I don't have a meter, I will try to get one soon. I know I'm going to have to support the toms as they grow, right now I've only got about 4 out of 17 doing well. I'm pretty sure that my nutrient is WAY to concentrated and lacking in some some things. I JUST got my nutrients from hydro-gardens in the mail today. I think using real nutes w/ their mixing instructions should help me very much. I'm going to go ahead and make that famous "11 plant system" here shortly soon as well, just for fun. I'll use something other than cans...bottles or more likely plastic cups, they're a little taller. And right now I'm letting it run 24/7, there's a lot of turbulence where the nutrient goes back in the tank, so I think it's oxygenated enough, but depth and flow rate concern me w/ oxygen. I found another forum that helped me a little bit, but I'll be happy to post here as well. Thanks for the reply, I'm hoping for big things from these better nutes. ~Clark

Andrelaplume; While we seldom need to place a cleanout in a walkway area in residential plumbing, however they are common in commercial plumbing and as you point out, a conventional cleanout plug with a raised head would present a serious trip hazard. To meet the need they make a flush cleanout plug that has a long recessed slot like an over sized screwdriver slot. You may not be able to find one in your local home supply center such as Lowes or Home Depot because even though the keep a huge inventory, they often confine their inventory to the fast turnover items. When looking for a rare or unusual plumbing part you will generally have much better luck trying your local neighborhood hardware store, such as Ace Hardware, True Value Hardware or an independently owned hardware. To give you a bit of a heads up on your search I pulled down my "Genova Products Company" catalog. (Genova is one of the leading manufacturers of PVC pipe) In the catalog the item your looking for is called a: "Toe Saver Floor Plug" 3" part number is 71853 4" part number is 71854 If your local hardware store does not stock the item ask them if they will special order you one? If not, you can contact Genova Products Co direct by snail mail: Genova Products Inc. 9034 E.Court St Box 309 Davison, Mi. 48423-0309 You might also run a search online to find their homepage and perhaps an email address or current 800 number.

UPDATE... First off, thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I thought you'd like to know the final outcome of our plumbing & venting issues.... We have moved the shower drain pipe. After getting a totally unacceptable estimate of $4,800 to move our shower drain pipe & vent from our kitchen contractor that included punching a hole in the roof to vent the drain, we solicited comments and estimates from 3 outside plumbers. Of those 3, 2 proposed the same solution and a third proposed a different solution...none of these solutions involved punching a hole in the roof. Why not? Well, it turns out we have a whole-house vent stack in the attic that we can tap into. All 3 outside plumbers checked our attic to see if we had one and then proposed solutions using that vent stack. Our kitchen contractor's plumber never checked the attic for that stack so assumed he would have to go through the roof. (You know ASSUME does...) Our first outside plumber proposed tapping into the toilet waste pipe. But, all of the other plumbers were uncertain if that would pass code...this estimate was for $550 + $150 for an express permit The other two plumbers proposed rerouting the shower drain back to the main 2nd floor waste pipe...one was for $925 and the other for $1,000 both + cost of drywall repair. We went with the $925 estimate for a couple of reasons...(1) they were local and have an "A" rating across the board on Angie's List (the first time it's been useful!) and (2) the other plumber was not a master plumber (journeyman), he was not insured, and wasn't even sure if his license was up-to-date in our county...all red flags to us. Anyway, so our plumber came out and moved the drain pipe. He then told us he would try to run the vent to the attic without cutting into the wall (saving us the $500 for drywall repair). It worked! He was able to push the vent pipe up the wall and into the attic without any problems. While he was working on this we asked him about the Polybutelyne water pipes...he, as well as all the other plumbers, had recommended changing them out. We're on well water so there's no chlorine involved, but they did tell us that it would eventually become brittle and split. So, we got estimates for that and, since our kitchen project has been stalled for over 8 weeks, went ahead and had it done ($3,200 for replacing water pipes + $1,900 to repair drywall in 3 bedrooms + LR textured ceiling = $5,100. We already have the ceiling down in the kitchen and the main wall opened up so no charge for repairing those) This was all done fairly quickly and we have had both our final inspection done and the drywall repairs completed...in time for our kitchen to restart Wednesday. The only drawback...previously, since each fixture had it's own water pipe, flushing the toilet had no affect on the shower. Now, however....a very different story! It's taking some getting used to! BTW...it turns out the first plumber's solution would have met code and passed inspection since he had planned to use a sanitary T. I was curious so I asked the inspector about it when he was out Friday. If you want pictures, let me know and I'll post them. Thanks again everyone!

Hi all - I'm a little new to being handy with house stuff, so apologies if some of my terminology is wrong. We bought a house last year that it turns out has had a lot of plumbing and related issues that didn't come up on the inspection. We live in DFW area which is notorious for foundation issues. Our house in on a screeded slab, so this was my original nightmare as I know the costs to fix are high. Luckily, the house has barely moved in 19 years since foundation work was done. We've been having some gas line issues, and we had a plumber who came highly, highly recommend through friends who know him personally. He came out as a friend to give some second thoughts. We had just started having a sulfur smell periodically from our master shower. After he finished looking at the gas line I casually mentioned this and said I had put baking soda and vinegar to try to clean it out after finding it online. He said that was fine but got his sewer came to check. He went in through the clean out (I think?) that connects the bathrooms to the main sewer. I was watching with him and the pipes like old old old. We saw a lot of small cracks, as well as some small channels of standing water. This was my worst nightmare as I know that fixed likes this involve the foundation. What he told me was these are tricky issues. We might not have known about it for 5 years, but it's also something that could get really bad really soon. He said normally we'd notice more issues like clogs, but the sulphur smell is a byproduct. Here's what i want insight on. I know that since we can see the cracks, we know water is getting into the foundation. Should we fix it now and try to stay ahead of it, or wait until it becomes a bigger issue? He ballparked 18-24k to fix it. Ignoring getting multiple quotes which we would do, because of the personal connections we really do trust him, but he was a little ambivalent just because it's hard to predict when it would actually become a problem. What would you guys do? If you saw cracks like this would you immediately fix it? Or would you wait until a bigger problem came up before taking action?