1st attempt at growing...using t5 lighting

n0greenfx

Member
hey every one im new to growing and i just upgrade my fish tank lighting and had a thought maybye i could use my old t5 fish tank light setup to grow some bud.. i figuered if it grew coral it shopuld definatly grow bud. so i cleared out my closet and hung the lights and put a large fan set on low into the closet. iv got some bag seed that just about germinated and plan on getting some pots and soil eithre tonight or wensday and planting the seeds. any advice would be great i attached some photos dont mind the little plant that was just random i didnt expect the seed to grow but it did lol. i know the 2 bulbs ones actinc the other im not sure of anymore.
 

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If you're gona use T5's remember to place them as close to the plant as possible:leaf:i would just pick some CFL's from wally world, there very cheap, but everyone was the strapped for cash grower at one point:leaf:
 
cfl_bulbs_on_sale.jpg
 
i was thinking of using cfls but for some reason thought t5's were better mabye ill do a combination of cfls and my t5 light. someone told me i can only use my t5 setup for veg is this tru?? also if i get pots and some fox farm soil and keep up with watering i shouldnt have to many issues growing right??
 
High output T5 are better. What is the kelvin rating on the bulbs. I have a 460nm bulb and a 10,000k bulb for my fish tank that I would love to know if it would work.
 
they are t5 output lights like i said im not sure what kinda bulbs they are i know one is an actinc blue heres is a pic of the box the light setup came in
 

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High output T5 are better. What is the kelvin rating on the bulbs. I have a 460nm bulb and a 10,000k bulb for my fish tank that I would love to know if it would work.

Do you know the wattage of the bulbs? From what I could find, a 14w 10000k T5 (24") gives off 2100 lumens. If you look at the graphs here: http://www.2gills.com/store/p/478-C...-T5-SlimPaq-2100-Lumen-Lamp.html?feed=froogle you can see that the 460nm and 10000k lamp emit light primarily in the blue spectrum with almost no red light at all. You could probably get away with these for a very small grow, but you're not going to have good light for flowering (red light.)

But, since you already have them you could still put them to use. Personally I would probably use those for my cloning/sprouting compartment, or maybe as supplemental lighting like side lights. CFLs are cheap, you could easily buy some 42w 2700k CFLs to increase your lumens/sq.ft and also add red spectrum light.
 
they are t5 output lights like i said im not sure what kinda bulbs they are i know one is an actinc blue heres is a pic of the box the light setup came in

I am sorry I must have read your post wrong..The bulbs I was talking about in my first post came with my t5ho saltwater light. They may be the same. That is what my lights looked like when I fired them up.. I have 6500k veg bulbs in now.
 
ok so today i went out and bought four pots and some miracal grow organic potting soil. i place my germinated seeds into the soil the seeds had germinated to the point where they lost the seed casing so i planted them root down with a little bit of the top showing let me know what you think so far..also from what iv read you dont fertalize for the 1st 4 weeks is this correct??
 

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T5s are about the most efficient Florescent bulb there is, so yes they are better then CFLs. That being said two bulbs is not really enough and throwing a pack of CFLs in the room with the T5s would be best. As for fertilizing, different people say different things but 3 weeks is about the basic. (you can give them nutes before that, just be careful) Also 6500K bulbs are perfect for veggings, but come flowering you'll need some softwhite bulbs about 2300K as the plant better synthesized off of red light while flowering.

Sprouts look fine but really to early to say much. I usually bury my sprouts completely and let them push through a small top layer of dirt. Eitherway works though because you won't burn your plants with a florescent.
 
T5s are about the most efficient Florescent bulb there is, so yes they are better then CFLs. That being said two bulbs is not really enough and throwing a pack of CFLs in the room with the T5s would be best. As for fertilizing, different people say different things but 3 weeks is about the basic. (you can give them nutes before that, just be careful) Also 6500K bulbs are perfect for veggings, but come flowering you'll need some softwhite bulbs about 2300K as the plant better synthesized off of red light while flowering.

Sprouts look fine but really to early to say much. I usually bury my sprouts completely and let them push through a small top layer of dirt. Eitherway works though because you won't burn your plants with a florescent.

ok awesome so it seems im doing pretty well so far mabye next week ill go out and get 4 cfls and try and use them plus the t5. i hope i can get semi decent weed out of this considering its only bag seeds from some random not to special bag. i plan on attemping some lst and topping so i can get nice busshy plants rather then really tall ones.
 
so i havent updated in a while, but here it is i havent done anything different except watering dailly the lights are 18 on 4 off. let me know what you think?
 

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