I didn’t really see any difference between foil or paper towel or anything else I’ve used. My foil has a 3†diameter hole in the middle so it’s not reflecting light directly from underneath...but not sure if that makes a difference. I use that 3†space around the seedling as my top feeding area. I simply use a large syringe filled with water and squirt it down into the hydroton; do this 2 or 3 times a day until several roots start to kiss the surface of the reservoir, then back off to once per day until it seems like several roots get a few inches deep in the reservoir. At that point, top feeding is no longer necessary.
If your seedling has funny looking or deformed leaves, chances are it was from too much light. Simply raise the light up, and watch the growth for improvement. ðŸ‘
And just as a side note: studies on tomatoes show that a plant will grow larger fruits if the ground around the plant was covered with red fabric. They didn’t know if it was because of red spectral light reflecting up under the leaves was causing it, or if it was a genetic “competitive responseâ€, as if the plant was aware it’s neighboring plants were already making large red fruits and it needed to “catch-upâ€.