slow growth with t5 lights

1982grower · Mar 10, 2009

sorry about the way my par post was written. i'm not a scientist. i believe i meant to say that with t8 and 10000k bulb the bulb claims 89%(thought 93) of its specrum is usable to the plant. its not 93 watts in any sense. sorry. and obviously t8 have no penotration. cri means nothing to me and doesnt really apply to weed i think. just how it views other colours under it. right? I just know that t5ho in the same par as a t8 and same spectrum will put out less lumens. but a denser consentration of lumens per square inch with the t5hos

1982grower · Mar 10, 2009

watt for watt

UserFriendly · Mar 10, 2009

Shit man, anything's possible. I've been dead wrong (many a time) on a bunch of things I would have bet my life on. Live and learn. :razz:

1982grower · Mar 10, 2009

see you guys and good luck. t5hos are for pimps and thats us. its not the lights. sorry about the argueing. were all passionate. if we were alcoholics wed be fist fighting right now instead of this. seeya. lollolololo

UserFriendly · Mar 10, 2009

I didn't know you were arguing. :lol:

1982grower · Mar 10, 2009

good then. i didn't want it to sound that way. sweet!!. good luck guys and nice not argueing with ya. lolololol

AeroKing · Mar 11, 2009

I was arguing.

AeroKing · Mar 11, 2009

I was arguing.

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

so did we solve this guys prob or what? at least we all agree that its not the lights. the thread poster prob left like 3 posts in. lol. good luck guys

mike maresca · Mar 11, 2009

hey man can you help me out i was thinking of buying a t5 ? which is best and frm where ?

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

use sunblaster. they are the cheapest. 30 bucks can with the bulb. also there is no reflector which at first i thought bad. but after building my fixture. the very little heat that they produce has an escape route. also the back i poished aluminum anyways so you get both benefits. check them out. way cheaper than tech light. comes with all the daisy chain linkage in every box. notice how light the fixture is. takes me 2 seconds to adjust. 1 cord can turn on 10 fixtures in a row. nice and neat wiring. i like having no reflectors better. look at the plants. 22 days from seed today. that whole setup with chains and wood was 250 and i'm adding 2 more fixtures. they snap on with the simplest clip youve ever seen.

AeroKing · Mar 11, 2009

1982grower said:
so did we solve this guys prob or what? at least we all agree that its not the lights. the thread poster prob left like 3 posts in. lol. good luck guys

No, we just confused them more.

mike maresca said:
hey man can you help me out i was thinking of buying a t5 ? which is best and frm where ?

plantlightinghydroponics.com has very good prices.
The lamp you buy will be determined by both size requirements and your expectations. Can you describe what you envision?

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

do they deliver to canada reliably? i'd check them out put most make it difficult. either way man go with as much lighting as you can get.

AeroKing · Mar 11, 2009

1982grower said:
use sunblaster. they are the cheapest. 30 bucks can with the bulb. also there is no reflector which at first i thought bad. but after building my fixture. the very little heat that they produce has an escape route. also the back i poished aluminum anyways so you get both benefits. check them out. way cheaper than tech light. comes with all the daisy chain linkage in every box. notice how light the fixture is. takes me 2 seconds to adjust. 1 cord can turn on 10 fixtures in a row. nice and neat wiring. i like having no reflectors better. look at the plants. 22 days from seed today. that whole setup with chains and wood was 250 and i'm adding 2 more fixtures. they snap on with the simplest clip youve ever seen.

I also love the T5 strip lights. They are the most versatile lamp in my garden. You'll always find a use for them once you have them, even if you don't use them as a primary lighting source.

As far as the reflectors go, though, look at it like this:

The reflectors shape is it's strength. They are designed to catch light that would light up the walls and cieling of your growroom, and redirect it back down to where you want it.

That being said, the relfectors for the strip lights are pretty overpriced at $15-20 ea, that's almost as much as the lamp.

When you then consider that a strip light will cost you about $50 for each bulb, it becomes apparent that buying a multi-bulb fixture with an integrated reflector is the more economical choice.

Even better yet, consider using a multi bulb fixture as the primary top lighting and strip lights for supplementary side lighting.

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

i know. i thought about it. but for the price of a tech light i get 3 extra fixtures. I can't say they don't lose light but by the time i clip all 10 together usually second week of flowering. the fixtures are near touching and between the bulb and fixture there polished. so the gap after flowering is only 1/4 inch. they barely make heat but the little they do really exits well through the small gap. its kind of a trade off. i'm very happy with the results. i love to flower with them. wait till you see what theyll yield. it'll be nice. if you don't want strip lights then the tech light is the highest quality but also highest price. if you want a reflector on the strips any steel supply store sells german polished aluminum in any gauge for roughtly 20 bucks. i made one but stopped using. it was 46 inches by 14 with bends on the sides. 1/16 inch sheet i think. it slid right betwen the bulbs and fixtures and worked great. good luck

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

sorry 20 bucks for the size i got obviously. my fault

pitmaster · Mar 11, 2009

how old are the bulbs they do where out should be changed about every 8 months

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

i did research into t5s. they have excellent lumen life. you can use them from start to burnout. they aren't like hps. i think it says it has a 10% lumen loss over the life. thats not bad at all. the tech light is amazing but how much diff would i notice. that sucks that the strips are more expensive where you live. they are 30 bucks canadian here with choice of bulb colour. 10 fixtures, 10 bulbs, 300 canadian. not bad for 540 watts. good luck with your choice though.

AeroKing · Mar 11, 2009

Quality units have louvered reflectors to help dissipate the heat.

1982grower · Mar 11, 2009

yah thats how the teck light works and i've heard it gets pretty warm. if i had the money i might by it. but the money was week by week so i got 2 fixtures a week for a total of 10 fixtures. honestly man they are growing much better than expected. i only flower short plants anyways. also sunlight supply make nice fixtures. Not sure how my heat tradeoff affects yield yet but they are getting 540 watts in a 2x4 area so they should be fine. i don't skimp on the watts. Also like that i'm flowering with 4 2700k 2 3000k 2 4100k and 2 6500k. hoping for alot. keep in touch. i can't wait to see how they flower my new lr2s just started budding about 3 days ago and i don't want no fluffy buds. i won't dissapoint. good luck on your grow. i ended up with 7 females and 3 males on a seed run so should be perfect balance. keep me posted with what you choose

slow growth with t5 lights

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