First Grow - Gold Bagseed - DWC LED

Three white seeds fail to germinate so they were replaced. Started nutrients. Struggling to raise humidity. Added a humidifier. Two of the sprouts had appeared to have pushed themselves out of the rapid rooters as they grew. This caused them to lay horizontally instead of growing up. Along the extra long root/stem extending out of the rapid rooter appeared to be thin and drier then above and below this thin area. After several days of seeing this persist I felt compelled to attempt to reposition the seedling. In retrospect this was a bad idea as both sprouts bent at the top and bottom of the thinner area in a z shape. Over the next few days one of two continued to grow and the other stopped growing. Since then the thriving of the two seedlings threw out plenty of healthy white roots. I believe the stalled seedling is lost. The bag seeds used in this grow included several white seeds amongst the darker seeds. Initially three each of the white and darker seeds were planted. None of the three white seeds sprouted and from research I've done since appear to be immature seeds that are not viable. They were replaced with three darker seeds at the beginning of week 11 which included one that had part of the shell damaged revealing some of the proto plant parts inside. This damaged seed does not appear like it will sprout. One of the other has sprouted after three days and is growing well. Since one of the seedlings was damaged I've placed another darker seed along with the three white seeds in a glass of water to try an alternative germination technique. It's probably not wise to start a seed at this point in the grow but as this is my first grow I'd like to start with four plants to begin topping and LST. As my first grow it's not unlikely that I may destroy additional plants further along and hope the growth difference will be manageable. This is assuming that these seeds are photoperiods and I can control the switch to flower. If they are autoflower seeds then it won't make much difference as they will what their genetics say. Humidity has been a challenge on this grow and finding the right humidifier is difficult. Because I have hard water an ultrasonic humidifier is not a good choice due to the mineral dust that will clog my carbon filter. A evaporative wick humidifier was tried but only resulted in a minor increase. Currently, a quick steam unit is installed raised the humidity by about 10% rh. I had worried about an increase in heat but with the three fans and vent fan it only raised about a degree which seems like a good trade off to get from 29% to 40% rh. This grow's sprouting target had been 70%, veg 40-60% and flower reducing humidity during the first two weeks to >40%. Research had indicated that an EC/PPM meter would be needed but I only had a general idea that it would provide information on the nutrient density of the water. After getting one I'm a but confused on how to use it properly. It would seem that part of my uncertainty may be because there are no hard and fast numbers that need to be maintained such as in temperature, humidity, and ph. From what I've read so far it seems like it may be a tool to help gauge nutrient density in water to aid in determining how much buffered water vs. nutrients to add in between reservoir changes. Another complicating fact is I see EC values online written as 1.2 or 0.3 and my readings have all been > 1000. It might just be a decimal thing but I haven't looked hard enough to find the answer as I've added the seedling dose and don't think I'll need to add more for another week at least. I love watching them grow. They have finally started to speed up where I can notice the change over 8 hours. This is a welcome calm with all of the pandemic related changes and anxiety. I'm hoping that by the time I get to enjoy the fruits of this grow that the world will be a calmer place.