I remove the cover after the seeds have germinated. I also water from the bottom once they are up. I don't start fertilizing until the second set of true leaves appear and I use a very diluted fertilizer. T-5 bulbs should work well and you can keep them very close to the seedlings. I use both T-5 and metal halide lights, both work well but the metal halide lights need to be a good distance because they generate so much heat. I keep the lights on for about 14 hrs a day. Try taking the the cover off and water from the bottom once your seeds germinate. Wash out the tray & cover with bleach and I wouldn't reuse the plugs in case they have been contaminated by a fungus that caused the seeds to damp off. Good luck.
Karyn

Karyn,
Thanks for the advice, will do that this time. Here a few more questions.
How often do I water and how much? What should those plugs look like when watering is needed?
Thanks,
Dean

If you are saying that all your plants were fine one day then all dead the next? Don't think it was damp off then, IMHO, I think there was something in the watering container, tray, or the water itself that killed your plants. If top watering did it (you should always bottom water) you would observe enough erosion to expose all the seedlings roots as you watered, but I doubt that.

I'm not quite familiar with the plugs you are talking about. But I would keep the plugs moist all the way to the top for the until you get fairly complete germanation. Then as the plants develop true leaves allow the surface to dry out but not the whole plug. When I water I would get a feel for how much water the plugs will absorb to become saturated. In other words if you have standing water in the bottom of the tray, then it's too much.

Hope this helps.

I'm not sure what your plugs are either. Are they soil based or something like rockwool cubes or bark/coir fiber? Regardless of what they are made of after I sow the seeds I completely saturate the soil by setting the tray in a tub until it's completely moistened and put the cover on. I mist the surface until my seeds germinate then remove the cover and water fron the bottom when the cells start to dry. I just wait for the seedlings to tell me they need water. They'll start becoming sort of limp but don't allow them to dry too much. I set the tray back in a tub for about 5-10 minutes then let it drain and place it back on the seed mat. I usually need to water about twice a week when using bottom heat. HTH
Karyn

I'm not familiar with the T5 bulbs, but if they get pretty warm, you may have cooked your seedlings by having them covered and close to the lights. You might try putting a small fan(like a desk fan) nearby on low to keep the air circulating gently and keep it a bit cooler. It will also help prevent damp-off and the movement will strengthen your seedlings. Don't give up...there's plenty of help in this forum!

T-5 are full spectrum fluorescent bulbs that burn cool so they shouldn't cook the seedlings even if they were very close to them. You actually want fluorescent bulbs close. HID (metal halide and sodium) lights are the ones that generate a lot of heat. They provide a better light spectrum but some people dislike the heat they generate. Personally I prefer them to fluorescent grow lights and have better results with them. Noinwi's suggestion of a fan is a good idea regardless of the type of light you are using.
Karyn

The plugs are bark core, with a hole drilled in them. They also seem to absorb lot's of water. My first batch rotted the germinated seeds, and showed small amounts of mold. I start a smaller second batch of seed, and they also started to show signs of mold within 24 hours, so I removed cover turn fan on low and disappeared after an hour or so.The second batch of seeds were in new plugs and containers. I watered with aqua fina. Now my question should be do I recover seeds or leave uncovered. Should I switch to soil?
Thanks for everyone advice.

I'd probably just switch to a plain soiless seed starter mix and forget the plugs. I don't think that you need to use bottled water. Keep the cover on and the soil moist until the seeds sprout then remove the cover, use the fan and allow the soil to dry a bit between waterings (from the bottom).
Karyn

Keep the lights 2-4 inches from the seedlings, no higher or they will stretch to the light and have weak stems.

Deanna