Bit the bullet and setup a grow rack - Updage First Post - New PICS
I picked up a couple of dual bulb T8 fixtures at Walmart for $10 each, the standard Shelves by Design $85 shelves from Lowes and some Philips T8 bulbs that are stated to be the following:
2800 lumens
32 watts
24,000 hour life
CRI of 85
6500k color temperature
They certainly seemed to be damn good bulbs for the money. Can I do better? I know there was a specific type of GE bulb that came highly recommended here on the forums, but I did not write down the model #. I also know some people like to mix 4000ish k color temp bulbs with 6500k color temp bulbs, but is there any real benefit to this?
I'm going to wrap the back and sides with reflective mylar for additional light efficiency and just have the front open. I'm going to line the reflectors with it to reflect additional light from them.
I'm going to also a get some risers to put the plants on to get them closer to the light, but I wanted to have some room for the Dana's Delight and Hurricane Creek White to grow soI set the grow shelf a bit low. I know they're going to outgrow the amount of space I have now even eventually.
I plan to fill the rest of the shelf up eventually with some sundews and more VFTs.
Any suggestions?
Edit:
Well I went ahead and bought another light fixture this evening and put it up for additional lumens. I also lined the sides and back with some thick mylar sheets that I pieced together. They were made from calendars that my office sends out, only I put the shiny side facing in of course. My plants should be extremely happy now.
I also made a cover/flap out of some very thin mylar sheets that I bought from a party supply store. I plan to go back and by some more to make a new one though. They are slightly transluscent which is kinda cool because you can see inside the rack while it's reflecting light at the same time.
The transparent container has chilean sphagnum moss that I'm going to try and grow live moss from (hopefully).
Finally, I put a 120mm computer fan on the rack to blow cool/fresh air up towards the ballasts to help keep them relatively cool.
Hopefully this can't be considered cruel now.
I picked up a couple of dual bulb T8 fixtures at Walmart for $10 each, the standard Shelves by Design $85 shelves from Lowes and some Philips T8 bulbs that are stated to be the following:
2800 lumens
32 watts
24,000 hour life
CRI of 85
6500k color temperature
They certainly seemed to be damn good bulbs for the money. Can I do better? I know there was a specific type of GE bulb that came highly recommended here on the forums, but I did not write down the model #. I also know some people like to mix 4000ish k color temp bulbs with 6500k color temp bulbs, but is there any real benefit to this?
I'm going to wrap the back and sides with reflective mylar for additional light efficiency and just have the front open. I'm going to line the reflectors with it to reflect additional light from them.
I'm going to also a get some risers to put the plants on to get them closer to the light, but I wanted to have some room for the Dana's Delight and Hurricane Creek White to grow soI set the grow shelf a bit low. I know they're going to outgrow the amount of space I have now even eventually.
I plan to fill the rest of the shelf up eventually with some sundews and more VFTs.
Any suggestions?
Edit:
Well I went ahead and bought another light fixture this evening and put it up for additional lumens. I also lined the sides and back with some thick mylar sheets that I pieced together. They were made from calendars that my office sends out, only I put the shiny side facing in of course. My plants should be extremely happy now.
I also made a cover/flap out of some very thin mylar sheets that I bought from a party supply store. I plan to go back and by some more to make a new one though. They are slightly transluscent which is kinda cool because you can see inside the rack while it's reflecting light at the same time.
The transparent container has chilean sphagnum moss that I'm going to try and grow live moss from (hopefully).
Finally, I put a 120mm computer fan on the rack to blow cool/fresh air up towards the ballasts to help keep them relatively cool.
Hopefully this can't be considered cruel now.