Can you water-stress hydroponic plants?

[dmgiat]

I was experimenting with water-stressing my tomato plants because few of the flowers were setting fruit. So just for fun I added no water or nutrients to either of my 2 tubs for a month. Result? The plants took up every drop of water leaving nothing behind, not even any mineral matter. I have hard water, too - 50-100ppm. Those roots licked the tubs clean. Had that water just been allowed to evaporate, there would have been major calcification.

The first photo shows the top of one tub just after I cut back all the plants. The second photo shows the root systems. The roots are healthy and squeaky clean. The plants were only just beginning to show signs of nutrient deficiency.

I think this is amazing and wonder if this means that the plants took up absolutely everything, whether it was useful or not. And I wonder in what part of the plant the non-nutrient compounds and minerals are incorporated.

Anyone have any thoughts?