I've been using a 7 gallon tote for 6 heads of romaine. I only put 6 gallons of water in so they have some air space. When they run that about dry I sometimes add about a gallon to a gallon and a half to keep them going. Often tho, I don't even refill it. I just harvest those ones because I have 4 totes on a rotation so I have more than I need without adding water. At the end the tote is about 1/3-1/2 full of roots.
I've had no success with spinach in this setup tho. I haven't researched the possible reasons why though.
Lighting requirements for lettuce are going to be lower than for fruiting plants. Fruiting plants also like to have a warmer color temp when fruiting, but it's not 100% necessary. With that said, I use 3 of these per shelf in my tent. My shelves are 2'x4'. That's 120W ea shelf. They make 2' versions that only use 20W/light as well.
White ceiling with more lights, you never have enough lights.
I have 20 of these, Barrina LED Shop Light, 4FT 40W 5000LM 5000K, Daylight White, V Shape, Clear Cover, Hight Output, Linkable Shop Lights, T8 LED Tube Lights, LED Garage Light 4 Foot with Plug (Pack of 10) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q49DNGS/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_31EPYZR234ESZZPRF55T?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
And 6 twin tube led lights in my 2 car and I'm mostly happy with the amount of light now
I have 20 of these in my garage, and another 24' of equivalent light over my bench
Barrina LED Shop Light, 4FT 40W 5000LM 5000K, Daylight White, V Shape, Clear Cover, Hight Output, Linkable Shop Lights, T8 LED Tube Lights, LED Garage Light 4 Foot with Plug (Pack of 10) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q49DNGS/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_W4EE2GBBD50APCE2AEV3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
They are amazing for the price/ light output
Most leds are single row, but these are double row, so 2x the lights in the same strip. I have 5000k in my garage and it's amazing, don't get the 6k, they just look blue.
My tactic was to buy as many (cheapish) toolboxes as possible. When you price it out, a Husky or Craftsman or Harbor Freight toolbox is about the same price per linear foot as most garage cabinet systems (newage, etc). I have 3 72" Husky toolboxes. Tons of room to organize almost every type of tool I have. Very space efficient.
I built my own cabinets with 3/4" plywood (built them before prices went crazy). It was cheaper than any store bought shelving system, and I was able to build them to my own dimensions. I put doors on them because it adds extra storage on the doors, it looks nicer, and keeps sawdust out.
For lighting I would recommend getting linkable 4' LED fixtures like these. They're super quick to install since they come with the harnesses to interconnect them. All you need is 1 switched outlet on the ceiling. I installed can lights in my garage because I wanted to be fancy, but I wish I would have just gone with 4' LED fixtures. They give off more even light with less shadows.
The trays are what they are. A YouTube-er Justin out in s cal mentioned using 1 dollar trays until they broke . got me looking and found
They are malleable to open up when watering, which I was really hoping for. Had cheap other ones that were just to ridgid and cracked easily.
As for the t5 vs t8. I have a bunch of old t5 (not led) use to use for our canna grows and they were fine for the clones and teens. So t5 led should be fine for microgreens. For the price and the electrical bill savings I would get instead of using my old t5s, we went the t8 led and just skipped over the 5. I am now, or soon going to be dimming the lights down maybe 20-30% and compare the grows. With that said , I'm thinking I could have went the t5 led and achieve the same results.
Lights
Interesting to hear that, I wish literally just about to order a few more from them.
If you don't mind me asking what were the specific lights that you had problems with?
I have 20 of thesethese in my garage right now (end linked in 4 sets of 5 lights) with zero issues for a year now
My only complaint is that they make noise in the clips when they are first turn on as I'm assuming they are expanding a bit and moving.
i built a new shop after we were hit by a tornado, and i have 10 of these in my shop. i have zero shadows and i spend 4 bucks a month electric.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q49DNGS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i really like them, no heat loss, very bright and long lasting.
as far as what else i'd include-- didnt see it mentioned but good ventilation fans, exhaust fans.
Barrina LED 5000k shop light. Here’s a link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q49DNGS/
I got a bunch of these lights (two ten packs). My ceilings are 9ft tall, so the distance from the work surface to the ceiling is just about 5.5ft. Each light puts out 5000 lumens, and I cluster them close together so they overlap. I haven't actually done any math to be able to demonstrate the difference, I'll leave that exercise to you, if you are so interested.
Another factor is that my lights are 5000K, which is right around the color temperature for direct sunlight. The lights in this video are much "warmer" which equates to more strain on the eyes in most cases. That is part of what makes it look so "dim" in the video.
Here's some random pictures of my working area, so you can see what I mean:
https://imgur.com/hLFBgOS https://imgur.com/5E1j8C1 https://imgur.com/b3cDBpN https://imgur.com/bDAQ6wk https://imgur.com/j3q0olR
Here's a picture of the space before I put all of the lights up. You can see through the windows that this is pitch black outside, the light here is 100% from the overhead LEDs. Pardon the mess :)