LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

[hyroot]

Quantum was owned by Amerinada Dist. and recently sold to Discount Hydroponics who also owns C.A.P. and Digilux. Very few people including myself are using Badboys. Most people here have Hydrofarms, Sunblaze, Radiion, New Wave, htg, Tek, Maxlume, various aquarium brands, etc......... He's not pushing their ballasts and he has already said the quantum t5 bulbs are crap. He would of got fired or demoted for that one, so I doubt that he works for Quantum.

Prof if there is a chance you work for Quantum how about hookin up a homie price on BB??

 

[Lucius Vorenus]

Quantum was owned by Amerinada Dist. and recently sold to Discount Hydroponics who also owns C.A.P. and Digilux. Very few people including myself are using Badboys. Most people here have Hydrofarms, Sunblaze, Radiion, New Wave, htg, Tek, Maxlume, various aquarium brands, etc......... He's not pushing their ballasts and he has already said the quantum t5 bulbs are crap. He would of got fired or demoted for that one, so I doubt that he works for Quantum.

Prof if there is a chance you work for Quantum how about hookin up a homie price on BB??

I'm just bustin his balls. Besides I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it's a bit odd he hasnt posted any new grows since starting the thread.

 

[tehshyt]

I'm planning on getting a badboy any day now to start using this method. I'm wondering if anyone who has experience can tell me what type of heat I can expect from the ballast. My grow space is limited and its possible that the metal of the ballast could actually be touching wood.

Does the ballast get really hot to the touch? Could this pose a fire hazard? What if there was a half inch of clearance between the ballast and the wood?

 

[organicbynature]

Hey okthanks2 - Any word on those bulbs you ordered? I really want to see a shot of the Fiji alternatives next to each other.

 

[Undercover Cop]

WOW... another of my 4 new UVL piece of shit Red Suns is already going out, less than a week old. 2/4=shit This one is noticeably dimmer than another one next to it and has dark bubbles pulsing from midway towards one end that is even darker (Im assuming it will end up going dark on that one end within a day or two like the other one did) I need a replacement for the UVL's. Flora Suns have a peak at 630nm but overall have an overall pinkish light with wasted green. Phillips as well as Osram Sylvania both have a pure red tube with no wasted green waves (much like the Red Suns), but they both peak at 610nm which is much cheaper and easier to produce, but not so good for photosynthesis which likes 630/660nm best.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Or should I just resolve to keep calling for replacement bulbs and waiting?

 

[hyroot]

Greeting and salutations all!
Happy holidaze to the rest of you crazy people.
H
While i would like to see others post their results, I fear what your asking for is not what we actually want.
sure more bud is always good; premium bud is ALWAYS better.
THat being said yes we need pics here, but you must remember were still in the bloom phase for most people by now.
Secondly we must understand while my grows are semi successful, and i did post pics, others are still trying to Dial in results.!
Now then we have had a grower bring in .7 g/w which on a first run with 400W is AMAZING in anyones world let alone T5...
And FINALLY who doesent want AMAZING product?
sure you can buy Moet champagne and they produce a great product cheaply.. but Crystal and Dom is what you WANT! QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.
Brokers in CA are looking for Quality from growers now not just who can grow the biggest plants...
Remember Nevilles HAze? that stuff went for 50$/g and could literally put you in a coma.

$50/g . Holy rip off batman....... $50/g that better glow in the dark and give me the ability to breathe under water or something. I wouldn't pay more than $15/g for the best hash.......

 

[Undercover Cop]

I'm planning on getting a badboy any day now to start using this method. I'm wondering if anyone who has experience can tell me what type of heat I can expect from the ballast. My grow space is limited and its possible that the metal of the ballast could actually be touching wood.

Does the ballast get really hot to the touch? Could this pose a fire hazard? What if there was a half inch of clearance between the ballast and the wood?

My 2cents = you can almost get 2 cheap units off ebay for the cost of a BadBoy, they are almost a clone of the SunBurst units. I'd say most of the quality you're seeking from a T5 unit would be from the Bulbs#1 and the reflector #2 (individual reflectors trumps bulbs that are doubled up 2 to a reflector). Spend your money on good bulbs to replace the crap generics that come with it. If a ballast will fire a T5 bulb then its good to go compared to any other unit unless you go for a VHO fixture. I have 2 4bulb and 1 8bulb unit and none will get too hot to hold your hand near. I'd think you'd have no prob with the fixture touching wood (line it with aluminum foil if you get really worried about it) T5's do create heat, but much less than HID and is spread out over the length of the 4 foot fixture so theres no hot spots really.

 

[hyroot]

Undercover, what is the dimesions of your 8 bulb? Is it the same as it says on ebay. They say the 8 bulb is 4' x 16.75in and the 4 bulb is 4' x 13in. my badboy 8 bulb is 4' x 2' and my hydrofarm 6 bulb is 4' x 18in. Out of all the radiion ones on ebay, for more light coverage getting a couple 4 bulbs would be the best way to go.... right...?

 

[Undercover Cop]

Undercover, what is the dimesions of your 8 bulb? Is it the same as it says on ebay. They say the 8 bulb is 4' x 16.75in and the 4 bulb is 4' x 13in. my badboy 8 bulb is 4' x 2' and my hydrofarm 6 bulb is 4' x 18in. Out of all the radiion ones on ebay, for more light coverage getting a couple 4 bulbs would be the best way to go.... right...?

Yeah those dimensions are about right. They are pretty compact units, only 2-3 inches high also. The 8 bulb unit is almost the same as the 4 bulb, but the reflectors are a little wider and they put 2 bulbs in each, so they are a little less efficient due to re-strike as the tubes shine on each other within the reflector. I would say the 4 bulb units would be a little more efficient due to the individual reflectors and wider spaced bulbs giving better coverage. They dont get hot at all where as the 8 bulb units do get a little hot, but not where my tops arent 2-3" away.

Overall, if you're strapped for $, the 8 bulb units are an awesome deal at $150 (the aquarium version can come with 50/50 or all Actinic460 which look exactly like the WavePoint Blue Waves when next to each other... so you can save money on bulbs also).

But IMO, if I had $300 budgeted for fixtures, I would get 3 four bulb units over 2 eight bulb units. Although you'd get 4 less bulbs and their light, I think the benefits of the better coverage/spread from the wider/individual reflectors, and the fact that you're saving 216w, 12bulbs=648wfor almost 40" x 48" coverage vs 16bulb=864 for only 34"x48" coverage. Plus you can adjust each of the 3 smaller fixtures individually to fit plants easier than 2 larger.
This is just my opinion, and have never flowered solo w T5's (mixed w Hps) but through veg the 4 bulbs are great. For flowering, I cant say if the overall loss of those lumens/watts would drastically affect yield much, but I know that plants love having the T5's really close, and the 8 bulb units are a little heavier and not as easy to adjust right down onto the tops. I'd go all 4 bulb units if I could just for adjustability, but the 8 bulb units fix perfectly in my veg box and covered my bubblers perfect so i got one

I know some like having two bulbs per reflector to blend the spectrums... but its not as effiecient because alot of the light energy is lost when the bulbs shine on each other and not a reflector.

From pics Ive seen, I think the Radiions are just clones of the Sunburst units.

 

[PetFlora]

I'm planning on getting a badboy any day now to start using this method. I'm wondering if anyone who has experience can tell me what type of heat I can expect from the ballast. My grow space is limited and its possible that the metal of the ballast could actually be touching wood.


Does the ballast get really hot to the touch? Could this pose a fire hazard? What if there was a half inch of clearance between the ballast and the wood?

The ballast doesn't get HOT, hot, but I would not keep the frame that close to anything. Plus, the reflectors are vented so hot air can escape. Your idea would negate that benefit, instead, concentrating the heat onto your grow

 

[okthanks2]

THIS BETTER NOT BE A WASTE OF $$ because I have spent $750 on T5 bulbs to make this shit happen! Anyway, I emailed the store I purchased the Gro-Lux T5's from and they are OUT OF STOCK. Yeah, thanks for letting me know 3 weeks later. Needless to say that order is CANCELLED! I have now been running FloraSuns and 6500K bulbs half and half in my fixture for veg and it is FANfuckinTASTIC! The plants love that combo and they have doubled in size in only 3 days. I purchased some ATI ProColors since they are super cheap $9.50 a bulb in place of the FloraSuns because they are pretty much identical. Anyway, I'm starting to realize that at least for vegging, plants need more of the full spectrum. I had my half 6500K and half FloraSuns in one area and the PAR only T5's in another, and the 6500K/FloraSun plants are about 10 times bigger. Same everything for nutes and time started.

 

[Lucius Vorenus]

Pr0fesseur- This thread you started is now 18 months old. Do you happen to have any photo updates of your grows since this original one you had such success with? Im sure you have had at least 4 harvests since then. Would love to see the final weights and turnout.

 

[falcon223]

Well the great deal I was to get on a 8 bulb light, Is not going to go. Here is a copy of the email I got to day, and the light is to come today. I will never do business with this company again.Thy will not oner the sale price that was posted, and of coarse they got my money.


We just discovered an error with this product and for some reason the SKU also known as a Product Code listed as 960195 is for a different item, the 4 foot 2 bulb light system and the price is for that item as well. So unfortunately when we shipped the item we shipped the wrong product to you and charged the cheaper price for the smaller light system. We have a couple options how we can resolve this issue. We can give you an additional discount and you will only have payed $100 for each light and we will send you a free $10 gift certificate to use with any future puchases. Second you can refuse the shipment when it arrives and we will still send you a free gift certificate and we will refund your entire purchase price. If you accept the item we will have to do a return and it will take us longer to get your money refunded. No matter what though we will make sure to resolve this issue as fast as possible, we apologze profusely for this mixup and we have already taken down the listing to be fixed. Please let us know as soon as possible when you receive this message, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call us at 800-818-6128 thank you.

Happy Holidays

 

[falcon223]

Oh yea the phone number is for a recording.

 

[UnderCurrentDWC]

I think they're bound to give you the item for the advertised price. Other wise you have grounds for a law suit under false advertising. Depends on how far you want to take it.

My cousin had this problem when buying fine china after his wedding, the store had to honor there advertising mistake.

Good luck
Uc~

[video=youtube;oc_ZhdAJyOE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc_ZhdAJyOE[/video]
​

 

[Calrt]

Well the great deal I was to get on a 8 bulb light, Is not going to go. Here is a copy of the email I got to day, and the light is to come today. I will never do business with this company again.Thy will not oner the sale price that was posted, and of coarse they got my money.


We just discovered an error with this product and for some reason the SKU also known as a Product Code listed as 960195 is for a different item, the 4 foot 2 bulb light system and the price is for that item as well. So unfortunately when we shipped the item we shipped the wrong product to you and charged the cheaper price for the smaller light system. We have a couple options how we can resolve this issue. We can give you an additional discount and you will only have payed $100 for each light and we will send you a free $10 gift certificate to use with any future puchases. Second you can refuse the shipment when it arrives and we will still send you a free gift certificate and we will refund your entire purchase price. If you accept the item we will have to do a return and it will take us longer to get your money refunded. No matter what though we will make sure to resolve this issue as fast as possible, we apologze profusely for this mixup and we have already taken down the listing to be fixed. Please let us know as soon as possible when you receive this message, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call us at 800-818-6128 thank you.

Happy Holidays

I had ordered 4 of them, my boxes showed up yesterday when I was gone and got the email about the time I got home and the boxes where there. They are 2 bulb fixtures....maybe at $50 a piece I could keep them but not $100! Sent her 2 emails not and havnt heard back....they might be closed for Christmas already

 

[falcon223]

I think they are closed, but I think they should oner there price. Yea I can get a 6 bulb fixture for that price. They want to give me a 10 dollar coupon. F that. I want my light. Maybe we all email them, and tell them that we will not be buying from them in the future. And we will be posting the crappy email they sent us, for others to see how they do business.
I have never had a company that made a mistake in the advertised price and not oner it.

Sorry to get of track professor, thanks for doing this T5 thread.

 

[Lucius Vorenus]

Well the great deal I was to get on a 8 bulb light, Is not going to go. Here is a copy of the email I got to day, and the light is to come today. I will never do business with this company again.Thy will not oner the sale price that was posted, and of coarse they got my money.


We just discovered an error with this product and for some reason the SKU also known as a Product Code listed as 960195 is for a different item, the 4 foot 2 bulb light system and the price is for that item as well. So unfortunately when we shipped the item we shipped the wrong product to you and charged the cheaper price for the smaller light system. We have a couple options how we can resolve this issue. We can give you an additional discount and you will only have payed $100 for each light and we will send you a free $10 gift certificate to use with any future puchases. Second you can refuse the shipment when it arrives and we will still send you a free gift certificate and we will refund your entire purchase price. If you accept the item we will have to do a return and it will take us longer to get your money refunded. No matter what though we will make sure to resolve this issue as fast as possible, we apologze profusely for this mixup and we have already taken down the listing to be fixed. Please let us know as soon as possible when you receive this message, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call us at 800-818-6128 thank you.

Happy Holidays

Was this the New Waves on Amazon? If so I ordered 2 as well. No emails as of yet.

 

[Calrt]

Was this the New Waves on Amazon? If so I ordered 2 as well. No emails as of yet.

Sure was, talked with Jesse about an hour ago. They sent out 15 and he is saying that there is nothing he can do. Said the 2 bulbs cost them $100 each so he cant do better on those either!

 

[falcon223]

I sent a nasty Email to them. I told them that every company that makes a mistake will always oner the price. And I don't want there 10 dollar discount because I will not buy from them.
What a bunch of asses.