Artifical Light for Neps in General

[Overmind1632]

Will 2 t-12 40 watts each, which totals up to 6-7k lumens, be enough to grow most Neps inside or will I need more lumens?

Thanks

 

[cmm889]

I think that should be okay, neps dont require as much intense light as say for instance... vft's and sarrs...

granted the more light the better but I dont assume that what your talking about would be inadequate...

a more experienced nep grower I'm sure will hop on here and let you know for sure though...

which neps you going to grow by the way?

-Chris

 

[DavyJones]

Well, I am not a more experienced nep grower, but I can tell you what works for me. I am very tight on space, so I use two desk lamps with a 100 watt equiv. CFL's. I supplement that with window light. You actually beat me to this question. My apt. next year only has north facing windows, and I would like to find something a bit... stronger... but need to use CFLs. I"m not highjacking this post, just.... adding an additional question. Where get I get a CFL that produces more then 100 watts equiv?

 

[xvart]

I currently use four 4' long florescent per shelf. One of these days I'm going to add another 2 bulb fixture to each shelf. They are T12's. Ratter said the other day that T8s are the same price as T12s these days, so if I had to buy my own bulbs I would be going the T8 direction.

xvart.

 

[nightsky]

I also use a growshelf - due to the lack of light where I grow my neps. I also use 4 40 watt t12's per shelf- and the neps are growing fantastic.

 

[Overmind1632]

I currently use four 4' long florescent per shelf. One of these days I'm going to add another 2 bulb fixture to each shelf. They are T12's. Ratter said the other day that T8s are the same price as T12s these days, so if I had to buy my own bulbs I would be going the T8 direction.

xvart.

Instead of T-8 or 12s, get T-5s, they are a little more but worth it since they put out a lot more light

 

[xvart]

Instead of T-8 or 12s, get T-5s, they are a little more but worth it since they put out a lot more light

Yeah, but they put out a lot more heat from what I hear. I'm not ready to take it to that level with trying to cool my area, especially in the summer. T12s seem to be doing a fine job (maybe not the best, granted) but they'll do the trick until I'm ready to invest more money, time, and energy in "the one setup to rule them all."

xvart.

 

[Crissytal]

T-5's also drastically increase the amount of heat. I'm using two 2-bulb T-12 fixtures with no problems at all with my Neps. It's strong enough for my N. spec. to keep the nice red blush in the leaves. That's good enough for me .

Crystal

edit: you beat me to it X lol.

 

[Capslock]

My taller shelves have T5 lights, and the lower, shorter ones have the four tubes like xvart. I think this is preferable to two tubes. In addition, I use mylar on the walls (or sides of the rack if you have just one) to reflect the light around, and that helps a lot. I'd go with at least four T12 tubes.

Capslock

 

[rattler]

i use 4 to 6 T8 bulbs per shelf.....if i could fit 8 i would....i dont care for T12's they work OK but for the same price you can squeeze more T8s on a shelf......on the T5's as Capslock said i would use them for tall shelves but for short plants i think they put off to much heat to be useful, especially if your trying to grow highlanders in a place where your already having problems keeping temps down....now if your growing lowlands go for T5's.....yes T5's put out more light than T8's but they also put out alot more heat and some of us have more issues with controling temps than getting the plants enough light....in such cases T8's shine over the T5's....well that and their is the cost......i can rig up more square feet with adequate light with T8's than T5's for much less......hell a couple of T5 fixtures and lights will only cover 16 square feet of shelf space when for the same price i can cover over 40 square feet with T8's

 

[nightsky]

Heat is definitely an issue in my case. My growrack has two levels, each with 4 t12's, and it gets up into the low 80's when they are on.

So - any idea if I were to use 6 t8's per level vs. the 4 t12's what the heat output might be like? I'd like to keep the light level high, but lose some of the heat output. Would t8's allow this?

 

[ilbasso]

The heat wouldn't be as much of a problem for me as the cost of the T5. 'Dem suckers are expensive.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Heat is definitely an issue in my case. My growrack has two levels, each with 4 t12's, and it gets up into the low 80's when they are on.

So - any idea if I were to use 6 t8's per level vs. the 4 t12's what the heat output might be like? I'd like to keep the light level high, but lose some of the heat output. Would t8's allow this?

What kind of ballasts are in the fixtures? The bulbs produce some of the heat but the majority is from the ballast. If you have fixtures with magnetic ballasts they will produce alot more heat than electronic ballasts. The heat produced by a t12 vs a t8 is roughly the same. The t8 might feel a little warmer but this is due to the smaller surface area to dissipate the heat. So increasing the number of bulbs from 4 t12's to 6 t8's will produce more heat but if your t12 fixtures have the magnetic ballasts and you got new electronic ballasts for your t8 bulbs it might be possible to bring the overall temperature down.

The other thing you could do is remote wire the ballasts so they are outside your grow chamber. Would take a bit of wiring but you could eliminate the heat within the grow rack from the ballasts. You could also continue to use magnetic ballasts which are cheaper than electronic ballasts. Just don't electrocute yourself!

 

[nightsky]

What kind of ballasts are in the fixtures? The bulbs produce some of the heat but the majority is from the ballast. If you have fixtures with magnetic ballasts they will produce alot more heat than electronic ballasts. The heat produced by a t12 vs a t8 is roughly the same. The t8 might feel a little warmer but this is due to the smaller surface area to dissipate the heat. So increasing the number of bulbs from 4 t12's to 6 t8's will produce more heat but if your t12 fixtures have the magnetic ballasts and you got new electronic ballasts for your t8 bulbs it might be possible to bring the overall temperature down.

The other thing you could do is remote wire the ballasts so they are outside your grow chamber. Would take a bit of wiring but you could eliminate the heat within the grow rack from the ballasts. You could also continue to use magnetic ballasts which are cheaper than electronic ballasts. Just don't electrocute yourself!

Well what do you know - thanks for this info! I indeed have magnetic ballasts. I'll have to switch those babies out!