Sorry doja, but I have to disagree both from personal experience and the word of those whom I trust....including my hydro store owner and folks like Zandor.....who wrote the article on flushing.

Guess I'd need to know who's idea it was that things weren't broke.....when I don't flush my plants they burn poorly and the leaves are more friable; not to mention the lovely metallic taste and the headaches. When I do flush the taste, appearance, and way the bud burns are all much better in my opinion (AND the headaches) and I've tried it both ways.

I use and recommend a flushing agent because it speeds the process up. Can you flush with plain water? Of course.....but the process will be longer imo. That's why I grow hydro......so things don't have to take forever. A good flushing agent helps me with that.

I'm also remembering other great tips from overgrow.....things like peeing on your plants and other such wonderful tidbits of infomation. My take is.....I'm growing in 2008.....and they've invented things like real fertilizer and air conditioning, vaccines, etc.
If I want to live and grow like they did 200 years ago I would find such information alot more valuable than I do. And seriously.....the author there says users reported great results using flushing agents.....but stop short of saying he's actually tried such products himself so wtf?

There are as many ways to grow this plant as there are people. This is the way that I have personally found works for me and that's why I pass said information on.