Hi all,
I am a first time grower. I have a question about using T5 lights through my entire grow. I have a 3x4x6 grow tent and my T5 FLP48/UN 8*54W light fits near perfectly in the tent. I am in my 3rd week of flower.(3 white widows) I was planning on using it through my entire grow. But the more I read the forum, I am not sure that’s such a good idea. What are your thoughts? will it be ok? are there different bulbs I can use in that fixture that may be better? Or do I need a new light system all together? I have some recent pics in a different blog “leaf removal during flower.”
Thanks in advance for any help.
ECB
The T5 can bud plants with the right tubes , but I’m not sure of the intensity . If I’m not mistaken , they have to remain real close for penetrating the canopy .
Awesome Yoshi Thanks for the info. I will check out some different lights for intensity. I already keep the light close to the canopy as they don’t get real hot.
That’s the beauty of T5’s , but if you have tall sativa’s , than only the cola tops will fill , where as the bottom won’t get any light unless it’s added , but I’ve seen a scrog video on YouTube with 2 T5’s and 6 plants that yielded over 1 lb plus , but they were trained and scrogged just to give you something to search .
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the good thing is I was able to keep the plants fairly short. They are White widows and they seem to be Indica dominant as the leaves are pretty wide. I did do some minor LST to try to keep them short. They are only about 2’ above the edge of the pots and at least that wide. But I’m going to look for something with more intensity in a bulb anyway. Just wish I knew a little more about light spectrum. I’ll do some searching on that also. However thank you Yoshi and PigSquishy. I don’t feel as worried about getting it done ASAP. Seems in a pinch what I already have will get me by.
There are various lights out there on the market for Led , but consider your best investment . Apache Tech AT600 is my next investment , now I have an Advance XTE 350 LED light which kicks butt , and I also have a 400 watt LED that came with my 2x2x5 tent setup . I never thought to used them both when I growed 4 regular feminized seeds , and with my 2 auto’s , I decided to run both lights which gives me 800 watts of light in a small tent that really get the best results out of my grows . Now I’ve ordered the Grandmaster line of nutrients by Advance nutrients , and wanted to do a 5 gallon hydro grow with the PH perfect technology thinking it will help keep things in the water in perspective , but I’m thinking to run another coco soil medium run which I’m seeing phenomenal results . But Black Dog , Kind , SolarSun , Apache Tech , and Advance Lights of premium lights for as warranty and out put , I now want to try the Apache Tech , or build a led light which would save a ton of money , and the video I’ve seen on the guy with the Apache tech , he built his own light that was doing even better than the Apache tech . But when it comes to lights , dollar for dollar , HPS and Mh lights are the next best thing compared to sunlight , it’s been proven . But with Halide lights you run into heat issues if you cannot manage the heat properly , is why many refer to LED in small grow areas . But it’s what you can afford , and what experience you have far as lights .
That’s a lot to chew on. lol. And as far as light experience, The T5 is it. It came with my tent package. By the way, Do you know how the wattage is calculated? the description is 8*54W. does that mean 54x8 for a total wattage of 432 W?
Bingo 8x54 is the wattage though watts aren’t the only measure of light they were for years based on HID comparisons 400w 600w 1000w used to be growing standards. T5s Leds have changed the playing field and the technology has come a long way watts a simply a measure of power consumption. So many variables in lights now it’s more a question of what you want to spend and what works best in your space
If not aware , you can get an app on your smart phone to kind of measure the par that lights are putting out . It’s not as accurate as a par meter I don’t think , but yet it’s enough evidence to help you get an idea of how much lumens you putting out .
Ya your right I didn’t think of that. Going to try to get to Home Depot today. I’ll get the app before I go.
I use an app on my phone for lux but also run 2 Hid’s an HPS on digital 400 600 750 1000w adjustable ballast for flowering and same ballast for MH for veg on light mover. As well use 8 23w daylight cfl on home made shade fixture for mother seedlings and small clones. I run flower room constant same as veg and love my hid’s but also come from family of growers so trust what I know best.
You guys know a lot. And I’m in my first ever grow. To be honest I didn’t even know grow tents existed till last October. lol. I just stumbled upon this site and started checking it out and decided to give it a go. I do this for personal use only and not planning on expanding or dropping a lot cash into it. Just trying to make the most of my limited space and resources. But I also don’t want to be to lackadaisical about it and ruin my efforts. So its a balance between having what I need to be successful and not going beyond my means. fortunately for me I have learned a ton in a short time because of you talented, knowledgeable folks willing to give us newbies good advice. That being said, I went to a couple local hardware stores only to find very limited T5 lights or even none at all.
I took a closer look at my lights and they are 54W high output 6400K x 8. At this point I am in my 3rd week of flower and want to try to get the big tight buds you guys get. not the small fluffy ones I read some folks get. Oh and I have been using the Fox farm nute set. and following the schedule that came with it religiously.
Airy buds is actually from lack of intense lighting , the stronger your lights , the more dense buds you’ll get , but the bulbs you have I think are for flowering , never used a T5 lighting system . But I did hear good things about in veg for starting seedlings and clones , because of how close you can run the lights close to the plants . There are several videos on YouTube on using T5’s that might be helpful information for you .
If the lights I have are for flowering that would be great .I will see if I can find some You Tube videos
Thanks
Type in T5 scrogged white widow I think , and the guy is actually running 2 of them , one over head and the other vertical , and man he yielded a pound and half if not more with T5’s !!!
This video, I think is the one Yoshi is talking about, but training and scrogging is necessary so as not to have a deep canopy to penetrate.
Something else to think about, the 6400K number is a color rating number, sometimes called “cool white”, the higher the number the more blue colored the light looks. About 5000K to about 6500K can be considered true white, but the 6500 might have a little blue look to it and 5000 to about 6000 would be white without looking noticeably blue, the color of sunlight is generally about 5800K. Either way, in general, these colors are used more for veg, and redder or “warmer” colored light is used for flower, the color rating would be a lower number, about 2500-2700K is most common, But I’ve also seen 3000K and 4000k used for flower, but again, in general with florescent lights, about 6500K is for veg and about 2700K is for flower. You should be able to find these 2500-2700ish color rated tubes for your fixture, you’d just switch the tube when you switch from your veg long day light cycle to your flower short day cycle.
Happy growing,
MacG
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Mac gyver you are the man dude , but that is the exact video with T5’s , awesome scrog grow with T5’s , wow Macgyverstoner now I understand your name .
I don’t know how to copy and paste from tablet , but that is it .
Yes I watched that exact video last night. He actually had a series of videos with those T5 lights. 2 plants Scrog was amazing. And Thanks MacGyver That’s exactly what I needed to know. My plants are now in week 3 of flower. is it OK to change out lights at this point?