[David]

I also grow my pygmies under artificial lights in the house.

I tried without the water tray before, but soon realised I have to water the plants very often as the media dries up very quickly. But they do fine like that and grew well. Fresh water that you pour into the media brings with it fresh oxygen and it flushes the media or minerals etc. But a lot of work for me to keep checking whether the media has dried up.

With the use of a water tray I do not need to water from the top, which is quite a hassle because I will be trying to avoid pouring water on the pygmies and just beside of them. That takes a lot of time. After a while it's becomes a chore.

With water tray I only need to water about once a week and I just need to fill up the water tray. Something which takes me less than a minute. However, growing them indoors, I realised they do not really like stagnant water. Perhaps of bacteria growth and lack of oxygen in the water. If you grow outdoors, it should be fine. So I pump air into the water with an aquarium air pump so that bacteria do not thrive in the water. They seem to like it that way... Kinda like jaccuzi for them, haa, haa... And because I use a water tray, I also use RO water to water them so that minerals do not accumulate in the water tray.

But of course using water tray does not mean there is no maintenance invlove. Occasionally you'll need to clean the water trays as algae will grow in the water and that can be unsightly.

Hope this helps.