Looking to do an indoor grow this winter. I currently have a 6x54 T-5 aquarium hood, it will need new bulbs, since the current ones are for growing coral, so what bulbs should I get? Also, I've have been looking at some 1000 and 1200 watt LED setups. What size (SQ FT.) would the T-5 do, and what size would the 1200 watt LED's do? I plan on making a tent and growing in either 5 or 14 gallon buckets.
Help with lighting and grow size
MrCanada
Well-Known Member
I'm far from an expert so take my input with a grain of salt. I don't know much about T5 set ups, I know people use them but I think they are probably better suited for veg stage. I can't help you with what type of bulb.
As far as the LED depends if you want to go with a COB style LED or the blurples. I have a 1600w blurple LED pulls about 850-900w from the wall. It covers 4x4 -5x5 area depending on how high up it is from the plants. If you got 1000w of COBs and set them up yourself you could cover a lot more square footage. I am not an expert though, just what I've observed. Depends on how much money you want to spend, and how much work you want to put in.
As far as the LED depends if you want to go with a COB style LED or the blurples. I have a 1600w blurple LED pulls about 850-900w from the wall. It covers 4x4 -5x5 area depending on how high up it is from the plants. If you got 1000w of COBs and set them up yourself you could cover a lot more square footage. I am not an expert though, just what I've observed. Depends on how much money you want to spend, and how much work you want to put in.
Scientific
New Member
You know, phyto, people here obsess about getting the exactly right color of light, and it does matter, of course, but the number of lumens matters more. If I were you, I'd try just hanging that 6x54 in the tent and see how the plants do. I think you would need to keep the plants directly under the fixture--that is, that the light would only be intense enough directly under the fixture and with the fixture very close to the leaves. You could add some LED panels for additional coverage, but I think the existing coral tubes could be a good start. (I'm kinda cheap and hate to spend money unnecessarily.)
Just my .02...
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Hmmmm, it's really not about the lumens at all, lumens is only intensity to the human eye and has nothing to do with light needed for a plant. If I created a green light capable of putting out 500k lumens/sf and sold them for $10 would anyone buy it? Probably not, cause green light alone won't really do that much for your plant. It's kind of misleading telling new people it's "all about the lumens"
Don't know a ton about fluorescent lighting, however in trying to find away to introduce UV light to my room I came across a company called Eye Hortilux based out of the states, they seem to have a good line of T5 bulbs called "Power Veg" and you mix & match them based on if you're in veg or flower, they have recommendations on what they feel is best, they seem to have a decent rep as well.
As for the LEDs, it gets somewhat confusing when you say 1000/1200w, because most LED sellers advertise the max draw their LEDs could handle, what you need to actually find is the amount of power that's actually being drawn or consumed. I had an "1800w" LED and it was only consuming 325w, so a bit misleading.
Scientific
New Member
LOL, so whatta you GOP, a physicist?
Nobody's talkin' 'bout green light here, we're talking about the lumen readings for light bulbs putting out some form of white-ish light-- 2700K, 3000K, 6500K--in that range it really is all about the lumens (or lux, or candella, or whatever). The exact light color is less a concern.
I'm talkin' 'bout first approximation, back-of-the-envelope calculations here, not spectrographic analysis, y'know?
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Who's we & who said anything about white lights?
Someone was asking a question wanting to know about lighting, so simply telling them it's "all about the lumens" when there's zero talk about lighting color or anything is really misleading, cause it's not about the lumens, at all.
If you were to advise him in saying "Get 2x2700k bulbs and 3x6500k bulbs etc.. then aim for x amount of lumens at a distance of x" that'd be a bit different, but to tell someone "just go get lots of lumens" is wrong.
Someone was asking a question wanting to know about lighting, so simply telling them it's "all about the lumens" when there's zero talk about lighting color or anything is really misleading, cause it's not about the lumens, at all.
If you were to advise him in saying "Get 2x2700k bulbs and 3x6500k bulbs etc.. then aim for x amount of lumens at a distance of x" that'd be a bit different, but to tell someone "just go get lots of lumens" is wrong.
Scientific
New Member
I'm really not lookin' for a fight GOP!
The OP's question was about using a fluorescent hood that had been used growing coral in an aquarium. Having kept fish for 30 years, I know all about those hoods and the tubes that are likely to be in them. Some of the tubes people use to grow coral are kind of exotic, but they're all intended to induce photosynthesis, so my suggestion was that rather that chucking the existing tubes (which can be kinda spendy) for new ones as he was considering, he try growing using the existing tubes, betting they'd work fine. Whether they were absolutely the exact spectrum that cannabis growers favor seemed to me less a factor than that he had bright lights intended for photosynthesis.
The OP hasn't weighed in yet, but I'd be willing to be that he understood what I meant.
Peace.
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Trust me I'm not looking for an argument either lol.... It's just that I see talk of lumens as information being passed down from a day & age where we had less understanding of what plants needed to grow, and now that there's much more information available, it really doesn't have much of a place and is kind of misleading and wrong especially with no context/substance behind what's being said.
Scientific
New Member
The context was the grow lights in the OP's aquarium hood. As I said, I'm would imagine the OP understood what was meant without any additional clarification. The OP and his specific situation was the person to whom my message was addressed.
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Exactly my point though..... He asks what bulbs to get, you respond by saying use yours and just pump out lumens...
You have no clue what the color spectrum is that he has, it could be purely blue lighting for all you know and you're telling him to just pump out more lumens cause it's more important, which isn't the case at all. That's why I say there's no context/substance(perhaps I should of said not enough context/substance), you have no idea what color lighting he currently has, which has as much of an impact as intensity does.
You have no clue what the color spectrum is that he has, it could be purely blue lighting for all you know and you're telling him to just pump out more lumens cause it's more important, which isn't the case at all. That's why I say there's no context/substance(perhaps I should of said not enough context/substance), you have no idea what color lighting he currently has, which has as much of an impact as intensity does.
Scientific
New Member
I see your point, but to say that I have no idea what the color spectrum is is simply not true. Having been an aquarist for many years--decades, actually--I actually do have a good idea of what he's got, and I'm willing to bet that unless money is no object and his tubes aren't old and fried, they may very well be perfectly adequate for cannabis.
And I did say, "If I were you, I'd try just hanging that 6x54 in the tent and see how the plants do." That's not a categorical statement of ultimate truth, that's some friendly advice from one grower/aquarist to another for him to take or leave. (And I'm still pretty sure that it was good advice.)
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Being an aquarium enthusiast for decades still has zero barring on what OP has under his hood. This is why I hate talk about lumens, they have no place unless there's lots of context behind the talk, which there was not. Could your guess be right about what's under the hood? Sure, but it could just as equally be wrong, in which case talk of lumens has zero barring.
Next guy that comes along reading wanting advice just sees you say use whatever you had for your aquarium and make sure there's lots of lumens and thinks it'll work out perfectly is in for a shock. It's about passing on good information for the community, and continuing talk of lumens just isn't really good information to continue passing along in this sense.
Next guy that comes along reading wanting advice just sees you say use whatever you had for your aquarium and make sure there's lots of lumens and thinks it'll work out perfectly is in for a shock. It's about passing on good information for the community, and continuing talk of lumens just isn't really good information to continue passing along in this sense.
Scientific
New Member
Actually, "being an aquarium enthusiast for decades" has everything to do with understanding what he has under his hood. I have had the same setup he's taking about, an array of T5 fluorescent tubes over a salt water tank keeping the coral alive.
My response was not written for "the next guy coming along." (I'll leave him to you.) Clearly I was answering a question from a fellow aquarist about adapting his fluorescent hood for growing cannabis, something I know all about, so I told him what I would do in his situation if I was in his shoes. Compredes amigo? OK! I think we've run this one into the ground. I'll let you have the last word.
BTW, I still think you've got the best alias here.
- Thread starter
- #14
OK, I checked the fixture, which is 12 inches wide and slightly over 48 inches long. It was 6, 54 watt, T-5 HO bulbs in it, they are TruLumen brand, 3 ARE 460 nm Actinics, the other 3 are marked 12KK powerbulbs. Got a feeling the 12K bulbs might be a little "hot".
Scientific
New Member
I was wondering if you might have some actinincs in the mix. Those would cover the blue end of the spectrum. Then you'd need some longer wavelength (i.e. red) light. I don't recognize the "12K" tubes. What spectrum are they, roughly? White?
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Looking up what 12k are it seems they're on the blue end of the spectrum, so you have A LOT of blue(as I suspected it was 
), and basically no reds at all. This "may" do "ok" in the veg state, but will not do that well for flower stage, will need a way to introduce a lot of red light for flowering.
Basically you'll need to replace your bulbs if you really want something out of this. Don't know a whole lot about fluorescent lighting, but I'm sure there's threads dedicated to T5 HO set ups.
Personally, if I had to put money into the T5 bulbs I'd rather just divert it towards a different fixture all together. If you plan on spending money on an LED, no point really spending it on fluorescents.
As for looking into 1000 or 1200w LED set ups it's all a gimmick those numbers, you need to look at the "actual draw" of the units you're looking at, my guess is they're probably around 325w of actual draw.
), and basically no reds at all. This "may" do "ok" in the veg state, but will not do that well for flower stage, will need a way to introduce a lot of red light for flowering.Basically you'll need to replace your bulbs if you really want something out of this. Don't know a whole lot about fluorescent lighting, but I'm sure there's threads dedicated to T5 HO set ups.
Personally, if I had to put money into the T5 bulbs I'd rather just divert it towards a different fixture all together. If you plan on spending money on an LED, no point really spending it on fluorescents.
As for looking into 1000 or 1200w LED set ups it's all a gimmick those numbers, you need to look at the "actual draw" of the units you're looking at, my guess is they're probably around 325w of actual draw.
Scientific
New Member
Yikes, yeah, 12 kilokelvins (to coin a unit) plus the actinics is gonna be blue + blue white fer sure.
FWIW, I (me, personally) would still use the light as is to augment a big LED grow light and see how things go/grow. But I'm cheap and experimentally inclined. (I'd be willing to bet that it would work great, though.)
If you do use it, please post a photo of your setup and let us know how it goes.
Good luck and have fun!
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
If you are on a budget and don't want to put money into it right now, at the very least I would replace those 12k bulbs with soft white, the soft white will introduce reds into your spectrum
Scientific
New Member
The actinics are almost pure blue, so arguably they should go first.
I have to say I just a perverse curiosity to see how cannabis would do with lights intended for tropical marine life.
- Thread starter
- #20
I actually tried it once, and the clones burned to a crisp (green crisp) in a few days and the lights were at least a 18 inches above the plants. Problem was I used a very hot soil mix and that may also have been the culprit. When I used that fixture on my aquarium I was growing hard coral at a 2 foot depth. (Saltwater guys will know how much light that takes!) I can get a few red spectrum T-5's.
