Thank you for all of your helpful replies. I just realized that I wasn't actually using a dowel, but a bamboo stick, which is probably more water resistant and harder to see. So I'm going to go get a dowel and try it that way. All of my plants are either in plastic, resin or fiberglass pots, so no real terra cotta. I'm going to give it several weeks to see how much watering and then reevaluate. I have to go away for a week at a time so might have to up the turface content on the mix to hold water longer if the plants dry out too fast. While I trust my housesitter to get the plants under lights, which have huge drip trays,there are far too many other plants where if the drip trays ran over it would be very, very bad. With regular potting soil, most plants were going 1-1/2 to 2 weeks, which means too wet. If I can stretch it to 6 or 7 days, it would be perfect, but we'll see. I think it's confusing because the top of the gritty mix looks totally dry by the next day. I think I'm going to have to do a wilt test for sure before I'll really know and feels safe.

Hisees, There could be several reasons for the brown stuff. My first thought (from the well water) is minerals. If you're plants are doing fine, I wouldn't think it would be caused by mold or root rot, especially if they don't smell funky. What you are doing when you water is the perfect remedy for anything that's building up in the soil. When you water thoroughly and let the water run freely out of the bottom, you're leaching out the deposits. Too much/many minerals is no good for your plants, either. To test the theory, you could always try watering with rainwater or bottled. If you don't see any improvement after a couple of thorough waterings, I'm wrong and it's not your water LOL

Whenever a plant has the potential to be in the same soil for 2 or more growth cycles, I use the gritty mix. I no longer have much interest in growing what we would think of as typical houseplants. Almost everything I now grow is either a woody plant that can be manipulated, or a succulent, though I do practice bonsai techniques when the whim strikes, on plants like coleus, snapdragon, or anything else, the looks of which can be enhanced by a variety of techniques commonly used in bonsai. Many bonsai techniques are very easy to learn/apply, and can be seriously effective tools you can use to keep plants healthy and looking good - no matter whether you have an actual interest in bonsai or not. So, as things are now, everything you might think of as a houseplant is in the gritty mix; but, if I was growing gobs of plants like pothos, croton, pilea (the more herbaceous stuff), I'd have a lot of them in 5:1:1. FWIW - oxalis really loves the gritty mix, as do almost all succulents. How I judge what soil to use: If it grows very fast or has a very enthusiastic root system and needs repotting every year w/o fail (if they are to perform well), I'd choose the 5:1:1 mix. Plants like datura, brugs, hibiscus ...... go in the 5:1:1 because they almost always need an annual repot. I can't see much reason to put plants like that in the gritty mix unless they're to be grown in rather or very shallow pots where perched water would be especially ruinous of potential, even if you CAN squeeze a fair amount of additional potential from plants in more carefully-structured soils. Al

I have three rocks running off one pump. I measured the rocks and then asked the pump seller to recommend the size of pump. The first one wasn't strong enough so I returned it for a stronger one. DH made a three prong T with PVC pipe to split water to all three rock columns.