How far away from my 600 mh should my clones be???

i have to move everything into my 4x4x8 tent this weekend and i was wondering how far away my clones should be from the light??

right now they are about 2 1/2 feet away.

Depends on the strain, but 2.5 ft sounds alittle far. I'd go with about 20 inches

From the metal halide???

I have all my mother plants about 20 inches away...

but my clones are all about 2 1/2 to 3 feet away from my 600mh.

Will light that intense and direct kill my fresh cuttings??

Give me a break. Don't matter if your store-bought light is the Sun, what matters is that you want the light as close to the plant without causing heat damage. A 1,000 watt light set one foot away is only 600 watts, or something to that effect. Hold your hand upside above your plant, if the light heats the top of your hand, move down, or up the light. As close without burning top growth, that's the key.

It's easy to test the light. Hold your hand directly where the top of your plants would be. If you can hold your hand there for 30 seconds or so with no discomfort due to heat, your plants will be okay. Do a little adjusting back in forth to get it as close as you can without risk of burning.

This should help.

2 1/2 feet is fine for clones that haven't yet rooted. They need very little light, and too much may slow down rooting, or even kill them.