ebb&flood/cfl beginner

newbie to hydro. Background :using system brought from botanicare(micro-garden)grows 8 included with system ready gro medium(messy drain off), nutes provided by comp. starter plugs,base growth bloom karma sweet ph up ph down. also added heater,air stone. germination is not a prob. I put seedling in starter plug then in ready gro. (As i get different bags of the some good green if i like the high i keep seeds.)germinate 36 hrs later in starter plugs. 1 day in system growth seen with light nutes (base20ml growth40 karma20) 8 gall tap water in res.(temp mid 60's) lights cfl 24/0(not recomended)20/4 ok, now on 18/6. ph so so 5-7 (whats best) according to charts 5.1-5.9 and 6.2-6.9 is it ok to start at 5 let drift to 7. take advantage of both ph intake zones. lights are 2 cfl /1 34 watt=180 watts of 7000 k 1 32 watt= 150 watts of 6500 k (will be buying more lights when all 8 chambers are growing.) Heres my problem: around day 10 i tried to add some nutes (topping with distilled water) tried to bring total to around 40-50 strength. watering was 4 times a day. Stopped that moment saw problems. (over nute poss.)(over water poss.) Since prob started flush res and plants with tap water (not a prob) water is good to use. backed watering down to 0 to allow pots to dry. Been using distilled water and spraying medium/plant no nute. planing to put back on a water schedule tonight around 6pm for first watering. (depth of plants and density of medium differs trying to figure out which is best of flood and draining.) reset res to base 20(10ml per gal grow 40 20ml per gal karma 20 10ml per gal well under limits for 8 gallon in res. have fan on them in daytime. temps are good under 85. want to do first grow before buying meters spent enough already want to get a growth then build on that. learn before i add more. Feel Free to ask, comment, correct probs for better yield for paramaters.

In the future, cut a napkin into a square and place it at the bottom of the pot before you fill it. It will still drain but wont get that crap everywhere(I have the turbogarden)

And I found that flooding it to the max (3 of those hexagon blocks) is too much. I unscrewed one and took it off. The capillary action of the readygro will soak the pot all the way to the top without overwatering it. I watered it 4 times a day at first then 7 times a day and I didnt really see a difference, they were always happy.