I was one of the early adopters of the CCH20 systems. I ran their systems for almost a year, 4-5 harvests. There are a lot of issues which may or may not have been resolved.
Their main appeal is for cities/states with limited plant count laws. The idea that you can yield 2 pounds per plant sounds awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
But the reality is that growing in water culture is for advanced people only. You are riding that thin line between things going awesome and complete disaster. Some of my best quality flowers have been done through water culture, but there is a reason why most commercial guys do not grow in water culture
Issues:
1) cleanliness. You always get a few good runs with brand new systems and then eventually root rot takes over. It is very difficult to keep your system clean and root rot will kill your plants or severely affect yield. I have tried h202 every few days, only used synthetics, etc. Controlling root rot is very difficult.
2) consistency. With flower prices continuing to drop, as a grower, you need to deliver consistent results. You lose that consistency with water culture
3) water leaks. bulkheads might be better, but I bought 2 cch2o systems when they were using uniseals. HAHA
4) Dissolved oxygen in root zone. You bring in outside air (non co2 enriched) to the rootzone and you have positive pressure in your grow room. You bring in growroom air to the rootzone and you acidify the water,
5) pH fluctuations. They can go from minor swings to severe swings in 24 hours. You could use a pH doser but hey, more cost!!
I'm sure there are more things that i'm forgetting. There are guys (doubledsyield on IG, and creator of the mpb system) that are killing it. And some of my best quality results have been from water culture, albiet this was 2011 and i'm sure my skill level has increased since then. Hell, if you're bored, go on icmag and there are people still struggling with root rot in water culture systems.
Tables, rockwool cubes (or
smart pots with coco), top feed system. It is probably the best hydroponic method to grow. You gain the control needed with hydroponics and the plant health that comes with soil/soil-less media.
One of you fucks need to come up with a one-time-use water culture system!!