What about top soil?? just compost/manure & perlite??

Next time I will lose the sand. Right now I have 6 papaya and 2 durban x skunk, so for the moment, 3 gallon pots are out of the question. If the veg cabinet was finished I would have room, but for the next week all 8 plants will be in the flower cab which was meant for two medium-large plants (20" x 30")

I was actually thinking about using 1 14 gallon rubbermaid tub for 2 plants in the flowering. For a 20" x 30" x 4' growth area, would this be beneficial, or is it really overkill?