What do you know about hydroponic nutrients, and hydroponics in general?

Ok, so about a week ago I built a home made hydroponic system. It is kind of a top drip system combined with a nutrient stream system.

The water flows from out the top of my system and on to some rocks. It then works its way in to the rocks and drains, and the plants roots are in the rocks. I leave it on 24/7.

I have never planeted anything in my life (other than weed), so to test my system, I uprooted a common garden weed and put it in my system.

My system holds 2L of water, and it has the apropriate dose of regular liquid fertilizer, guano fertilizer, and root stimulant.

As I mention, I am using a common weed to test my system. The test is to see if the thing survives. After 7–8 days, the weed is still alive. So we have answered one question. Yes, my system can sustain life.

However, my little common weed has not changed at all. When I uprooted it, it had 3 slightly yellow leaves, and it still does. It has not grown, not even 0.1 millimeters (I have been measuring).

What do I try next?

Do I need proper hydroponic nutrients?

Is constant water too much?

How do I learn more about hydroponics and become better at it?

I want to start up my island’s first ever hydroponic farm next year. Big ambitions for someone who cant make a common weed grow I know. But at the moment, land is so cheap here that I would be stupid to not try it.

I can pick up 4000 square meters of land for less than 10.000 Euros at the moment. It would normally be at least a dozen times more expensive. You cant even buy a car for 10k now days.