light placement

I'm in the process of germinating my seeds and need to know how far away my lights should be when I put them on them. I'm using 400w mh light for four plants. Also when I switch to flower stage how far should the light be away. I'm using 400w hps for that. And 2-3 weeks after I put lights on them is a good time to start using nutes right

id wait till my plants were around 6" high before putting them under 400mh. the usual distance is between 12" and 18", the basic rule is to put your hand at the top of the plant when the light is on, if its too warm for your hand then its too warm for your plant, your plant wont need any nutes for its first 2 weeks of life and when u do start feeding remember to just use 1/4 strength at first and gradualy increase, too little is better than 2 much.

I've never heard of keeping it in the dark that long. I didn't even know of would grow much withoutight? How long does it take to grow 6"?

sorry i didnt explain myself , i didnt mean keep them in the dark , i meant putting them under fluros for the first 2 or 3 weeks before putting them under your 400mh, i feel the the mh is too strong for seedlings because u have to put the light too far away to stop it burning your plants, and because of the distance the plant stretches too much

Oh I understand what you mean. So wait for it to surface then put cfl on it? And one seed didn't finish germinating it cracked but no root but I still planted it will it grow?