plants are wilting badly
 

Ron, I just built a gurgling garden and it works great! I have a drip ring instead of a straight hose. The only thing is that I think it works too good. I transplanted some young pepper plants from soil into my mix of 2 parts perlite, 1 part vermiculite. I had the bucket on all day the first day and it seems the plants are wilting badly. The medium is very wet and doesn't seem to dry out so fast. Are these plants being over watered? I live in the caribbean and it is usually sunny outside, about 80 degrees nowadays. I'm going to leave it unplugged until it appears they are coming back around - sound like a good idea?

Yes that is what's happening. They are drowning The gurgle garden is for fast draining medium like grow rocks. Strait perlite would be better than adding it with vermiculite because vermiculite brakes down to fast and blocks oxygen. Especially with water running on it continuously. You could water every hour or so if you add a timer to you garden.