DWC problems

Well i decided to DWC a go and i can't figure out my problem, the plants aren't seeming to root through the pots. I used aquarium gravel for the medium and i bought boughts and drilled holes along the bottom and sides of the bottom, the holes weren't all that big because of the gravel, the holes are slightly smaller then the diamter of a pencil.

Any ideas whats wrong, two of the plants i had died, they were started in soil and i transferred them over to my gravel medium. Any ideas what is going wrong here?

hole size shyouldnt be a problem if you have alot of them

are you sure water is getting through the medium to the roots

get rid of the aquarium gravel, use rockwool cubes or foam cubes or hydro stones or puffed lava rock

I'm new to hydro too bro but have done a bunch of reading. The first thing that might have happend could be shock from the transplant. If that was not it did you check your PH? The aquarium rocks in water might raise the PH. Another thing that comes to mind from my past fish tanks is maybe the rocks are too dense for the roots to grow to the bottom and out of the holes.

Just all my thoughts to try and help out, hope things work out for you.

Yeah i would ditch the aquarium gravel and go to hydroton or something better. And make sure you have lots of holes for roots to come out of. good luck let us know what u end up doing..

Allright you guys, i was sorta leaning that way, i think i will ditch the gravel and buy some clay pebbles, i already have some rock whool and i will start fresh and let you know how that goes, and btw i did check my ph, it was pretty high when i say that i mean like 7.2 ph

use ph down or vinegar to lower the ph.
It could also be that there is not enough oxygen movement in the water.
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/278797-first-time-grow-1-killer.html