I have a small 2.5' x 1.5' tent about 3' high that I start seeds and clones in. I use a 24" 2 bulb T5 to start, but what would be my best option to keep them vegging until flowering in my big tent, given the small space and lack of ventilation (only a small clip on fan)? Should I switch to a 96 watt 4 bulb T5, or a UFO/blackstar unit? If I can get good results with minimal heat in that little tent with the T5, I'd love to stick with that as long as I can develop close nodes and not stretchy lanky plants.
T5 vs LED for veg only
- Thread starter Kushfan
- Start date
LogicTime
Active Member
I use the same type of tent, lighthouse hydro. I'm running 4 clones in it right now with 2 T5's, The best thing I've found for keeping them in veg is training I'm a newb so it's kind of a trail and error way, you'll want to top your babies when they are ready and do so LST. That will maximize your space as well as increase your yields it's a two for one combo lol plus it gives you extra time for your flowering plants to finish what they are doing. Now for switching your lights, I'm just moving to LED so I cannot say if that would be the best though seeing pics LEDs are the way of the future! Also I don't even use a fan in my tent the amount of passive air intakes keeps them cool and happy no sweat or anything so ride out your T5's until they are useless.
LogicTime
Active Member
Already done that :] meaning that it will keep the plants smaller for now as well as increase the yield. Uncle bens trick is awesome."Two for One" ?
Topping just above the the 2nd node after the babe is about 5 nodes up will get 4 ?
Uncle Ben is your friend.
A 4 bulb t5 HO will work wonders as long as the plants stay within the reflector footprint of the T5 unit. You can also put in some Actinic blue tubes (420-450nm range) and some pink plant tubes for a better spectra. The Actinic blues will keep your internodes really short, and probably shorter than most of the UFOs. Keep the T5 unit within 6 inches or so of the top of the plant for max intensity.
I have the same tent. I do however have a 4x2 tent with a 600w hortilux that I flower in. I'm just looking for the most efficient and cheapest way to raise my young 'uns till they get put in there. Looks like I will buy another 2' 2 bulb t5 fixture to link up to my another one. It has an outlet on the fixture to add more. Thanks for all the helpful replies.
420greendream
Well-Known Member
Led beats t5 all day
lumen per lumen per watt T5 wins.
MileHigh1
Well-Known Member
T-5 all the way!
View attachment 2582548
View attachment 2582548
I use both as well, but prefer using my T5 for seedling\clones for veg, until the plants outgrow it, then I start adding leds.
Smokster42O
Member
Some of the things you have to worry about when using the LEDS is foot print and distance. The t5ho can be placed pretty much right on top of your plants where as the Led has to be 18-24 inches above the canopy. I have personally tried both and prefer the t5s. They both keep the plants short and stocky. The led just doesn't have the same footprint as the t5. And as the plants grow you can run out of head room if that is a problem for some. As far as heat issues I found that both produce about the same amount of heat per watt. All lights put out heat no matter what so that is always a problem for the closet grower to deal with. Since you already have t5s I'd stay with that myself. One other thing, I really doubt that you can run anymore light then you have in that small tent without some cooler air being brought in. No matter which light you choose. Also reading back I see your tent is only 3 ft tall. You would not be able to use a high powered led light in that short of a tent. Do some research if you don't believe me, but almost all the good leds out there require at least 18" and most are 24" above the canopy or you can easily cause your plants to bleach. JMHO
Smokster42O
Member
I'm watching tv and they were playing that Tequila song was playing, you know the one where they play the music and everyone yells "Tequila" and Milehigh1's boobs were shaking perfectly to the music...SWEET
PetFlora
Well-Known Member
I am afraid you are not entirely correct with your led knowledge, or you simply failed to mention the relationship of lens angles to distance. Many older fixtures came with 60* lenses, so yes they would need to be farther away (but not 18-24", more like 10"), however, many current manufacturers use 80-90*. Hans builds his own lenses into his designs, which he uses in a small cabinet. I think his site is www.ledgrow.eu. A so-called 'high power" led has to do with size of fixture not umols/sft or /msq, where a power panel will read the same no matter where it is read. You simply could not fit one inside a small cabinet anyway.
You are mostly correct about T5s. They will bleach IF your leafs are ~ within direct contact
I used to have a blackstar 240 in that little tent, and it did a damn good job at vegging with virtually no heat until they outgrew the tent. I have since sold that fixture and now have t5's in there so to keep costs down (not that I need to) I was wondering if I can stick with my t5 for similar results, or if I should just buy another led. Btw, I borrowed a very expensive par meter and the most intensity was at 10" away from the blackstar. It actually worked perfectly in that tent and I regret selling it.
BigFloppyDonkeyDick
Active Member
It is 11 years later. I have been at it for all of those years and then some indoors. I love LM301B setups in bloom, was not to keen on cobs as they hot-spotted like hell and were way inconsistent in their footprint when put up next to rack style lights. But again, in bloom. Back int hte day I ran Platinums and they also hot-spotted like hell unless you could get them high enough. They were my forst venture into LED in veg and I have been through several setups, trying different things ovr the years with the high CRI lighting and I have had mixed results. But, at the end of the day, Nothing has made plants as lush as T5HO So now I've hydridized with my Optic slims and have a single 6500K T5 HO in between each bar of the 8 bars of my Slim 750S's (6 total) and I run them in conjunction with the 750S's. A quick Key (F=full spectrum dimmer/B=blue dimmer/R=Red Dimmer) Simple enough, RIght?
Seedling: No LED, Just T5 HO at 15" above canopy
Week 1-2 (or 1-3 for longer veg) LED - F@50%/B@50%/R@20% + All T5 HO at 18" above canopy
Week 2-3 (or 4-6 for longer veg) LED - F@75%/B@75%/R@25% + (4x) T% HO at 24" above canopy
Transition LED - F@100%/B@50%/R@50% + (2x) T5 HO at 24" above canopy
After transition, I swap out 6,500 for Agromax Pure UV T5 HO and It only gets kicked on for 4-6 hours to balance between forced resin production and frying trichs accidentally.
Bloom Week 1-2 (1-3 for med flower time, 1-4 for long flower time) - F@100%/B@25%/R@75% at 24" above canopy
Bloom Week 3-5 (3-7 for med flower time, 3-8 for long flower time) - F@100%/B@15%/R@100% + (4x) T5 HO @ 18" above canopy
Bloom Week 6-7 (6-9 for med flower time, 6-11 for long flower time -F@100%/B@0%/R@100% + (4x) T5 HO @ 12" above canopy
Now I swap in the 10,000K finishers for the last two week or two depending on strain
Final week or two-F@75%/B@0%R@100% for 12 hrs + (6x) 10,000K T5 HO< ONLY! 14 hours at 12" above the canopy
Seedling: No LED, Just T5 HO at 15" above canopy
Week 1-2 (or 1-3 for longer veg) LED - F@50%/B@50%/R@20% + All T5 HO at 18" above canopy
Week 2-3 (or 4-6 for longer veg) LED - F@75%/B@75%/R@25% + (4x) T% HO at 24" above canopy
Transition LED - F@100%/B@50%/R@50% + (2x) T5 HO at 24" above canopy
After transition, I swap out 6,500 for Agromax Pure UV T5 HO and It only gets kicked on for 4-6 hours to balance between forced resin production and frying trichs accidentally.
Bloom Week 1-2 (1-3 for med flower time, 1-4 for long flower time) - F@100%/B@25%/R@75% at 24" above canopy
Bloom Week 3-5 (3-7 for med flower time, 3-8 for long flower time) - F@100%/B@15%/R@100% + (4x) T5 HO @ 18" above canopy
Bloom Week 6-7 (6-9 for med flower time, 6-11 for long flower time -F@100%/B@0%/R@100% + (4x) T5 HO @ 12" above canopy
Now I swap in the 10,000K finishers for the last two week or two depending on strain
Final week or two-F@75%/B@0%R@100% for 12 hrs + (6x) 10,000K T5 HO< ONLY! 14 hours at 12" above the canopy
Knally
Well-Known Member
Those HOT5's are awesome. You can get them right up to the canopy of the plants. I'm getting back into the fun of growing after many years off. It's been a while. These pics are from way back in 2009 or so with 2 2 ft. HOT5's from veg to flower. After these I switched to a different room setup and a couple of 1000 watt HPS to flower. But I continue to use the HOT5's for cloning and vegetation using mixed spectrum of 6100k and 3500k. However, I no longer plan on using the 1000 HPS but using a 400-watt COB from Timberline in a 3'X3'X7' tent. Hoping that heat won't be as much of an issue with the COB's.
