16oz dutch buckets - gorilla cookies

I am excited to try out this new gorilla cookies from fastbuds. I originally started this setup to compete in the solo cup challenge, but I needed something that will be minimal maintainence and doesn't require hand watering. So this is what I ended up with. I will not be entering since I know it will bring controversy, but I am going to follow the rules and treat this grow as if I am competing. I didn't want to use regular solo cups because last time I had a lot of algae growing in the root zone when I harvested. I opted to use a black light proof cup. These cups were 27 oz originally so I filled them with 16 oz of water, marked the level, then cut them down to 16 oz. I set the drain pipes about an inch from the bottom so they have a little reserve if I have pump or power issues. I know people will see the drains as a way for roots to grow out of the cup but in reality I have to keep the entire pipe free of roots or it will clog and overflow. So I am actually losing a little volume due to this. I filled the bottom inch or so of the cups with river gravel to stop the perlite from washing into the reservoir. I am running a 5 gallon reservoir with a small air pump and the plants will be getting irritated 24 hours a day from an aquarium power head pump. I set the system up to be totally self contained and easily portable. It was all built from things I had laying around other than 97¢ for the cups. I will be keeping the feed simple as always feeding maxigro and maxibloom with a couple flower boosters.