T5 questions

[B00st3d]

Ok so Im sick of my veggin plants droopin after the 400mh has been on for about 14 hours so I wanna get T5's. My lil seedlings which are under regular flo's 24/7 never ever droop so I figured a more powerful version of the same thing would be perfect plus it saves energy. So is there any differences in the fixtures themselves? I kno the bulbs are different. Just wondering if goin witht he cheapest 8 bulb 4 foot fixtures would be fine. Also how far do they throw light? How far can I put them above my seedlings, rooted clones and mothers? Thanks guys.

 

[SevenSeeds]

There is almost no heat with floroscent bulbs, some do make enough heat though without some ventilation, I think any T5 setup would do but you should calculate how many plants-size of grow.....than calculate how many watts needed, They can go very close to plants...hope this helps peace

 

[B00st3d]

Ya I was just wondering if they were all the same aside from the different bulbs. I see some that are more expensive then others and Im not gonna throw money away. Im gonna use these just for vegging and in a 4x4 space so I figured 8 four footers would suit my needs. I wanna be able to get no droop with 24/7 light and prolly gonna sell my digi 400,the bulb and the hood to fund my t5 purchase. Gonna get the 6500k bulbs. Would I be better off with two 4 bulb fixtures or one 8 bulb? How far can I space them apart or should I keep them all together? Im wishin I wouldnt have just bought a new 400mh bulb cuz that money could have went towards the T5 but live and learn I guess. Anyone have pics of plants veggin under T5's?

 

[B00st3d]

anyone that can comment on how far T5's throw light and how far I can spread them out. I wanna buy these but need to know whether to get two 4 bulb fixtures or one 8 bulb fixture.

 

[pokerfish]

Here's a take as I have several banks running for a short veg period, also run the mums under them, probably for similar reasons as you initially, but that was over 2 years ago...

5000 lumens per tube is great plus in good veg spectrum. Total BS in that they do not produce heat. Ballasts & bulbs, several banks running, will raise overall temps in the room quite a bit. One ballast set will noticeably raise temps (period). There is no way around this fact. Touch a bulb- you won't be able to for more than a second or two... it's hot. This in turn effects the distance to plants. I've run them 12" above down to 4", depending. They grow just find @ 12", maybe a little slower, but temps @ canopy must be the determining factor here.

IMO, keep your 400mh for veg & air-cool it. You can't independently vent any of the heat from the t5's (period). You can do this with a standard fixture & it will be cooler vs open t5's (period). Personally, I wish I did this earlier but I'm already in & got it to work, so... If you still want the t5's, then get an 8 bank ballast that roughly covers 2'x4'. You don't have to run all 8... I usually run 3-4 bulbs per bank. You can space the bulbs however you want as well. Maybe 2 power buttons, depending upon model...

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Ok so Im sick of my veggin plants droopin after the 400mh has been on for about 14 hours so I wanna get T5's. My lil seedlings which are under regular flo's 24/7 never ever droop so I figured a more powerful version of the same thing would be perfect plus it saves energy. So is there any differences in the fixtures themselves? I kno the bulbs are different. Just wondering if goin witht he cheapest 8 bulb 4 foot fixtures would be fine. Also how far do they throw light? How far can I put them above my seedlings, rooted clones and mothers? Thanks guys.

If the environment is correct, they won't droop. Doesn't matter what light you're using as long as it's HPS, MH, CMH, CFL or tube fluoros.

I'd spend a bit more time looking into why your seedlings are drooping before changing your lighting. Much less expensive

 

[Twisted Metal]

If the environment is correct, they won't droop. Doesn't matter what light you're using as long as it's HPS, MH, CMH, CFL or tube fluoros.

I'd spend a bit more time looking into why your seedlings are drooping before changing your lighting. Much less expensive

I agree with Hydro to a certain degree, but sometimes when a plant changes environments it will droop. Now that does not mean your plant is gonna die it will adjust to its new settings in a short period of time. Boosted is your set-up dialed in to a T? How long did your plants droop after you switched them to the 400?

I prefer a 400watt to veg rather then t5's for the reason being your plants will grow a little faster. The only real reason Boosted you should consider T5s is if you have a bunch of lights in flowering room and want to reduce electricity, otherwise you said you have been doing it this way for a while. If it aint broke dont fix it, just get your set-up dialed in.

 

[B00st3d]

I went out and got one each, 6 bulb and a 4 bulb four foot fixtures made by hydrofarm, shop owner says they dont sell well so he hooked me up for 350 bux with sales tax so really was like 325. I wanted one eight bulb or two fours but this is what he had there so I took it. I put all my Ice Cream and Kalikchara seedlings under the 6 tube(20) and they look happy for the last hour and a half sittin there. I have the light bout 5 inches above and when I put my hand under there I feel no heat whatsoever. The bulbs themself are hot tho but the heat doesnt travel more then a couple of inches.

I also have a small 6 inch fan blowin on em as well as a 12 inch fan a few feet behind the other fan which is blowin c02 on em. I would have set up the four tube also but out of the 10 bulbs he gave me, 5 of them are very faded lookin and the other 5 are bright. So Im gonna go back tommorow and exchange the bad bulbs for new ones and hope they are bright enough. Im using the hydrofarm 6400k bulbs and the spectrum looks awsome, even better then the 400 watt MH hortilux Im runnin a few feet away over my clones and bigger seedlings. Since my ballast is digi I can run hps off it so Im gonna keep my 400 I think and use it for flowering runts and rejects

As far as the drooping goes. I dont know wsup with that. My temps never get above 81 degrees in there, humidity is always between 40-48 per percent and the reflector is 2 feet above them!! I mean cmon 2 feet is a heck of a lot and should be enough for them not to droop. I have never air cooled my 400 , only my 600's. I shouldnt need to cool a 400 in such a big room, its not like theres heat builidin up. I have a carbon scrubber on 24/7 thats ventin fresh air into that room. And like I said , they look great the first 13-14 hours and then look like shit the last few hours. I dont get it. I'll go ahead and vent the scrubber right into the reflector and see what happens. If it helps then no biggie, I wanted the T5's for my clones and seedlings anyways so its all good. I had a friend who owed me 300 bux and she paid me today so I got lucky money wise.