I am starting up a 3 plant (autos) grow and I will likely be using an 8 bulb 432w T5. This is my first grow and I have a couple of questions. My first question is, will I need side lighting? Right now I only have the pots in place, but it appears that all the plants will be directly under the light. If all 3 plants are completely under the light then should I still run a couple of side CFL's? I know there's really no such thing as too much light, but I don't want to run extra wires and plug in to extra outlets if I'm not actually going to benefit from it. Second, the light that I am buying is coming with 6500k bulbs. I will be growing the autos likely on a 20/4 light schedule. Should I change one or two of the bulbs to 2700k? Also with autos, will I need to switch to 2700k when they start flowering or do you leave that the same also, as you do with the light cycle?
Get 42w CFLs with Y-splitters for side lighting, it always helps. And mix the spectrum. I'd use 8 2500K, and 2 6500K.