P
PHRAG
Guest
I just got my first bank of T5 fluorescent lights. WOW! They are bright. I have two cool and two warm bulbs per fixture. I am getting ready to hang them in my shelves, but I have a couple of questions.
Before I ask, I understand that light is not an easy thing to measure for the average joe. So before you post a long rant about how "less than ideal" my methods are, realize that I already know that. But close enough is a good starting point.
Ok, I have a light meter that measures in Lux. 10 lux = 1 footcandle
I measured the light output from one of the fixtures hanging just a few inches (less than 6) above the leaf tips of one of my phrags. I moved the light meter around the phrag and took several readings to get an idea of what kind of range I was getting. The meter was reading 20,000 to 40,000 lux easily. That is 4000 footcandles in the brightest zone.
I am hanging the lights over my paphs and phrags. Here are some questions.
1. If I am going to leave my lights on for twelve hours a day by timer, how many footcandles should be hitting the leaves for both paph and phrag?
2. Is twelve hours sufficient, or should I bump that up to 16?
Before I ask, I understand that light is not an easy thing to measure for the average joe. So before you post a long rant about how "less than ideal" my methods are, realize that I already know that. But close enough is a good starting point.
Ok, I have a light meter that measures in Lux. 10 lux = 1 footcandle
I measured the light output from one of the fixtures hanging just a few inches (less than 6) above the leaf tips of one of my phrags. I moved the light meter around the phrag and took several readings to get an idea of what kind of range I was getting. The meter was reading 20,000 to 40,000 lux easily. That is 4000 footcandles in the brightest zone.
I am hanging the lights over my paphs and phrags. Here are some questions.
1. If I am going to leave my lights on for twelve hours a day by timer, how many footcandles should be hitting the leaves for both paph and phrag?
2. Is twelve hours sufficient, or should I bump that up to 16?