What is this ? Coralife.

[Ashleyma23]

I wanted to know what exactly this is and if I can use it for orchids.

[Ashleyma23]

Picture 2

[Ashleyma23]

Picture 3.

[Subrosa]

Yes you can grow orchids under it. But you can also watch a black & white tv. Those are power compact fluorescent lights. Compared to T5 HO they produce considerably less light and more heat per watt, and useful bulb life for growing is about half of a good quality T5 tube.

[Ashleyma23]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Yes you can grow orchids under it. But you can also watch a black & white tv. Those are power compact fluorescent lights. Compared to T5 HO they produce considerably less light and more heat per watt, and useful bulb life for growing is about half of a good quality T5 tube.

Thank you for popping my happy bubble!

[Trollsvans]

Hang on!
These are two different light sets, aren't they?
The first pic looks like a 2x metal halide + compact flourescents, while the two others look like regular T5 fixtures?

The T5 would indeed produce quite a lot of light.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Trollsvans

Hang on!
These are two different light sets, aren't they?
The first pic looks like a 2x metal halide + compact flourescents, while the two others look like regular T5 fixtures?

The T5 would indeed produce quite a lot of light.

Same fixture, those are low output led moonlights, not metal halides.

[Trollsvans]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Same fixture, those are low output led moonlights, not metal halides.

You're misunderstanding:
Pic 1 is severely different from 2 and 3 (which are 8xT5 units)
Pic 1 is definetly showing two metal halides that are turned off (look between the two pairs of moonlights) with supplementary CFLs.

Also, the socketsfor mounting the tubes are different in pics 1 vs 2/3, as the ones in pic 1 are doubles for four-pin CFLs, whereas the sockets in pics 2 and 3 are singles for T5.

[Ashleyma23]

Originally Posted by Trollsvans

Hang on!
These are two different light sets, aren't they?
The first pic looks like a 2x metal halide + compact flourescents, while the two others look like regular T5 fixtures?

The T5 would indeed produce quite a lot of light.

The first one is the coralife.

The second two pictures is another fixture. I just wanted to get the name up close . 2,3 pictures are the same


T5 is good to use?

---------- Post added at 08:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:24 AM ----------

Picture one looks like this internet picturehttp://www.canada-classifieds.com/accessories-coralife-48-amp-quot-2x-150w-metal-halide-light-fixture_526643-151.html

And the other one looks like this

48 inch 8x54W Sunlight Supply Tek Light High Output Fluorescent Lighting Fixture

So I would be able to use the tek light for orchids?

[Trollsvans]

You could likely cremate orchids with it: I grew corals ok with 4x54w t5's.
As long as you pick tubes with good spectra, you'll do fine.
You can likely use the metal halides too, but you'll have to watch the temperature: they produce a lot of heat.
I'd call it a waste though, considering the light to watt to heat ratios.