All I’ve ever done is hydro man. The idea of dirt and bugs coming into my home gives me the heeby jeebies. I would say that I do see an increase in veg time and they are supposed to be higher yields than soil. It’s really not hard to get started with hydro man I started in 5 gallon HD buckets using airstones that I got from petco.
Only thing that worried me is I made a diy aerocloner out of one of those totes with the yellow checkerboard looking top. Same as most people use from home depot cause this one doesn't leak. Never could get it dialed in. It worked the first couple of times but then it never would again. I ran the strongest bleach solution through it possible. So strong it melted my filter in the water pump. Flushed with lots of water but still no roots. I think once a pathogen has taken control of a clone theres no bringing it back. Clones would never root. Didnt get any slime or roots. Also I tried dwc on my 2nd run but I got tired of constantly checking each individual bucket for ec, ph, and ppm. Rdwc sounds promising but I heard it's a little more difficult to dial in cause ur recirculating nutes. Isnt drain to waste easier
What are your goals? Grow faster? Grow bigger? Hydro is like a supercharged grow, but not without risk. With hydro, you're dependant on equipment of which failure can cost you a crop. But, there are things you can do to ensure things run smoothly, like having an extra pump on hand. Unless you have some specific reasons, even if it's just to try something new, I'd just stick to what you got.
That's exactly what I was thinking
Realistically with pumps running 24/7 I think all rdwc setups should have a chiller unless you’ve got cold floors and have the opposite problem (roots too cold). Sorry to say, I was in the high 70’s and tried bennies with no luck. I did the water bottle thing too but life/work too often got in the way. The only solution that worked for me is hardly talked about in the States but it’s called wilt guard by cx hydroponics. I literally beat pythium with it and could hardly believe it myself, having had lost 3 bouts (eg lost 3 crops) prior to that. And in case anyone is wondering, I replaced every single component between grows just to be 100% sure. I’m done with dwc/rdwc now due to the issues with heat but I’m real close to the equator so it’s pretty much always hot and less than ideal here.
