I need 36" grow light setup

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Crandrew

Yes based on your deep bench I would do the 2ft 4tube wide. Those are indeed easy and very low heat and power drain.

When you want to get serious we'll start looking at digital 1000w HPS ballasts and bulbs with inline fans.
Im getting hot just talking about it.

Haha, I don't think Iwill get that serious because it's already far too hot in my part of the world and keeping the a/c from kicking on too much will save my electric bills. The exact reason for using the T5 lighting.

[Crandrew]

Yes indeed. glad you figured it out. Report back on that model please.

[Rockporter]

Well, bad news on my growlight. I ordered it on Tuesday last week and received it today--- BROKEN---

I cannot believe it was delivered by UPS, the boxes were all smashed, there is a hole in the one the light fixture comes in and it is in two boxes(the one it is packaged in and the one it ships in) and it goes through both boxes. This damage caused the light fixture to bend so badly that the paint is actually cracked on it. The light bulbs are busted and I had ordered a 7" high seedling clear lid and it is smashed to heck.

I don't know what it is but I am always the lucky one to get the damaged goods.

I have made my complaint on their online systems and I also emailed UPS and admonished them for their terrible service. Shame on the UPS guy, he should have more pride in his work. He should have noted the damage before he left it on my doorstep, instead he knocked and was driving away before I could get out there.

I hope HTG has a good customer service to deal with and now I will be further behind getting my seedlings started without a light. It is just too windy outside to set out trays.


New Info: HTG was very quick and handled the matter in a very good way. They are reshipping everything that is broken and I am awaiting the UPS to contact me to pick up the damaged goods. I don't know how long before I recieve my new stuff but I will reseed a new tray. I have never had much success in seedlings so I want a light to help me along. I already like HTG, they politely handled this problem via internet communication which I liked because it was easy to detail all the problems with them. I spoke with Perry Johnson, the shipping manager.

[Cole_Robbie]

Rockporter, if you have a desk lamp in the house, many of them will accept a large spiral flourescent bulb. It makes an easy impromptu grow light. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Rockporter, if you have a desk lamp in the house, many of them will accept a large spiral flourescent bulb. It makes an easy impromptu grow light. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Thanks Cole, but unfortunately I don't. We had put most of our things in storage and lived in our RV for the better part of 7 years. I don't have any extra anything. I will just do the best I can until this is resolved.

[Hotwired]

That 24" 4-bulb system is using 6400K bulbs rated at 8000 lumen. Four bulbs at 45% is over 14,000 lumens which relates to 5,600 lumen per square foot on your plants. Sunlight is averaging only 558 lumen / square foot / hour on a sunny day on Summer equinox. That's a heck of a lot of light. Specifications You should be able to raise that lamp high enough to light the entire shelf. I just did a post on calculating lamp height based on lumen output per square inch. You may find it helpful. LIGHTING 101

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Hotwired

That 24" 4-bulb system is using 6400K bulbs rated at 8000 lumen. Four bulbs at 45% is over 14,000 lumens which relates to 5,600 lumen per square foot on your plants. Sunlight is averaging only 558 lumen / square foot / hour on a sunny day on Summer equinox. That's a heck of a lot of light. Specifications You should be able to raise that lamp high enough to light the entire shelf. I just did a post on calculating lamp height based on lumen output per square inch. You may find it helpful. LIGHTING 101

Thanks Hotwired, I actually went with the HTG T5HO with 5,000 lumens per bulb. It is a 24"x24" fixture with four bulbs for a total fo 20,000 lumens.
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTG...5-Tek-Lamp.asp

I needed a fixture to fit in a specific space and have been researching over and over again on lighting. Unfortunately there isn't much information out there for us who know absolutely nothing about lighting for our plants. I do want to grow plants like tomatoes indoors, in the hot summer, so this light should do what I am needing. I also have the option of using only two bulbs if I want so I looked at the versatility of this lamp as well.

One thing I kept reading over and over again is about the plants becoming leggy when there isn't enough light for them. This is where the 5,000 lumens per square foot came in. If this information is not correct, it would be nice if those selling the lamps would give more information regarding the lighting and have it match up with those reviewing the lights. What I have found is reviews and discussions online where the consensus was to have at least 20,000 lumens for a 4'x4' square space which equals 16 square feet and this is where they say they are not getting the leggy growth but instead a good thick stemmed plant.

There is so much undetermined information out there that it confuses the unknowing person like myself.

Thank you for the Lighting 101, I will take a look at that.

[Hotwired]

Being in Texas heat, you need a little more light than us Northerners. Plants get leggy because of three interacting factors - light - heat- nutrition. If you have insufficient lighting, you can reduce the heat and nutrients. I grow cold, meaning my hoop house is kept at 45F to 50F, and most of my plants don't get light other than the short winter daylight. They are very bulky and strong stemmed.

You are going to love the T5's. They have minimum brightness loss compared to the old T12's. If you are blossoming and fruiting tomato plants inside you may want to swap out one of the center 6400K bulbs for a 4500K Red Spectrum bulb. The plant uses blue light (~6500K) for foliage and red (~4500K) for flowering.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by Hotwired

Being in Texas heat, you need a little more light than us Northerners. Plants get leggy because of three interacting factors - light - heat- nutrition. If you have insufficient lighting, you can reduce the heat and nutrients. I grow cold, meaning my hoop house is kept at 45F to 50F, and most of my plants don't get light other than the short winter daylight. They are very bulky and strong stemmed.

You are going to love the T5's. They have minimum brightness loss compared to the old T12's. If you are blossoming and fruiting tomato plants inside you may want to swap out one of the center 6400K bulbs for a 4500K Red Spectrum bulb. The plant uses blue light (~6500K) for foliage and red (~4500K) for flowering.

Yes, I ordered flowering bulbs as well and was curious to know if I needed one or two of them so you have just answered that question for me. Thank you for your much needed information.

[Crandrew]

i would personally run two for flowering but thats just me.

Sorry to hear about UPS, what a bad driver.