Anyone have any tips or comments I'm gonna start to grow in my closet with a 400 watt hps light and fox farm soil. I'm wondering which way I should germinate and which way is the fastest and most succeeding. And is it okay if I use tap water?
You can use tap water. Let it sit out for 24 hours. The best germ method I've found is lay it in a paper towel, spray the paper towel with my water bottle until it is damp. Then place it in a plastic baggy. I then sit it in front of a space heater set to 82 degrees for 18-24 hours. Then I take the seed (once its popped open) and place it in sunshine mix #4. Generally 2-5 days later, your baby will break dirt. Some people use light once its in dirt, some keep it dark until it sprouts. I've tried every which method there is. What I've found is, 18 hours a blue spot light a day works wonders. I've never had anything germ like this spot light. I'll have seeds that didn't pop open after 48 hours in a paper towel, which almost is always a garbage seed. But ill still take that seed put it in sunshine mix and use my blue spot light, and 50% of the time ill get the seed to sprout.
I've never had much success with dropping seeds in a shot glass of water until it sinks. Paper towel method has worked the best for me over the years.
Ziplock isn't that important. The only reason you place the damp papaer towel in a plastic baggy is to prevent it from drying out and wasting a seed.
Any type of sealable plastic baggy. The cheap dollar store kind will do fine, ziplock not essential. When you place the seed in the paper towel, and spray it, don't drown it. Just so the whole paper towel is damp, not dripping.
And yes, just let them sit. If you have them in a plastic bag you don't have to worry about them drying out. Just keep them in a warm spot. I suggest 78-85 degrees.
I usually just put them in a dark place, like a cupboard or drawer. For what it's worth I can tell you the method I've found that works best for me. I usually just drop them in a small cup of distilled water for 24 hours. When I plant the seeds most have sunk and are slightly cracked, while a couple may still be floating. Either way I go ahead and plant them. I've found that using a straw cut at an angle is a good way to get the seeds out of the cup with minimal disruption. I plant them in moistened Fox Farm Ocean Forest about 1/4" of the inch down in a small 4" pots and gently cover with the soil. I keep them under a 400w MH light 24/7. To keep the soil from drying out and needing to water before they've sprouted I mist a ziplock bag and place it loosely over the top of each pot. After a couple of days the seeds break the surface. I remove the bags, and if there's a piece of the seed shell stuck I'll very gently remove it. Water as needed; I use distilled, but if you go with tap, let it sit out, and either way make sure to check your pH. I've found Ocean Forest actually works quite well. Some people will say it's too hot for seedlings, but it seems like it has just enough oomph to get the plants going. I've only got 4 grows under my belt, but I've found this method gives me around a 90% success rate.
My advice: search this site for threads with the words "germinate" or "germination" in the thread title, all the advice you've gotten and a lot more is already here.
I simply put seeds betweek 2 layers of wet paper towels (not cold wet, hot-ish wet water) not dripping wet but not barely moist either. I then place that into a tupperware dish with airtight lid, and place on a laptop charger or game console power brick charger. I then cover that with a hat or towel because they don't like light. Both chargers generate a lot of heat, so they seem to pop quick. I am 3 for 3 with this method.
Dont check constantly, keep all the humidity in. Should be between 2 to 7 days. Some old beans or abused beans you could say can take up to 7-11 days, then after that they are probably no good at all. Cover the tupperware with a hat, go into your xbox setting and turn the screensaver or "back light" setting to off so the xbox brick is always running and hot. If its on, the screen and console calm down and cool down. I run my xbox 24 hours a day until the beans pop.