Soil guy just bit the bullet and got a hydro system DWC 5GALS

Hey I am a soil grower I am just starting my research into hydro after buying all the stuff I need to do 6x 5galon DWC buckets....I will be taking NL#5 clones from my NL mother because she is ready to have 6 clones cut off, Have a few really simple hydro noob questions as I am reading:

1) Should I bury my cuttings which are in root shooters under the hydrotron so it sits on the bottom of the net pot, halfway, sit it on top, or only partially on top of the hydrotron.

2) This one is mainly for people in cold climates: During winter time even with a space heater is there problems keeping your res water a good temps without a heater?

3) When using freshly rooted clones should I start with a little grow nutes or just plain water - and lastly: I use fox farms for my soil plants but will be going with IONIC for this system, However I am thinking about just running fox farms the first few weeks and than moving on to the IONIC due to budget restrictions, am I better off to wait till I get the full ionic lineup (its really not a big rush) - I know this wouldnt be a big deal with soil but the nutes seem to be much bigger deal with hydro, I am a organic soil grower so I rarely feed liquid nutes except late flowering.

Im pretty new to DWC, but I used/use a DWC "Bubble cloner" and during the winter I have to use a heater in the res. and a heating mat....I live in New England and we keep our place relatively cool in the winter, around 65 degrees.

Love the results I got w/ the cloner, so I plan on doing a few plants in my perpetual grow in DWC and see the difference side by side w/ soil....Im tiring of soil, with a perpetual grow I use alot and have to stock up for winter when there isnt any in stores.

another question, is it realistic for me to do this dwc like I do my soil without a TDS meter and just feeling the plants and generally following the schedule for my nutes or should I get a TDS b4 i even start

I use RO water btw

I feel you about the soil man, I use perpetual grow also and the soil gets expensive but it is easy I will give it that....Hydro seems to be much better yields and faster growth, that is the main thing I am looking forward to.

Ummmk well I ordered a TDS METER, 20$ after shipping, what you guys think: http://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-162-handheld-tds-meter-ez.aspx?affiliateid=10050&qid=2419&utm_source=Googlebase&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Product&utm_term=TDS-EZ


So likely gunna try out my straight tap water with this , been using RO water for soil but tap is a little less work since I will be hauling a lot more water with hydro. Once I get the TDS meter going to test it out and see what I am working with, might need to just get that RO filter I have been putting off but we will see. I will use IONIC for hard water for my nutes if I decide to go with tap water.

so yeah going to have to wait a bit for my meter to come to make my decision on nutes and water, still waiting for clones to root anyhow....going to be really interesting to see the difference in yield, potency, flavor, speed because I will be running full organic soil side by side with chemical hydro..3600W

so I will do a growlog or something because its going to be a pretty controlled experiment here:

Fox Farms Organic w/ Organic Teas and Fox Farm BigBloom & Molasses

VS

Ionic nutes in DWC 5 gallons

Both with be NL#5 clones from same mother.