well i only do 2ltr dwc and i dont follow the usual method, the top part that holds the plant has regular compost in it and the roots grow down into the 2ltr res which has an air stone and nutrients in it,
some use clay pellets to grow the plant in before the roots grow down into the res but i find starting the plants in regular compost works well then i let the roots grow down into the res and just use the res to feed the plants, i sometimes water the top but not very often and the plants do well,
now dwc is quicker by a couple of weeks and plants grow quicker as well, but a 2ltr dwc is not for big plants, ive let mine get a big to big this time but i sohuld of used a bucket as a res plus i could of done a bigger veg, but i only do 2ltr dwc so dont let them get to big, but they do grow quicker and will cut the veg time down by a couple of weeks and also the harvest time, but their less forgiving, soil is very forgiving, with dwc you have to make sure the ph is spot on and also make sure the nutrients are spot on as well for each stage of growth,
i dont actually check the ph or ppm but i would if i ever had a problem, also res temp needs to be kept in check as root rot can often happen when the temp gets to high in the res,
its a nice way to grow and idea for a short veg such as 2 or 3 weeks of veg then 12-12 or if you wanted a bigger dwc then use a bucket and bigger air stone and you can veg as long as you want, you will get through lots of nutrients as i find the dwc uses a lot more then the soil plants, put it this way when i water my soil plants they can go 3 or 4 days without another watering or feed, the 2ltr dwc is drinking 2ltrs of nutrients every 24 hours due to its size, so they can use more nutrients but then growth is slightly quicker but only by a couple of weeks at the very most,
if i could get away with it then id go hydro or dwc but its to much of a risk to have so much equipment around, its much easier just to have pots with soil in and look like a novice, hydro or dwc would make you look like you spent money and have a good idea of what your doing, i prefer to keep it simple so the risk is a lot lower,
but hydro and dwc really does speed the process up, some argue soil grown bud tastes better but to be honest i cant tell the difference, if i mixed my dwc buds up with the soil grown buds then i couldnt tell you which jar was which, so to me the differences is not important as i dont find any difference, i just use the 2ltr dwc so i can grow something a bit quicker or even go 12-12 from seed as dwc grows quicker so you would end up with a bigger plant under 12-12 from seed using dwc than you would using soil.
so with the medium you could use them clay pellets or anything else, the idea is just to have something that holds the plant steady while the roots grow down into the res, so i cut the top off a 2ltr bottle and turn it upside down and poke holes in it and remove the lid, then i fill it with compost and plant the seed, about 7 days later the roots are starting to grow out of the bottle where the lid used to be, so at this stage i fill the 2ltr res with nutrients at seedlings stage and place the top part inside the 2ltr res and just let the roots grow down into the nutrients, thats when the plants starts to grow like crazy, but get it wrong and things can go wrong pretty quick,
luckily i got a ph tester but i have only used it to check the ph of tap water and to check the ph of the water with nutrients in before giving it to the plants, ive only done this once or twice so not used the ph tester much since but if i had a problem then its their if i need it,
i find the tap water is to high for dwc but when i add my bpn nutrient it lowers the ph to where it needs to be and ive not had any issues touch wood