Well, I suppose you could build a large container, perhaps out of wood, or you could stack a bunch of bricks in narrow rectangles and line the inside with pond liner or similar plastic. I would think that large plastic containers would hold enough soil to get through the entire grow. How you set up the soil/grow medium isn't quite as important as its ability to sustain the entire grow without being babied all the time like hydro requires. That's why I recommend that you put the fert in the soil using a type listed above because this is pretty much a fix it and forget it kind of thing... just check on the soil dryness and whether it needs water. If you use a lot of soil, you shouldn't have to worry about watering too much, even when the top appears dry. The lower area should still be moist. You want the soil to dry out some because this is the only way that oxygen will reach the root zone and this is necessary. Somebody on here came up with the idea of using an air pump to bubble air into the water you give the soil, to oxygenate the water ahead of time, and this is probably a good idea. The advantage to hydro is to do just that, oxygenate the water like crazy which causes huge growth. I suggested that you use potting soil because you can be away from it for a few days without worrying. Hydro would be fantastic in a warehouse grow, but you just need to keep an eye on it. Maybe try one plant in a 5 gallon bucket DWC just for kicks, but you need a different fert for that. I was wrong about hanging lightbulbs with skinny chains. I was thinking of using reflectors, but then I said just go bare bulb and hang them between the plants. you won't need chains for that, just the bulb wire should be fine. Don't spend on reflectors if you don't have to. But yes, build a kind of tall frame, because people always get a grow set up forgetting that the plants might get really big, especially in hydro. You start a soil grow early enough and they can get pretty tall. You can cycle 5 plants early and 5 later if you want but you'll have to separate the plants because you can't have 5 getting 12 hours lighting for flowering/budding and the other vegging/grow plants getting more light. You'll have to make sure that the plants in flower cycle get zero light 12 hours a day to avoid screwing up there hormones and putting them out of flower and back into veg. They will continue to grow in flowering, so most people with an indoor grow put plants in flower around the 18 to 24 height range. If you have a big space that no one will see into, you can veg them taller, but this will take longer. Veg to, say, 4 feet, and put into 12/12 lighting, and they will probably grow to six feet or so. You have a great opportunity there. You might learn how to clone, to keep the cycle going without having to use seeds. You can study taking cuttings using other plants, which will give you an idea of what to do, like roses for example. I think building a base to plant in is not a good idea because you'd have to shovel in a lot of dirt and shovel it out when done. With tubs, you can put them into a truck when finished with the soil and dump it somewhere. Just not too obvious, eh? Getting distilled water will cost a little but it's pure and can be trusted.