Cheap Source for T5 Fluorescents

Flash4211

Flash4211

Active Member
Hey, y'all - They're not paying me to say this, but here's a place that will sell T5's in small quantities at the case price:

http://www.payless-4-lighting.com/f54t5-ho-865.html

I got quantity 2 of 4-foot 6500K T5 tubes for $3.30 each from Payless, as opposed to $15.00 or so at most places. The site says, like most of them do, that they're only sold by the case, but they will accept orders for small quantities and charge the case price. Not bad! Only problem I had was that they only ship via USPS, and the first shipment was just wrapped in some cheap cardboard, and both tubes were smashed....but I emailed them about it and they promptly sent out replacements, this time properly packed in one of those hard shipping tubes.

Just thought I'd share this for those among us who are shopping on a budget.
 
Yeah, I was stunned. The thing is, everywhere else you see prices like that, you have to buy a case of 30 or 40 bulbs. This guy will sell them one or two at a time at the case price. It's the real deal; I busted one of the 4' T5's in a 4 bulb fixture, and I now have all 4 lamps glowing brightly, plus a spare, for $3.30 each. Shipping was $9.98 for the two, so total cost was about 8 bucks each. Still very cheap.
 
I didn't see anything there that would help me make a buying decision. All bulbs are NOT created equal. If quality buds is important to you, I recommend you start learning about lighting . A good place to make your head spin is Professeurs thread LED Without LEDs My First T 5 Grow
 
PetFlora said:
I didn't see anything there that would help me make a buying decision. All bulbs are NOT created equal. If quality buds is important to you, I recommend you start learning about lighting . A good place to make your head spin is Professeurs thread LED Without LEDs My First T 5 Grow
Click to expand...

That's news to me....I just figured that if it's 54 watts and 6500K, it's all good. So, Eiko is a substandard brand, or something? I'll check out the Professor's thread. Thanks....there's an awful lot to learn, and I'm glad for resources like Rollitup.
 
OK, so I did some reading of Pr0fesseur's excellent report on wavelength, and it is an eye-opener. There is so much information on growing that it's easy to start yearning for some basic rules-of-thumb to simplify the process. The whole discussion of wavelength (and its complex pseudo-relationship to Kelvin temperature) is a classic case. Rule of thumb is MH or 6500K fluorescent for veg, HPS or 3000K fluorescent for bloom. And that works. But if you use Pr0's analysis and choose your T5's by where the spectrum spikes are, you get WAY more bang for the buck - a much higher percent of the wattage you're burning is delivered to the plants at the wavelength they love. The Actinic Plus bulbs, mostly sold to fish freaks, cost a few bucks more, but they look like they deliver a much better energy payload - ie, you end up with faster, more robust growth and ultimately, more smokeable bud per killowatt hour burned. Now, so far, this is academic to me - BUT, I have already ordered a set of 4 tubes for my 2-foot fixture, and will leave the 6500K tubes in the 4-foot fixture. I've got a bunch of clone seedlings just ready to move into bright light and full nutes, and I'm going to divide them between rule-of-thumb light and spectrum-targeted light, and see where they are in a month. Should be an enlightening [groan] :roll: experiment! Thanks to PetFlora for sharing the info.....
 
Flash4211 said:
OK, so I did some reading of Pr0fesseur's excellent report on wavelength, and it is an eye-opener. There is so much information on growing that it's easy to start yearning for some basic rules-of-thumb to simplify the process. The whole discussion of wavelength (and its complex pseudo-relationship to Kelvin temperature) is a classic case. Rule of thumb is MH or 6500K fluorescent for veg, HPS or 3000K fluorescent for bloom. And that works. But if you use Pr0's analysis and choose your T5's by where the spectrum spikes are, you get WAY more bang for the buck - a much higher percent of the wattage you're burning is delivered to the plants at the wavelength they love. The Actinic Plus bulbs, mostly sold to fish freaks, cost a few bucks more, but they look like they deliver a much better energy payload - ie, you end up with faster, more robust growth and ultimately, more smokeable bud per killowatt hour burned. Now, so far, this is academic to me - BUT, I have already ordered a set of 4 tubes for my 2-foot fixture, and will leave the 6500K tubes in the 4-foot fixture. I've got a bunch of clone seedlings just ready to move into bright light and full nutes, and I'm going to divide them between rule-of-thumb light and spectrum-targeted light, and see where they are in a month. Should be an enlightening [groan] :roll: experiment! Thanks to PetFlora for sharing the info.....
Click to expand...

Flash4211,

+1 to the PAR T5s.

6,500k bulbs produce enough usable spectrum for healthy vegetative growth. Flowering is where the difference is made and a PAR spectrum will shine. 3,000ks are good flowering "filler" bulbs, however.

Do whatever you can to get some PAR in your fixture. Check pet stores for bulbs, comb the internet for on-sale/clearance 24w T5s, purchase them one at a time if you have to. CoraLife is a brand that sells in most pet stores; their ColorMax bulb has a red/blue dominant spectrum with much less green than the 3,000k or 6,500k. WavePoint and Hagen are also common in pet stores. With some good shopping, you can find WavePoint bulbs for $8 a bulb online.

Under 2'x4 6,500ks, I was satisfied with my small plant's vegetative growth but I do wonder what would have been different had even one PAR bulb been utilized.



Keep us updated!

Happy Growing
 
T5's are HO (High Output) tubes and work ONLY with a T5 ballast. They are physically quite different from "regular" T8 fluorescents, much skinnier and smaller pins, so it's pretty much impossible to put the wrong bulb in the wrong fixture. The advantage of T5's is that they put out much more light per watt burned than T8's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TheYokel
Lumens For The Layman... Your First Grow Light
Replies
14
Views
2K
Sow to Grow
Sow to Grow
L
26w Cfl ballast driving 24w t5 ho tube?? also, overdriving with cfl ballasts?
Replies
5
Views
2K
lukecassette
L
entropymob
Attitude
Replies
3
Views
1K
entropymob
entropymob
Observe & Report
More Money Than Brains - a water cooled cab build
4 5 6
Replies
106
Views
18K
ScaryGaryLed
ScaryGaryLed
SxIstew
DIY Sulpher Burner/Evaporator(From420magazine)
Replies
0
Views
2K
SxIstew
SxIstew
Back
Top