Latewood... thats pretty much why I used the recirculating system to break free from the ph problems I had with just connected buckets. I think as long as their arnt any dead spots in the system it should be ok..
The top enty like bigtokes bio bucket over at icmag.. are great, I only have a problem with it becouse, I think it creates to much water in the bucket.. What I mean is does the water really make it to the bottom with the entry point 18 inches up top and the drain 12 inches away.. the idea I had was pump it up from the bottom let it drain out the top.. the only problem that i see with this system is that i may not have a strong enough pump to push up through the bucket... The other problem that I saw with the design you are talking about is drainage. i use AN 2+ and have to change the Res. which means I would have to go to each bucket and suck the water bellow the lines out.. and im not for that.. So I put a second valve on the input line so i can cut the pump and drain it through the other valve. Taking out most of the water.. something you might want to think about.. im going to be running 16 of these and didnt want to deal with it. The barbs are good.. i have never had a leak and thats saying alot. ace sells really nice rubber grommets for 30 cents, with some silicone and they are all good to go. The goal of the room is to move in to automation so that its not quite so labor intensive... hehe thats why I got these bad boys..