One important aspect of this discussion is that you can decide to become hydro gardener TOMORROW , but doing permaculture take YEARS (on average it takes about 5-7 years to render the typical soil into something optimum for a garden using composting…
From your problem with 'moldy looking growths' and other issues I would bet you are letting the rockwool sit in standing water> DO NOT DO THIS. Rockwool should be allowed to drain itself, it's too absorbant to use in a hydroculture method like hydro…