yeah, i got a 400W HPS and and flowering into week 5 now and i notice that in my 5 gallon REZ that about 3-4 days after i put a new 5 gallons of water and nutes, that i have to add another almost full gallon of water to top it off. so the plant absorbs all that water and nutes plus the little bit of evaporation that occurs... i keep a gallon container around with premixed nutes to top off the REZ so the plant does not go hungry.

yes, with the LST method, i agree with you newgroweroldsmoker that the branches and leaves are bunched up in a different way when they are adapting to their new trained place. but do you notice the leaves around the bud and in the bud on the lower limbs growing faster and bigger? that is because they are receiving direct light just like the top buds are.... good luck on your grow and we'll meet up again here as it seems we are in the same flow in our grow. later