FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Does anyone know much about T5 lighting?

If i had this Light unit which comes with 4" 54w T5 tubes would i be able to put 24w tubes into it? - or just lower wattage tubes.
Would it still work ok and could i even use a mixture of different wattage bulbs? I would only want to use lower watt bulbs than what are supplied just to decrease the overall wattage?


Trying to decide on what will be the best set up for me, im undecided between 2X- 2" 4tubes or 1x 4" 4 tubes. Im just slighly concerned about the amount of power they will consume.


Thanks for any info.

JimsPlants wrote:If i had this Light unit which comes with 4" 54w T5 tubes would i be able to put 24w tubes into it? - or just lower wattage tubes.

Yes, you can always get lower watt bulbs in to higher fixtures . So yeah, 24 w tubes would work...

JimsPlants wrote:Would it still work ok and could i even use a mixture of different wattage bulbs? I would only want to use lower watt bulbs than what are supplied just to decrease the overall wattage?

I would avoid that . You should use the same bulbs all through the fixture. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the same case for batteries. They say not to mix Duracell and Alkaline, but you can sometimes get away with it. Go figure !

JimsPlants wrote:Trying to decide on what will be the best set up for me, im undecided between 2X- 2" 4tubes or 1x 4" 4 tubes. Im just slighly concerned about the amount of power they will consume.

I think that you should get 1 4' bulb because it will cover more space and you can fit more plants under it.

Good luck !

JimsPlants wrote:If i had this Light unit which comes with 4" 54w T5 tubes would i be able to put 24w tubes into it? - or just lower wattage tubes.

If the bulbs will fit into the fixture, I'm pretty sure they'll work.

JimsPlants wrote:Would it still work ok and could i even use a mixture of different wattage bulbs? I would only want to use lower watt bulbs than what are supplied just to decrease the overall wattage?

I think using a mixture of bulbs would work, but why so concerned about the overall wattage?

JimsPlants wrote:Trying to decide on what will be the best set up for me, im undecided between 2X- 2" 4tubes or 1x 4" 4 tubes. Im just slighly concerned about the amount of power they will consume.

You know how to calculate energy usage, right? Let's walk through that quickly. Say you keep that fixture on for 16 hours a day and you use the 54w T5 tubes. I can't tell if there are 3 or 4 tubes in that fixture, but let's assume 4 tubes.

So that's 54w x 4 tubes x 16 hours per day (H) = 3456 w*H or 3.5 KwH per day. Assume 30 days a month: 30 X 3.5 KwH = 105 KwH usage per month for that fixture. I don't know what electricity costs where you live, but here in Ashland, OR it's about 5 cents per KwH up to a certain amount and 6 cents per KwH after that. So say 105 KwH * 0.06 cents per KwH = $6.30 a month to run four 54 watt bulbs for 16 hours a day.

I can't really see making a fuss over $6.30 a month or $75 a year worth of electricity usage. I'd go with the higher wattage if I had the choice

Right, thanks guys thats helped me come to a decision.

I just wanted to know if i would have the option to use different bulbs in the hope of cutting the cost slightly.

Out electricity costs £0.065 pew KwH off peak and £0.13 at peak times which varies throughout the day, so potentially quite a bit more expensive than Oregon, but even at £13 a month not hugley expensive.


Might drive and pick up one in the morning then