HO T5 strip fluoro

[bstheory]

Why hi there, thanks for stopping by.

I am about to purchase some 4' 54W T5 strip lights by sun blaze. They're only $25 each and come with 6500K bulbs. Ordering 3000K bulbs at $6/ea, to swap for flowering. Setup will be four vertical lights (20,000 lumen) in a 30"x20" closet.

Questions:
I'm a little suspicious of the strip lights as they're significantly cheap than any other HO T5 option. Anyone had experience with these?
Strip lights don't come with reflectors, but the closet will be space blanketed (mylar). Is this sufficient, or should I get the $15/ea reflectors?
This is my first setup. Does it sound good in general? Recommendations?

bstheory Reviewed by bstheory on 10-18-2007. HO T5 strip fluoro Why hi there, thanks for stopping by. I am about to purchase some 4' 54W T5 strip lights by sun blaze. They're only $25 each and come with 6500K bulbs. Ordering 3000K bulbs at $6/ea, to swap for flowering. Setup will be four vertical lights (20,000 lumen) in a 30"x20" closet. Questions: I'm a little suspicious of the strip lights as they're significantly cheap than any other HO T5 option. Anyone had experience with these? Strip lights don't come with reflectors, but the closet will be Rating: 5

[killerweed420]

I would spring for the reflectors. Keep that light pointed in the right direction.

[bstheory]

I was hoping to hear, "no need to spend money on reflectors. thspace blankets will be more than adequate. infact, you'll see better results and women will throw themselves at you". Thanks for the input though! I went ahead and got 'em w/o the reflectors for now, but those will be my next purchase

[IrieDread]

I only use those for rooting clones, but you can just have a pandafilm ceiling(reflector) and it will reflect downwards.

just buy 1 400watt the savings is like 10 bucks using striplights and a 400watt has almost double the light

[bstheory]

thanks for the imput, but 400W is a little extreme for growing one plant. I chose the strips because I can light all sides and levels of the plant and maintain a lower electric bill. That said, I do think my next addition will be a smaller (100W maybe) HPS. Anyone know if the small HPS lamps need the same cooling as the more common 400+ ones do?