hollysmoke
Well-Known Member
i use shop light for my mothers and clones and my babies. i was wondering if you can use these types of lights for flowering?
flowering under flourescent
- Thread starter hollysmoke
- Start date
itsgrowinglikeaweed
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Been there used those. Those tubes basically represent the bare minimum of what will work. Even the plain spiral CFLs would be much better.
DorianGray
Member
You can buy a 2' and 4' T5 from home depot for about 20 bucks, better than the standard shop light.
Hydrotech364
Well-Known Member
I use 6500k tubes T-5.Just for veg though!
Got#'sbutstillsmokeroache
Active Member
I would get some cfl's to go along with, they aren't very expensive and if you put them all around the plant you will be amazed at the way it spreads.
Top 44
Well-Known Member
I do the same with, IMHO, good resultsI use 6500k tubes T-5.Just for veg though!
Furthur
Active Member
My local home depot also has 3 footers.
I have a 2 x 2' from there as well. They're alright. It doesn't say what temp rating the bulbs it came with are but they look like cool white.
I was able to get some high output 2700K bulbs from the local hydro store for it but the single 2 foot T5 HO strip lights I got from hydro store I like better though. They are alot brighter than the 2 lamp one from home depot, that whole fixture is like 20some watts but not per bulb so the HO bulbs aren't even being used to their full potential because they are rated like 20some watts each. I know its not supposed to be safe to use higher wattage bulbs in lower watt fixtures but its not really heatin them up, maybe it would make the bulb life shorter? idk.
Here's a tutorial I posted a few days ago that will tech you to build two 18,000 lumen T5 fixtures (bulbs not included in price) for about $120 total (or a single 36,000 lumen fixture with some small modifications): https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/193769-build-your-own-t5-fixtures.html
Does anyone have any solid theory on why T5's are not good for flowering? Maybe they just don't use enough of them? I would think you could get good yields with enough bulbs as they can be placed a lot closer thanks to the low heat, and I would even angle them toward the plant and sort of surround it with bulbs. Just 16 bulbs will give you 75,000 lumens, which is about equal to a 600W HPS. Now the T5s will draw a bit more power than a HPS, but you still get about 85 lumens per watt, which is on-par with metal halide and a lot better than most CFLs. And I would think placing them closer and in a more flexible fashion would allow you to maximize the light coverage.
I could see how T8 "shop lights" wouldn't work well - they just don't produce enough light over the area they cover to deliver enough lumens. But T5??? Maybe there's something I'm missing, I'd just like to look into it further.
Does anyone have any solid theory on why T5's are not good for flowering? Maybe they just don't use enough of them? I would think you could get good yields with enough bulbs as they can be placed a lot closer thanks to the low heat, and I would even angle them toward the plant and sort of surround it with bulbs. Just 16 bulbs will give you 75,000 lumens, which is about equal to a 600W HPS. Now the T5s will draw a bit more power than a HPS, but you still get about 85 lumens per watt, which is on-par with metal halide and a lot better than most CFLs. And I would think placing them closer and in a more flexible fashion would allow you to maximize the light coverage.
I could see how T8 "shop lights" wouldn't work well - they just don't produce enough light over the area they cover to deliver enough lumens. But T5??? Maybe there's something I'm missing, I'd just like to look into it further.
Got#'sbutstillsmokeroache
Active Member
The cfl's around the base will give you good results!
hollysmoke
Well-Known Member
thanks alot i was just wondering i have a 400 hps light but want to expand since i ve got some quality clones i guess ill go with another hps light thanks again