Greetings! Was curious what people thought. I currently have 2 8bulb T5's over my 12 babies. They are in 3gallon pots and are LST'ing. They are 4 weeks old from clone, and are growing fast. My question is...should i buy another T5 because they are quickly going to be falling off the outsides of the light, or should I get 1 1k or 2 600w MH's to mount up higher and flood the whole room? The room is 8.5x6. Thoughts? Not really sure what is best or which way to go. I like the thought of flooding the whole room with a MH honestly. w00
The biggest issue for going to a HID light system from a T5 is - do you have the ventilation/cooling necessary to keep your room within reasonable temps and humidity? Of course, the additional T5 will bring heat with it too...but not nearly as much as a 2 600W MH's. Another thought is LED as additional lighting. I've got a couple of Kessils now with supplemental fluorescent side lighting and am quite happy. You can get a Kessil on line for $270 at growers house..or of course there are many other choices for LED....and I can say that very little heat is generated. I don't like the heat or the electric bill for HID...but my fluorescents and LEDs are doing great.
im real interested in anybody that has done a complete grow with just t5 lights. im really thinking of using these t5,s for my next grow. if any one has a grow journal with the t5,s i would really like to check it out....thanx
My only concern would be with the T5's, as the plants get bigger/taller, the light loses intensity much faster with them as opposed to a 600/1000w hid. I found that my first run of veggies started stretching as they got bigger under the 4' 8 bulb t5's I had. Love them for seedlings to say 10" tall. Also, you can't hang them up higher for more coverage. Same reason as before.