I am thinking my project, all parts should be home soon. Tent is a 2x4x5, pot placement can be changed, however id like to be able to grow 4 plants maximum. My first idea was option 1, using 4 bulkhead and putting them on the end of the totes and connecting them together, having my feed line to the side,but doing so would require me to tear up the side of my tent wich is not the best. Then came option 2 with a drain valve, allowing me to run pvc pipe trough the opening already there, is there a down side to the totes not being connected together? Since totes are 15x24 not to sure how to place them. Would require more fittings with option 2 but that drain could come handy. Basically, was wondering if option 2 had any downside, and where to run my feed lines with option 2? Does that matter at all?
Excuse my sketchy drawing lawl.
Gonna tag @peachfuzz here, seens you giving lots of great hydro advice 
I like the layout of 1 but the drain line setup like number two. lol I guess I’m no help.
@Donaldj is another great hydro grower…
Both options look good… you want to use the lowest amount of fittings as possible… the more moving parts that you have and more complicated it is just leads to leaks and headaches… 
Also if you can keep your resovior outside of your tent would be a huge advantage…
If you can increase your reservoir capacity it will help with nutrient and PH management too. I picked up a 15 gallon barrel at the local full serve car wash for nothing. It had foaming detergent (all organic!) which was a snap to clean up. Gonna pick up a 30 gallon one to fill with R/O for reservoir changes.
That is the goal
System should hold a total for around 15-16 gallons of water, i think that should be fine?
I know the guys that do this consider 5 gallons the absolute minimum for getting any kind of reasonable schedule for maintaining conditions in your nutrient solution. If you are dealing with heat, an external reservoir can help to maintain ideal temps (a big problem in hydro) and the more reservoir capacity you have, the more time between nutrient changes and adjustments including PH. The idea of having to check and adjust twice a day is something I want to avoid if at all possible.
I’m in the process of building my setup too for the first of the year.
I currentlt have a setup with two 5 gal bucket connected together holding around 6 gal of water one being a control bucket and ph stays pretty stable, i could go two days from 5.8 to 6.2 but i still adjust every day. I currently need to heat my basement alot to keep it up with the cold so no high temps atm. Thanks!
When they are in veg it will be a LOT easier to maintain TDS and PH. It’s when your plants are in flower and drinking a gallon a day each and exchanging lots of salts with your nutrient mix that you will potentially run into trouble with smaller standing res.
Caveat: I have not done RDWC yet but my setup is complete and waiting for the holidays to conclude before popping any beans. Mine holds (currently) 33 gallons and I’m hoping it’s large enough (3 plants).
Lets see how that works 
thanks for the advices!
My system runs 20 gallons total with 3 plants and I have had no issues in regards to my system, only my own stupidity lol.
That’s good to know and I chose to run around 30 gallons so I can buffer the nutrients with volume and for better temperature control.
Im loving little system so far! Cant wait to finish building the bigger system!
I’ll tell you how it goes in flower if when I get there.
Well; you’ll know when you are running too small then but should be possible to add in a reservoir of larger capacity if you need to.
Fat res. are never a bad idea!
