Ok cuz the way I was planning on my first hydro setup now that I know I need a control bucket seems a little off. But now, I'm thinking get 2 x 5 gallon buckets, a 3 gallon for the control, 2 net pots, and all the other shit needed. Otherwise what I WAS thinking was to simply get one 5 gallon bucket, run some tubing to put the airstones, and use it like that. If I add like a tube outside the buckets that is connected to the top of the inside and the bottom of the inside with it being clear, would it show how much water is left inside? Also how much do water pumps for the 3 buckets I'm planning on using run for on average? I understand all the wiring, all the setup. And actually the only thing that was confusing me was not knowing when I'm supposed to add nutes or how I'm supposed to know if the nutes have run out or w/e. But now I realize the following and please correct me if I'm wrong:

1. As the water levels decrease I simply add more pH adjusted water with added nutrients according to the label on the nutrient container.

2. Every 7-10 days I completely drain the buckets and add new nutriented and pH adjusted water.

Thanks for the help. I wanna do this right the first time.