Thank you for your reply LOC NAR,

I will invest in 10 gallon tubs, they are cheap enough.

Instead of the 600GPH pump I will go with 2 or 3 weaker ones for redundancy, in case one ever fails. (I do plan on being away for a couple days at a time here and there.)

I would like to purchase a pH meter, I just do not know how to go about getting the right one, from what I have been reading, many of them seem to break down very quickly. There is an EC/PPM/pH meter for 300$ with a very nice warranty on it... Perhaps I should invest in something nice like that?