LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

Lucius Vorenus said:
Right. i got that. Just looking for a list and links to specific bulbs
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Start with my sig... look down
newbs should stick with pr0fs bulbs/recommendations until they have a grow under their belt...
depending on your grow area i would suggest starting with an 8 bulb heres why ...
get an 8 bulb and populate only 4
when your plants start getting ready for bloom you can drop in another 4 and stagger your cost... i suggest owning a total of 10-12 bulbs that you can switch out for veg/bloom.
most fixtures have more than one switch if they dont theyre crap!... stay far away from the value fixtures... the ballasts are what your after ballasts are worth their weight in herb...
Some ballasts will wear out your bulbs faster because they dont use a delayed start... my ballasts are Dimmable, electronic delayed "soft" start..!! and thats important because if im having heat issues i can lower the light output without sacrificing overall coverage....
I know the bad boy fixtures seem flimsy and buggy they just need a little tlc before primetime.. you have to open the top cover and check all your connections and tighten all wires. what they lack in rigidity they make up for in overall weight! and dissasemble quickly!
For those of you who do have bad boys check out this neat trick! order 20 computer thumscrews and your badboy can come apart and pack up in less than 5 minutes.... i also dissasemble for cleaning its quite easy...
oh and use a little rain-x and a microfiber cloth to bring out the super shine and make them easy to clean!
 
I cant stress enough the importance of the t5 with internal reflector....
dpNCh
 
hyroot said:
Prof did you switch out your ballast? my badboy is not dimmable
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sorry ... just hooked it up to a dimmer to test... i can dimm slightly then off... :( opened it up sure enough...
they are RHA not RHD for dimmable...
http://www.1000bulbs.com/pdf/fulham 2010 catalog.pdf
could have swon they were the dimmable ones... i take it back.... cant dimm...
i remember reading somewhere that these were dimmable maybe quantums other ballasts are where i got the idea...
 
When I reordered bulbs I noticed the price on all these bulbs went up by 5$ @ AquariumSpecialty.c =( , + they won't have the Actanics or the 454's in stock for 2 weeks. Looks like I'm going to have to shop around.
 
UnderCurrentDWC said:
When I reordered bulbs I noticed the price on all these bulbs went up by 5$ @ AquariumSpecialty.c =( , + they won't have the Actanics or the 454's in stock for 2 weeks. Looks like I'm going to have to shop around.
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I think we have singlehandedly caused the t5 market sector to start up! theres plenty of places to get these bulbs...
 
congrats! you have fueled my fire, as i was wrongly satisfied with the norm... *******+REP........ cuz i cant press da buttin;)

thanks Pr0f.
 
you gave me the facts i needed, as i am a factual learner, realist idk. but that does make a lot of sence. it confused me slightly when i joind this community recently an every one's t5 wer like store lights... it didnt seem right. but now having a decent t5ballast, with you help it will out produce its help, so thanks again sir:D
 
pr0fesseur said:
I DID grow dwc my first round but the heat from hid turned my res into a swamp... couldent keep the temps down... i have pics in my community...
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I am blown away by how much the side branching has grown since taking the pics yesterday morning. Most are 8-10" and each node has 2.

For a variety of reasons try Flood & Drain. The largest plant is in a 4" net pot, which is inserted into (surrounded with) Lava Rock. The tray is actually a Rubbermaid tote; the high walls help keep the environment cool, ala a forest. The rez is external. I feed from the top and drain back into the rez from the bottom. This makes changing topping off nutes easy. The lava rock traps lots of tiny bubbles which helps oxygenate and feed roots between feedings.
 
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