Ross which tubes are these? I agree 100% as I have had bad experiences with cheap high wattage CFLs being exceptionally terrible quality. I would go with brand name bulbs at least...the bulbs I bought were $12.25 (sorry I misquoted in my last post) and are Sylvania Pentron ECO T5s, which I think should be decent.

Calvin, be sure you get HO tubes. There are consumer grade tubes in t5 that don't have the output. Best way to tell is measure with a light meter. You need to see 5000 lumens at tube surface. The tube should have a HO in the designation at the end of the tube. If your meter doesn't measure lumens, then perhaps lux or foot candles should work. My meter reads right near 3000 foot-candles next to the mid point of a 48" t5 tube (almost full contact.)

Oh, yeah, I use Geismann 24" tubes in the 24" fixture. I use GE Ecolux High Output in my 48" fixtures.

Ross,

Would you mind posting a link to the Geismann 24" tubes you are using! I don't think my bulbs that came with my New Wave light fixture are HO bulbs...they are only 2000 lumens per bulb...I have been looking for something stronger in the 24" tubes but haven't been successful!

Not sure the lumens output. They seem overly bright compared to other lamps but I've never taken time to measure output. Maybe I'll do that right now -> I measure 750-800 FCs at 12" and 1000-1200 at 8" under the 2 tubes (24" tubes). Told you they were bright. :biggrin:

Cool....so where is the link :biggrin:

Whoops: PowerChrome, Midday T5 Lamps by Giesemann* - AquaCave Thought the link went in there. This should work.