Yeah time is definitely short with af's, they will start flowering at 3 weeks from seed. That being said, since their life is so short those 4 gal buckets are overkill, I found half that size is good enough (6" x 6" x 10" pots) and 9.5" x 9.5" x 12" pots were perfect if not a little too big. As for the ventilation, that's something I usually have to play around with until it does it's job right...try bungee cords and foam spacers to keep vibration down.