hell yeah i like that little table with the rockwools, i was thinking about trying something like that in an extra room i have upstairs little flood and drain so i can get my hydro feet wet...
i might be wrong but i think you can flood rockwool for less time like 10 mins 15 mins cuz its got much more water holding capacity ya know? might look into it though before you try anything, like i just said, never done hydro.
yeah soil is pretty forgiving, gotta keep them pests away indoors if you can, i have little yellow hairs on my buds from my puppy yellow lab getting into my room for just a minute and getting hit by some fan air. plus they carry other pests too. like mites. FUUUUCK MITES, if you havent yet, i would start treating with some kind of pest control/defense. if you do it now you probably wont have a problem, but once you get it they will never go away. i can beat em back for a couple days but they are fuckin relentless. BIGGEST headache for me so far. so really take your time now and your grow will go much smoother IMO. makes it easier to diagnose feeding problems when you dont already have pest damage to look past.