I don't get people... all of the starting indoor growers want to grow hydro, why is that?

good choice of starting out with soil, it's much easier to grow and makes beautifull plants. Scrogg is nice but I'm not sure it's the way to start out. If you really want to learn what the plant looks like and how it developes you may want to try putting a minimum amount of plants on a maximum of light without scrogging. What you could do is topping (squeesing the crown off) in your second week of 12/12.And you don't need distilled water.

Good luck and if you got any questions we'll be here for you waiting and hoping you'll share some of that fine fruit with us.