Ok I'll try and be brief; My very first attempt at hydroponics. I jumped in the deep end but that's what I do... I have a Aero2-36 NFT system, planted lettuce (trying to make it easy) Everything went very well through day 40 or so... I have a PH/PPM meter and was testing everyday... I discovered a reduction in PH and I just kept adding PH up and didn't think much about it.. well it turns out it was indicator... I have since discovered I had an anaerobic bacteria, my roots were brown and the leaves were drooping. After lots of research I've concluded; I didn't change my nutes, may have not had my drain tubes pushed down far enough (allowing standing water without oxygen), may have gotten too warm (72 degrees). I have since flushed the system, replaced the water (added Hydrogen Peroxide) which adds a extra oxygen molecule thus killing the bateria with oxygen. Within 4 hours I had 1" sections of new WHITE roots appearing, all the plants were perking up and within 24 hours had growth. I was lucky didn't lose a plant and my system (although I lost 3-5 days growth) has returned to a success story.

I hope this might help the next guy/gal... I did lots of google searches to figure out my problems. I got lucky in finding an answer quickly.

This hasn't diminished my love for hydroponics just another challenge to overcome.

I'll add more pics as they become available.

http://www.pbase.com/jjensenalaska/hydroponics

A word to the wise: watch for ants in your growing area. They can bring in aphids and once aphids find the lettuce, it's either poison or the crop is history. I found out the hard way that aphids multiply faster than bunnies!