aquarium T5's?

[Vegas_Chili]

A guy on Craigslist is giving away 48" T5's. Yesterday I stopped by and he gave me 3 (he has more). One is "ATI T5 aquablue spezial" and the other 2 are "ATI T5 Blue plus".

I removed the 2 warm bulbs my fixture originally came with when I bought it and installed 1 of each of the bulbs I got to test em out. All I can say is that it made a HUGE difference in how bright it is. I've read reviews on how corals and water plants react to these lights. Everybody loves these bulbs and they're pricey brand new (about $17-$20 each).

Has anyone ever used these type of bulbs for peppers?

I'm very excited to see what happens!

,Vegas

 

[Monkey Hunter]

I've never used the aquarium t5's, but I have used 10k mH bulbs made for them and they're wonderful for plants. Most of the light is in a useable range, the strongly blue light makes nice tight growth. I'd assume the t5's would be similar as they have to work under similar circumstances.

 

[Vegas_Chili]

I've never used the aquarium t5's, but I have used 10k mH bulbs made for them and they're wonderful for plants. Most of the light is in a useable range, the strongly blue light makes nice tight growth. I'd assume the t5's would be similar as they have to work under similar circumstances.

Thanks Monkey H, I told my bro about the free T5's and to go get some for me because I didn't have my car, and the free crap on Craigslist goes fast! That same day when he got off work he came home with this:

I forgot to tell him that I already got some. Oh well looks like I'm stocked up on T5's.

Monkey Hunter : The ones I have now are the "aquablue especial " , and that one is a 10k bulb sooooo... I have 2 6500k and 2 10,000k bulbs and so far it looks good. I read somewhere in the weed forums where a guy is growing with actinic bulbs and a mix of other aquarium bulbs. I just wanted to try because the bulbs were free. I know people are gona say "aquarium is meant for aquarium, keep plants stuff with plants stuff". Keep in mind tho that both water plants and earth plants use photosynthesis. The deal with the aquarium lights is that they're said to have high penetration because light needs to reach the bottom of the tank. I don't know . I'll keep you guys updated with the findings.

,Vegas

 

[Monkey Hunter]

I've said it in other threads, but for the average indoor garden the spectrum of light isn't the biggest limiting factor. As long as there's enough light, then they'll be fine and I'd worry more about air ciruculation, proper wet/dry watering cycles and fertigation, etc. So let them say what they want, a lot of talk on any gardening forum is theory more then practical application. With 4 t5's you've got plenty of intensity, worry about understanding and controlling the other factors.