Rockwool and nft

[Rio_Grande]

I have a downspout nft system as it turns out some of the net pots I ordered are shorter than others. I tried to get the rockwool back out of the cup but was destroying the seedlings doing so. Instead I put a 1/4 in thick bead of calk in the end of my trough to form a dam of sorts. Now all the rockwool touch water. I know there is a dichotomy between those who think it should touch and those who think it shouldn't. I don't have any roots out the sides of the cup yet and the water isint turbulent enough without the dam to get the cups moist.

Is there any issue with having the rw touching all the time that are going to cause this to not work? I figure as soon as I get roots hanging down i will move them to rails without a dam.

I have aeration in the tank, but not in the rail.

[Rio_Grande]

It looks a little hillbilly ish, I don't have the shade house done yet.

[GpsFrontier]

When rockwool is touching the water, it can easily become saturated, thus suffocating the roots if it does.

[Rio_Grande]

Ya, today I pulled the dams out, the cubes were way wet. I got a few out and sitting on some perilite. I figured out two sticks evenly pressed on each side of the cube gets them out. I need some more perilite to get the rest up.

This would be so much fun if the roots would grow and the alge would stay away.

[GpsFrontier]

Usually they start them in a propagation area built to start seedlings. Then when the plants are big enough, and the roots are long enough, that's when they place them in the hydroponic system. Doing so also speeds up plant rotation by weeks.

[Rio_Grande]

This is one of those dumb questions, but what kind of system is that? I was considering an ebb and flow set up for that but it seems like rockwool would stay too saturated flooding it.

I am new to this, obviously, and don't want to throw any money at bad ideas.

Thanks for the help GPS!