The faster growth in hydro, or Aero, is not quite like you think. You are not waiting for your plants to grow, you are waiting for them to mature. Much different. Aero will make them grow more in veg per day, so less days veg time before you need to flower , but it doesn't make them mature quicker. Everything you are talking about doing, cloning, sexing, pruning, fimming, all are things that should not be done till the plant is sexually mature, usually 6-8 weeks from germination. Putting a plant in flower and or topping, cloning a plant that is not mature will do nothing but stunt your growth, I speak from experience. This may sound harsh or bad, but the best analogy I got is that it is like trying to get an 8 year old pregnant. Not impossible but never a good idea. At least wait till they hit puberty before you start all the funny business! Never rush plants into flower before they are ready, especially if you want to clone. It takes 3-4 weeks from cutting for a clone to even truly enter veg mode, which is where they start growing green again, not just roots. When people talk about veg time, they mean time spent in veg after the rooting or seedling stage signified by the start of new growth. If you put an immature plant in 12/12, they still flower for 8 weeks (or whatever the strain takes), but it takes longer for the flowers to appear than if the plant is mature, which means much smaller yields. You will know a plant started from seed is mature when it preflowers, and when it starts to grow nodes asymetrically. (alternating one on the left, then one on the right, not a pair on each side every time like when it is young.)