I've ran every lighting there is I flowered with t5's for over 2 years. Then another 6 months later on. I'm all over
@pr0fesseur threads. led with out leds my first t5 grow thread.
Anyway t5's were great at the time when they outperformed led and matched hps. As long as you scrogged or grew short plants I used every bulb combo possible. I found the aquarium bulbs were not necessary. The best aq bulbs are zoo meds. Far better quality than wave point Chinese junk. All you need is some white 5000k t5's and a few 2700k. And get the same results as using profs line up or even all zoo med flora suns.
I was running 1000w hps and cheap Chinese led at the time. I've ran all start 330 cmh. 315 cmh, induction, single led and cobs.
By far cobs and cmh are the best lighting there is. Best efficiency. Being more efficient. They use less watts and produce less heat. a 432 watts t5 produces a lot of heat. fare more than 2 of my 460 watt inda gro induction / led. That's 432 watts of t5 producing more heat than 920 watts of induction / led.
The more efficient a light is the less heat it produces and the more light it produces. (mcree curve).
I'm getting best results under cobs and cmh. and separated too. not side by side.
cobs are expensive but they last year's. Where t5 bulbs should be replaced every 6 months. They start spectral degrading around then. A cheaper and equivalent alternative to cobs is 315 cmh. 339 watts at the wall on a 120v. Covers a 3.5 x 3.5 and can do a 4x4 with multiple over lapping. The cmh bulbs don't start spectral degrading til 18 months.
T5's will grow big quality buds. There's no denying that. If you want more light and less heat at half the watts of t5. Then cmh or cobs is a far better alternative.
If all you have is a t5 and can't afford anything else. Then by all means use what you have. 4 years ago my place was robbed and I lost everything. I borrowed my buddies t5's to use t5's again. I used 2 grows to get back on my feet. (2) 8 bulbs and (1) 6 bulb . After 2 harvests I was able to upgrade a couple lights. Then after another harvest, more lights and so on.
Going around preaching that t5 is the best light there is. That is a huge stretch to say the least.
The compost bin comment about green house gases only applies so much if it's not turned and becomes too anaerobic. One of your own farts is more harmful than a compost bin. All the forests are one giant compost bin. The world is doing fine with them. Worm bins don't releases gases as such as the worm aerate the bin.
The comment about blurpee t5's. If you are referring to Fiji purples. The spd was never released. There was a fake one rolling around for a while. it wasn't real. So no one know what wavelengths it hits. Unless someone here has a radiospecrometer.