thanks SO much for the responses guys...
yeah they are stretching WAY more now, those pics were from days ago...they are around 5 or 6 in tall now to the cotyledons...im going to raise the cups to the light rather than the other way around. i think this will be easier. think i will probably have to replant them now...grrr...hope this doesn't mess things up too badly...
so the 12 cfls i will be running will be running horizontally, 6 per "fixture" and the fixtures will be placed next to each other. this is a total of 276watts of light and supposedly `19000 lumens. the other 12 bulbs (or 9 and keep 3 6500k) are for the flowering stage, and so will be switched out when the time comes. this total of 12 cfls is for 8 plants. they will be kept in close proximity in a 3x3ft cube.
will this be enough light? i REALLY don't have the money to invest (yet) in a diy HID or retrofitted T5HO quad or hex or octo setup. i was thinking it would be. maybe not. maybe have to double it. which honestly will STILL be cheaper than T5HO which is the way i WANT to go...idk...