My grow light setup

The last frost here is approximately May 4.  With some of my seeds calling for a min 8 week growth cycle prior to transplant, that means a minimum of March 9th.  Since I'm antsy, I started early.  I moved my started plants downstairs to the grow lights this evening, I'll post a bit about that.

Last year, I started our seeds and kept them in that south-facing bedroom until I transplanted the starters and moved them to my grow light setup in the basement.  Unfortunately, our south-side of the house is shaded by a large maple tree which makes seed starting a little tougher.  Also, our son's current bedroom the room with the most readily-available surface for laying out seed trays.  I have some thinking to do on that front.
 
To make my grow light setup, I bought a 4'x6' shelf system from either Home Depot or Lowes.  I think it was simply from wherever it was that I'd accumulated the most gift cards via birthdays and Christmas presents.  The price was around $85, I believe.

I also purchased twin-bulb overhead shop lights that had their own plug (as opposed to needing to be hard-wired).  Around $20 per assembly.  I plugged both into a surge protector. 

There were difficulties in getting the lights set up properly.

• Its important to pair available plant/aquarium light bulbs with the shoplights.  The "T" rating on each matters. 
• There weren't many options that met my specs for space, not requiring hardwiring, number of bulbs, and which weren't reviewed as having poor ratings.
• Getting working lights was harder than it should have been. I found that the Lowes I bought the lights from restocked a lot of returned or otherwise opened-box lights.  Many were missing the hanging brackets.  When I got home with my purchase and tested the lights, I found one to be faulty after a good bit of troubleshooting.  In returning it, I had to go back through the problematic stock to find another that looked like a good option.

Along with the accompanying hook and chain, I purchased 2 lengths of 1/8" chain and two additional hooks per light.  All that allows me to vary the light heights above the plant seedlings such that they won't stretch to hard to get to the light.

As I mentioned previously, I had issues caused by overwatering: fungus development and fungus gnats.  This year I will be buying a fan to create some air movement by my plant starters.  I haven't done that, yet, but that'll come.

Please pardon the sign.  It was a joking gift from the wife to christen the ManCave when we first bought the house.  :-)

Tomatoes and basil already reaching for the light.

The second shelf (below shown) is currently unpopulated.