Yes ….. you can run your plants in it alone . It can feed upfront for weeks before some depletion will show ( strain dependent ).
No special water either - Tap water. Ocean forest is amended with oyster shell and will buffer it just fine. Or can range your tap water ( checking your ph with meter to know where yours fall ) then adjust to ( 6.5-6.7 allowing for drift ) then water in.
Not rocket science. FFOF soil ranges around 6.3 from bag but I have thrown 7.2 ph straight cali water without ph adjusting and all is fine.
‘But now noticed that if I “ range “ the water to match medium , buffering lasts much longer. FFOF can be top dressed and watered in to recharge your container grows - it simply brings back what the plant has used plus there is less issues because plant is already acclimated to this soil and the chances of over feeding ‘ burning is greatly reduced. I can run a soil only grow thru veg ( top dressing at intervals) up to desired flip , say 6-8 week veg on this soil alone - then either continue top dressing thru flower or a dry bloom fert scratched into top soil of container.
Flower girl , Megacrop , Recipe 420 recharge , Happy frog fruit and flower , jack’s …. Etc.
FFOF is always overthought - consider this soil like a super soil - hot upfront but plants will acclimate. Think slipping into hot tub then adjusting to heat after awhile . Too many growers fuck up by adding even more nutes on top of this soil before plant at least gets to exhaust it.
GL