@1stmanny,Soil scares me.
My ebb and floor flood table set up can be left on its own for a week no problem. The water buffers the pHs it's self with mature plants and dialed in nutrients. It helps to keep pushing it down to 5.5 but letting it stay for a bit at 6.5 like it naturally wants to do does not seem to hurt anything. Every few days I haul a couple 3 gal nutrient solution buckets to top it up. And every few top-ups I drain it out and give it fresh.
No risk of a mess-up that I can not immediately fix. I might spend an avg of 5 mins a day dealing with them. I can instantly watch my plants give feedback and adjust their environment as needed.
TLDR, hydro can be very very easy.
But I am blessed with consistent 6.7 ph tap-water with <30 ppm.
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