Best T5 fixtures

[Stonefree69]

I was looking at the footprint specs of the Fluorogrow Evergreen 8 bulb T5 fixture. It's 16.25" wide by 48" long. It also has 95% TR Enhanced Miro4 Reflectors. That adds to the most intense footprint I've seen out of any T5 fixture. Calculating the footprint of fixture at 5.42 sq ft (16.25”x48”) & 40,000 lumens, that's 7,380 lumens/sq ft or what a good HPS bulb puts out at 50 watts/sq ft (7,500 lumens/sq ft rated for 90,000 lumens into 12 sq ft).

Most 8 bulb fixtures like Quantum Bad Boy, Hydrofarm, New Wave, Sun Blaze etc.. are also 48” long but 21-24” wide or about 30-50% wider! Quantum brags about their Racehorse ballast putting 28% more light output (Evergreen uses same ballast) and this light footprint spec is just as impressive.

Just check out the light intensity at 18” which is still excellent, I don't think any other T5 fixture compares especially at this distance.

I have 1 8 bulb T5 fixture and they are BRIGHT!

Getting 2 more Evergreen 4 bulb 48” T5s for early veg, they fit perfect over 8.5” mesh bottom pots. Then I'll have 16 bulb T5s in total giving me a 33”x48” footprint – good for 16” square growing 6 plants and PERFECT for 8 week veg from seed. My veg room/area only takes up 3' by 5.5' but I still grow big plants.

 

[Stonefree69]

I found the optimum way to cool these T5 lights from this link:Tek light fan mod Here's the components:

SilenX IXA-FCEX - External 4 Channel Fan Controller with AC / DC Adapter
Rosewill RFX-120 120mm Case Fan

Just have to make sure I can get the fans to fit in there, but I don't think it's brain surgery. Luckily I have a Hole Pro hole cutter that I used for my room venting holes. I should get even more lumens after this mod (some say up to 20% depending on how well it's cooled)! Here's a pic of a finished mod:

I was looking at 400 watt MHs for vegging them till 6-8 weeks from seed but the lumens/watt efficiency is about the same as T5s surprisingly – it's the 600 & 1,000 watt HIDs that are more efficient than T5s (125-160 lumens/watt vs 93 for T5s). 400 watt MH bulbs are about 36,000-40,000 lumens (Digilux claims 45,000 lumens). Plus 400 watt MH bulbs actually use more than 400 watts at the outlet so I wouldn't be choosing 400 watt MH for efficiency.

The 400 watt MH may have an edge in penetration in the center area over T5s as it covers a smaller area (say using a Blockbuster reflector), but the Evergreen T5s I have are putting out 7,500 lumens/sq ft. Vegging from seed my plants generally hit 16-24” after 8 weeks and as you see from the image on my last post on light output I should be fine especially with a 16 bulb setup & Reflectix + Orca grow film. It's hard to beat T5s for good, even coverage throughout the whole canopy especially in veg. Also can use some red or 2700k bulbs along with 6500k for a 3:1 mixed spectrum.

My flower room of course gets the HID light (more efficient 600 watt MH & HPS).

 

[PetFlora]

Thought you might like to see an update since my 6/28 pics

Almost finished. Keep in mind these are only under 4 x 4ft 20w led tubes + a few globes for under canopy

I just started a thread where I will be using them (and likely a few more) + my Hydro Halo 2.0 set up

Not too shabby for ~ 110 total led watts, huh?

2 x4 x 5 tent temps are a comfortable ~ 83*s


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