T5 vs Reg shop lights..your opinion?

[Snagglepuss]

Ive been reading here and their about the benefits of T5 lighting.Can someone give me their opinion on these?
I have standard shop light flourecents for veg ive been using for forever.
Is the difference between regular shop lights and T5's night and day?A huge gain?

Is the gain ,worth retiring my shop lights to buy these instead.I wold use them only for veg,no flowering.I tried to search on these ,but nothing came up

 

[Iron_Lion]

a 4' t5 lamp is 54 watts

a 4' t8 (typical shop light) lamp is only 32 watts.

If you have the old school big fat t12 lights those are 40watts for a 4' lamp.

So with a t5 you get more watts per linear foot, more watts per foot means more, faster, denser growth. T5's are usually high output as their legitimate use is high bay lighting in warehouses they will penetrate canopy much better than t8's. t5's are also thinner so you can cram more bulbs into a lets say 2' wide light fixture, so really you get much more light per sq foot opposed to t8 fixture.

I've beet using 4' t5's for veg and even tho there is some pro's to them I still much prefer my 250w MH. I think the MH gives me thicker stems and stalk, and faster growth of branches. My growth over all seems seems much slower with the t5's but I can cram more plants under it and the light is more evenly distributed.

I'd say t8's are better suited for rooting cuts or keeping moms alive and t5's are good enough to get nice plants in veg and even capable of flowering. t5 fixtures will also cost more much than a t8 shop light, t8 ballasts are also cheaper to replace if they blow out. t5 lamps can be harder to get ahold without going to the hydro store, most home depots don't carry 4' t5's but any hardware store will sell t8 lamps. t5's lamps are also much more expensive, almost 10$ each, you can get 2 t8's for like 5$.

 

[stonedar]

well, you know how shop lights are much brighter in the center and lose strength towards the outsides? T5HO is stronger from one end to the other. less of each end is weak.
2nd they just simply put out more light like almost twice as much per bulb and like I said above over a greater length of the tube.
3rd you can pack more of them in a smaller space. ie. some fixtures have 6,8,or even 12 bulbs
the last one I bought I got from this ebay dude, recommended to me by someone else on here. http://www.ebay.com/sch/thegrowzebo/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

 

[BigDawg]

what color temp are shoplights? 6500k is good in T5

 

[187020]

T5 quite a bit better than shop lites homie ... Peace

 

[growshopfrank]

you see lots of guys using one four foot 54w t5 to root 4 1020 flats that alone should convince you
look for one with a proper reflector

 

[GrowForIt]

I use T8's for clones, seedlings, and to veg under here is the way I look at it.....imo the T5Ho's are geared more toward the growers and the price reflects this, but if you break it down...

28 watt T5's (103.6 LPW) are more efficient then 32 watt t8's (93.8 LPW) but the t8's are more efficient then the t5HO's (92.6 LPW).

Source: http://www.lightingtaxdeduction.org/technologies/t5.html

A T5 is rated at 2900 initial lumens (28 watts)
A T5HO is rated at 5000 initial lumens (54 watts)
A T8 is rated at 3000 initial lumens (32 watts)

So 6 T8 bulbs in a fixture (excluding the ballast) will draw 192 watts of power and provide 18,000 lumens.

6 T5HO bulbs in a fixture (excluding the ballast) will draw 324 watts of power and provide 30,000 lumens.

So in theory you could add another 4 T8's (128 watts and 12,000 lumens) and have the exact same output while saving money if you have the room.

Just a thought

 

[eyes]

I have a t-8s- 6 light combo that works well. 100 bucks out the door with bulbs. plenty bright for seedlings and veg. all the big box stores carry t-8s this is why i went with them instead of t-5s. any chance no to go to the hydrostore, makes me a happy camper.

 

[growshopfrank]

I use T8's for clones, seedlings, and to veg under here is the way I look at it.....imo the T5Ho's are geared more toward the growers and the price reflects this, but if you break it down...

28 watt T5's (103.6 LPW) are more efficient then 32 watt t8's (93.8 LPW) but the t8's are more efficient then the t5HO's (92.6 LPW).

Source: http://www.lightingtaxdeduction.org/technologies/t5.html

A T5 is rated at 2900 initial lumens (28 watts)
A T5HO is rated at 5000 initial lumens (54 watts)
A T8 is rated at 3000 initial lumens (32 watts)

So 6 T8 bulbs in a fixture (excluding the ballast) will draw 192 watts of power and provide 18,000 lumens.

6 T5HO bulbs in a fixture (excluding the ballast) will draw 324 watts of power and provide 30,000 lumens.

So in theory you could add another 4 T8's (128 watts and 12,000 lumens) and have the exact same output while saving money if you have the room.

Just a thought

nice theory but have you actually tried using some t5s? you might be surprised

 

[supermanlives]

t5 are superior. i use regular at the moment but had 2 large t5 fixtures last setup. gonna get some more soon

 

[Sam the Caveman]

I've built a 4x2x2 veg box with 4 t8s that I keep my mothers, rooted clones, seedlings in. You can also veg for a few weeks in there. I have noticed the light is a little bit dimmer towards the ends of the bulbs, as someone has already mentioned. It is too bright for cuttings that don't have any roots or ones that have just a few roots, it needs to be a well rooted clone to handle this amount of light.

I'm sure I'll eventually upgrade to t5s later on, but at the time I needed it, this was a great price and has worked good enough to get the job done.

 

[GrowForIt]

nice theory but have you actually tried using some t5s? you might be surprised

No I never tried the T5's, I couldn't get past the price difference, I just started using the t8's last year, previously I used all T12's for mums, clones, and veg. My t8's burn 24 hours a day 7 days a week so it was a matter of cost, efficiency, and the cost of re lamping that I based my decision on. I can walk out of the local hd with a 6 lamp high bay fixture (similar to the T5 Bad Boy) and 6 6500k bulbs with change in my pocket from a $100. Can't do that at my local hydro store! Here is the link if anyone is interested.

It would be pretty cool to see if there is any difference between equal wattage setup 6-T5HO's vs 10-T8's. I think the only difference would be the amount of room they take up.

 

[supermanlives]

t5 is superior by a good margin.

 

[growshopfrank]

No I never tried the T5's, I couldn't get past the price difference, I just started using the t8's last year, previously I used all T12's for mums, clones, and veg. My t8's burn 24 hours a day 7 days a week so it was a matter of cost, efficiency, and the cost of re lamping that I based my decision on. I can walk out of the local hd with a 6 lamp high bay fixture (similar to the T5 Bad Boy) and 6 6500k bulbs with change in my pocket from a $100. Can't do that at my local hydro store! Here is the link if anyone is interested.

It would be pretty cool to see if there is any difference between equal wattage setup 6-T5HO's vs 10-T8's. I think the only difference would be the amount of room they take up.

single strip t5 fixtures are cheap at most big box stores pick one up and give it a try i bet it will convert you to a t5 fan

 

[cyat]

t5's are a lot more powerful and a lot hotter too. t8/t12's can touch the plant. I use t12's for cloning and early veg, then t5's, then 600 watt hps, then 1k to flower

 

[asde²]

i don't know.. in europe t5 or t8 or cmh or whatever, theres a "shoplight" version of everything but it's always about high cri before lpw, but since every brand got a differend spd there's nothing you can generalize here imo

 

[CoRnHulio]

Main diff. is the smaller diameter and the ambient Temp which leads to a higher system efficiency.
Way more important than the actual bulb is a good reflector, u can get a clip-on reflector for both T5 and T8.
T8 bullbs r usually between 80 and 100 lm/W and so r T5 HO tubes and PLLs, however T5 HE tubes r between 100-118 lm/W. The lower Wattage makes it easy to match the ambient Temp (Temp around the bulb not in ur room) between 32-38°C when a reflector is used.
Flurescent bulbs r cheap and so r the ballasts but u also need a reflector for every single bulb whitch makes 'em pretty expensive.
Here's a little example:
4X T5 25W HE ES + 2X QTP ballast + 4 reflectors (~140°) + 4X G5 Sockets
4X 6.35€ + 2X 18.99€ + 4X 12.99€ + 4X 2.65€ = 86.97€

About 100€ for a 100W lamp isn't cheap but u'll get about
11600lm * 0.88 (system eff.) = 10208lm
from it. Good enough for veg and way better than T8, PLL, or HID with the same power.

 

[pearlemae]

I use a T5 HO CFL thats 2' long 8 lamps. I use it for both veg and flower, just change the bulbs. My box is 4x4x2 with the flower side a 2x3 foot print. I grow some killer weed with my T5's.

 

[Snagglepuss]

very informative posts here.....I've been using this T-8 fixture for almost 2 weeks.I just can't get over how well everything is growing.All the plants are super lush green ,with no deficencies..Super tight internodal spacing..I mean compared to the slow mo- t12 i was using ,the difference is litterally night and day..

 

[PetFlora]

A HUGE benefit of HO T5s not mentioned so far is using aquarium bulbs, which are used to grow coral and sea plants. I am using these bulbs in a Quantum Bad Boy 8 bulb T 5. Come take a look at my journal. I think you will all be switching