Best T5 brand of Light and ?'s

Always used MH for veg but wanted to try vegging with a t5. Anyone notice any difference with t-5 compared to MH? I will only be using the light for veg and clone and mothers. Anyone notice a difference in brands or are they pretty much the same. Was thinking of a t5 4x4. Any help would be great.

I have a Sun Blaze but, don't have experience with others. I have to be honest and say that I got that one because the New Wave was the same price but did not include the tubes. When selecting the fixture keep in mind that the grow area is not really much larger than the light itself. A 4 foot 4 bulb is about 4x2 if your grow area is close to that size you should be OK if it's much bigger it may not work well. I hope this helps, good luck.

Thanks for the info. How is the sun blaze does it reflect really good and does it get hot at all. I was looking at getting a 4x8 im just going to be using it for clones and a couple of mothers.

I'm using a few of these http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=51907 and my plants seem to happy. They also have a 4x2 model for $50.

I have a 6 bulb hydrofarm t5 and I love it. I have the 4 foot model with 30 K lumens to veg four plants. So far it works awesome. I did a huge dwc and some nice rockwool veggers and there is no heat! Really amazing. I measured the lumens with a cheap meter and it is looking like more than 30 k lumens all over and about 28 a foot down even. You can turn the sets of bulbs on at different strenghts for seedlings too.

I had a htg model. The 10k lumen for 69 dollars and it broke after a month. They sent me a replacement ballast but I broke that putting it in too. Lol.

Temps are really not an issue, keep the lamp 2-3 inches above the plant tops and you will be fine. If the leaves touch the tubes it will burn them, fast. Trust me on this, I know. They have worked very well for me in veg and require very little. Good luck, I don't think that you will be disappointed.

Thanks for all the great info everyone.

I an starting a grow box that is 36" wide 48" tall and 24" deep and i want to put a single 2 ft 4 bulb t5 for the space and price, ive read that t5's can be used to both veg and flower has anyone used them for this??? if so what are the yeaild like and how much ventalation should i use? i have a 190cfm blower and carbon filter from HTG supply for ventalation, is that enough? hit me back

infamous hawaii said:

Always used MH for veg but wanted to try vegging with a t5. Anyone notice any difference with t-5 compared to MH? I will only be using the light for veg and clone and mothers. Anyone notice a difference in brands or are they pretty much the same. Was thinking of a t5 4x4. Any help would be great.

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Only difference i can see is the t5's put off less heat and use less energy they veg your plants out perfectly. I use the hydrofarm 6 bulb t5's

I'm using 2 of the hydrofarm 2ft 8 bulb units. They seem to cover my 2 3ftx2ft flood tables nicely. Now they're growing like crazy!

ive always used tek light by sun light supply .i have several 2 3ft 4 bulb,3 -4ft 8bulb,1 -2 ft 4bulb and i have 1 of their 5ft 4bulb my oldest 4ft8bulb is 8 years old and ive only changed the bulbs, tek light comes with a smart volt ballist which allows the tek light to operate on 110-220-and 270they r great lights

i use the 2ft 8tube hydrofarm desighner t5. I have 3 mothers under it and it works fine. I have a friend who uses the same type of t5 but its the 4ft 8 bulb and it works good for vegging 15-20 plants in 1 gallon grow bags.

I have hydrofarms 8bulb 4ft t5. Works GREAT. BIG DIFF betweem HID and T5 for VEG.. t5 is good for SHORT close NODES>.. IMHO t5 doesnt WORK WELL WITH MOTHERS YOU WANT TO STRETCH A LITTLE.. cause it makes them SUPER NODY and bushy.. which youl have to cut off NODES just to Clone it.. I like Lanky clones VS. short bushy ones.