T5 High output aquarium lighting?

[Puggmum]

growing for the first time and i want to do some indoors with a bato bucket hydroponic design i found. my question is i have this light here:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5138231601P?sid=IDx20101019x00001a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM5138231601

i have 3 blue bubls in it and one red. What do you think? will it work?

the light should be 2 inches above at all times? is this correct?

 

[Gastanker]

it will work as long as you swap out the blue bulbs.

 

[Puggmum]

it will work as long as you swap out the blue bulbs.

What kind of light should I put in? I though blue was ok?

 

[Puggmum]

Here is the light

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA00Y08Y0081&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle2&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle2-_-Fish+-+Air+Pumps+++Accessories-_-WavePoint+Technology-_-9SIA00Y08Y0081

The last one was the wrong link I guess.

 

[Moebius]

What kind of light should I put in? I though blue was ok?

The blue colour in those bulbs are to make the tank look pretty. You want Cool white tubes for Veg and warm white for flower. Cool whites have a bit more blue in them, warm whites have a bit more red in them.

Edit:
The bulbs Ive mentioned above are the basics, a lot of T5 users experiment with others but this is beyond the scope of your question.

 

[Puggmum]

Just read this

More blue light increases the number of female plants. More red light increases male tendencies.

So what should I do? I'm so confused! I have so many questions! Please someone help me! Lol!

 

[Puggmum]

It's not just for making the tank look pretty, I know they have a blue spectrum for growing corals. Each bulb has a range of light spectrums and from what I know with growing saltwater corals and plants the blue helps them grow.

It looks nice as well but I don't think it's jut for looks.

 

[Moebius]

It's not just for making the tank look pretty, I know they have a blue spectrum for growing corals. Each bulb has a range of light spectrums and from what I know with growing saltwater corals and plants the blue helps them grow.

It looks nice as well but I don't think it's jut for looks.

buy that then.

 

[polyarcturus]

go to the thread LED without LEDS in the indoor growing section and start from the beginning. the blue bulbs will serve your purpose fine(environment doesnt change the gender lighting is irrelevant there will alwats be an X or Y chromosome) as they are in a very good spectrum for photosynthesis. i would get 3 10000k aquasun by UVl (bulbs) and a 3000k bulb or a coralife colormax bulb.

 

[Puggmum]

buy that then.

well i already own it, im trying not to buy a new lighting system. I have a lot of reef tanks with lights for growing coral and i'm hoping i can just use some of them.

 

[Puggmum]

go to the thread LED without LEDS in the indoor growing section and start from the beginning. the blue bulbs will serve your purpose fine(environment doesnt change the gender lighting is irrelevant there will alwats be an X or Y chromosome) as they are in a very good spectrum for photosynthesis. i would get 3 10000k aquasun by UVl (bulbs) and a 3000k bulb or a coralife colormax bulb.

i thpought i light changing gender was bull but thanks. I'll try that thanks.

 

[DankShasta]

Man once you get going keeping enough shit vegged to put into flower is a breeze. I mean you have 8+ weeks to veg them out. I used to use a drip table, and MH 400s to veg. After I got the hang of it, I would notice that two months is a ton of time to veg. I'd normally waiting for space to clear up in my flowering area, and I'd never be waiting on shit to veg.

So to answer your question; Yes, they work fine. The last couple years I've been using the 10 dollar 2x40 watt shop lights, with normal f40 bulbs exclusively. I mix up the bulbs by Kelvin rating, but even that is negligible. In addition I just hand water rock wool cubes now in veg. The drip feed, and all the shit I used to do was just overkill. I mean yeah I could get 1 1/2 inches of growth in a day in some cases, but that would mean shit would be ready to flower in 10-15 days maximum. Not only did I not need shit that fast, but the flouros were nice and slow, and I always get perfect looking little bitches with flouro. I devote much more of my time to maintaining perfect conditions in my 12/12 room. Obviously for flowering I would never recommend flouros.

 

[Gastanker]

Narrow band PAR bulbs will never calculate out $/gram (https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/497875-actinic-linear-flourescents.html) but some of them will work - the Actinics you have however (your blue bulbs) are pretty bad for growing plants if they are the same bulbs that came with the unit. When people say "blue" they mean more of the blue spectrum that falls within the plants PAR range - most of this looks white to us, not actually blue. The blue bulbs you have are made to penetrate water and help with autotrophic animals, not plants. You would be much much better off with cheap generic 6500k T5 bulbs for veg and 2300-3200k T5 for flower.

If you don't believe me just log into a planted tank forum and ask if you would be better off with actinics or generics. Aquarium forums tend to be filled with rich well educated hobbiests that spend big bucks on fancy PAR meters, $400 4 bulb light fixtures (like yours), $20+ on bulbs... They tend to really know thier stuff and have no problem blowing extra $ on bulbs so if the actinics grew plants better I'm pretty sure they would use them. As someone with several tanks, my experience also says that the 12000k+ actinics are terrible for plants.

 

[48martin]

growing for the first time and i want to do some indoors with a bato bucket hydroponic design i found. my question is i have this light here:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5138231601P?sid=IDx20101019x00001a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM5138231601

i have 3 blue bubls in it and one red. What do you think? will it work?

the light should be 2 inches above at all times? is this correct?

Here is the link with great info...

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first.html

Are you using the bulbs that are shown with the unit from the link or do you have other blue / red bulbs that you are referring to? Makes a big difference on what tube you have exactly.

If it is, I think you will be ok in Veg. If I was limited on a 4 bulb unit, I would exchange one of the blue waves out for a 6500 in Veg. IMO
In Flower I would replace the two blues for redsuns or coral wave bulbs and that should work ok also. You dont have to spend much to get these and you will see much better results in Flower.

Keeping the canopy as close as possible with T5 lights is key. Using techniques like LST, Topping, Scrog, ect.
2" would be optimal but if your plants dont like it, pull them back some or raise the light a little.

Although I have never heard of using blue light to influence sex, you can help influence sex within the first 3 weeks from seed through nutrition and environmental changes. Its not 100% but you can stack the odds in you favor.
In soil, by keeping the PH slightly alkaline helps. The female plant is naturally slightly alkaline and male plants are slightly acidic by nature.
By adding slightly more N to the seedlings diet and by keeping the temps on the lower side 65-70 may help also.

But be aware, you can stress out the plants and cause them to Herm if not closely watched.

Get the best genetics you can find and best of luck with your grow!

-48