Couple Questions For A New Hydro Grower

I am getting mixed feedback, but how far away should the plants be from a 1000w light?
They are about 3 weeks old and about a foot tall. I heard some people say that their plants can grow 1 inch a day. ls this really possible? if so, how are they doing it? At what age should they get on this type of growth spurt?
How do I trim properly so I produce multiple colas on each plant?

Sorry for all the questions...

If they are 3 weeks old and a foot tall they are stretched which usually comes from being too far from light. How far away now? Pics would help.

Today I noticed that the very tips of some leafs are yellow and they are slightly curling up. I need an opinion but my initial instinct tells me it is caused by heat because the room temperature went up to 88 today and the circulation has been somewhat poor. I have a reflective sheet under the plants that i put on 2 days ago. I don't know if it is possible that the reflective sheets are reflecting too much heat and burning the leafs??? Please take a look... It can possibly be nutrition burn?? Let me remind you that these plants are 3-4 weeks old, 10" tall, I have trimmed them early on to promote quick early growth but I'm letting them grow out now. There must be something that I'm doing wrong. Nutrient level is 800-1000 consistently in a drip system where I water for 5 minutes 4 times per day.
Take a look at this picture and tell me what it looks like. Thanks!

88 degrees is too much. Get the heat down to 80ish and some air circulation. What are the reflective sheets made of? I wouldn't consider trimming anything right now.

With a 1k halide light 12 - 18 inches is fine. What kind of fertilizer are you using? Do you have a PH meter? How often do you change out your solution? With a drip system Ive had better results running them 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off all day long. They love flowing water.

It all depends on your set-up bro and how cool it is ...

you can have it REAL close if u know wtf u are doing.

PERSOANLLY i would recommend the hand test.....

that is to just put hand over the top of the plant .. leave it there for a minute... if it is uncomfortable then ... you know it is to close... fans, fans, and fans .. move that air around

GreenThumbSucker said:

With a 1k halide light 12 - 18 inches is fine. What kind of fertilizer are you using? Do you have a PH meter? How often do you change out your solution? With a drip system Ive had better results running them 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off all day long. They love flowing water.

Click to expand...

12-18 inches might give off too much heat to the top of the plants don't you think? I would really love some reasoning because I'm a little confused on light distance. With 1000hps, some people say 4-5 feet and some say 1-2 feet. My logic tells me that the higher the light, the further up the plants want to stretch, which results in a faster vertical growth. What do you think?
I have all the right nutrients and a PH meter. I change the solution every 7-10 days in my reservoir.
My system is a little different than what you'd buy at a store because I built it myself. It don't have a dripper, but rather an open ended tube with a constant flow of approximately 30gallon/hour. I turn the pump on every 4 hours for 5-10 minutes (I do this manually with no timer).
I submerge the bottom of my 2 gallon buckets in the reservoir about 1-2 inches. I don't think the roots have grown into the water quite yet, but I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on the topic. Is this good, bad, or does it not really matter if the buckets are sitting in the water?
Thanks for the feedback you've given me so far!

skunkman98536 said:

It all depends on your set-up bro and how cool it is ...

you can have it REAL close if u know wtf u are doing.

PERSOANLLY i would recommend the hand test.....

that is to just put hand over the top of the plant .. leave it there for a minute... if it is uncomfortable then ... you know it is to close... fans, fans, and fans .. move that air around

Click to expand...

Makes great sense. Thanks for that reply. What distances have you found the most success with? Do you use a 1000w hps/sodium?