I was actually thinking that it might be bugs since the one that fell over and “Droopy” were growing so close together but #2 is doing fabulous. This truly has me stumped. 
The temperature in the growing “room” is 75 degrees.
Sometimes rats will go after cannabis plants to eat roots.
Okay. It’s clearer now what you’re doing. I thought maybe this is what you meant, but told my self there’s no way.
Is the water level touching soil inside the tote bin, or are the roots reaching out of the container and down into the aerated water?
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Just the bottom of the pots are touching the water where the holes are in the bottom of the pots. No roots showing yet. They’ll be 8 weeks old Tuesday.
Got it.
What you’re attempting is called dual root zone hydroponics. If you look at diagrams for that, you’ll see that the soil shouldn’t be in the nutrient solution. Traditionally, the soil zone is hand-watered until the roots can reach down into the aerated nutrient solution; moreover, you’ll continue to hand-water the soil zone once the roots are in the nutrient solution.
Usually, aquaponic growers will employ a raft that floats on the water so that the soil zone is always the same relative to the water line.
I urge you to set this project aside for now. You can always come back to it later. Soil is a great first medium. If your plants need more soil, you can simply up-pot.
Edit: the dual nature of the current plan is more complicated than it’s worth; the only benefit to dual root zone systems is the ability to have two types of microbial life which hopefully benefit the plant. There’s no other reason to think this is better than strictly DWC, or strictly soil for that matter.
Right now, and I’m guessing this is a new thing for you, you’d benefit from getting the soil thing down. And if those plants are all 8 weeks old, I think there are other environmental issues aside from a waterlogged soil container.
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I have an aerator and bubble wand for each tub so they should be getting plenty of oxygen.
Okay, so your saying take them out of the water tubs and just water like normal? If so do I keep the PH levels between 5.5 - 6.5 when watering?
My tap water is always 7, and I’ve never worried about pH in soil, because it has so much buffering capacity. Also, see my edit to the previous post
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Thank you so much for your help with my project. Obviously my technique isn’t working out so I’ll go “old school” for now.
Do you think there’s any hope for Droopy?
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Yeah. “Normal” for me is watering slowly with an added surfactant until the point water will runoff. Then I wait until the plant is drooping before watering again.
These plants are very resilient. Let’s talk about your lights. What are you working with specifically? Make and model please.
I also have a regular UV light in here but haven’t been using that one.
FSGTEK
LED GROW LIGHT
Model # 1200
LED Power = 1200
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It’s really tough to say how many square feet that can cover, but I can tell you for certain it should be 18” at most from the canopy, and that’s according to the manufacturer who has a casual relationship with facts. They make many claims about the light that don’t hold up, but that’s not to say it won’t work.
I would be surprised if this light covers more than 2’x2’ in flower. I could be wrong, but someone like @dbrn32 would be better equipped to say.
How do my numbers compare to your setup?
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That’s about the size of my grow area but room is much larger than 2x2.
And the light is within 18”?
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Exactly 18” from tallest plant.
You might try to elevate the shorter plants. People will use milk crates or totes; try to stay away from anything that would get moldy if wet, like books.
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Thank you so much for your wisdom and helpfulness. I truly appreciate you helping me out with this.
I hope this fixes the problem as I will be following your advice more than I already have.
Droopy is already starting to perk up but I think I might have to trim some bottom fan leaves.
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