The first thing I would do is rethink your goals. What are you trying to do? Grow pot for medicine or make a ton of money? If you need medicine there are easier ways to start off.
Everyone around here thinks of me as the hard-core Aeroponics guy. That's actually far from the truth. I grew in soil for over twenty years before switching to hydro and I'm growing in soil now.
So here is what I would suggest for you. Go buy a few bags of Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil and some 5 gallon planters. Mix in another 30%-50% perlite. Make sure you let the soil dry out between watering. Let the plants get almost all the way till wilting and then give them water. Dry soil keeps pests in check and promotes root growth. It also maximizes oxygen to the roots just like aeroponics.
When the plants start needing nutes just mix up a batch into 5 gallons of water. Add nutes till you reach about 400PPM. Watch your plants to decide how often and how much nutrients to add. Every strain is different.
Once you have a steady supply of meds then you can start to party with hydro, aero or other advanced methods.
Good luck bro!
Yes, it is a medical grow. Just went through some major stuff with Hepatitis C, still dealing with some hardcore side effects from the treatment. Energy has come back though.
I did it the way you suggest back in the mid 80s for several years. After that I grew exclusively outside for about 10 years. quit for a while after that, then when the hepatitis thing hit, got a medical card and started doing the hydro thing about five years ago. I use a LOT of meds. I am in a co-op partnership situation now, so what I do not use goes to patients. I make some money off it, but the treatment cost more than my house so It will take me a long time just to break even. I have grown almost every type of hydro, from drip to high pressure aero to various types of ebb and flow. About the only types I haven't done are NTF and Crusty buckets.
Never had any issues with root rot until I began treatment for Hep C about a year ago, at which time I became so weak I could barely check the PH some days, and was going 3 or 4 weeks between change outs. That's when shit started to fall apart. Yields dropped down to maybe 1 lb per crop, down from 4-5 per crop.
The rot is still in my basement. I have some clones in rockwool and I gave them plain water for three days and noticed two days ago that the roots went brown and mushy, so I started giving them strong h2o2 again and the roots came back. I have never had that happen before, always used plain tap with rooted cuttings with no problems. I may have the basement fumigated.
You know how it is with Hydro, every hurdle is a new learning experience. It's all good.