LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

UnderCurrentDWC, could you please list your bulbs from left to right? I know they are in your signature, but I don't know which is which in your fixture and how many of each. I think bulb order is somewhat important and it obviously is working for you!!!! What is the minimum height you keep your bulbs away from your canopy? Thanks.

To All:
I'm going to do a seed order soon. Here is a list of seeds I want to order, but I would like to narrow it down to just a few. Has anyone tried any of these strains or would or would not recommend any?
1. California Orange
2. Space Queen
3. Space Bomb
4. SAGE n Sour
5. Ace of Spades
6. Fruity Juice (Sensi)
7. Lavender (Soma)

Any other recommendations to add to the list are welcome.

Originally Posted by BlueB

UnderCurrentDWC, could you please list your bulbs from left to right? I know they are in your signature, but I don't know which is which in your fixture and how many of each. I think bulb order is somewhat important and it obviously is working for you!!!! What is the minimum height you keep your bulbs away from your canopy? Thanks.

To All:
I'm going to do a seed order soon. Here is a list of seeds I want to order, but I would like to narrow it down to just a few. Has anyone tried any of these strains or would or would not recommend any?
1. California Orange
2. Space Queen
3. Space Bomb
4. SAGE n Sour
5. Ace of Spades
6. Fruity Juice (Sensi)
7. Lavender (Soma)

Any other recommendations to add to the list are welcome.

I did lavender a few years back. It was really good and a nice yielder. Tasted exactly like the description. Like hash from nepal. Check out somas rockbud. Im doing that now. So bommy. I want to try his citrilah and somango.

Originally Posted by Phaeton

I mixed in the new arcadia 12% UVB T5's with the reds in my sidelights. The UVB measured triple the output at 8" over reptisun 10. 432 uw UVB versus 152 uw for the reptisun 10.The single T5 arcadia in the four bulb fixture puts 275 uw into the canopy, on the buds.The three reptisun 10 T8's in the six bulb fixture put 140 uw into the canopy. Less falloff due to multiple bulbs.Not pictured are the naturesun, they put 24 uw into the canopy, 98% CRI. Light duty for clones/veg.Into the canopy is 18 inches from the sidelights, roughly. I fit between the plants and the sidelights and walk the perimeter with the meter held in the first row of leaves.LED, HID, UVB, Red.jpgThe sidelights with both red sun and flora sun give a pretty continuous orange-red 600 though 660 nm, seems to negate some of the stretch caused by red/far red ratio's in the canopy.The UV just tries to stunt everything it touches. The plants getting 275 uw will have less yield, but a stronger creep effect.

What strain ya got there? Could you take a close up bud shot please?


Here it is, my FINAL LIGHT MIXTURE. For sure this time, I will not be changing it after much thought and experimentation, trial and error. I swear, I will be keeping this mixture. LOLtop final.jpgspectral purple 2.jpgFinal Fixture.jpg
From left to right, Flora Sun, Coral Wave, Flora Sun, CA plant grow,Flora Sun, Coral Wave, Flora Sun, CA plant grow.

Having reached the end of my first PAR T5 grow, I now have a review of the setup. Copied from my journal:

The use of PAR T5 lighting was a pleasing and effective method to maximize the return on investment in this small space. During the planning stages, the tent was intended to be a seedling/clone space; a 2 foot 4 bulb T5 fixture with 6,500k bulbs was purchased under this assumption. When the plan changed, a decision had to be made: get a small HPS, switch to CFLs, purchase 3,000k T5 bulbs, or a combination plan. Out of the actinic, I stumbled on the pr0fesseur’s thread. He offered a way to maximize ROI using the T5 fixture through the implementation of aquarium bulbs. A combination of 50/50 red/blue was recommended for a 4 bulb fixture. 2x Fiji Purple, 1x UVL Red Sun, 1x UVL 454 were purchased from ReefGeek and installed. This combination was very successful. It produced healthy, green growth with compact internodes while using only 96w of electricity with little extraneous heat. During flowering, the buds developed quickly and started packing on the trichs. At the time of purchase, the Fiji Purple was believed to be 50/50 red/blue; however, I believe that it is dominant in the blue spectrum and until this can be confirmed or denied from multiple sources, I believe that it should not be the “base” bulb. Please note that this bulb is unique in its output and similar results with different “purple” bulbs have yet to be shown. If a four bulb fixture is used, this could be better employed as a filler bulb in a red dominant combination: RedSun, Coral Wave, Fiji, RedSun; Fiji, RedSun, Fiji, RedSun; or RedSun, 454, Fiji, RedSun - for example. Given the space, heat, internodal length, and resin production: 5/5 rating (with room for improvement).

Thank you, pr0fesseur and PAR T5 community. I am grateful to be able to participate and I hope that my experience has contributed to this thread.

Looks good over. Seems pretty airy and light, was it? What's was your yield and how many plants?

nice lookin buds man! BTW, the Fiji Purple graph has already been released. You can find it one page back. The analysis was done on a $4000 spectrometer so I wouldn't question the accuracy! They guy who performed the analysis has a Phd in physics so I highly doubt we need anyone else to prove the graph right or wrong, but sorry if you haven't been informed already. LOL

The spectral output of the Fiji Purple closely resembles the photosynthetic reaction requirements of some saltwater corals that aquarists use in their tanks. Thats why it is mostly 420-440 blue with only a touch of (6%) red at the 615nm wavelength. It is most definately not a good base bulb, but that doesn't mean for every strain. I was running 50% actinic and my plants sucked that light right up. I believe the Kush I have is from the Himalayan Mountains. Blue light is good for the plants, I really don't think that cannabis can get enough of the blue.

As far as red light goes, just buy some 660nm par38 led bulbs and hang them around your fixture. They last a long ass time and are relatively inexpensive and will complete the perfect growing spectrum. Let's face it, the only T5 bulbs that have the 660nm in them only consist of around 20% red and to be ideal for flowering it should be more like 77% red. On a positive note however, the grows that we have been doing with the PUR T5's are much, much nicer than using the 6500K GREEN bulbs that are supplied with most every fixture. Can't complain about that now can we? I know that people have been using the 630nm redsun bulbs with success, but it would be really nice for those who have been using them to try switching to a couple 660nm par38 to fill in the red requirement and compare their grows to see if it is any better. Aren't there some T5 types of LED strips that fit in our fixture?? I'm thinking of just building my own 660nm LED strips to stick in between my blue bulbs, to get that deeper red the plants really use.

Originally Posted by Lucius Vorenus

Looks good over. Seems pretty airy and light, was it? What's was your yield and how many plants?

Thank you LV, it smokes good too.

final rewards
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left- hps...... right-T5....same strain......below
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right before the chop chop
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