Good morning. While I don't have any experience with those specific lights, they are similar to some of mine.

I have my T5 lights that are similar to yours, about 12" from the tops of my plants. I run two fixtures, (4 bulbs) on each of my plant racks so bear this in mind.

I would start with them about 10 to 12" away if it were me. Keep an eye on them for a few weeks. If they start to show signs of too much light, back off a bit more. Chances are they will want more light though.

Additionally, with time, you will discover a few in your brood that will insist on either more or less light and you will have to remember who they are and act accordingly.

In answer to your question, I would lift them a bit. They are probably ok but why risk it. You can just lower your lights back down if you notice signs of reaching. Tough to do much about leaf burn although it is survivable. (You don't have to ask me how I know that!)

Well i can raise them, the MAX. is 12in. They are about 4-6in now. They were doing very well with OLD bulbs, which frankly shocked me, because these bulbs are suppose to loose their 'growth light powers' after 6 months. I have 2 in each garden, now they have 2 new bulbs in each. You have 4 bulbs in yours, I have heard of these t5 ones, and have 1 in a 'shop light', a small portable one, light a flashlight, runs on batteries.

I didnt know T5's were growlights. Some of my violets are not blooming, but they are brand new, only a week here. More coming in a few days. all are young 'plugs'. These are minis. But they are growing, and i just repotted them.

I saved the old bulbs, incase these burn out early, since i got them on EBay, though new, they dont carry the AeroGrow 6 month replacement warranty. They dont put out much heat,but lots of light. All my violets are right now about to burst into bloom. They all have many bloom stems, ready to pas the crowns and open. Thats why i am hoping these new lights will encourage growth and thus blooms.

Aerogrow... ouch... for the price of one you could purchase and outfit a 4 foot wide 4 shelves light stand with fluorescents. And the plants would be no worse.

You need to know what is your illumination on the level of your leaves. Nowadays you do not need a lightmeter - you need your phone and appropriate APP. My phone is an android and I downloaded an application called Lightmeter - for free.

Check your light levels in the middle and on the edges of your contraption. I would think that about 350-400 foot candles would be OK. (3500-4000lx) If you have less than 150fc - not enough, more than 600fc - plants will burn. Anything in -between you can play with time the lights are on - and light bulb distance to the plants. Light green leaves - on the edges - dark leaf plants - in the middle.

i dont have a 'smartphone' so i dont have 'apps'. My sister has one, but it isnt an android, it is the other. Know any light meter apps for that???

I have had my AeroGrow gardens for over 8 years. The first ones to come out. So they have been paid for long ago. It is the bulbs that cost a fortune. Course now they have better LED gardens, that cost a fortune, and you dont have to replace the lights ,ever, and suppose to last 3-5 years. But the cheapest one is $99 for X-Mas. That is about the size of the 3 gardens I have. But even now at $99 it would be $300 to replace them,then i would have that red light that they produce. That is the color of the light the LEDs produce.

The red/white and blue lights, very efficient, and grows plants/seeds much better. But I cant do it. So I use what I got. No way to measure the light, i dont have a stupid $800 phone glued to my face all day, like 99% of the world. No offense meant. But I HATE those things!!! So..I have raised the lights one notch, gonna see if they continue to grow and bloom,or start to stretch,or get tight crowns.

Thanks for the idea, if you come up with a app for the other phones, let me know,or how to find one.

Guys - if anybody uses a lightmeter app for I-phone - please advise.

No - I didn't get the $800 Galaxy. So far - I replaced a battery for much older model - spent $10.

Since everybody and his dog now has his face glued to this kind of phone - try to ask a younger generation to do it for you. They already know how to find and download all this stuff - and can do it on the spot. Friends- nephews - grandchildren of friends...

While I understand your frustration - I am not a spring chicken myself - and learning new technology is getting harder every year - every so often I try to google and learn something new. Not to spend all this money - but to get an idea. Or I bug my son - and ask him to explain things to me...keeping it simple.

I do not own AeroGrow - seems that the system is specifically designed for growing greens and herbs for the table - and the tray for plants is really not that large. It is more for the plants that grow up, not wide. So not many AVs can be kept in these trays.

I understand that you are going to utilize them because you already own them and they are dear to you.

I would just sell these clankers on Craig's list and get myself a light stand with fluorescents. I would keep one for herbs.

Just as an aside note, I have one of those high dollar iPhones and I hate it too! Just seems like a insidious disease needing more and more of my time! At any rate, I am afflicted and will likely continue to use it more than I should. Having said all that, I do not have a "light" app on my phone. Instead, I purchased an inexpensive meter off fleabay. I use it to measure the light that actually reaches my plants (lux).

It works well and is all I need. I am a gadget guy though so that may have something to do with it.

As far as your lighting needs go, use what you have. Any light is better than no light which is what I had for a long time, relying on mother nature to provide the right amount.

I recently posted somewhere on here about my homemade cfl light fixtures. I have refined my process but originally I was using 5-light $20 bathroom vanity lights from Lowes and then screwing in 5 full spectrum cfl bulbs. I tied a piece of string to each end and hung it over my plants. They worked great and it is an early variation of what almost all my plant lights look like today.

There are plenty of ways to get decent lighting for reasonable money, you'll have to decide what is reasonable for you.

my young violets arrived today, still waiting for the rest of my AeroGrow bulbs. So I have all new bulbs, and the most light. I found by pure chance a light/moisture/PH meter at Lowes yesterday, for only $9.99. i didnt buy it. It is like the plan water meters, you stick it into the soil of a plant and it has 2 metal rods on it. I assume one is for PH and one is for moisture...the light meter is a glass 'dot' on the face of the meter.

BUT it only goes from 0-2000K lumens. So IF I have 6000K Lumens coming from my lights, I wont know, or if I have 3,500 Lumens, I won't know. It just has the 2000K Lumens maximum level. On the back of it, it lists house plants, and how mch light they need. But it tops out at the 2K Lumens. So it is of little help.

It lists African violets as needing the 2000 Lumens. Well thats all good, but are my lights putting out MORE than that, and by how much? It doesn't say. So i won't know till they start to burn, or start to stretch to reach the light, if it isnt strong enough, and I need to lower the light hood. So I left it. i looked for a light meter on EBay, they have a fw in the $25-35 range. But frankly, i only need it for 5 mins. And for that money, i could buy a few more bulbs, to have on hand, when these new ones blow out, or buy more violets.

It is good you didn't buy $9.99 of worthless crappy pH/humidity meter. The humidity meter you already have - it is your index finger, it is free and it will give you the precise readings every time you stick it in a soil. You just need 3 points - too wet - just right - and dry, pH meter for this price - will be always on 7, unless you stick it it in glass of vinegar.

Regarding lights. Lumen - is a brightness of the source, 2000 lumens is not bad.

Foot candle - or lux (1 fc is about 10 lux) - will show you how well the surface is lit. The same source - your bulb - will provide enough for the surface of the leaves if the distance between bulb and leaves is 8 inches, And it will be not enough if the distance is 3 feet.

You do not need a light meter all the time - but it is a better investment than $9.99 for ph meter from hell. Example - you have older bulbs - you can do your measurements as they age and move the lights closer - instead of replacing the whole shebang every 6 months. And it is definitely cheaper than $800 Galaxy Note Phone. Though you probably can get and older model for $30-50 - and use it as a phone anyway.

I don't have experience with fluorescent grow bulbs, only LED (blue and pink lights). I have 24W 5x5" LED array about 12" from african violets and some other plants 10h/day next to north facing window in Seattle (very little natural light). This was a bit too much light for AVs, so I had to move them further away (to sides) from the LED's, since their rosettes became overly tight, and leaves started turning a bit purple (carotenoids are plant sun screen). They are blooming like crazy though. I will probably reduce light duration a bit too.

Move the light up if it is possible. the light intensity drops as R second degree, where R is the distance between the source and the surface. so 40% increase in distance will reduce the intensity 2 times,

uhhh WHAT???? I'm not Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. :)

UPDATE:

I JUST called AeroGrow and asked how many Lumens EACH bulb puts out NEW. Since I have 2 bulbs in each garden, it would be twice the amount per bulb. They put out 1,500 Lumens NEW. Then get weaker as they age,of course. So...right now I am working with 3K Lumens per garden. the light hood with the bulbs in them, are about 6-7in away from the tops of the violets, depending on the pot they are in. Some are a bit closer, some are a bit further away.

The maximum the lights can be away is 12in. Some crowns are getting tighter/crowded, either from growing fast from getting stronger light, or they are to close to the lights? I have moved them up 1 notch in each garden, and like i said, they are about 6-7 in away from the top of the violets. Some violets are on the very edge of the garden tray area, some are right under the two bulbs.

The pictures ended up here...not my plan! To show some of my set-ups, and the crowed crowns on some, the blooms i am getting, the pink/purple single bloom is 'Playful Spectrum'. Its leaves are very firm and it is in a 2 1/4 in pot. The crown pic. is of my 'Twinkle Twirl', this one is 'Heinz Starfish'. All the small ones I just got a week ago, and as you can see, I taped a 'foil square' to the side of one garden, there is so much light spilling over the sides, so I can put in two more violets it.

The pics. i took of my other gardens/plants, to show the bloom stems growth, all came out either to dark,or WAY to bright. So they were not showing whats up. These were the best of the ones I took. so..any opinions of the light, and are they getting to much light now, or what?

I am now getting a TON of bloom stems starting to pop up/out on my 'SILVER GLADES CINDERS', I mean like a dozen or more!! Getting more on my 'GEE PEE', and my, 'THE MARTIAN', a WASP variety.

They were all in the 2 OZ Solo cups, till I potted them up 2 weeks ago, also the same time i got my new bulbs. There are (2) 26W AeroGarden GrowBulbs per garden. Less complicated opinions of my set-up, and the growths seen? I'm not that bright when it comes to light!!

Poohbearlvr -

You have a different light source and a different growing area than the rest of us. It seems not very adjustable and it is built to provide light for the herbs and lettuce that are normally grown outside in a full sun. I suspect that Aerogrow is never going to be an adequate light source for your AVs, It is awkward and it will be awkward no matter what.

One of these days you will get tired of it - and buy yourself a shoplight in Walmart. You can hang it above your table on chains - so you can move if necessary - and all your AVs will be much happier.

Regarding a Big Bang Theory... it is a high school physics. Nothing more.

look at my updated post

Siri.

Te lights are on the sides of the light hood. They point like a big 'V' under the hood. I should still move the light colored ones to the edge, where the light is stronger? And the darker ones to the middle? The light colored ones are 'babies', like most of mine are, i just got them 2 weeks ago, the smallest ones i have right under the light bulbs, to get them to grow faster, and to green them up. The bigger blooming ones, in one pic. in the 4in pots, 'Gee Pee' and 'Silver Glades Cinders', and 'The Martian', are on the outside edges, they are the ones putting out the mass of bloom stems, after being re-potted from the tiny pots they were in when I got them a month or so ago. 99% are from the same grower, the only nice/decent one on Ebay.