I've been growing in promix with fertilizer for awhile now after giving up on organics. I think my main problems came from not being able to keep the medium sufficiently moist. Looking at what your doing with these swicks is giving me inspiration to try growing organically again.
I already have a 4x4 tray. Next run I might fill it up with perlite and give it go. I think it will be a good idea to put a layer of panda film over the whole table and cut out holes to drop the fabric pots in to help prevent excessive evaporation from the perlite that isn't covered by the pots. I might experiment with adding a very small amount of bleach to the water to keep bacteria away in the reservoir, I know it's not good for the benecifial bacteria but I've read it mostly gets neutralized in the first half inch or so of soil.
I noticed Noob had suggested covering the perlite with something, but only if you're concerned about algae growth which I wasn't.
You're correct about the excess evaporation going on though, as I'm finding out myself. My humidity is constantly 50-60%. However, the plants seem quite happy with that high humidity so I'm not in much of a rush to correct it if they're happy.
I have plenty of airflow and ventilation, always have, so I'm not very concerned with mold/mildew as its never been an issue for me in the past.
I wouldn't use bleach, it'll do more harm than good honestly.
Everything should be sterilized enough to never require the use of corrective measures. Only bacteria growth I noticed was in the one reservoir I filled too much, and did get anaerobic conditions. All I had to do was dump the reservoir out, let the perlite dry out, and good as new. Fortunately it was just my 5g pots reservoir, and not my 25g pot's reservoir. If one takes care to not overfill the reservoir, you'll never experience bacteria issues. The water doesn't get stagnant enough to allow them to successfully produce.
However, if this is still a concern for you, you could just grab an air pump with some air stones and keep the water in your reservoirs aerated. This way, you'll never see anaerobic bacteria.
Sorry to hear about your negative experiences with organics. I always like to recommend people try living soil with just one or two pots at first, get their feet wet so to speak. Many people that try living soil first end up disappointed and discouraged, because they're already amazing hydro growers and don't get the same results from living soil that their hydro gives them. In my experience, the only thing that motivates people to keep going is the difference in flavor.
The swicks have been amazing, downright game changing for me, however I got great results before even without them in the past.
In my experience, the biggest issue people have with living soil is they tend to over-complicate things. This is why I say living soil as opposed to organic soil, believe it or not they are not one in the same. A living soil has just that, life. We actually do not take care of plants in a living soil grow, we take care of the soil which in turn takes care of the plants in a symbiotic relationship.
It is entirely possible to have an organic soil that is devoid of life.
From many grows I've seen, the biggest killer of living soil are the nutrient teas found on the sticky in this section. In fact, I wish the thread would get unstickied because I have seen these guano/alfalfa/etc. teas ruin so many grows (I'll touch on that later).
Having come from a hydro background myself, my biggest hurdle was sitting back and doing nothing. This is human nature, to think we have to actively be involved in order to achieve success. Once I took a step back, and realized I only have to care for the soil and not the plant, I finally experienced success.
This is why I like Coots' mix so much, it is extremely simple and has everything that your soil (and by proxy, plants) could ever need. It requires minimal maintenance in the form of top dressing every 2-4 weeks, and that's about it.
A living soil is a pantry/fridge that holds food.
Upon mixing the soil, once microbes colonize it they begin decomposing the organic matter within the soil and defecating nutrients. These nutrients get bound to your soil via the Cation Exchange, effectively being "stored" in the pantry for later use. You go to the store, grab all your food (Crab, Neem Meals, etc.) and store it in your pantry (the soil). It will stay in the pantry until used up.
Once the plant decides its hungry for something specific (lets say Nitrogen for instance), one of two things will happen.
1) The roots will simply absorb any Nitrogen stored up in the soil, and use exactly how much it needs. No more, no less.
2) If for some reason there is no Nitrogen bound to your soil yet, no problem. The roots exude signals in the form of terpenes to the microbes in the soil. The microbes will then munch on a source of Nitrogen (Neem Meal for instance), and proceed to defecate the Nitrogen straight onto the roots for the plant to absorb as needed. Any excess is bound to the soil.
In scenario #1, the plants go to the pantry and find something to eat. In scenario #2, the plants order groceries online and have them delivered.
So, why are guano/alfalfa/etc. teas so bad then?
They circumvent the entire process outlined above. In the process above, the nutrients are in fact readily available, but are given to the plant gradually and at the plant's discretion. The plant is in total control, and tells the soil what it wants, how much it wants, and when it wants it. There is no excess (if using light amendments), and there are never deficiencies if you keep up with top dresses.
Brewing these teas are no different than buying a bottle of ferts from a hydro store; they are made immediately available and all at once instead of gradually.
So, instead of us going to the fridge or pantry for a simple meal, we're basically having a funnel shoved down our throats and being force fed! All you can is pray that what you're being force fed isn't a shit ton, otherwise you'll die. The same holds true for the plants.
In nutrient teas, the guano/alfalfa don't decompose gradually and over time. The microbes one cultivates in the tea processes the organic matter much faster than would happen in a living soil, pretty much on steroids. The result is these nutrients are made available all at once, and we're left scratching our heads as to why our plants look sickly and burned because we've been incorrectly told "You can't burn plants with organics."
Yes, you can 100% burn and kill plants with organics.
All that balance you cultivated over the past few weeks/months becomes ruined because of these teas. Even worse if they're Phosphorus based nutrients, because then your soil is literally ruined due to being overloaded with P.
In summation, our only responsibilities are to build the pantry (soil), keep it stocked with food (top dress), keep it watered and aerated. That's it. If we are successful in maintaining these 4 conditions, the soil and plant will take care of the rest for us!