First time..advice welcome.

Ok, so it's been over a month and this is what I have. I took some seeds from a random bag I bought and germinated them using the wet paper towel method. I then placed the germinated seed into Jiffy cubes. I then let them sprout. When I felt they could be transplanted I cut off the outer layer of the pellet and place them into gallon buckets with drainage holes at the bottom. I just used regular potting soil. I placed all my plants under a T5 HO grow light and strategically placed other CFLs around the plants. I water them usually every other day and I use Miracle Gro as a fertilizer. I do that every other watering. It's taken me a little while to get used to it, but I think they are starting to pick up. I'm gonna try to attach the pics and I'd really like to get some feedback. I have 6 plants total and almost all of them are at least 8 inches high. I know it took a while to get to that stage, but being new to this really made me lose time by having to do research. I've had the plants under 24 hr light and been keeping the temp at around 78 and I let the temp drop a little in the evening. In a couple weeks I plan to make my own fertilizer with chicken egg shells. Does anyone have an idea about how long I should leave them under 24 hour light? It's been almost a month to the day and I'm not sure where to go from here. Maybe I should try 18 on 6 off? I still think they are too small to push into flowering so I'm just stuck. I'm using the overhead T5 fixture which per the manufacturer gives off 5000 lumen (maybe per sq m ???) Then I did manage to get a grow spotlight which I keep at a distance. I'm also using two 24" fluoro and 4 regular compacts interspersed. I then basically made a box lined with aluminum foil, dull side out. I did leave enough room for air to circulate because I do have a fan blowing in the room 24/7. I guess my main concern would be when to change my lighting schedule and when I do can I get through the flowering stage with these types of bulbs or could I get away with a 2 or 4 bulb fixture that has the T8 HO bulbs, or could I just add the T8 fixture and use them in conjunction with the others? Sorry this is so long, but I really need some answers

I'm guessing you have 4 plants right?

Describe your lights further, wattages, is the t5 a single 4' bulb?

Stop using miracle grow ferts, you can see how the bottom of your plants are starting to get discolored. Miracle grow is notorious for burning plants. What is the brand of potting soil?

I'm no expert on making teas for fertilizer but I don't think it will work with egg shells, see if you can find bat guano at a gardening center. If you are comfortable with ordering off of ebay, I strongly suggest you purchase Blue Mountain Organics fertilizers. It's a 4 part all organic system that costs around $24 for 4 pint sized bottles.
what's your temperatures?

You plants aren't looking bad at all for a first grow. Just starting to look a little bad at the bottom.