new grower troubleshooting

Preface:

I am a first time grower that is well researched and has a natural green thumb. I am also a perfectionist. My seedlings are nicely on their way to vegatative growth. I am going to be putting them under a 400 watt metal halide in the next two weeks. They were looking 100% healty but that has changed slightly and I am wondering what I can do to resolve things.

The leaves are curling down occasionally. Mostly just on the original true leaves. Is this ok as long as the other leaves are very healthy? The coloring on them occasionally is a little yellow but the newer leaf growth looks wonderfully green and healthy.

I am running an aeroponic system I guess. Actually here is a link to the exact set up that I have.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Aeroponic-Garden-Hydroponic-grow-system-aero-system_W0QQitemZ260377099965QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item260377099965&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

The roots sit in water that is well aerated by an airstone set up. Their growth has been amazingly fast but all of a sudden the roots are a little off white. I am hoping this is normal. I have been using the proper amount of fertilizer reccomended and I have even leached every couple of weeks.

Maybe its all good but I just want it to be perfect so I am looking for a little advice.

The eight seedlings are going to over grow the box, so I am probably going to copy this set up but do three plants per box. I will probably just use the original plastic/mesh pot. I don't see any need to remove them and put them in a bigger pot. The small pot does not really inhibit root growth but that is just me using logic. I really have no experience growing this plant, nor with hydroponic growing in general.....

Any advice here? I have two metal halide 400 Watt lamps ready to go. Then I have a 600 watt HPS and a 400 watt HPS to use during flowering.

What do you think about running a 430 watt bulb to cover both spectrums during vegatative growth? or would that be advised for flowering? Is that buld advisable at all?

Discuss :_

I'm also new to growing and one thing that I learned the hard way was that sanitation of your system is extremely important.

I first started off using just fox farm organic nutrients and filtered water thinking that it would be sufficient. I was not mindful about pest control and it turned out that my plants fell victim to root rot and it quickly spread. I bought aquashield from my local hydroponics store and it seems to be working but for a few it was too late.

Hopefully you can diagnose your problem and get those plants growing big.

I think some of the more experienced members here could help you out if you post a picture of the plants and roots asap.

Good luck