t5's all the way?

another thing to consider. Since it's an aquarium light, it is probably using HO bulbs, which probably wouldn't be at lowes or home depot anyway. HO are specialty bulbs, grow stores and aquarium stores would be where to go for HO bulbs. Aquariums stores should have the 6500K bulbs, they are used for freshwater planted aquariums. Not sure what your "red spectrum" bulb is, but those might be close enough to 3000k that they would work.

just ordered 2 6500k and 2 3000k bulbs, i still have two empty spots in my fixture that i need to fill would you say the red, blue, or 10k would be best? Also can i use the 3000k and 6500k through the whole grow or would it be ideal to use the 6500 strictly for veg and 3000 for buds

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+21447&pcatid=21447

^^^^thats the red one i cant find much info on the color spectrum^^^^

stop thinking in terms of red/blue go with kelvin ratings (or better yet, look up the nanometer peaks for chlorophyll A and B, 2 peaks each, and get bulbs which peak at those wavelengths, meaning you'd have to look at a spectral chart for the bulb). The specifics of your question are really something that gets debated a lot, but I have good results mixing. Also keep in mind that if you flower under T5's you want shorter, super bushy plants. The t5's are incredible lights and at the proper distance can outperform HID because of lower heat, but they don't penetrate like an HID will so you can't do super tall plants.

lvl i k e y said:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+21447&pcatid=21447

^^^^thats the red one i cant find much info on the color spectrum^^^^

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get this fish idea out of your head foster and smith do not sell plant supplies, they sell pet supplies. Try HTG, or plantlightinghydroponics, or any of the plenthora of other online retailers dedicated to growing plants seriously, keeping corals give you a little insight into keeping live critters, and a little intro into lights, but most of the info you know from corals will not translate directly to marijuana.

CHLOROPHYLL?? MORE LIKE BORAPHYLL!!! hahaha sorry. gread advice though thanks a lot im just going to get 1 more each of the 6500 and 3000k and just run 3 of each the whole grow. any tips on trimming the plant back so it stays short and bushy. (sorry to get off topic)

yeah i know i was just wondering if that specific bulb i have listed on that site was going to be ok with my grow. but ive changed my mind im just going 50/50 6500k and 3000k

gobbly said:

get this fish idea out of your head foster and smith do not sell plant supplies, they sell pet supplies. Try HTG, or plantlightinghydroponics, or any of the plenthora of other online retailers dedicated to growing plants seriously, keeping corals give you a little insight into keeping live critters, and a little intro into lights, but most of the info you know from corals will not translate directly to marijuana.

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they sell bulbs to keep aquatic plants alive also. The 6500K HO bulb you get at a fish store like doctors foster and smith are no different than the 6500K HO bulb you get at htg..

lvl i k e y said:

yeah i know i was just wondering if that specific bulb i have listed on that site was going to be ok with my grow. but ive changed my mind im just going 50/50 6500k and 3000k

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That's the way to go, I've seen a beautiful grow with 75 % 6500 K, the 3000 K just stimulates blooming mostly.

lvl i k e y said:

yeah i know i was just wondering if that specific bulb i have listed on that site was going to be ok with my grow. but ive changed my mind im just going 50/50 6500k and 3000k

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you will be quite happy This is the setup I use except I use an 8 tube. My biggest problem has been that my plants grow too big before flowering space opens up

Kerovan said:

they sell bulbs to keep aquatic plants alive also. The 6500K HO bulb you get at a fish store like doctors foster and smith are no different than the 6500K HO bulb you get at htg..

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yeah, this is true, but you also have to keep in mind this is someone with an aquatic background looking to get into something which though some similarities exist, is quite different. I was more saying he needed to be looking at grow shops because A) he'll find everything he needs there, not just part that overlap with other topics, B) Becoming familiar with the products made specifically for your hobby is important.

what keovan is saying is true though, a 6500 kelvin is likely to have the same peaks as any other

I was thinking about starting to flower at around 10". would you say thats too early? how much bud am i looking at per plant roughly? idk the strain they are bag seeds from some upper grade mids.

if you couldnt tell this is my first grow. sorry for all the noob questions

lvl i k e y said:

I was thinking about starting to flower at around 10". would you say thats too early? how much bud am i looking at per plant roughly? idk the strain they are bag seeds from some upper grade mids.

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Don't apologize for questions questions are how you learn, and your questions are specific enough that they are worthwhile. The ones people complain about are the posts that go something like "I have a room 4x6, and I want to grow the best potent dank around. oh and I want to get pounds monthly. what do I need?"

Anyway, can't recall if I mentioned it, but you want to veg at least till you see alternating nodes. It doesn't have to all be alternating, just the newest growth. Alternating nodes are the indication the plant is mature (meaning it will flower if you switch to a flowering light schedule). Beyond that it really all depends on how much the strain will stretch in flower, and being bag seed, you really won't know that. Some strains can double in size in flower though, so if your max flower height is 24", then you might want to start out vegging to 12". There are lots of threads right now asking how tall to veg too, and you find answers from 10" to 4' because it all really depends on your setup, and everyones operations are different. The best rule of thumb is to veg to the size you want your flowering plant to be, minus any stretching you expect in flower.

As far as yields, no one will be able to tell you. Everyone could take a guess, but it would be based off nothing, and would be tantamount to picking random numbers in a conceivable range. The yield is based on many factors such as strain, size, lights, nutes, oxygen, co2, temp, etc. The only reliable way to estimate yields is to grow a known strain, see what it yields in your setup, then use that figure as a starting point to estimate future yields based on plant size and strain (basically with a crop down you can treat the other factors as constants to give at least a ballpark yield).