Plant head can you elaborate a little. please.

I have seen a a soil ebb and flow in operation that had 16 4x8 tables with containerized soil plants. The operation had 8 resevoirs operating for the 16 trays.

i am in no way looking to emulate this set up. Way too big for my safety meter. Although the technique seemed to work well, and the soil i believe would offer more forgiveness.

The only reason i can think of that soil would be a pain is because it could clog things up? Is that the reason?
I do not want to go hydro because i am still a newb and just starting to understand soil...but would like to automate things a bit.