Canna said it.....you sure can go cheap and DIY and for a lot of things that's fine. Right up until you run into a problem and need information such as what your ph is etc so you can pinpoint the issue and fix it before your entire crops croaks off.....which can happen pretty quickly in hydro. That's why they suggest things like decent equipment and monitoring and res changes.....to avoid problems.

The other problem with that is when people (and cannabis growers really seem to top the list) insist on making up their own way to grow....then have problems because they can't seem to do things the regular way that true growers know works. Almost invariably they get into some sort of mess because they've created something that makes sense only in their imagination (three diferent kinds of medium in one pot for example....all needing diffferent ph needs) then their plant doesn't do well (surprise!!) and they're upset and ticked off that the "experts" don't know how to fix their homemade mess...in five minutes.

The more you go off the beaten path, the less good help you will get. And as Latewood always used to say.....if you go cheap.....you grow cheap.
While things can be tweaked.....slacking is still just slacking.