pr0fesseur
Well-Known Member
stoner rant
LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow
- Thread starter pr0fesseur
- Start date
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Huge leaf with duality on primary leaflet, with some new clones taken before putting the others into flower:
Underside shots of LSTing:
Underside shots of LSTing:
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Re: UndercurrentDWC: Yeah it's the HTG one... ebay ad said "bad boy quantum" at the end of the title, even though the listing wasn't for one... and I didn't know exactly what it looked like... it was my fault for not thinking more about the picture before ordering, but I was in a hurry and the price was right. The whole fixture fell once because the hooks it hangs on are impermanent and come out a little too easily at certain angles. I lost a couple bulbs, but the fixture held up. All that aside, I guess it's working pretty well, although I hate that gap. I would get a regular bad boy if I were to get another.
On the upside, when I brought the ebay ad discrepancy to HTGSupply's attention, they acknowledged the mistake and made amends by sending me four free grow bulbs. Which, I, obviously, am not using... hahaha. Oh well. Still a nice gesture, and I have backup bulbs just in case.
On the upside, when I brought the ebay ad discrepancy to HTGSupply's attention, they acknowledged the mistake and made amends by sending me four free grow bulbs. Which, I, obviously, am not using... hahaha. Oh well. Still a nice gesture, and I have backup bulbs just in case.
hyroot
Well-Known Member
Here's 18 days into flower... I call them Beginner's Lucky 7... my first time, lucked out and got seven out of seven ladies from bagseed... this is T5 with a mix of the bulbs recommended so far. I could have gone farther towards red, but didn't want to spend any more. Maybe next time. In the mean time, how does this look for 18 days into flower?
Pics:
View attachment 1848796View attachment 1848797View attachment 1848798View attachment 1848799View attachment 1848803View attachment 1848812View attachment 1848813
looks great and healthy. good work.
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Much thanks! I am a proud daddy.
I'm going by the book, so to speak... FoxFarm Ocean Forest Blend, with the usual three FoxFarm liquids and solids on their schedule by the book.
I'm going by the book, so to speak... FoxFarm Ocean Forest Blend, with the usual three FoxFarm liquids and solids on their schedule by the book.
poind3xter
Member
I've been lurking this thread for awhile and just want to say thank you to pr0fesseur for the info and for being a pioneer with all this. I'm ready to take the leap myself and try this. I've got a 3/3 area that I can use with this fixture: http://htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-2-Foot-8-Lamp-High-Output-T5-With-Choice-of-Bulbs.asp. It's a 2x2 8-bulb T5HO setup. Can I even use this fixture? And if so what bulbs would you recommend for veg and flowering? This is what I was thinking:
Order of bulbs in veg
blue
purple
blue
red
purple
blue
red
blue
Order of bulbs in flower
red
purple
red
blue
purple
red
blue
red
Any advice? Thanks!
Order of bulbs in veg
blue
purple
blue
red
purple
blue
red
blue
Order of bulbs in flower
red
purple
red
blue
purple
red
blue
red
Any advice? Thanks!
UnderCurrentDWC
Active Member
Yes you can use that fixture, yes you can get these bulbs in 2 foot I think you can still get the Ati pro color 660nm the professeur uses in the 2 foot length. The bulb order looks good. I include a ulv 75.25 during veg
Happy to see you interested in using the P.A.R T5 bulbs.
Happy growing
UCDWC~
Triplezero1
Active Member
Is anybody running their ballasts remotely outside of the grow space to save on heat? I found a site that sells remote ballasts pre wired for HO T5's. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19811&cmpid=03csegb&ref=3312&subref=AA&CAWELAID=525426348
I'm re-configuring my setup and could use some input. I already own two jumbo 180 leds from prosource worldwide and they work great so I still want to use them. I plan to use the leds for top light but want to surround my space with these T5's everyone has been discussing. My flowering space is 6' wide X 3' deep X 7' tall & split in half (3x3x7) for a perpetual grow. So, I want to add some real kick ass side lighting. Any suggestions?
I'm re-configuring my setup and could use some input. I already own two jumbo 180 leds from prosource worldwide and they work great so I still want to use them. I plan to use the leds for top light but want to surround my space with these T5's everyone has been discussing. My flowering space is 6' wide X 3' deep X 7' tall & split in half (3x3x7) for a perpetual grow. So, I want to add some real kick ass side lighting. Any suggestions?
UnderCurrentDWC
Active Member
Get those lights up and post a pic!
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
I think that remote ballasts would be a great way to go for side lighting. I am considering side-hanging my fixture but the vents for the ballasts are on top so I would have to make sure to cool it well. I probably won't hang it vertically until I've built a plexiglass hood to vent the heat like a cooltube.
I am considering eventually going with the vertical T5's on one or two walls, because my setup does not allow for a lot of vertical clearance of a large surface area. The plan was to eventually go quasi-wall-mount (kind of at an angle against an eve wall) when I exceed the height limitations... but since I was bumped to flower early due to an autoflowerer, I don't think I will exceed my height this time. I am going to have to think more about this before my next round.
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear of your troubles man... be sure to post us some pics of your veggies under PAR T5's though!
Gastanker
Well-Known Member
I'm a big believer in flouros and am a big fish enthusiast as well but I'm having a hard time with this... I didn't read the entire thread - did yields rise rapidly after the initial test run? 1 oz from 116w is pretty terrible; I yielded 6oz from 388w of CFL during my initial test run with them - nearly twice the the g/w and that barely compares to my HID grows. All 388w of my CFL cost me $5, that's 1/4 the price of a single UVL bulb.
I totally agree that spectrum is often overlooked but side by side comparisons always show the standard flouros to do better when growing plants. Hard to argue with side by side scientific testing (I'm talking about fish tank plant testing as they tend to be much more scientific than pot growers and accurate info is much easier to find). If you went onto a coral forum and told them that using just actinic would grow better coral than a MH they would laugh - and that's what these bulbs are made for.
Actinic bulbs penetrate water well and help with particular algae but even coral people admit that they don't grow plants very well. Here is a great aquarium site with a TON of useful scientific information. Even here they state that most 6500k grow flouros will out do actinics/narrow range bulbs.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html
I totally agree that spectrum is often overlooked but side by side comparisons always show the standard flouros to do better when growing plants. Hard to argue with side by side scientific testing (I'm talking about fish tank plant testing as they tend to be much more scientific than pot growers and accurate info is much easier to find). If you went onto a coral forum and told them that using just actinic would grow better coral than a MH they would laugh - and that's what these bulbs are made for.
Actinic bulbs penetrate water well and help with particular algae but even coral people admit that they don't grow plants very well. Here is a great aquarium site with a TON of useful scientific information. Even here they state that most 6500k grow flouros will out do actinics/narrow range bulbs.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html
UnderCurrentDWC
Active Member
How's it Gastanker?
I use to live on the Ridge! have you eaten @ "Casa de Paradiso"? They have the best salsa Ever!!!
Yes it's true.. so far there's been few posts showing yields under these lights but stick around they'll start showing up, more and more people are trying the lights out.
I can attest to how well they work during veg.
Happy growing
UCDWC~
Gastanker
Well-Known Member
The vegging plants look wonderful - I'm sure for supplementation those bulbs are great.
I don't know if I've been there or not but I have defiantly seen it. I'm new to the area, but loving it.
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Yeah, let's see how results turn out and then start drawing some conclusions. Personally, If I'm not happy with my yields I will do a run with the standard bulbs after, as I have both on hand. Or I may throw a cool tube in line as well, and use the T5's as supplemental from the side. All depends on how the results turn out. I'd rather not have to double the electric expense if I can get away with just the T5's.
When people shoot for a certain gram to wattage ratio, is that dried bud or wet weight? And what is considered a good ratio?
When people shoot for a certain gram to wattage ratio, is that dried bud or wet weight? And what is considered a good ratio?
Gastanker
Well-Known Member
Dried bud. .5g/w is considered good, 1g/w is considered a pro. What people should report is gram/kWh. g/kWh flouros do very well in comparison to HID.
I pulled 5.4oz my first grow with CFLs:
15 day veg:
First 10 days @ 18hrs*23w
Days 10-15 @ 18hrs*46w
Total veg kWh: 8.28 kWh
60 day flower:
Days 1-20 @ 12hrs*230w
Days 21-40 @ 12hrs*296w
Days 41-60 @ 12hrs*388w
Total flower kWh: 219.36
Total kWh: 227.64 Total yield in grams: 151.2 g/kWh: .665 g/w: .39
Now lets look at a 400w HID:
400w*18hrs*15days = 108 kWh veg
400w*12hrs*60days = 288 kWh flower
Total: 396 kWh
Over the course of the same grow the 400w would use 178% more electricity so anything less than 270grams and the HID is doing worse g/kWh - I don't know many people than can pull 9.5+ oz from a 400w with just a 15 day veg...
AltarNation
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that Gastanker. 
Triplezero1
Active Member
Ordering some remote ballasts this week. Planning on a 6 bulb on 2 opposing walls in each side of the setup...