As with most newbs 1st grow, slow start, need help

I have been browsing around the forums for a while now gathering information. I have almost finished my closet, all Mylar and everything is in place I just need to cut holes in the door and ceiling for fans. I will be growing with between 350-500 watts of cfl and florescent. Ok now onto my problem.

I germinated the seeds (bag seed several months old) on a plate/paper towel and 10 our or 14 germinated so I planted all including the 4 none germinated (just in case) in coco plugs. I stated them under a humidity dome and heat mat (and took the dome off and turned the heat mat off after a couple days). Within the first 2 days two sprouts had popped out with the seeds still on their tops. The next day two more sprouted. I am now on to day 5 and only those 4 have sprouted and all still have the seeds on the tops of them. It seems like they are taking longer then they should. They are growing under 4 26watt cfl daylight bulbs about 2.5-3" above with a mylar reflector and walls. Any help on what I can do to make sure these grow would be appriciated. I thought about adding a very very small amount of nutrients to the water but decided not to as everyone says to wait til they are 3-4". It is fine if they take longer to grow it is just wierd that all the ones that sprouted haven't done anything since they popped out. I am trying to get practice before spending the money on good seeds. Pics below sorry for the poor quality it is a phone.

Day 1


Day 4/5

take the dome off and get the lights so close they're almost touching the leaves. make a reflector of some kind, your loosing 2/3 of your light out the sides and back of the bulbs. You should have a small fan blowing on your leaves at all times.

The lights are only about 2 inch above right now. This set up is in a small area and all surrounding walls and ceiling are covered in mylar to reflect the light. I read that you don't want a fan for seedlings or germinating seeds.

So it has been another day, I lowered the lights to 1" above the plants so they are right above them now. I still have had no new growth or sprouts. Also one of the seedlings seem to be losing its green and turning white (it is already the thinnest and weakest looking). I don't know what caused that. Any help would be appreciated as to if this is a normal grow rate or if there is something I could do to help boost them. As I said they are bag seed so I figured maybe they are just bad seeds. Also how frequently should I be misting them. Thanks.

I stunted my babies with the lights 1" away, for whatever that's worth. With my lights about 4" away is where I've seen my best growth come. Most important, be patient. Also, mild fan is good to stiffen those stalks. And do not nute, man. Not yet. I'd say, if you're using organic soil, just wait for your veg. nutes until the first leaves (circular) shrivel up and drop off. You've got a couple weeks, man. Just sit tight and be patient. If you read the beginning of my grow, I was a bit impatient, too. Now, I've got new sprouts in my perpetual pc case that are happy and tall @ 2 days out of the shell. Raise those lights back up a bit and get a thermometer ON the plants to see how hot it is exactly where they are. I found my temps ON my 1st seedlings were sustained 95+ at 1" away and that is straight up bad. They didn't recover for weeks. I've found that flowering cfl's (warm light, 2700 and under) will not get so hot when they're so close, but the veg. ones are really rough.

Again.. summary.. raise lights to 4-6", thermometer ON plants and don't forget that if your stems stretch a little, the fan will help and you can safely bury some of that stem, as roots will grow right out of it if you do.

Thanks for the info. I did the suggested things so now I'll just wait and see. I have another batch of seeds to try if these don't work out.