 of the Spectralux would make it perfect. The Flora Suns hit the red 660nm. Also has all the other peaks needed for photosynthesis. Seems like a good bulb so far.

They all fit in my 2 x 2 sunblaze fixture. Some places advertise the 24W 24" bulbs as 22" or 21" because that's the actually length. Same probably goes for the 54W 4 ft bulbs. If you measure them they are probably 46" or something around there.

I am aware that these daylight bulbs have extra output in regions not necessary for photosynthesis, but it does make it a little easier to see having 1 or 2 in the mix.
 

falcon223

Active Member
I found this. What do you all think about this grow bulb?
Use 54 Watt T5 high output fluorescent bulbs for 4' T5 Grow Lights from Sunlight Supply. These Fluorescent 3000K (Warm) T5 bulbs emit a red/orange spectrum that is ideal for budding and flowering.
These high output T5 bulbs have an extremely high lumen per watt rating at 5000 lumens per bulb: 54 watts = 92.59 lumens per watt. In addition These fluorescent bulbs have a very low heat factor which allows the fixture to be hung very close the plant canopy, raising light levels. This fluorescent bulb is compatible with T5HO electronic ballasts.
More Info More T5 Bulbs
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
Awesome! I'm so psyched to see the pics. Your last set of pics looked incredible (the ones that were in focus ;) lol). So all you were using was the single, 8 lamp Badboy? Or was it 16 bulbs? If you got a comparable yield to a 1000W HPS with only 432W of T5 lamps, you may have just cured erectile dysfunction, cause I don't know how anyone could NOT have a boner after that!

Yes I'm using a single 8 bulb badboy. 3 fiji purps, 3 redsun, 2 coral waves. These lights are Awesome. I wish I had them 10 years ago.
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
I found this. What do you all think about this grow bulb?
Use 54 Watt T5 high output fluorescent bulbs for 4' T5 Grow Lights from Sunlight Supply. These Fluorescent 3000K (Warm) T5 bulbs emit a red/orange spectrum that is ideal for budding and flowering.
These high output T5 bulbs have an extremely high lumen per watt rating at 5000 lumens per bulb: 54 watts = 92.59 lumens per watt. In addition These fluorescent bulbs have a very low heat factor which allows the fixture to be hung very close the plant canopy, raising light levels. This fluorescent bulb is compatible with T5HO electronic ballasts.
More Info More T5 Bulbs

for bulbs , if you can't see a spectrum chart. do not buy
 
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