Quote Originally Posted by Kassie View Post
I suffered no small amount of brain damage last winter trying to figure out whether to get LEDs or some other expensive lighting system. I now use cheap 4 ft T8 shoplights, half warm and half cool spectrum bulbs, with good results. One thing that I did manage to retain of all the information I studied is that full spectrum bulbs are unnecessary because orchids use a certain wave length for growth and another to bloom and the rest of the spectrum is just wasted energy.
Exactly! T5, T8 , also aquarium lights if selected correctly. No need for expensive approach for a hobbyist unless on a grand scale with plants dependant on high light. Choices available now, though in essence important for quality of life and fought too hard for to be dismissed, can be so overwhelming that any pleasure becomes a grudge and a burden. The ' brain damage' effect is all too easily acquired, wheres the fun in that? when you just want a damn light in a tube!lol