Problems with indoor system

[bcotton]

Thanks keith. I have been hydrating my pellets for the red ears but they were still taking a long time to sink. I am going to try squeezing... getting the red ear to eat at the surface will be a secondary challenge.

brian

[keith_r]

you might need to add a little more water.. and don't forget to give them a light squeeze..
after they were on dry pellets i would throw in some crickets at the same time i was feeding (with the pellets)

[crosshairs]

Okay, so I've been on the hunt for new grow lights, since a lack of lighting was cited as one of the problems with my system. I was told to look into T5 or T8 48" lights over each grow bed, with 4 bulbs in each.

I don't think those dimensions will work for me since each of my grow beds is slightly less than 3 feet long, so 48 inch fixtures are way too big. I figure 36 inches should be fine, but I've had a lot of trouble finding 6500K 36" T5s/T8s, and even more trouble finding the 4-bulb fixtures for them. Lowes, Home Depot, and Ace Hardware don't seem to carry them, and the few other places that carry them have really high prices (aquarium stores and such).

Any suggestions on sites/stores to look at?

[David - WI]

Why are you worried about having 6" of extra light fixture hanging over each end of the growbed? That's probably about what you need to get "even" lighting out to the ends of the growbeds.

I just checked a 4 bulb T-5 fixture with my Apogee light meter... there is about 1/3 as much light directly under the "end" of the fixture as there is 6" in from the end (the end of the fixture & the ends of the bulbs block rather than emit light).

[bcotton]

this is when badflash chimes in and tells you to not spend 300$ on fancy hydroponics t5 fixture when you can buy a $10 shop light and put a daylight bulb in it.


ref: growlights

I have stolen a lot of good advice from this forum but this is a top 5. You can tell from my first grow thread that i used 4 bulb t5's... i loved them.. they were great.. but i sold them on craigslist and bought my 10$ chop light and i have no complaints.

brian

[Roger R.]

You could make a custom grow light to fit the size of your grow bed. Mine is 18"x24" made with four 6500K CFLs. I probably have about $20 in the whole thing including the bulbs. It seems to be working.
The plywood, foil faced insulation and rope I had on hand. Wired it with an extension chord.
Plywood sides for the "shade" would work too and just paint the inside white.





I've since add a little iron to the system and all that lettuce has greened up nicely.

[crosshairs]

@Roger R., that is an intriguing setup. I could probably do something similar running 3 sets of bulbs (6 total) over my grow beds.

I don't have foil-faced insulation, but it looks like regular aluminum foil adhered to cardboard would accomplish the same thing. Does that sound right to you?

[Roger R.]

@Roger R., that is an intriguing setup. I could probably do something similar running 3 sets of bulbs (6 total) over my grow beds.

I don't have foil-faced insulation, but it looks like regular aluminum foil adhered to cardboard would accomplish the same thing. Does that sound right to you?

That should work. I happened to have the insulation left over from insulating a bathroom vent duct in my attic so I used it. The top piece is 1/4" plywood with some aluminum foil glued to it and then the insulation skirt. The plastic electrical boxes are the kind used for remodeling with the ears that clamp on. The keyless fixtures inside are plastic as well so it keeps the overall weight down. I was going to buy some chain to hang it then I saw the nylon rope hanging in the garage.

Mine works out to about 2100 lumens per square foot. I read somewhere on the web that you need at least 2000 lumens per sq. ft. It must be about right, the plants seem happy so far. I have it on a timer to be on 14 hours a day.