ok, i've been outta the loop for a couple days and a couple reasons, but, i'm baaaaaaack

1st-
a report on my tapwater w- grow nutes, MAINTAINED PH:thumbsup:
so, im gonna hope my tapwater is gonna b good 2 go.

next, the hydroton, ok, part of the delay, im sure, is me:wtf:

like a knucklehead, 2 days into the soaking, i realized there really was only a 2-3 cups of leftover Hton from my soaking vat. well of course, i proceeded to rinse it clean and added it to the Hton i was beating into PH submission.
of course, the PH gave me more trouble, well, thats ok, ill keep lowering it. i'll take the blame on that. at least i didnt do it to a plant and then ask, "how? why?" duh.:wtf:

it seemed like we were getting close to a stable PH before i added the untreated leftovers.
so, ill work with it some more.

and theres more, look who popped outta the verm/per bubbler???
thats right SNLxNH(fem). see below
and, i am almost done working the bugs outta my home-brew drip/bubbler combo.
i took Xcrispy's suggestion of a 3 gal inside a 5 gal bucket idea.
i then took in in my own weird direction, i didnt have those exact buckets handy.
i have several assorted soil pots of sizes from 6 qt - 3 gal.
and several various sized bins.

i am working on 2 sizes and would like some input.

i have avail some 6 qts that i can use as baskets with 1.5-2 gal as a recirc resevoir. do you think that basket would be too small? whats a smallest size you would not expect extra problems with?
i can use bigger, but my main concern is headroom in the veg bunker.
my max top to bottom is 31 inches, thats including everything, max headroom, period.
i have larger buckets, but again, my concern is headroom.

i would have to make substantial modifications to change it.