Need Lighting Help!

BurlingtonBam said:

Hey guys, I have a quick question. I just bought some T12 lights for veg and I'm worrying I may have bought the wrong ones. I bought the right bulbs with 6500K color temp, but the lights I bought say 3500K Actual color temp. What does that mean? Will those lights still do alright with the 6500K bulbs? They are the right wattage and everything, but I"m just wondering if the 3500K lights I bought will run the 6500K bulbs correctly? Please let me know if you have any experience or knowledge on this.

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I'm a little confused...you say you bought 6500k lights, then you say they are 3500k....then you say "wondering if the 3500K lights I bought will run the 6500K bulbs correctly?"

If the fixture says 6500k on it....that doesn't mean anything....if the bulbs are 3500K, then that's the color temp you are getting. Some guys grow from start to finish with HPS so needing 6500k during veg is not mandatory...you can run the lights you have all the way.

In regards to you asking if you can physically run the light with your fixture, the answer is as long as you are not exceeding the wattage on your fixture, it doesn't matter the color temp of the bulb

OP, Are you getting lumens and color temp mixed up?

No, Here's what I mean. I bought 4 of these lights http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=203081577&R=203081577 (fixture), but noticed afterwards that under specifications it says "Actual Color Temp (K) is 3500K. That's on the fixture. I didn't think that that mattered for the actual fixture. I had thought the K temp was the spectrum of the bulb, and had nothing to do with the light itself. The light takes (2) 40W T12 bulbs. I bought these. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100476647&R=100476647 which throw the 6500K light temp. I just wanted to make sure the light will actually use the bulb correctly and won't top out at 3500K like the fixture says is the "actual color temp". I thought it had to do with the bulb and not the fixture, but this has me confused. Thanks for the response guys.

Your bulbs are 6500K. Great for veg but I have used the spirals in 6500K as sidelights on flowering plants. Why? Because that is what was laying around. They work too. Nice vegetation on the limbs most spotted with them.

I'm only using them for seedlings/ early veg. I have a 1000W MH/HPS as well. I wanted something cheap and easy to have to be able to veg with if I want to. Also, if I need them I'll have extra light once in flowering. I just think they're a good addition to my 1000W light, which is big obviously, but I like the idea of being able to have a separate veg area if I want. Like I said, the bulbs are 6500K, but the actual fixture says that it's "actual color temp" is 3500K. Just wondering what that means. The fixture can do fine with the 6500K bulbs I bought?