Hydrofarm Agrobrite FLT22 T5 Fluorescent Grow Light VS Monios-L T5 LED Grow Light

 Starting a grow-project in your home is both exciting and daunting. You imagine the results, but as you research the requirements, you realize how involved it is and how expensive it can be when you factor everything in. But don’t be disheartened, all projects require some investment, and with the right advice, it may cost as much as you first thought.

One thing you will definitely need are fluorescent grow lights. These are specially designed lights that hang above your plants and mimic the sun. The lights offer strong light and heat, the intensity of which can be adapted for different products, and are excellent for seedlings and young plants. To grow anything indoors or through the winter months, you will need a reasonable set of T5 lights.

Of course, you must also find a grow space and construct a room for your project. It could be in an outhouse or garage, a spare bedroom, or a basement. You need to figure out your heating and cooling systems and decide what kind of growing you want to do. All of this is important and necessary, but your T5 grow lights will be the main fixture.

What is T5?

The “T” in T5 is a way of identifying the bulb size. T5 lights are the smallest diameter fluorescent bulbs available. They are 5/8 of an inch in diameter, about the size of a dime, as opposed to T8 or T12 bulbs which are larger. T5 bulbs are also shorter than T8 and T12. The reason they are so popular with hydroponics is because they are even more efficient and put out more lumens per watt than larger bulbs. T5 bulbs are slightly more expensive, but for hydro growers looking to get the most yield out of their gardens, this cost is not significant.

Why Use T5 Lights in Your Grow Room?

Compared to other lights, T5 fluorescent grow lights have some truly unique advantages. While they may not be as strong as CMH and HID grow lights, or as intense as LEDs, you’d be surprised at what T5s have to offer.

T5 grow lights are efficient. Overall, T5s are going to save you money. The energy usage of these lights is about 50 percent of what HIDs use — that means a lower monthly electric bill. In addition, replacing components in a T5 grow light like reflectors, bulbs, and ballasts costs less than it would to replace those same parts in an HID or LED fixture.

T5s are highly customizable. You can adjust your light fixture with different bulbs depending on your plants’ needs. There’s virtually a T5 grow bulb for every occasion — from deep blue for vegging to light red for flowering, as well as bulbs that offer UV light for improved photosynthesis (among other benefits). Really the only lights that come close as far as customization is concerned are LEDs, and we all know that those aren’t exactly cheap.

Though not as intense as other lights, T5 grow lights are still very efficient. If you’re wondering how T5s can be so efficient despite their lighter intensity compared to other grow lights, it’s actually quite simple. Typically, you’ll want to hang your T5 light fixture closer to your plants — due to their lower heat output, you don’t need to worry about T5s burning or bleaching your plants like other grow lights would if you were to hang them too close.

Hydrofarm Agrobrite FLT22 T5 Fluorescent Grow Light

Features:

With its lighting mechanism that ensures speedy development of your greens, the Hydrofarm Agrobrite T5 Fluorescent Grow Light is the next best T5 grow light for you to choose. Being highly flexible and equipped with various configurations, it gives you the control you need on different stages of plant growth. Thanks to its high-quality aluminum built, you can also be confident that you are getting the highest efficiency and best output.

Moreover, this light fixture perfectly resembles daylight, providing your plants the light they need for photosynthesis and other crucial processes for their growth. A bonus is that it consumes less electricity while emitting the required amount of light. Thus, saving you much cost in the long run while keeping your crops in good health. Not to mention that it is also less costly compared to other T5 grow lights with similar features in its lineage.

Once you receive this unit, you’ll have no difficult time as it is quick to set up. You can place it vertically, horizontally or overhead, allowing you to position it well to get maximum light until the ridges. Lastly, it releases minimal heat, preventing your plant’s foliage from burning and keeping an ideal temperature in your grow area.

Monios-L T5 LED Grow Light

Features:

Boasting a full-spectrum light, the Monios-L T5 LED Grow Light, one of the best units you can trust for your plant’s optimum growth. It perfectly mimics sunlight, helping your greens in photosynthesis and other essential processes. Plus, it features an aluminum reflector, boosting the light efficiency by 17% to 20%. Through that, you can be sure that your plants receive the light they need for the seedling, vegetative and flowering cycles.

A bonus from this unit is that it ensures eye protection, making it fit for indoor gardening. It features a 2900K color temperature that is very comfortable to the eyes. It works greats in grow tents, seedling cultivation, plant shelves, hydroponic rooms, and greenhouses.

Once you receive this T5 grow light, you can set it up in a breeze, just plug it and play. You no longer need to do extra wiring work or assembly. You can easily provide the lighting which your plants need for their development.

Moreover, it comes with two separate on/off switches, which allows you to control the lights more efficiently. Other features you’ll enjoy include high-energy efficiency, no noise operation, and low operating temperature — many benefits rolled into one.

How To Choose The Best T5 Grow Light For Your Grow

Since T5 grow lights can be specifically offered in various temperature choices, it is important to realize that not all are created exactly the same. Your lower temperature bulbs will be more specific to mature growth and promotes higher rates of photosynthesis required to influence flowering and production. Higher temperatures provide more light found within the blue range and provide a steady coverage for plants to use for leafing out and growing upwards. Knowing what your needs are prior to investing in your lights is an important step in your plants health.
What stages of plant development do you need to support?

T5 lights are more specific to the blue range of the light spectrum, so therefore they are better used for getting seedlings started and to support plant growth through vegetative maturity stages. Those bulbs that lean towards the cooler wavelengths are great choices to maintain plant health when flowering and production are not needed.

How much space do you need to cover?

The great thing about T5 fluorescents are how much coverage they provide. When combined with a lighting system that uses reflective barriers, you can get quite a bit of square footage out of a single set up. You don’t want to short change your crops, however, so it is important to take note of how much coverage you can get from your choices depending on what stages of growth they are in.
What crops do you plan on growing?

Producing plants are not going to receive enough of the correct lightwaves from a T5 for maximum harvest prior to this stage of growth. However they do support plants up until this point. If you are simply looking for a good supplemental light for your household plants that are non-productive, these also are a good choice.

T5 Grow Light Upgrades

T5 grow lights are awesome because their spectrum can be customized. With these lights, you can swap out each bulb and replace it with a different wavelength of your choice. In fact, you can essentially make an all-vegging, all-flowering, or combination light that you can use from the seedling to harvesting stages by just swapping out a few bulbs. It’s literally that simple.

Blue wavelengths boost foliage production. If you want a good harvest, you need to start with exceptional flowers. You can’t get those, though, unless you’ve got the foliage to help them grow. With more blue wavelengths than a standard 6400k bulb, your plant will get the stimulation it needs to grow big leaves and strong branches.
Red wavelengths will give you better flowers. Plants need plenty of red wavelengths to ensure they continue to grow big flowers and provide heavy harvests. With an extra bit of red added to a T5 grow kit’s lighting cycle, your plants will give you flowers that rival an LED’s harvest.
More UV means stronger plants. Most T5 grow lights don’t have a lot of UVA and UVB in their wavelengths — and neither do a lot of HIDs and LEDs, for that matter.

Conclusion

T5 fluorescent lighting is an excellent choice for your vegetative plant growth stages, and in some cases, even for support of bloom and production with the correct lamp choices. Your lighting needs may be a mixed bag at times depending on what you are attempting to grow and what stages of growth your plants are within. Because of this, choosing a light you can get the most out of can be a definite advantage. Our favorite versatile choice is the ECO Farm T5 Fluorescent 54W Grow Light due to the bulb compatibility which makes them easier to use with a wider range of plant growth, as well as the awesome 120 degree range of light for more evenly distributed light coverage.