First time growing

Hello all,
This is my first time growing, I am loving the experience so far and very eager to learn! Unfortunately I have had a few issues already. I started off by overwatering the plants and had accidentally Had a droplet then to white mold on a leaf which I took care of quickly by uncovering the nursery pot. I then came to find that the ocean forest fox farm soil has pests.I am fairly certain they are aphids they were small and white and were crawling across the soil no webs left anywhere like spider mites. I sprayed Cayenne pepper with water and natural dish soap; it has seemed to help a lot with the infestation so far. I have not used 25% perlite like I have recently found out I’m supposed to with foxfarm ocean forest. I am not sure what is causing the new leaves to turn brown and why the cotyledons are staying the same size. I have a mars hydro 600w currently running for 18/6 in a 2x4 grow tent. I moved the light up to see if it I would help the burning and it has seemed to stop; but the light is now about 3 feet away from the plants. I am definitely a newbie so I am looking for some guidance to get these girls back up to speed! Anything and everything is appreciated. Thank you!

A few things I can say.

I don't put a dome over seeds or seedlings.

FFOF is hot, so that's the burn, not the lights. I would actually lower the lights since it looks like those things are stretching.

Those bugs you're killing are probably hypoaspis miles eating fungus gnats. I wouldn't kill them. I'd get some EWC and top dress with that. Or get some Mosquito Dunks. Or both.

But I'm still a rookie.

Definately try not to leave water on the plant itself. Try to always have a fan running that may actually evaporate said water droplets before can do said damage. I went with FFoF once, and felt it was a really strong nutrient soil, you can easily burn something if you add anything extra. In my case, I played around with adding a home-made worm tea and ended up getting nitrogen toxicity. So far, your ladies don't look bad at all. The heating pad is definitely something your ladies are happy you bought. I've been wanting of these things myself!

Thank you guys for the feedback everything definitely helps! I am very new to this

You should be able to run that light at 20" and I'd do nothing but give it maybe 10ml of water when dry (Right around the stem in a circle the circumference of the widest leaves)
lol sorry had to.

.. then 15 the next watering and up it every day 5ml til she gets her first sets of true leaves with at least 3 blades.. then still using plain ph'd water to 6.3-6.5 til you get a few drops of run off. When she gets 3-4 nodes.. go for 20-25% of what you put in as run off. When the bottom older leaves start turning a little yellow. Prepare it's 1st nute feed. She's telling you she's hungry.

Overwatering a tiny plant in a big pot is probably the most common thing new growers do. The others gave you good advice. That pot will basically stay moist until the plants roots grow through it, so for now, you have to strictly limit the water you give it to the area immediately around the tiny plant. It doesn't need much water though, roots grow FAST.

Thank you guys for the great advice! I will definitely make these adjustments right away!

Hello everyone!
I was able to get a picture of the bugs in the soil. They look like they are hypoaspis miles like pandawan warrior had previously said; just wanted to make sure they are beneficial and not harmful! Thank you!

Tbon said:

Hello everyone!
I was able to get a picture of the bugs in the soil. They look like they are hypoaspis miles like pandawan warrior had previously said; just wanted to make sure they are beneficial and not harmful! Thank you!View attachment 4719274

Click to expand...

Ya, he's your friend.

Okay awesome! Thank you for the help once again! Much appreciated!

Hello everybody!
My ladies had been doing great since I was able to make those adjustments. But just recently they have seemed to slow down on growth a bit and started to show some more burning and have become quite droopy. I was wondering if anyone knew what could be going on with them! Thank you!