Lights To Use For First Two Weeks Of Growth?

Would a 600w metal halide hood cook newly sprouted seeds to a crisp? I have heard in the past that you don't want to put them under a full strength MH/HPS setup until they have reached a certain stage of their life; I do not have a dimmable setup but it is air cooled.

I use an 8 bulb 2x2 t5 in a 2x2.5x5 tent
Then I put them under 315lec for the rest of the process.

I used to go from T5 to 400mh then to 1000whps but the 315 light(3100k) is all I need for my space.

I use a 6 bulb 2 foot T5 to start.

If you really want to produce the best plants possible and save money, because seedlings really don't need a lot of light to start with, I would buy a 2' x 2' T5 HO fluorescent fixture. That is fine for say 4 plants. I use a 4'x2' T5 VHO because I usually have 18 plants running all the time, and I veg using that fixture for my entire veg cycle of 4 weeks, and the plants love it, I let them get pretty big and then transplant into their final home and set them off using HPS. This save me a lot of money as my power consumption is way down, and less hours on the bulb. Good luck

T5's can plug right into the wall right, they don't need an external ballast? I might be wrong on that...

Almost all T5 fixtures come with an internal ballast, or none at all. I recommend 4" 8Bulb setups. Swear by it.

I use a 2ft 4 bulb t5ho unit and it works great, I have it less than an inch above the top of the seedling, works great, any further away and they aren't getting enough radiant heat from the bulb any closer and they'll burn. People shit allover hids for seedlings but usually their experience has come from having it too close, if I had 1000 seedlings id probably use a hid. I've even used a 600w dual arc bulb from start to finish in a cool tube, and I mean I germed the seeds with it, it's all about making sure you have it the right distance away from the plants