T5HO, anyone?

[clowntown]

 

[Guest]

How about VHO flourescents?I would think they would be the best flo's to use for growing

 

[clowntown]

They might be, but I haven't seen any VHO ballasts for $16.50 with free shipping. (Haven't seen any VHO tubes for $4.50/ea either.)

Edit: The T5's used in the T5 "plant" lighting systems (New Wave, Tek5, etc) are T5HO. I think VHO's primarily get used on aquariums as well as tanning beds, although the HO's also get used on both as well.

 

[Guest]

Yea the very high output flo's are used in a lot of salt water aquariums and such,they may well do a good job growing too

 

[northcoastmed]

What about T6 lamps? Lamps are about the same price as most T5HO ($15) and work with either a T8 or T5HO ballast. T6 lamps are standard lengths (unlike T5's which are shorter) and while they have the same output as T5HO's they run cooler.

You can also get caps for T5 lamps so you can use them in existing T8 fixtures, after changing the ballast of course.

 

[clowntown]

Are those bulbs easy to obtain? Saw some T5HO bulbs for $4.50/ea... for $15 I say screw it and go with air-cooled HIDs.

 

[northcoastmed]

naturallighting.com

The adapter caps are $4.50 a set. Expensive for my tastes but combined with your lamp price it looks much better. I have 2 of those ballasts (ICNS-25) right now but I would like 3 more for an 10 lamp T8 fixture I already have. I might just make a 4 lamp for now and scrap the other fixture.

T5's are great for summer but right now I need all the heat I can get so I use the HIDs. I still use a 2' - 2 lamp T5HO fixture for mothers and clones though.

 

[clowntown]

I saw some T8 and T12 lampholders at Home Depot, for something in the range of $5-ish per pair. Which I thought was too expensive... so I found this:

http://www.surplussales.com/Electrical/FluorLampholders-11.html

$0.50/ea, $0.40/ea for 10+, $0.25/ea for 100+, $0.20 for 750+. Not bad, not bad.

 

[Guest]

What about T6 lamps? Lamps are about the same price as most T5HO ($15) and work with either a T8 or T5HO ballast. T6 lamps are standard lengths (unlike T5's which are shorter) and while they have the same output as T5HO's they run cooler.

You can also get caps for T5 lamps so you can use them in existing T8 fixtures, after changing the ballast of course.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=15553&highlight=t6

 

[Guest]

Are those bulbs easy to obtain? Saw some T5HO bulbs for $4.50/ea... for $15 I say screw it and go with air-cooled HIDs.

At Home DePot you can get shop lights that hold t12 or t8 bulbs. If you use t8's you can get more lumens per watt than t5ho's. Much cheaper. 6 shoplights vs one 4ft 4bulb t5 unit. Same amount of overhead space.