Questions T8 LED Lights

@budlee I am all for making things work, but this is road I would not head down, mate. Unless I am mistaken, these are daylight colored general-use lights, correct?  Although they illuminate and may match daylight color by the degrees Kelvin, your average everyday LED does not put off the right electromagnetic radiation to grow plants well -- which is why there are grow lights that differ from regular lights.  Essentially you can make a bulb that is same color as daylight, but it does not carry the same energy as the sun or grow-bulbs.  Sure, plants will grow in light, but they will not do well at all unless they get the correct parts of the spectrum (both visible and invisible, ranging from UV to IR). The way to be sure to go to the manufacture's website and see if you can get a spectral transmission chart and compare to a decent grow light. Bon chance!

Yeah, I hear what you're saying and it makes sense. Just finding out because, some of these lights are advertised as "full spectrum grow lights". The Barrina lights that I was looking at were these:
<a href=" removed link " target="true"> removed link

<a href=" removed link " target="true"> removed link

There were some successful micro greens grown with them, however, I'm not sure how good they are with cannabis through the plant's life cycle.

Ok, seems I can't add links.. but they're on amazon with the title: Barrina Grow Light, 144W(6 x 24W, 800W Equivalent), 2ft T8, Super Bright, Full Spectrum Sunlight Plant Light

@budlee No there's no outside links allowed mate,  they get removed automaticaly by the software, It's ok to post links from youtube tho but you need to have left something like 25 posts on the forum before you can do that 🙂 

Posted by: @budlee

amazon with the title: Barrina Grow Light, 144W(6 x 24W, 800W Equivalent), 2ft T8, Super Bright, Full Spectrum Sunlight Plant Light

I am unable to see them on the Amazon site in my country. However, if they are grow lights, then that is a lot better than regular lights. Sorry mate, but I’m just not sure about this product. Maybe someone else could jump who knows about them.

Hey mate, Whilst you can use T8 globes and get through a grow you wont get the most out of the plants without the correct spectrum, as mentioned above you really want to be supplying the right spectrum for cannabis or you will run into issues. That being said there are a few globes that you can get that claim full spectrum for plant growth, their effectiveness when stacked up against quantum boards and or full grow specific lamps does tend to show a stark difference between the two. Personally i would be investing in a full spectrum board if the idea is to keep cost down, one of the biggest investments for an indoor grow is going to be your light followed by your environmental things ie extraction fans etc. If you dont have enough coin to be buying a grow specific board just yet (a lot of us started out with less than ideal lighting until we could afford better) then there is no shame in using what you have until you can afford to upgrade. I currently run 2 x Bloomplus BP4000 in a 4x8 and a Spiderfarmer SE7000 in a 4x4, of these two setups the spiderfarmer was a good $450 more expensive than the 2 x BP4000 combined, when i first started growing many moons ago i had CFL globes and an old fishtank tube florescent with UV to supplement in what the CFL's could not, it got me through my first few grows but knowing what i know now and how far technology has progressed CFL and single globe grow lamps are becoming increasingly less popular. I strongly suggest looking at a full spectrum board if your budget can stretch that far, nothing is more disappointing than investing time and energy into a grow only to get into flower and find the lights aren't going to cut it. Is there any reason why you are leaning towards those T8 lamps? If we had an idea of your budget we may be able to offer a few suggestions on lamps that would be better suited for your intended result.    

So, because I'm new to growing as a whole, I'm still a bit cautious as to what I spend my money on. I'm in the southern hemisphere, so we're still in summer (for maybe another month or 2), therefore I invested in a small (70cm x 70cm) but good tent and an average LED light that claims to be full spectrum. And since I'm still dealing with the seedlings to veg stage, I was thinking of utilizing the sun while it's out. I also needed to invest in a portable aircon, as the temps here do go upward of 30 degrees. Then there's the other smaller items that do eat into the budget a little like fertilizer, ph solutions, testers, etc.

I'm at the point now where I'm building my own grow tent as the space I have is a little unique, and I can save some money here that I can invest more into lighting. The tent I'm building is about 2m x 2.5m, so I need a few lights that will cover the area. Based on exchange rates, but budget for new lights for this tent is about $1000. I also took into account that I also need to get a couple more fans and a carbon filter. This is basically the reason I'm weighing all my options for grow lights.

Posted by: @im_sparky

Posted by: @budlee

amazon with the title: Barrina Grow Light, 144W(6 x 24W, 800W Equivalent), 2ft T8, Super Bright, Full Spectrum Sunlight Plant Light

I am unable to see them on the Amazon site in my country. However, if they are grow lights, then that is a lot better than regular lights. Sorry mate, but I’m just not sure about this product. Maybe someone else could jump who knows about them.

Just thought I'd take a screenshot of the page instead.. 

@budlee The spectral transmission charts look decent, and they show good amount of red and near IR. One thing I would be concerned about is managing the height of all those single units.  They state they need to be pretty close, and they appear to be configured in a manner that would be good for house plants that don't shoot up vertically like cannabis (as in the pictured shelf unit). Personally. I would not want to rig up a contraption to raise and lower all of those individual bulbs. Also, at $2/watt, it is not exactly a good bang for your buck.  Those are just my thoughts.

Maybe someone else will jump in here with their opinion or perhaps experience.