general shit

does it really make a difference if the lights are directly above your plant when the plant has all types off bright lights around it in between etc??

Try to make them either vert or horiz so the light is not angled to a wall or floor.

I put them right above until they get so big no light is getting down to lowers and then I soround them with t5s, that is just me but yes above, I always look to nature, where is the sun?

Personally, if my resources were limited to less than HID lighting, I would prefer a higher number of smaller lights. Something like CFL's for instance, I would rather have a bunch of smaller CFL's scattered all over the place very close to the plants, over a few bigger CFL's hanging directly over the top of the canopy. CFL's have crappy penetration to those lower branches. You solve that perfectly by keeping a bunch of smaller CFL's scattered all around the plants. Just remember to keep them all as close to the growth tips as possible. You will probably have to adjust them all every day but the pay off is worth it.

lol you should have seen my very first indoor grow with CFL's. I had 5x26 watt CFL's hanging from coat hangers in my closet. I used clothes pins to hold them to the coat hangers. Each growth tip had a CFL within 2 inches and I managed to bang out 1.2 ounces from a bag seed only vegged for 25 days in a 1 gallon pot. Not too shabby.

I set my 1k/hps over the bed and skirt with 8 4' daylight tubes.