The water is dark from the kelp extract and humic acid. Both are safe for hydroponics, and the water goes back to clearish within about 2 days of adding them. I've been adding 10ml of kelp extract and 3 ml of humex twice a week, and they seem quite happy. I've also been upping the nutes, and am now feeding them almost double what masterblend calls for, for tomatoes, and they are just growing like nutso.
I just started an Auto AK and an amnesia haze from seed, and their little seed hats came off yesterday. I always get so excited when that happens and I can see their leaves for the first time.
Hydroponics is definitely where its at. I can completely ignore them for days. Don't have to worry about watering. Twice a week I top each of the buckets off with a gallon to gallon an half of water and nutrients. No worries about gnats or other bugs. Its cleaner, no runoff to deal with, no dirt besides the small amount of coco in the little cups, and honestly I think I'm gonna try switching that to the little hydroton rocks next go around.
The biggest issue I've had is doing LST on them pushes the base of the plant down, which causes the nut cup to pop through the lid. I need to figure out some way to reinforce that, I think I'm going to make a wood saucer to sit it in, to hold it more stable once the plant gets bigger, instead of the flexible bucket lid that lets the cup pop through when its under pressure.