Thanks. This is the a big step up from my last one which has been demoted to basement duty.
I'm glad I switched from soil. No more hand watering is what convinced me. Just get a good pH/ec/ppm meter and you're golden.
I only fill the res to 30 gallons. This is my second run with this setup. The first yielded a pound dried and trimmed from 4 plants in the 3x3 tent. Used about $80 of nutrients.
I drain the water weekly with a good sized Harbor freight pump, rinse/wipe it down, then refill and add nutes.
This is actually an ebb and flow bucket system with a black 55-gallon plastic drum as a reservoir. I haven't been keeping up with water usage lately, but it's a few gallons/week once the plants are really going.
QC inspection
Quality control manager Kitty Powers has doubts about the efficacy of hydro. (Too much water/not allowed to eat leaves)
They're not called "wheels of death" for nothin.