One more thing in this question of 1 inch of standing water and the bottom of the ebb/flow buckets.....

Few months back at my hydro store where I bought my system the store was trying an experiment using the same system I have. What they did was put a 1 inch block under each bucket to raise it up so that water would drain out after each cycle. I never followed up with the hydro store to see if it made any difference or not but there's an idea for you if you want to try it.