Cherry Gar See Ya Aeroponic

This is not my first grow, but it is my first attempt at hydro/aero. I am using a circulating system of my own design, albeit very similar to what others have done. I use 5 gal buckets as the containers with lids that already have net pots built in. My reservoir is 7 gal, with 2 pumps feeding the buckets. A 450 gph runs 4 sprayers on one, and an 800 gph runs a set of 8 sprayers on the other. Both buckets have drains built in to the bottoms and are on stands that allow the runoff to gravity feed back into the reservoir. My pumps are on a 1min on 5min off spray schedule. Right after germination when roots were becoming visible in the rockwool, I placed in the net pots with a small layer of clay pebbles under, around, and just enough on top to help support the weak seedling. Within a few days they had hardened off enough and gotten a bit taller so I added more clay pebbles. By the end of week 1 from germ the roots were starting to come through the net pot and the first true leaves were forming. This begins week 1 of established seedling. As a side note, my ppm was lower up until this point, probably 350-400ppm. Once they became established I fully cleaned the tank and raised the nute str. By the end of the first week they have fully developed 3's and the roots are now nearly at the bottom of the bucket. This is the point that I am no longer considering them seedlings and am transitioning to full veg. I am keeping the nute str at 500ppm for now, but I have increased the light from 5k to 7k lux, and will continue to adjust the lighting as they respond. Update: I have found conflicting info on appropriate lux levels, however my girls are growing well and can easily handle more. I have read that they can handle 15-20k even at the very beginning of veg and have even read that seedlings can handle that much. So far I have gotten to 10k, don't want to stress them with sudden and drastic light increase but am going to keep increasing daily until I reach 20k. By that time they should be able to handle more, as 40k seems to be normal for mid veg. What I will likely do is raise the level by a bit each day for the next 2 weeks until I reach 40k and leave it there for the following 2 weeks. Will likely switch to 12/12 then and put my flower lights in. Update 2: at 13k lux and they are loving it. Seeing noticable growth even over just 8 hrs. Will update pics at end of week. Update 3: end of week and we are at 15k lux. Changing the water and cleaning reservoir today, then adding new week tomorrow.