Thanks for that htgardensupply link MacGyverStoner, I am studying that link, a lot of great information, they sell on ebay too I’ve noticed. Yeah, I’m not completely done with t5’s of course, after reading your post, I decided to go in their and drop my light again closer to the plants, and besides, I have a shroud over the bulbs with air being drawn across it inside, my plants are doing good, just gave most of them water, getting real close to needing to transplant the five largest out of six inch pots to either five gallon buckets or something smaller, maybe three gallon pots, but I subscribe over the years with using large pots for various plants, even outdoor gardening plants, etc, I been doing something likely innefective, I have a single old style t8 plant bulb in a shop light set on the tent floor to give additional light to under areas of the plants, probably would need two old style plant 48" bulbs to do anything good, I am wanting those shoots off the stems to do good so I can make me some clones to bring my numbers up, there are large fan leaves blocking light but I want those future clones to get longer and reach past the fan leaves for stem length, probably should make space for a larger tent, even though I will be using my shed someday for growing, them tents can always come in handy, even for curing or such like that, I figure, once I am going good in my shed(8’x10’x8’ useable space leaving me the other 8’ of shed length for other uses). I mean, I sleep near my plants too like stated, and check on them incessantly, it will really be a job when I have 24 plants, or so.
Hey Budbd. I read MacGs post and just got done reading the link he posted, or a lot of it anyway. Lots of information there. As for the part about LEDs vs HPS, I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean that a person wouldn’t get a good if not great yield. It was about LEDs vs specifically HPS. And according to this site and others I’ve seen HPS is better for quantity. Your right MacG about one needs to know how to use the light they have and I’ll bet these people do. Again LEDs quality HPS quantity.
See the thing is, if you really understand how LEDs work, you can get the same amount of intense light hitting the leaves, and in that case you get the same quantity as you would with the HPS. But for start up costs, the HPS light gets you the most intensity of light for the purchase price and overall intensity of light equals the most significant improvement in yeild, even if it isn’t the most perfect spectrum. If you are willing to pay the high price to get the type of LED that truly is equivalent in overall PAR or effective foot candles/lumens at the leaf as a HPS, then you will get the same yield, maybe even better because you do have a more perfect spectrum.
And BTW, I just put that link because I like the way they have a good bunch of information in one place about the various type of lights. I don’t know much about the quality of their lights and am not endorsing them in that way. Purchase your lights wherever you can get the best price and best quality. I do know there are better places to get LED lights than that site.
I like these guy’s LEDs, in the following link, but they are very expensive and it is not necessarily where I would buy my lights, unless I won the lottery. But if you want to learn about LEDs, poking around on their page and looking at their you-tube videos will teach you everything you need to know: Advanced Led Lights
Thanks MacG. I’ve been on that site looking at their lights and the diamond series are very expensive. I think the manufacturer of my lights copied their look. I also liked the site you gave on the previous post but it didn’t mention anything about LEDs. The copyright was 2011. Maybe a little dated especially given the advancement of technology these days. With LEDs, LEPs and LECs. The latter 2 are just coming out as I’m sure you know. Their only going to get better. The other thing I like about LEDs is the lasting power as you mentioned.
Have a good night.
I received my Ipower 600watt led light, unfortunately, according to the picture on the auction which showed two panels, I thought would be two 300 watt panels with two switches for versatility, this actually came as a single 600 watt panel, and after some discussion with the auction seller, I became satisfied with my purchase with a free item to assuage my yearning for a return. So, in the small grow tent, it gets real warm too, of course, but my small grow tent is too small for everything except cuttings, and once I use a properly setup grow space in my shed, or a larger tent in the home till I can improve my shed, I’ll have to be careful, or put my fluorescent back in the small tent. Health issues has really slowed me down in the last month concerning putting together a real nice veg room in my shed with five foot by foot twin veg/flower rooms.
I paid $201 for the 600 watt led light, maybe that aint enough money for a real good led light, dunno.
Apart from that, I keep on damaging several of my plants, two badly, trying to get 36 clones started, hopefully 1/2 to 2/3rds of them will survive, cause I think the way things are going, the clones might be the only thing left standing if I kill my larger plants either through overwaterings, and the over nutrient applications, apart from previous temp spikes, etc. I believe the real key for me would have been to setup a proper grow area, THEN start growing plants, but I rushed into it to get a good start while waiting on my medical marijuana card appointment and card it self.
Technically, I should have a portable air conditioner close by the grow tent blowing cold air on the tent, with cold air drawn inside, easy speasy, errrrrrr, if I was out in the shed, but my learn to grow area right now is my bedroom, and the window will take some work to clear the area to accept a window air conditioner. Right now I wouldn’t be able to lift one anyway, painfully pulled shoulder tendons and muscles from maybe lifting wet peat moss cubes, the 3.2 cu ft type, about a month ago when I was in a hurry after my truck broke down, trying to lift them into the trunk of my car instead of across the lower tail gate of a truck bed.
Oh, man, I wish like hell I had found this thread before I put the first plant in my tent!! When you get ready to publish an Idiot’s Guide to Growing Weed this should be the first item. Temp and RH control have been a nightmare for me from the get go and this tells me why. THANK YOU, Mac!
If someone else asks you this again or just comes across the thread, Sears has a 4 inch fan and carbon scrubber combo for $145. You can kill 2 birds with one staone.
Peace, and good toking.
Once you get air moving through there , your watering might become more frequent , but just keep a eye on things .
This is an awesome thread I was going to be asking about these lights.
T12s would be ok for seedlings and clones I suppose I could stay with the 400w hps for veg and stay with the 1000w hps for flower seeing how I have everything in place.
The reason for t12s is I can’t find t5s
Any imput is always welcome.
Will
Here is my eight bulb t5 lamp, with a bunch of smaller pieces of plexi glass taped together and just slipped in on each side, so cooling air could be passed from one end over the bulbs to the other end, sealed on each end with bubble wrap, it worked in the four foot long tent cause the fixture is four foot long. A better improvement would be a purchase of a one piece thin plexi glass, obviously a bit wider than the light fixture to create “bow” in the middle, to insert “air ducts”, and I was using four inch ducts and pulling in ambient air from the room, …not enough, and I have everything in my bedroom, so the bedroom door was closed, and all I needed to at least do was run a duct out the door into the cooler hallway. was too injured in the shoulder, sickly and lazy to run a pipe to outside for fresh cool air, or at least move the portable air conditioner to that room. Another improvement would be six inch ducting. or even cutting/scoring pieces of plexi glass on the ends the right shape with holes and either packing taped together(works great) I have no excuses, the t5 light assembly did an awesome job, just needs to be in a properly cooled or cool environment. AS you can see, I had a bunch of paper sheet sized plexi glass I was saving for yers, for something, and I was desparate, and it worked good to cool, brought the temps down like almost ten degrees or a little less. Interestingly, I think I discovered the safe distance for my led light to top of plants, since they grew so quick, some of my top most leaves are like slightly damaged, and with the shrouded t5 light assembly and cooled, the tops of the plants could actually touch the plastic shroud without damage. The led I believe is too intense, or the infrared leds are, to be too close, maybe 18" to 24 inches is correct, not so with a properly cooled/shrouded t5 assembly, I figured
Ok. I see how you have done your’s.
I will have room for 2 4’ long t12s
But what’s the rap around the ends for
Will
Well, the bubble wrap on the ends was taped on “around” the four inch ducting to create 100% air flow from the ducting, one duct from outside the tent with a booster fan and the other with the duct leading to the vortex fan being drawn out to the other room via the heat duct in the floor(to the bathroom next door, warm air naturally rose through the ceiling fan hole without even having to run the ceiling fan), and no leakage. That way cold air was drawn completely from outside the tent and no warm or hot air at all from inside the tent. It was quicker than cutting cardboard or trying to cut more plastic in a special shape on each end.
Ok I got ya…Thank you for taking the time to explain all this
Will
im in az and cant figure out how anyone could have a problem elsewhere its hot as h+== here.
and i dont have any issues i grow mass quanity with the two switch 8 bulb unit it looks like your too cluttered? just an opinion i just use a 6 inch vortex feed the hose to the ceiling to a piece of box duct and have never had an issue other than growing fast.your nuking it man its easy like you said your just putting too much heat back around your grow spot exhaust it and be done.
Yeah, 66ramblin…, without me as usual typing too much like I have habit to do, I have a cluttered area right there due to a strained shoulder for several months, still hurts like heck to move in a certain direction, where I struggle to complete my main grow area in my shed, apart from not being able to lift a portable air conditioner previous to emplace in the room window due to strained shoulder.
i personally wouldnt bring in outside air due to mite and other bugs but if its sealed then wth. i grew outdoors for 23 yrs its cheaper but longer i get 2-4lbs per plant indoors so whats the point of dealing with outside contamination? good luck
Yeah, bringing in outside air could be bad right now, I have some kiwi bushes on one end of the home, the female plant has white mildew disease again, I mean, every year, I have to like babysit it and haven’t started spraying yet this year. There are other contaminants in the air as well, and I will tell you why, because I live next to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, and there is “european beach grass” that is a purported problem that has destroyed habitats for endangered species birds, so over the years they introduced some sort of spider mite, then some sort of engineered fungus, and several other things I forget about, to control this beach grass problem, and it wasn’t a problem for me till I moved out here. So, case in point, I can point to alot of stranged problems I have had with my general outdoor plants, etc
I have got two 2x55w T5’s in my little 80x80x80 dome tent. I have a tiny fan pushing in around from outside but also try to maintain a humidity of around 85-90% for my clones and all of mine are lovely looking. Check out my last post of them. 
With just two t5 bulbs, are you just growing a couple plants? I mean, it is interesting, I mean, just two bulbs doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but it could be “just enough” I suppose, I mean, I’d figure four bulbs running would be minimal, but I am just guessing. I have a lot of t5 lights, the aforementioned 8 bulb fixture and four single seedling/clone starting lights with frame stands, three of I didn’t pay but bout $20 each, I like to use the single four foot t5 lamps for various things, got a single above a metal shelf starting two seedlings and a bunch of micro clones in a plastic pie container.
Here is a pic of my clones. They are under two 2’ t12s and doing great. They will be transplanted Wensday into 3 gal buckets and placed under two 400w hps bulbs for veg I also have 5 NL 5 OG and 5 SS going in with the 38 WW clones
Iem trying that MAINLINIG WITH THE CLONES. Any help with THAT WOULD BE
AWESOME.
Will