havent found a grow yet that had success with STG inserts, although STG's other types like cubes work well but not with theE & G, on stg's youtube video they put a piece of PVC inside the buckets to raise the insert so it doesnt sit in water, even the E & G instructions say if plants do not look healthy raise each bucket, you can see why it could happen, given that 2 inches of water at the bottom can accumulate salts. these issues can be solved by raising buckets or flushing monthly. one thing thats not discussed is actual flushing, sinces theres water everywhere inside the tubing it will take a few days to get it all out, my flush method goes like this. day 1 - dump rez fill with plain ph's water. day 2 - after the first 24 hours and a few flood cycles the ppms in your rez will be higher after mixing in with leftover water in the system, for this i dumpe the rez again and add ph'd plain water again. day 3 - after another 24 hours i dump and addback again or until my rez water ppm is less than 200. i do this only because theres so few flodd cycles to give it a thorough cleaning withing a day and tons of clay pellets hold onto salts, no matter the medium monthly flushing is key to never have problems, so IMO only the cleaning of clay and a good flush are the only laborious parts of using this system, completly idiot proof and amazing growth rates, actually the only system out there that comes close or surpasses the growth rate is aeroponics, which i have ditched for this
