What decent fluoro tubes to use part-time?

Check my journal for exact specs:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/534840-closet-closet-400w-4-x.html

Because I cannot control temps in my 2 x 4 x 5 tent if I'm not at home due to a stealth operation with a dimmable 400w cool tube, I need some low-heat, yet efficient fluoro tubes to use on my 5 - 10 oreganos when I'm not home.
They don't need to be top grade, since I will be using HID about 70% of the time.
I'm looking in the $80 - $120 range.

The tube will be hung vertically to give decent coverage in the 5 - 10 plants.
And then I will put some 42w CFL's on top.

The reason I say 5 - 10 is because I haven't sexed them yet.
And I'm hoping for at least 5 female.

PS I also have some $20 2-bulb t5 fixtures from home depot but I don't know how many watts they can handle since they're so cheap. But I have like 4 of them. So 8 bulbs.

So would it be more efficient to buy the 4 or 6 bulb fixtures?

Like buying two of these guys?
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG-Supply-2-Foot-2-Lamp-PL-55-Tek-Lamp.asp

Do the cheap ballast have a certain amount of watts it can handle, or could I just buy some REALLY good bulbs for the cheap $20 home depot fixtures I already have?
That's basically my question in a nutshell.

The fixtures I have can hold up to 40w.
But I have 4 or 5 fixtures just laying around the house.

Would it be better to invest in a couple of high output fixtures, buy a single 8-tube fixture, or buy 8 or so 40w bulbs to spread along the sides of the plants vertically?

Whats my best dollar/watt value?

T5HO would be the short answer ...

try to look here:


http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/fluorescent-grow-lights/t5-fixtures.html

they even got a sale it seems .. but do some research/google .. see what you can find .. never order from the fist place you find .. sumtimes giveing a littel more can also pay off .. etc. 10$ from a shop near you .. or some body on E-bay .. you choose ..

get atlest a 8 bulb fixtur or you will find it hard to cover them plants .. and keep it 2-4 inch away from the tops .. keep em low (LST/top) and a even canorpy .. then they do great .. mine do

now looking closer ..

I see you have T5 .. I bet it is`t the HO modle ?

then they are about the same as T8 so to speak .. but I wouldnt mind that if its only 30% of the time .. and in Veg I guess ?
(I runn my HPS in 12/12 from when I get home from work and all nigth .. actualy also to keep temps down and so I can be home .. dunno . just make me feel safe ... and I can look at em and do my stuff .. etc watering aso,)


how many T5 you have ? 4 tubes ? get another 2 or 4 tubes .. get the HO model .. and new normal T5 tubes for them old once with the right Kelvin (6500/2700K) and strip em together and make a DIY fixture ..


I did




got 3 fixtures free from work .. broken .. plastick around em be creativ .. safe a buck

but new tubes if them you have are old ? (dark in the end of the tubes)

and if you use em to flower with then get them HO in 2700K and some blue (6500k) for them out side t5 lights or sumthing ..

Slipon,
That's a pretty sick light fixture,
I'm going to invest in a couple of 4-bulb fixtures to put on both sides of the tent.
Go big or go home right?

I'm going on a business trip for 3 days in a couple weeks here and I want them to have decent light in that period,
not to mention decent light for when I am not home (work)

so you did have two fixtures .. right ? do they have new bulbs in em ? and how many watt`s ? look at the end and tell me what it says ..
I can read tubish ..

so maybe one 4 bulb T5HO 58W fixture will do it .. add them 2 small once you have on the side and hang that new one under your HPS light when you dont use it .. make some easy hangers or sumthing .. I used to have my T5HO hang in the same hooks as my HPS





this was from before I build my room (now I got walls and a prober ventilation)

I found out 2-4 inchs away is best .. 1 seems a bit to close .. but 10 inch`s away and they dont provide much light .. so keep it close ..

my light meter did show between ½k and 1½k foot candles .. 1-10 inch`s away ..

witch is around 5-15K Lumens per sq foot and is nice in veg and I guess ok in flowering ..

but all my bulbs is also the HO type .. mine is the 49W tho since I got em for free (5 feet type)

Yeah actually I have 4 40w fixtures that hold 2 bulbs each,
so 8 bulbs total,
8 x 40w
320w?

Or do the lumen/watt ratio work differently for fluoro?

40W ?

as fare as I know T5HO comes in 54 W and I belive the normal t5 is 28W or sumthing close ..

to lazy to look it up

same as T5HO in 2 foot modle (have half as the 4 foot model)

its the Watts that determinate its lenght .. etc. I have 49W .. same as them 54W but as mine are 5 feeters I have less W if that make sens ?

Watt is importent .. so is Lumens and Kelvin .. but you need to know how to use it ..

Kelvin is the color of the light .. the light we cant see ... I think we see mostly green and yellow or sumthing ..
plants need mostly 3 wave lengts (look it up .. cant remember the exatc numbers) but in color it is blue red and yellow ..

they will need all kind of colors all grow .. tho more of the blue early on in Veg (blue = spring = sun stands in a high angle on the sky)
and more red/yellow later on in flowering (red/yellow=fall= sun is close and in a angle that allow more red and yellow light in)

Lumens is as fare as I know a mesurment to mesure how strong the light is ..
agin .. a plant in Veg .. early on when its young need less light then a plant that flowers ..

on a clear day the sun provid around 10,000 Lumen per sq. ft.

a Veggin plant need atlest 3K ... 5K is better .. a flowering will need +5K and agin +10K is better .. the more light the more activity in the plant .. the more nutriens it can use = more growth ..

a 4 foot 54W T5HO bulb will provide around 5000 Lumens ... mine are the 5 feet type and provide 4650 I belive and I got 6 tubes = 27,900 Lumens on 5x1 foot ..

but enough mat .. try to keep it simple .. Im sure them fixtures you have will be ok for extra light at the side/back .. but get a nice HO type to cover the tops .. one that is easy to remove when you want to runn your HPS .. can just leave the side lightning as a littel Blue ( I reccon they are 5000-65000K) is good to suplement the HPS .. the new fixtures schould mostly/only be 2700-3000K bulbs what ever you can get I have 2700K witch is Red/yellow spectrum and is good for flowering ...


hope you can use some of this to sumthing ..

Thanks for all the info man,
I am aware of color temps and whatnot,
I just don't want to risk losing bud by going the cheaper route,
but since I have 400w HID for the majority of the time, I probably shouldn't worry.

Get some aquarium reef and freshwater bulbs. Zoo med flora suns and/ or uvl 660. The uvl 660 you have to get straight from the manufacture. Uvlco email sales. The flora suns you can get anywhere. Drfostersmith.com is the cheapest. Both bulbs have high 630nm and 660nm and the flora suns also have 450nm with a little true green. Which is needed. You will get much better results than a 400 hid, even better than a 1000 watt. I did side by side comparison.with par t5 and a 1000 watt for a year. The t5 won.. Its all about spectrum and par - photosynthetically available radiation. Chlorophyll absorbs high blues and reds and very little green..... Hid puts out high greens and yellows and very little red and blue.

Lumens mean nothing. By definition is a way of measuring visible light to the human eye. Plants do not absorb the same wave lengths that we see. ^^^^^

Checkout this thread.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first.html

no .. dont worry .. I know Ppl. who grew outdoors with only 3-5 hours direct sun (10K Lumens)

rest of the time in was more like indirect or in between leaves/trees .. and they did great ..

so if its only when your not at home or its realy hot Im sure a nice 4 tube HO fixture with 4x 2700K tubes will do the job ..

specialy if you also can add some of them you have ...

hyroot said:

Get some aquarium reef and freshwater bulbs. Zoo med flora suns and/ or uvl 660. The uvl 660 you have to get straight from the manufacture. Uvlco email sales. The flora suns you can get anywhere. Drfostersmith.com is the cheapest. Both bulbs have high 630nm and 660nm and the flora suns also have 450nm with a little true green. Which is needed. You will get much better results than a 400 hid, even better than a 1000 watt. I did side by side comparison.with par t5 and a 1000 watt for a year. The t5 won.. Its all about spectrum and par - photosynthetically available radiation. Chlorophyll absorbs high blues and reds and very little green..... Hid puts out high greens and yellows and very little red and blue.

Lumens mean nothing. By definition is a way of measuring visible light to the human eye. Plants do not absorb the same wave lengths that we see. ^^^^^

Checkout this thread.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first.html

Click to expand...

Why isn't this the answer to EVERYBODY'S problems?
I'm skeptical,
but if the nm is spot on,
then why not?
I need these. Do you need a special fixture/ballast to put these bulbs in?
Are you referring to these T-5's?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13821+16887&pcatid=16887

Or something else?
Sorry, fluorescent growing is completely new to me.

I can only spend about $150 at the MOST, what's the best I could get with that?

Those are actinics which are great for veg and flower. I use 2 8 bulb t5 quantum badboy fixture. Thats out your price range. The fixture alone is $200. But get waht ever t5 fixture you can.

In my flower I have 4 zoomed flora suns, 2 uvl redsuns, and 2 wave point coral waves. I plan on replacing redsuns and 2 flora suns with uvl 660's. They are expensive and just came out. $30 each.

Flora suns - http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+23649&pcatid=23649&action=noChoice

Coral waves and redsuns. - http://www.hellolights.com/daylight-54w.aspx.

For veg. I use 6 bulb hydrofarm. 2 coralife actinics, , 2 flora suns, 2 stock 6500k. The coralifes you can get at petco.


The flora suns are like a 5000k.bulb. Has 450nm blue, 555 nm green, 630nm red, 660nm red. 360nm uvb and 380 nm uva

Coral waves have actinics , uv-a and IR. 420nm blue, reaching from 380nm to 480nm and 760nm infrared( density )

Redsuns have 630nm red and 690nm puprle.

Order for flower. fs / cw / rs / fs / fs / rs / cw / fs.

Order for veg fs/ 6500k / actinics / 6500k / actinics / fs.

40watt are not high output bulbs. Ok for seedlings - slow growth for everything else. t5ho uses electronic ballasts and smaller diameter bulbs. They will work if you can keep em 2 inches from the tops and some air movement. 8-11 bucks for cheap bulbs 22 or so for the aquarium ones. 54w must have the t5ho fixture or adapters and newer ballasts. Some chinese fixtures are crap like Lithonia.

one of the best t5 fixtures you can get is chinese made

http://www.wave-point.com/Lighting_folder/Fixture4LampMain.html