Don't cut off the small round leaves; they'll die and fall off on their own soon enough.

Move your light far away from seedlings. Sounds like you had it too close. Keep seedlings on the cool side (like high 60s) for a while till they start growing fast.

Remeber that the plants need a lot of leaves to begin fast growth and to be able to use up all the light and nutrients you are giving them. Growth is slow at first and speeds up as the plant grow more leaves. So, go easy on the nutes and light intensity at first, and increase them as the plants grow.