What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

lighting spectrum

  • Thread starter uphwiz
  • Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
  • #21
These "my light are bigger than your light" fights are lots of fun to read but in all seriousness I have to wonder at what point are we getting into diminishing returns with the amount of energy some people are using.

I mean, I'm currently growing and flowering succulents with four T 12s, I grew and flowered orchids & HL neps from seedlings/clones with six T12s for a number of years and the plants did not grow slow or poorly colored. Anyway I used 4 - 6 T12s over my planted aquariums and it was plenty enough light for robust aquatic plant growth necessitating weekly pruning on the stem plants and glossostigma carpets.

Just saying, sometimes it seems like people are getting a bit ridiculous with the lighting. 8-10 -12 lamps, it's like muscle car modifiers trying to out do each other... :D
 
  • #22
yea the 4 bulb t-5 HO fixture is just in ,and im a bit concerned its a little hard to look at the plants , their glowing , this will take some getting used to, and i will need a small fan or two to direct the heat away from the top of the terr , im not leavint them on unattended till i do this. i'll post a few pics tomorrow. showing the diff between the 4 t-12 and the 4 t-5 HO's, its quite shocking.
Two bulb fixtures would surely be more light, than 4 of the t-12's
 
  • #23
At least it arrived quickly! No problems with cracked tubes or anything? That's one thing I'm worried about with ordering is getting a box of busted 4' bulbs. :( Are they shipped already installed or in separate sleeves?

I'm sure there'll be some acclimation time if 4x T5s equals 8x T12s and your plants were used to 2x T12s. If you can hang the lights higher and drop 'em down an inch a day over a week or two until they're fully exposed to the blast should be a safe way to go.
 
  • #24
sounds great , im gona try this,.
the shipping was superb , no broken bulbs, fixture in one box, lights in another with the typical light weight cardboard around each bulb and then the four bulbs were wrapped in a double layer of bubble wrap, then both boxes were in another fairly heavy cardboard box plain no labeling except for a fragile sticker , Most impressed , will order another from this company if i need one , like this is going to be the last light fixture i buy.LOL
thanks swords for the contact great company
 
  • #25
Jimmy,

I'm a firm believer in redundancy, two or more smaller fans on at least two separate power supplies are better then one big one.

If one fails for any unforeseen reason, temps my climb... but they wont climb like they would if your only fan failed.

just my 2 cents,
Av
 
  • #26
they did send 4 gro bulbs and i ordered one in the blooming spectrum, they did get that wrong but i called and they are shipping it at no charge, and do not want me to return the other bulb , thought made up for the slight mistake.
 
  • #27
Nice plan Av8tor - I may have to steal that idea! :D I was just gonna buy one 12V 2000mA power pack (enough to run all 10 canopy/shelf fans and then some) but halving that onto two packs and doing 4 or 5 fans on each, "just incase" sounds like a backup I can get into!


Got a 4 PC fan controller module off evilbay in the mail. Gonna see if I can wire four fans to it and run it off a 12V powerpack (and not use a PC power box) so I have knob style adjustments hanging over each stack of vivariums under the flip up lid panels. If it doesn't work out oh well, it was only $0.99 plus shipping for the gizmo.
 
  • #28
her is a pic of the diff t-12 verses t-5
IMG_1065.JPG

their not kidding,
when they say High Out put, LOL
i can feel my corneas burning . :-O:-O:-O:-O:-O
IMG_1064.JPG

im going to monitor the heat and set up some fans, a must if im to leave these lights on while im at work,
 
  • #29
Jimmy,

Looks great... they are an awesome light. Of course the camera is doing everything it can to balance the lighting conditions so the images may not reflect the full scope of the difference

Av
 
  • #30
Looks good! Are you using the cable hangers it came with or were you able to mount it to the top of your stand?
 
  • #31
I use a dual spectrum 350w cfl it seems to do good it had 6400k and 2700k it does good for veg also and is an enegery saving bulb but the bulb is massive
 
  • #32
Looks good! Are you using the cable hangers it came with or were you able to mount it to the top of your stand?
Made a couple hangers similar to theirs.
IMG_1078.JPG
.
...............
IMG_1082.JPG

.
so i could hang them closer to the upper shelf, and may try to get it a little closer yet if I could get 3/4 to 1 inch more i wouldnt be as worried about the terrarium,the ones it came with looked the same just much taller , the heat above doesnt seem to be too high ,just under the bulbs , the tank top is getting fairly hot, it is the lowland terr but i'll still need the fans, ill do two on two seperate power supplies.
What do you think of acclimating the plants by , starting with 3 or 4 hours, and adding say 40 min extra a day till i reach 10 to 12 hours. i dont have the height to do the lowering thing you suggested unless i remove the upper shelf, i have several gemmae and ceph, leaves starting, and dont want to move them unless i have to.
I ordered a two bulb t-5 fixture to day :blush:, couldn't help myself i have to compare them to the 4 -t12's.
 
  • #33
wow. what a big difference! is the color temp. of t5 different than the t12's?
 
  • #34
wow. what a big difference! is the color temp. of t5 different than the t12's?

Yes the t-5 is 6500 and the t-12's are 2- 5000, and 2 grow lux plant aquarium bulbs not sure of the color temp, im going to put one bloom bulb in with the three t-5 grow 6500, its a 3000.
these are trial and error attempts ill do follow ups from time to time,
Ive just been informed of another seller that has somewhat of a better reflector,
I thought i was doing good by getting the polished alum. reflector over the white , and just as i set it up , its out of date :-)) but im sticking with it ,any how im sure there is no return, on this one any ive used it for two days now , and i wouldnt want them to sell it to me used:blush:, so ...
I'm very happy with the fixture, and think i got a steel, as the bulbs came with it, for me it took me two weeks of looking , and until i found this company the next closest 4 bulb HO t-5 fix with the bulbs was going to run closer to 200.00 ,actually 225.00.
so this is a sound investment to me.
 
  • #35
For those of you looking at T5's let me give you some words of caution.

There are some fixtures out there that use the 95% polished aluminum reflector material. But instead of forming individual segments for each bulb they simply put a flat panel behind the bulb group with flanges only on the perimeter.

The fixtures you want have 95% aluminum faceted segments for each bulb

here is a comparison:

Flat panel:
trim+reflectoe.jpg


individual segments (still one chunk of metal):
t5_reflectorside.jpg

(those inboard white strips are actually reflections of the white edge of the fixture housing, those surfaces are in fact mirrored as well)

While the flat panel is still a major improvement over the typical T12, it is an inexpensively made version of the more desirable faceted segments. The differences are obvious when you compare the two.

Caveat emptor, these are being marketed by some at what at first glance seems a great deal. However the segmented T5 is less then 120USD less bulbs. The price difference is minimal, especially when compared to the gain in efficiency and usable energy.

I know without previous experience its hard to know what is what. Do you homework, ask people that use the lighting format you are considering. These two exact fixtures have been compared to each other several times over the last few years on TF and other forums.

Jimmy, you got a great light at a great price, but the next time you order... ;)

Its hard to fully comprehend the difference between a camaro and a lotus when you are use to driving a geo metro :)

There are several good sources, the one I use is http://www.contractorlighting.com/high-bay-c-32.html

Av
 
  • #36
enough lighting for now

Wow that does look quite a bit better thank the one i got , ill check the price to day , any one looking for a bad t-5 fixture,its the one on the top of Av8tor1's last post, :-(
live, lose,and learn ,HA HA.
Think i'll go back to the 2 bulb t-12 fixture for now and try and save up and get this one in the future .
Thanks everyone for all the input.
I did go back in this thread, I found one warning about the individual polished reflectors ,but it had no pics with the post, so I didn't understand till Av8tor1 posted his pic.:censor:
 
  • #37
Jimmy,

man its not a bad light mate, no need to put it in the closet, you've already seen how much better it performs then your T12's

Just if you are light shopping its one to pass on by, there is so little difference in cost and such a dramatic difference in efficiency.

Av
 
  • #38
think this thread went a little outside the spectrum Ha Ha
so lets close it down, thanks again for all the input from everyone here
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top