First time grower looking for all the help he can get

Hey guys!
Im on my first grow ever. I have some help and guidance already from a friend but we live in separate states and he isnt always available so hoping you guys can help to make my first grow a success! Any and all help is greatly appreciated and i thank you in advance! So, heres the situation:

Day 8:
- 3 strains going ( all pictures below, including environment numbers as of last night)
1. Glookies- green, the little guy from Barneys Farm
2. Cookies Kush- yellow, from Barneys Farms
3. Shaman- white, from Dutch Passion Seed Co.
- all planted same day (12-11-2020) using perlite/ cocoa mix
- 18 on/ 6 off light cycle (10 am- 3:59 pm off, 4pm- 9:59 am on)
- Light is about 15 inches from the top of the cups and running at about 21 % brightness

I know i didnt include smaller details such as the light model and things of that nature but im comfortable w/ the tools and materials ive purchased for the job. Help is coming from a very experienced grower. Im more so looking for help w/ what to do next. Ive only been watering w/ pH water between 5.7- 6.4 from spray bottle until soil is wet and moist. But as you can see from day 8 pics below, idk at what point i should start giving more than just a few sprays, I want the roots to grow strong right? So some of my questions im hoping you guys could help me with are as follows:
1. When do i start dumping a shots worth in each (or more), and how do you tell? Ive also only been "feeding" them just pH water, nothing else. Ive read that when using cocoa and perlite mix (I am) you need to start giving it nutes sooner than soil bc it has none? So when should i start feeding it on a cycle, and what do i feed it? I have the cal/ mag and cocoa tek bloom a and b. from general hydroponics.
2. When do: raise light, or increase brightness?
3. At what point do I transport them to 3 gal and then 5 gallon buckets, when the roots are strong and coming out of holes in the bottom of my cups, right? If thats the case then i guess im just trying to make sure im going what i can/ should be to get them nice and strong.


Side note: I read last night more about the detail and importance of cleaning the cocoa from the "pete" and then bufefering it by soaking in the cal/mag for 8 hours...It said this was of utter importance of you would have deficiencies in your guys. So that worrys me, thoughts?

What I a going to do is do this properly, and more thoroughly before i transport them to the bigger pots. Should that suffice?


Thanks again guys!!

First off welcome to RIU

to help guide you on a few of your questions

if your growing in coco/perilite you should be feeding nutes with every watering and you should make sure to never allow the coco to dry out.

start off with a low dose(usually 1/4 of what the bottles recommended)

It looks like your using leds for lights, the best way to know when to raise leds is by using a lux meter and giving the plants the proper range of lux during all stages of growth. The meters aren’t expensive to buy and imo anyone growing with leds should have one.

As for transplanting, from personal experience, anything more than 3GS of coco is a waste of coco. So I would just use the 3GS as my final pots, I will usually transplant my babies once their leaves are reaching out past the edge of the cups.

rinsing and buffering coco is definitely important, altho some cocos come pre buffered , normally I just run a bunch of ph’d water with 3ml/g of calimagic. I don’t let it soak for 8 hours.
Hope some of this helped.

best of luck

Thank you! I will check into all that, much appreciated!