hey willow, sorry to hear about your plants. mine are still hanging in there, but there is never a day that goes by that is a breeze. LOL. i know what you mean about that small pump. whenever i do a changeover i take that pump and work it over really good. today, i just took one of the baskets that i'm not using, put the pump in the basket, put nylon around the basket so there will be NO uptake of any of that nasty white stuff that i know you know what i'm talking about.

my roots are getting so thick and look so great, but it is back up my gully, i raised the level a bit to help in the drainage. i'm talking your idea about the drainage system and will work on that soon.

however, i'm not sure what light you got with your system, i got the 400W HPS light and just learned the other day that i should have about 4 ft from the light to top of plant with that kind of light!!! so i went to home depot and just got some more 3/4 PVC pipes and added 22 inches on each side. i could not get 4 feet due to ceiling level, but have it around 3 1/2 feet now. just wanted to pass on to my fellow NFT buddy that bit of info IF you have the same light that it should be higher than what the system is built for.

well, i wish you and your new babies the best of luck. keep me posted and keep me in the loop of any cool ideas you come up with or things to look out for. take care