Should I go with a 4' four bulb or six t5?

[CrimNI]

I'm planning on creating a shelving area/enclosure for my orchids. The dimensions of the shelving unit I bought are 74-in H x 48-in W x 18-in D. It's a steel shelf that a lot of people I've noticed use on this site that came in a nice black finish. I plan on having mainly catts but I also have a few phals and an angraecum. I want to make sure a get the best possible lights for my plants but I'm not sure if a four bulb 4' t5 will be enough or should I just go with the six bulb t5? I want enough room because I want everything on the one shelf so the light must be strong enough for the catts to be away from the lights. I was hopping at least one foot away. I know the phals need to be much lower so I'll put the catts on boxes or small shelves. I plan on enclosing it with double sided silver mylar to get the light to reflect back to the plants. I plan on copying the setup I attached but I wasn't sure how many lights I needed or what plants he/she was growing. Any other tips are greatly appreciated since I'm just starting!

I think 4 tubes should be enough. Since the shelves on this unit are configurable you can play with the height and see which works the best.
I use this same light fixture unit in two orchid tanks now and 4tubes were way too strong for phals in the smaller one so I removed 2 tubes. cattleyas are raised a bit above phals and do have purple pigmentation all over them.

[billc]

As long as you're talking about 4 bulb T5HO(high output), that would be enough light for catts. You will want to shoot for 18- 20 inches from the top of the phal leaves.

Bill

[silken]

I would think four 4ft bulbs should be good. I keep my Catts under 2 T5's all winter but they do get summer sun. Most of them bloom fine. One HO T5 supposedly gives out light equivalent to 2 T12's.

[CrimNI]

Yes, I they will be T5HO bulbs. I was planning on getting them from HTG Supply. These plants would only be getting artificial light because my window doesn't get enough light for the plants.

Thank you very much for the replies! I was willing to shell out for the six bulbs if they were necessary but if four is okay then that's about $100 saved for more orchids.

What would've been the major difference between the two though? Would six bulbs have been too much even for the catts? In the future, the plan was to have another shelf for high light plants and maybe t8's close to the low light plants. That's if the collection gets too large.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by CrimNI

What would've been the major difference between the two though? Would six bulbs have been too much even for the catts? In the future, the plan was to have another shelf for high light plants and maybe t8's close to the low light plants. That's if the collection gets too large.

Certainly not too much, I have a 6 bulb T5 unit that I use in my solarium as supplemental lighting for cattleyas.

[billc]

I'm not sure how wide the 6 bulb fixture is, but the 4 bulb fixture fits just perfect and covers all areas of the shelf on a shelving unit like yours. I have my shelf unit set up with a T5 for the lower shelf and T8's on the top shelf for masdies.

Bill

[DavidCampen]

This is the 6 lamp fixture that I use, the web site says that it is 15" wide.
Rainforest Wet Location 6 Lamp T5HO Grow Light

[CrimNI]

Thank you guys! I'll have to check out that other company, they're lights seem a little cheaper.

[Purple_phal_gal13]

May I ask what kind of silver insulation you use around your rack? I'm setting up a similar orchid shelf using the same kind of shelving. The lighting information really helps too.

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