Fluorescent light fixtures - help

Can somebody give me the rundown on fluorescent tube fixtures? I'm not having a whole lot of luck finding anything online...

Are there different fixtures for different tubes? ie: connector type or similar?
Is the fluorecent tube wattage a factor when selecting a fixture?

Finding one online isn't a bunch of help. I can find plenty with bulbs already in them. Not really the type I'm looking for tho, some seem like they're meant for the kitchen. I'm talking straight up fixtures that you'd find hanging by chains in a garage. Ones that you can swap bulbs in/out.

Do stores like Walmart, Home Depot or Lowes sell these fixtures alone, without bulbs (or at all)? Anything specific I should know about?

I want to walk in the store knowing what I'm looking for if you know what I mean...

Your advice is appreciated.

HD has alot of choices, use cfls

Check out ebay for a sun blaze T5 HO . alot have free shipping.

Why can't you do a better light? Even a couple 150w hps's kick flouro's asses. Flouro's are shitty for flowering and really only acceptable for vegging. Even people that have used the hottest t5ho's have come on here bitching about shitty yields after we told them to go hps...

People seem to have better luck with cfl's than any tube flouro's for flowering, but if you are going to do it make sure to get 1.5x the reccomended lumens with the hps calculations. If it says 10k lumens per foot you should do 15k per foot and in return you will burn more power than HPS and create more heat and still yield less bud than HPS even with 1.5x the power.

Pointless....

What growth stage do you want to use these for?

Fluorescenttubes come in several flavors. Commonly seen ones are T12, T8, T5, and T5HO.
T stands for tube and the number is nowany eigths of an inch the tubes diameter is. T12 and T8 use the same spacing between the contact pins and can be swapped between most fixtures. T12 use approximately 10 watts per linear foot, while T8's use 8. T5 and T5ho have smaller spacing between pins and can not be used in a t12/t8 fixture. Though someone will argue, IMO, all standard output tubes (t12,8,5) are best for rootng clones and vegging seedling and small plants. They are also good for supplemental side lighting.

T5HO are high output tubes designed originaly as replacements for industrial highbay applications. They are nearly as intense and efficicient that metal halide. When paired with. Properly designed reflector, they offer good enough lighting for flowering a 12"-18" canopy. Beyond this and diffusion starts to work against you.

Watt for watt, T5HO offer significant improvements over the others.

I bought a 4' T8 fixture for 2 tubes without tubes in it at Home Depot for $9.00. Great deal! I use tubes exclusively for my veg room and they are wonderful for my application. Good for mothers and clones. They do not grow as fast as the MH but there is more to growing than hurry up. They also cost almost nothing to run. I spend my energy dollars in the flowering room.

search for the envirolite great for veg and suplement whils flowering and they go straight into your e40 fitting from a hps just link into the wall and not the ballast

OregonMeds - I appreciate the effort, I do, but your post is "Pointless..." in relation to mine. You really didn't offer any valuable information about fluorescent fixtures, and you assumed my intention is to exclusively use fluorescents for flowering. And even bitched a little... LOL

To the rest of you, I really appreciate the input - especially Landragon and Little Tommy for being specific and thorough.

As for the Sun blaze T5 HO strip, I actaully have 2 of them. Both are 6500K, and as far as I can tell, thats the only spectrum they come in. My goal was to use a couple of 2ft tubes for supplement lighting along the sides during flowering, and the 6500K isn't really ideal. CFLs aren't really feasible for my application either, so I'm thinking of just scratching the whole idea.

Well I'm sorry for going off there.

It's interesting you called me out for not giving good advice but since you are scrapping the whole idea it almost seems like my advice was actually the closest to what you chose to do.

That's the same thing I would have done.

Strange....

Oh well.

Haha! Well technically you're right! I was a douche and I apologize. The information is still good to know none the less.

You can put any bulb from 3k-14k in those sunblaze. If you find them cheap, it's less expensive than any other t5ho setup even after buying new bulbs.