Yes, I've thought about that but hesitate to create more work than I have now. One thing I didn't know about was flushing your soil... or the costs. I have been told that soil is much much less and easier on time.

I spend a lot of time balancing just PH daily, changing ice bottles (keeping water cool this way saves big on air conditioning) water levels, bugs, bending, clearing, cleaning... it takes time every day because it's like having a 100 gallon fish tank running with bubblers constantly.... messy and salty.

Nute changes are weekly and a pain in the ass. To minimize disease I completely scrub out each bucket with bleach, then flush the roots and clean the underside of the covers with clean water attached to a hose. WHY? Because if I don't the well-water microbes create root rot that's killed too many of my mature plants. Sterilized entire room, started with Hygrozime and all has been better than ever. No Root Rot... And no Osmosis stuff... not in the budget.

Cost is a nightmare... $40 - $80 a gallon... It costs me about $200 from clone to harvest for 2 plants and thats before electricity. I use GH. And the worst part is nobody agrees on anything on hydro. Hydro stores all counterdict manufacturers suggested dosages and vice versa. Everyone gives a different story on nutes, water, watertype, waterhardness, yadda, yadda, yadda. A lot of advice I have gotten has killed plants for me. I've learned to find what I call the Thread of Truth in all advice and follow that. Other than PH and Temp, it's a damn bowl of alphabet soup for advice out there.

It's great to hear from someone going the opposite direction... Good luck to you my friend and I wish you all the best in your grows. There is not doubt hydro kicks ass... (my ass) LOL

Later