LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

BlueB said:

In regards to the gro-lux type of plant grow bulb.
FROM ED ROSENTHAL
"Theoretically, these tubes should work better for growing plants than standard lighting tubes. However, some standard or regular fluorescent tubes used for lighting actually work better for growing plants than more expensive natural-spectrum tubes and gro-tubes specifically manufactured for plant growth. The reason is that regular fluorescent produce more light (lumens), and overall lumen output is more important for growth rate than a specific light spectrum. To compensate for their spectrums, use them in combinations of one "blue" fluorescent to each one or two "red" fluorescent (Box B)."
http://www.1stmarijuanagrowerspage.com/how-to-grow-marijuana.html#c5-3
section 5.3

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the gro lux has be around for decades and uses the old halo phosphorus.the new T5s us new triphosphorus blend that are much more efficient and new plant bulbs use a rare earth phosphorus that produce more deep red. they also have a lot less green in them and do not suffer the loss of output the old gro lux tubed did. lumens are for people not plants and are heavily waited in favor of green light.comparing modern plant light to the old gro lux would be like comparing modern leds to the old panel lights that have been around for decades. intensity means nothing if the light is in a spectrum that the plants can't use. if it did not work no one would stick to it but I have seen increase growth rate when I added plant lights.how old is this quote ? is the gro lux even made anymore? it seems like most people here are just trying to find better ways to grow their girls and do not have a problem experimenting with new ideals. I have learned a lot from some of the people here and enjoy the exchange

I've been using ATI bulbs for many years. Hands down, the best...especially in one of their fixtures. I'm using them for my mothers and pre-veg on this grow:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/pheno-hunt-paradise-seeds-ice-cream-hydro-style.821311/page-2#post-10465860

Well this thread went dead. I love it. Good info.

hi guys i know this is an old thread but im lost now on what t5 and bulbs to buy for clones/veg i have a set up for flower with 600w hps

6500k bulbs are fine man the bulbs talked about here are mainly for flower. Just get whatever fixture suits the area you wanna veg in. You can't go wrong with hydrofarm or really any of the other companies out there.

Hey.. Quite confused here with bulb selections / replacements.

Can somebody tell me if there is a reason why to replace some act./blue lights with additional sun/red when switching to flowering if one has a set up like pro's?

Crazy thread T5 the anti LED. Looking at them for side lighting my 1400 w LED's.

xotorazeko said:

Hey.. Quite confused here with bulb selections / replacements.

Can somebody tell me if there is a reason why to replace some act./blue lights with additional sun/red when switching to flowering if one has a set up like pro's?

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for vegging you need blue light to stimulate cytochrome which instructs plants to direct energy to leaf development while for flowering you need more red light to stimulate photochrome which instructs plants to direct energy into flowering. these pigments do many other things and a long dark period is needed because photochrome reverts back to its inactive form in darkness and the ratio of active to inactive photochrome at dawn (lights on) tells plant when to flower

xotorazeko said:

Hey.. Quite confused here with bulb selections / replacements.

Can somebody tell me if there is a reason why to replace some act./blue lights with additional sun/red when switching to flowering if one has a set up like pro's?

Click to expand...

for vegging you need blue light to stimulate cytochrome which instructs plants to direct energy to leaf development while for flowering you need more red light to stimulate photochrome which instructs plants to direct energy into flowering. these pigments do many other things and a long dark period is needed because photochrome reverts back to its inactive form in darkness and the ratio of active to inactive photochrome at dawn (lights on) tells plant when to flower

Badass thread man. A lot of good information. Just posted those links to help strengthen the evidence behind T5 growing. I've only ever grown with HPS but I'm definitely switching to T5's on my next grow.

mmmdankbuds420 said:

Badass thread man. A lot of good information. Just posted those links to help strengthen the evidence behind T5 growing. I've only ever grown with HPS but I'm definitely switching to T5's on my next grow.

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You'd be so much better off staying with HPS.

They are lovely all the same!

churchhaze said:

You'd be so much better off staying with HPS.

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I will probably us hid lighting again someday, but I gotta really test this out. I'm moving into an apartment and know I won't be able to combat the heat and high energy used. And with this method the light penetration will be a lot less so my canopy will need to be scrogged and only a few inches deep. Since things will be so short I plan to double stack my grow one on top of the other. Hopefully this will get my yield up to par since I won't be wasting vertical space. Its all in the air though. I got my fingers crossed.

I found this thread searching for Wave points ultra growth wave light. Is anyone using them?

I use wave point ultra growth wave blubs and so far they're doing the job

s24ws said:

I found this thread searching for Wave points ultra growth wave light. Is anyone using them?

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@RM3 has an entire thread where he switches to the Wave Length bulbs and you can see his pics. They definitely got the job done. I just ordered various Agromax T5 bulbs to try out myself as well, good price on them over @ HTG supply. Waiting on getting my T5 fixture and will get it up and rocking.

Here's RM3's thread there is so much info in here, including a link somewhere to one of his other threads with a ton of info as well:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-leprechauns-pot-o-gold.855314/

People seem to get very heated when discussing the different methods, but what I am finding out, this hobby like any of my others beofre, there's just different ways to go about what you're doing. You need to find what works "for you" Too many variables between grows, especially just with people having different geographical locations which affects the ambient surrounding of your grow area.

The best way to see how stuff works is to get it and use it, and then see for yourself.

Just my $0.02

Took the words out of my head

Evil-Mobo said:

@RM3 has an entire thread where he switches to the Wave Length bulbs and you can see his pics. They definitely got the job done. I just ordered various Agromax T5 bulbs to try out myself as well, good price on them over @ HTG supply. Waiting on getting my T5 fixture and will get it up and rocking.

Here's RM3's thread there is so much info in here, including a link somewhere to one of his other threads with a ton of info as well:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-leprechauns-pot-o-gold.855314/

People seem to get very heated when discussing the different methods, but what I am finding out, this hobby like any of my others beofre, there's just different ways to go about what you're doing. You need to find what works "for you" Too many variables between grows, especially just with people having different geographical locations which affects the ambient surrounding of your grow area.

The best way to see how stuff works is to get it and use it, and then see for yourself.

Just my $0.02

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I followed rm3 thread. I grow with t5. I use agromax bulbs. Including pure par and the pure UV. I use 10,000k bulbs to.

Don't run one spectrum. The whole blue red veg flower argument. A mixed spectrum is better.


This pic is with my phone. There are better pics in my thread.

Evil-Mobo said:

@RM3 has an entire thread where he switches to the Wave Length bulbs and you can see his pics. They definitely got the job done. I just ordered various Agromax T5 bulbs to try out myself as well, good price on them over @ HTG supply. Waiting on getting my T5 fixture and will get it up and rocking.

Here's RM3's thread there is so much info in here, including a link somewhere to one of his other threads with a ton of info as well:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-leprechauns-pot-o-gold.855314/

People seem to get very heated when discussing the different methods, but what I am finding out, this hobby like any of my others beofre, there's just different ways to go about what you're doing. You need to find what works "for you" Too many variables between grows, especially just with people having different geographical locations which affects the ambient surrounding of your grow area.

The best way to see how stuff works is to get it and use it, and then see for yourself.

Just my $0.02

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This is a very old thread. If you read through it. You will see almost everyone that has been on here for years that runs cobs and cmh were once running these par t5's and moved on. Even me. I ran them for 2 years.


If you plan on running t5's do not use wave point bulbs. They're junk. They're made in China and do not last beyond 6 months. They burn out quick. I'm speaking from experience. I probably experimented with different bulbs and spectrums more than anyone on this forum.

Use zoo med flora suns. Run only those . They're made in Germany. They last a year and the best and cheapest bulbs you can get for t5's. They're full spectrum and have uva and uvb and IR. Get them at drfostersmith.com $10 -$15 each. They go on sale a lot.

All t5 bulbs start to spectral degrade after a couple months. These lights work great. But the bulbs don't last more than a year. So it gets expensive replacing them. Also they use more watts and produce more heat than a cob panel or cmh or 1 inda gro. And t5's cover less area. They're very inefficient. Most reef tanks and fresh water tanks don't even use t5's anymore. Most use led these days. For the longevity and less power.

These were great for its time when they outperformed led. They're a relic now. 200w of cobs will blow away 432 watts of par t5. My 315 cmh covers 3.5' x 3.5' and 4x4 with multiple cmh's over lapping and pulls 339 watts at the wall. A t5 covers 2x4 at 432 watts. Produces far more heat. Cmh will blow any t5