The new guy has green stuff on his dirt.

Hey you all!  Great forum you have here.  I just planted my first batch of peppers and really have no experience growing anything.  They are just sprouting (about 3 weeks) and are in little 12 oz cups with some Miracle Grow germination soil. I have a CFC grow light about 1 foot above them and it is on about 12 hours a day.
 
I noticed today that some of the little white pellets that come in the soil are turning a little green and there is a slight green tint to the top of the soil in places.  I was hoping you all could tell me if this is normal or if it is bad (and if it is a harmful mold or fungus how to kill it).
 
Thanks for any help!
 
 

Algae. Not a big deal, and common when things are sprouting because the soil is constantly damp. Once everything has spouted you can back off on watering (only when needed) and the green stuff will go way.

Oh, and welcome!

Edit: Also, I would recommend keeping those lights on 24/7 for the first 5 or 6 weeks.

Thanks a bunch man.  I've read some bad stuff about fungus and wasn't sure what it looked like.  That helps a lot!

I had this and it didn't hurt any...

The fungus will reduce oxygene intake into the soil , I used to just skim it off but I was always just over cautious lol

Yeah, it is algea...  Its not a killer, but it will cause problems in my experience (as mentioned, the algae will compete for resources with your pepper causing deficiencies and stunted growth.)  What I did this season that worked really well was to scratch the algae a little to get it broken up a little, then I put a layer of bone dry worm castings on top, started bottom watering only, and set up a fan...  However, those were for the cells whose peppers were already germinated.  I dont know what to recommend for soil that has algae growing on it before the seeds have even germinated.  possibly spray it with a peroxide solution?! 
 
Also, I have noticed that the algae problem only happens if im using soil that has been sitting around... last season i had the algae problem and I was using 2 year old promix that had set in my mom's garage.... this season I had the algae problem on my first wave of peppers, and I used soil that was purchased last spring and had been sitting unopened on the porch for a year.  My second and third waves of peppers did not have any problems, and I used fresh promix straight from the nursery. 

Boans said:

Thanks a bunch man.  I've read some bad stuff about fungus and wasn't sure what it looked like.  That helps a lot!

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You may also notice a white mossy type fungus that clings to edges of bark etc if you start to let your potimgmix dry more, same sort of thing as the green stuff just one likes dry and one likes moist both are fairly harmless