wouldnt be so sure about global warming, scientists sometimes dont know crap.
the world gets colder and hotter as it travels in its circle (its never really always the same distance from the sun)
it got really hot around here and lost our snow for a decade, but last 5 years its been steadily coming back.
plus the main reason for the "global warming" was always supposed to be co2....
which is a bit of a joke, to a gardener..
but a whole t5 bank for a seedling, is a bit of a waste, yes lol.
not only the electricity, but also the bulbs and the lifetime of the ballast (limited
) (though the last least concern)
but
the more light you give your seedling, the bigger and better and faster it will grow.
in fact, you could start it under a 1000w hps and as long as the temps were fine, the seedling would just grow faster than you´d ever seen
but, it NEEDS to be STARTED under that light.
and AT that distance.
if you start a seedling under a cfl and then put it right under the 1000w (say, foot away) then the seedling will die.
but if it HAD started under the 1000w (A foot away) and never dried out or got too hot, it would thrive, like you had never seen before (unless you live in the tropics)
personally i start seedlings under a 600w hps when i can (i dont have any larger
)
but to answer the original question.
since you started the lamps far away, they need to be kept there and slowly moved closer.
you could have started the seedlings a inch away from the t5´s, as long as heat allowed, but now they might possibly die if you moved the light that close (depending on how far it is since theyve sprouted and how much they have adjusted to the current light)
so yeah start the lamp (a foot away seems excessive) but you could do that or closer and just watch them
they will begin to turn away from the light, if it is too much.
id put them under the light , half a foot away and then check them an hour, half hour later, if they are fine, move it a bit closer, then check again and repeat til the lamps are as close as you want them (check the available light with your eyes and stop where it looks best to you)
it takes a shitload of light to be too much, you cant really do it with your light (unless you had started under a weak cfl and then moved right under the t5 an inch away (but even then, it might survive)
