Put your hand at the top of your plant, if the lights too hot for your hand then its to hot for your plants, adjust light accordingly.
You mean like start LST them early on? In general I didnt wanna let them get any bigger than say 10"-12" because my flowering chamber is only like 3.5' high.if u have 1.5' from the top of ur plants ur going to have to tie them down or u might have problems with burning, make sure ur ventilation is good because with a small area like that heat build up might be a problem with HID lights systems