Mommyhens greenhouse rebuild

[JohnW]

I have a question about grow lights.

My local Home Depot is selling a T8, reflective, 4' fluorescent light but only carries 4' T12 aquarium/plant bulbs. I am looking for T8 grow bulbs.

Can I use any fluorescant bulb for general growing as long as the light heat spectrum is the right temperture? What is the right temperture (2700, 3000, 6500)?

If anyone can point me in the right direction for this, I would appriciate it.

JohnW

[JCO]

Find a light fixture that can handle 4' Sunlight (or daylight) florescent bulbs. They will work fine for the fish as well as the plants. Home Depot and Lowe's carries them.

[mommyhen42]

I had been told by another Aquaculturist this and have tried it for my self for the past year now and get as good if not better results this way.

in 4" florescent fixtures place one warm white bulb in one side and one cool white bulb in the other. This way your plants receive both white and red spectrum lighting which is essential for growth.

Sure has saved me a ton of money on growlights or broad spectrum or daylights!

[rfeiller]

plants need the blue spectrum and red spectrum, the strength of each determines vegetative or flowering/fruiting phases. even an incondescent (sp?) bulb will produce growth, although week. aquarium bulbs are designed for shining through water, Actinics are my choice for aquariums.

your pics always show everything so neat, clean, well thoughtout and organized; you have any spare time mine is a mess!

well done.

rich

[badflash]

I use Home Depot daylight bulbs in standard shop lights. They run about $2 each in 10 packs.

[Big Al]

hi johnw, i use the same thing badflash does just standard shoplight bulb's. ive been
using them for 10 years starting seedling's each spring. good luck Big Al

[jackalope]

Mommyhen, good looking setup. You can get the switches for your 'refrig lites' at the local auto-parts. Just look for a N.C. switch (normally closed), when the switch is depressed (think car/refrig door closed), it is not the "normal" position for the contacts inside - they are open and the lights are out, but when it is in it's normal, non-depressed position (car/refrig door open), the contacts are closed, allowing the electricity or current, to flow through them, thus the lights are on. Open is no flow, closed is flow! The good thing about using auto switches is that they are usually rated by higher voltage and amps, and many of them are rated at 250v@10A or more. They should easily handle your lighting! Plus, they are usually less expensive. Many of the N.C. light switches from the hardware stores are rated at less amps and only for 120v (250v would be heavier duty!). If I had any laying around here, I'd send them to you, but I don't scrap cars in the winter in Montana!

[mommyhen42]

Mommyhen, good looking setup. You can get the switches for your 'refrig lites' at the local auto-parts. Just look for a N.C. switch (normally closed), when the switch is depressed (think car/refrig door closed), it is not the "normal" position for the contacts inside - they are open and the lights are out, but when it is in it's normal, non-depressed position (car/refrig door open), the contacts are closed, allowing the electricity or current, to flow through them, thus the lights are on. Open is no flow, closed is flow! The good thing about using auto switches is that they are usually rated by higher voltage and amps, and many of them are rated at 250v@10A or more. They should easily handle your lighting! Plus, they are usually less expensive. Many of the N.C. light switches from the hardware stores are rated at less amps and only for 120v (250v would be heavier duty!). If I had any laying around here, I'd send them to you, but I don't scrap cars in the winter in Montana!

Thank you Jakalope
I already have them, I got them at Ace Hardware, I could only get 1 as it was the last one, but they just got in some more. Now I need to take the lights back down and rewire them to the switches, no problem. I am considering leaving the stock switch in the on position rather than bypassing it, but I hate monkey work so I may just remove the old switch anyway, one less connection to corrode in the humiditiy

[mommyhen42]

I am totally loving this system!
Other than a pump clogging here and there it works beautifully!
I just bought an automatic koi feeder on ebay and cut a 2" hole in the lid, put a plastic cup with an open bottom thru it and placed the feeder on bricks above the cup.
The humidity can escape before clogging the feeder and the fish get fed even if I am gone for the day!
I had a dog develop seizures and had a bizarre reaction to the phenobarbital and he went frantic! he broke into the greenhouse and walked all over the floatbeds in the top breaking most of them... what a mess he left! he spent 3 days at the vets until his system settled down with the phenobarbital levels. Unfortunatly a month later I had to have him put down for a grand mal siezure that left him blind, he continued having petit mal siezures over the next hour so we decided to put him down. Good thing by the time we got him to the vets he went into another grand mal and never came out of it. Turns out he had a brain tumor! Poor boy, playful till the last siezure.

i still have to replace the styrofoam up there but the lettuce that remains is nearly ready to harvest so I may wait till then. I have plenty of styrofoam to do the job.

[davidstcldfl]

mommyhen42, So sorry to hear about your dog.
Any of us that have had 'faimily pets', and have lost them....have a lump in our throats, thinking of your loss.