Amstercal, i'll keep the journal going till I finish this round. I don't mind helping out where I'm able. We're all still learning so it's just an exchange of ideas and sharing our trials.
Lost, I don't think it's a reason to get too alarmed, especially since you're not top feeding like we were. You've had good luck with it so far but keep a close eye on things as always.
I'm still gonna use my little coco pots next round but i'm gonna put them in the netpots sooner. Putting them in the netpot 10 days after taking the cutting so the roots can roam around more instead of getting rootbound and/or air pruned. Mine were in little 6" coco pots for 3 weeks from cutting before I put them in the netpots so roots were jam packed. As dizzle said, it's just a theory but one that could have some merit. I'm gonna go with it and see how things go.
I had serious gph top feed going so that could have been a cause with too many roots in the netpot. But the biggest problem was not using something that had holes throughout. I like the 3.5 gallon buckets for the mere fact there's more surface area for the roots to come out...but definitely drill a shit load of holes up the sides. Still not sure if i'm gonna do the buckets or all mesh netpots this upcoming round.
antimatter, my problem was getting rootbound in the netpots and drainage wasn't happening...causing things to stay too wet. I've had some coco plants that were too rootbound that didn't drain very well but I wasn't feeding them 24/7 either. Also, if your coco gets too compacted, it takes all the air space out that allows good drainage. I wouldn't recommend coco with no coco pots as it would make a mess in your res. You'd need something to filter it out or wash it all off like northone does.
This system can be a little stressful if you're not used to running a ton of pumps, chiller, etc. I've woken up plenty of times in the middle of the night just to make sure everything was still running (and no floods). I never worried so much when I was growing in straight coco. Kinda hard to mess that up. Hell, even the 50/50 hempy chow mix i'm using for my white fire is kicking ass so I might consider doing a run sometime with that for a little more peace of mind.