first grow, indoor from seed. advice appreciated

hello all! Ive got some lovely little ones going. heres some specifics

strains:
vortex
spacequeen
blackberry
sour diesel

lighting:
2x125watt cfls
2x23watt cfls
2xt834watt (mounted side wall)

nutes:
Slammin'Salmon AACT
floranova grow(veg)
superthrive

soil:
homemade compost with some MG

okay first off i know my soil needs work. only 4 have gotten big enough so far to go into some 5 gals or larger will be doing that soon and when i do that ill mix up something nice for them. though the compost is quite amazing, worms, worms, worms, worms, worms, and more worms. had a little bucket of the stuff just chillin in my grow room and 2 weeks later when i dumped it out still had tons of little worms in it. so it's good right? when i mix the big batch for repotting i want to use a good bit of it in the mix, it needs something to make it a bit fluffier? im open to suggestions

a few questions for the pros out there

when will i be able to tell sex? all from seed. i took a picture of the little node where the pistols should be. the white hairs(i know what i should be seeing)
but i was curious as to if picture one is a male.

and:
is this a retarded way to hang this light?(see pic 2) i want to do vertical when i put them under the hps in the big room. so i thought maybe get them used to it already? or should i hang it horizontally and attach the hood?
it seems pretty bright in there and most of them are pretty happy. a few have folding leaves sorting that out


edit: opps. got the pics wrong, i assume youll know what youre looking at

Plant is plenty big enough to show sex, but I can't get a good view from the pix.

Here's what a female will look like -- At the crotch where a new leaf is growing out of the main stem you
are looking for a small growth shaped like a Hershey's Kiss. Out of the top of the growth there will be 2 wispy
fibers growing. Bingo!

BigSteve.

some pics
oneweektwins?!2weeksish?few days

okie doke ill look for that, thanks!

i was just concerned that what i was looking at was a penis...hahahaha


what should i do about the twins? i left it on there, figured it'd make a good clone when it got big enough. its starting to get over shadowed by the big one.
ill take a pic next chance i get. Theyre sleeping, wouldnt want to wake them

quick question bout ballasts. I have a 600 watt ballast, says 240v on it, hps only, but has 120v cord plug in. i havent needed it yet but my darlings will needing it soon. so im trying to figure out how to wire it. i was gonna run 240v to it through a braker box in the room itself with 240 on one side and 120 on the other but because of the 110v plug on the ballast im confused cause it says 240v on the sticker..

lots of eballasts can run off of 240 or 120v if it came with a 120v cord just plug it in to a regular socket, it probably just says 240 on the ballast to let you know that it is 240v compatable

oh good, thanks.

also any down sides to running a 1000watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast? not that im going to, my friend i got the unit from was doing such thinking he had a 1000watt ballast..So i bought a 1000 watt bulb without looking at the ballast in detail. im going to go back and trade it in for a 600