New Wave T5 good? and 6700s or mix?

[Becca]

Jonny I have the New Wave T5's and I love them. I bought the 2ft fixture because that is what fit my Exo-Terra the best, but I wish I could have fit the 4ft fixture instead because the 4ft fixture has more lumen per bulb. I have bloomed my Laelia reginae under these lights but I kept the 'chid as close as possible to the bulbs. They have also worked great for several of my miniature orchids as well further away from the bulbs, like my Haraella retrocalla. I use a mixture of the bulbs. You can try all 6700K and see if it works for you, if not, switch to mixing the bulbs the next year!

[HereticHammer]

Originally Posted by Becca

Jonny I have the New Wave T5's and I love them. I bought the 2ft fixture because that is what fit my Exo-Terra the best, but I wish I could have fit the 4ft fixture instead because the 4ft fixture has more lumen per bulb. I have bloomed my Laelia reginae under these lights but I kept the 'chid as close as possible to the bulbs. They have also worked great for several of my miniature orchids as well further away from the bulbs, like my Haraella retrocalla. I use a mixture of the bulbs. You can try all 6700K and see if it works for you, if not, switch to mixing the bulbs the next year!

As a reef aquarist fan (as you know) I know the importance of not always accpeting what people say is the way to do things. That is how we discovery important things like that a reef can be run on live sand and liverock without a "traditional" filter.

BUT, with my orchidarium I am not much interested in experimentation. I really want to use what works best.

So you say a mix. Is that 6700k and 3000k or something else?

Thanks Becca

[Becca]

Originally Posted by HereticHammer

As a reef aquarist fan (as you know) I know the importance of not always accpeting what people say is the way to do things. That is how we discovery important things like that a reef can be run on live sand and liverock without a "traditional" filter.

BUT, with my orchidarium I am not much interested in experimentation. I really want to use what works best.

So you say a mix. Is that 6700k and 3000k or something else?

Thanks Becca

Well I use a mix because that is what others had recommended, I am by far no expert! But there have been others that say you can use just all 6000K bulbs and be fine. I believe my bulbs are a mix of the 3500K and a 6500K bulb. I have another orchidarium and I am trying all 5500K bulbs in them. So far so good! I have a few spikes and the dendrobiums love them! I think Ross has used a mixture of bulbs and also all just T5 Midday 6000K Giesemann bulbs. I'm not sure if he is using both methods or not currently.

Ross...what's the update on those bulbs?

Jonny....here is a link to a thread that might be of some help, otherwise I just suggest reading all you can in the Growing Under Lights forum and decide what you think is best based off of the info you read: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...my-lights.html

To me...it all get's confusing....lol. Oh...and my bulbs may be the other way around....5500K lights in the New Wave fixtures and the mix in my other fixtures that came with my orchidarium. I just can't keep up anymore!