T5 Fluorescents ROCK! Woooooooh!

[mayres]

I purchased a six tube T5 fluorescent fixture two weeks ago and placed a significant portion of my plants under it. The plant types that I "thought" would easily take 2000 footcandles or so (no phals or paphs). Based upon my earlier reading I was expecting it to produce about twice the output of my standard shoplights. My old shop lights were giving off about 800-1000 footcandles at the bulb - down to only 500 a few inches away. These are STANDARD T8 fluorescent 34W lamps mind you.
After running my new fixture for a few weeks I critically looked at my orchids under the new fixture tonight and was shocked to see that many of them were red and/or turning red and/or otherwise showing effects of TOO MUCH LIGHT! Yowser! How can this be if they are only producing twice the light? T5 lamps are only 54W. Hmmm. Better get my light meter out and see what is going on! Would you believe 4500 foot candles at the tube and still 3000-4000 a few inches away! YOWSER. Now I need to do some rethinking concerning my setup - where I have room for this - may need to do some building and/or readjusting soon! mike

[digitalgate]

hey hey, temperature? Mine rose by 2 c. But my vanda and Catt is complaining
too low. Will change to HPS and MH when the tube brightness drop by
20%

[mayres]

How close iw your catt? Even some of my catts that were close are showing red (more than enough light). Put them up close and you will NOT have a problem.

[PhalPal]

Good information Mike since I am in the process of setting up some indoor lighting. Please keep us informed of your new configuration.

[digitalgate]

about 6 inches away . temperature already rises to 93.2F therefore cannot get
anyclose. Any closer i will have fried orchid leaves for dinner.

[mayres]

I will have to check the temperature of mine and see what I find out. My initial impression is that there is nowhere near that kind of heat buildup near the tubes on my fixture.

[Tess1]

You forgot the sunscreen mayres

[linda_shel]

Maybe your plants needed to get used to the new lights a little more gradually, and will adjust just fine with time.

[mayres]

At least in my conditions the temperatures are not as severe as noted by digitalgate. I DO have about 90-93 degrees right at the bulb, but even an inch away the leaves on the plants after sitting under these lights for 8 hours are only 70-80 degrees when checked with an infrared thermometer. No doubt about it though - the fixture as a whole is providing heat for my room - my room heater hardly comes on any more. Keeping a small fan blowing through the area is probably a very important part of the equation. I actually removed the air circulation for 15-20 minutes before taking my readings - so they might be slightly lower with good air movment. I will continue to ponder a modified setup with more space between light and plants - at least for some of them.

[digitalgate]

what to do you are in OR. I am in SG. With my fan on the temperature fluctuate
between 85 to 89 F depending if it is a rainy day.

[digitalgate]

I have two thermometer
room temperature
-digital thermometer 82.4
-mercury thermometer 86

tube surface
- digital thermometer difficult to read
- mercury thermometer 127.4 F cooking time!!
reading taken without fan and cloudy day today. Can you imagine if
the temperature is taken on a sunny day?

[mayres]

Well we have certainly learned something haven't we? The past two days I have turned off my room supplemental heater entirely and find that my fixture heats up my entire bedroom adequately at this time of year. With what I have learned about this fixture I'm thinking an HID (which reportedly is "hot" compared to these "cool" T5 fixtures. Would definately need to be vented out of the house - if/when I decide to experiment with that type of lighting in the future.

[PhalPal]

Mike may I ask you where you purchased your T5 lights?? I have been doing a lot of research and know that T5's are definately better; I just wasn't sure it they were superior enough to warrant the price. (relative to T8's) I am starting from scratch, clearing out a seldom used guest room (I have two) and will need stands/frames etc. Some of my guests will just have to sleep on the floor if one room isn't enough! My orchids live here all the time and are taking rightful possession. Our once a year visiting relatives will just have to deal with it!

I plan on doing what you do, providing cooler nights by opening windows. Our nighttime temps really drop at night and my phals will love it. I want to try a few mini catts (your pics are beautiful!) and will need lights for those. Any and all advice and guidance will be most appreciated. Enough research - it's time to do it!!

[mayres]

You will DEFINATELY want T5's if you plant on raising catts under lights - T8 shoplights will not cut it. There are a lot of options on the T5 lights. There is a place only a quarter mile or so from where I work that sells them - superior American made units - guaranteed for 25 years - price $500 for a 6 tube fixture. Since I am new to this venture I have initially taken the cheaper route - it is a "made in China" brand - that I could have purchased on the internet for $220, but paid an extra $10 to get locally and can then have them do the hassling if any issues - but only guaranteed for a year. Time will tell if I made a mistake or not. Note if you purchase a unit, that the bulbs may or may not be part of the price and they are VERY EXPENSIVE - $12-20 apiece! They also come in two color spectrums - for maximum plant growth and for blooming. I'm thinking ultimately of having some of each in the fixture, but could not purchase it that way - so currently have the growing color in. When I get home I can give you the brand I have if you really are interested. I primarily went with the six tube instead of 8 tube because it fit the stand that I already had built that I was using with shop lights (or at least I thought so) - now I'm thinking I may want to move it somewhat so that I can have the option of raising it for some plants - then adjust the distance from plant to light with some sort of "stands" underneath various plants or groups of plants.
My thoughts exactly the same as yours - the plant lights are on a time and when I occasionally have guests they can still sleep with the plants. :-) They might even like it! If you want to discuss further you can email me directly at ayresmike@comcast.net if you want to discuss "off the air". You do learn a few things that you would do differently after going through it once. mike
ps - just checked and my unit is Hydrofarm 6 tube - here is their web site - Hydrofarm - Fluorescent Lighting. As I have not purchased other units I don't know how it compares to others, but seems to work quite nicely at this time.

[digitalgate]

it also depend on where what type of tube you using.
Mayers , are you using HO tube. I heard from my friend HO is hotter. THe
normal T5 is not that hot.
OH my electric bill last month $103!
Still i not happy with the setup. The product catalogue showed 5550lumen per
tube. When i got it showed max 5000 lumen for warm light tube
For day light tube 4700 lumen. URghhh....
same as my previous setup.. But hotter.
After 3 month i going to change to HPS.

[PhalPal]

Thanks so much Mike! The Hydrofarm website is new to me; I'll check it out! WooHoo!!!