No Budley mine are not needed never said they were, the op question was best nutrients to use in hydo , well i'm simply stating that is the highest quality element you can get, mixed properly, none of this store bought pre-mix can come close.
It depends on what your growing expectations are or what you can compare to, what does one consider a great job ? some people grow a plant and get 80-100 g and are happy as they should be but someone will grow the same plant and shoot to get a pound or more off it, I mean everyone grows different , so grow small little plants , some medium size , some grow large etc some people shoot for 1/2 g watt some shoot for 1g a watt and some shoot for much more .so there is a difference to what one may think is great, to what can actually be achieved.
we have done testing side by side in controlled rooms so the only factor that was different was the nutes and in no way could the bottled nuts come close, veg times plant grow etc flowers, yield etc , I guess if you never seen this side by side you wouldn't understand, but we could do at least double to what the bottle nutes were doing , and thats all I'm saying bottle nutes and per-mixed stuff is a one size fits all, and can only achieve so much , and if anyone wants to take it to the next level learn about the quality of elements, how to mix your own and play with some formulas.Everything I said here can be easily researched. there is many journals on element how they interact and how to feed. most people don't know the term 6 pack or what it is look it up learn how to do it. its a start .
so a year ago you thought the brown water was the way to go, now you realize chem gro almost clear water is better, then why do you not think by going to better quality elements crystal clear water and a proper feed scheduled can't be better yet? not sure what looks funny, I'm a hydro guy inside and out but I'm starting to think i'd like to learn organics, it would cool to grow a pound plant or better in a 7 gallon pot using water