Hey al what would you suggest as a base then? I'm way new at this hydro thing so I dont wanna be F*^%in up my system. Botanicare actually recommends the soil formula for the ripening stage though. Like I said, I have the GH nutes to do Lucas formula but the guy at the shop told me I'd have to replace my hydroton every cycle and the whole point of going hydroton instead of rockwool or coco was to save myself from replacing media every run. It could have just been him trying to get more business though.