T5 lights are good!
 

I have had my new T5 lights for a few days now. I could not be happier with them. What a huge improvement over shop lights! I am measuring 3000 footcandles a few inches under the bulbs down to 500 at the bottom of my grow space. The fixture I am using is a 4 bulb 4 foot setup by Hydrofarm. Temperature has been around 80-82 with the lights on. Warmer yes, but not too bad. If anyone reading this is considering upgrading to T5 I say go for it. You will be amazed at the difference. Special thanks to Ross for his advice on T5 lighting. His wisdom helped me decide to get on the bandwagon.

I bought a one tube fixture to suppliment the light in my east facing window, since my neighbors trees are cutting the nautral light I used to have. The results have been great! I agree, go for it!

Kim

Are these regular T5 lights, or the high output type? I just bought a nice metal rack for my plants and was hopng to add lights. The northwest window isn't going to cut it this winter :(

Yes, these are high output. I should also mention that in my original post I said the light meter was reading 3000 footcandles a few inches below the tubes. It is actually 4000. I have also installed a small 4 inch fan to blow across the length of the tubes. Now I get 68 at night and 80 during the day. Before I added the fan it would occasionally rise to 85.