I would hope to be able to use the res. Just so I can have it on a timer when i can't be there as often as would be necessary otherwise.

Im alittle foggy on how the buckets work?

Theres one inside the other...water runs through the top and collects in the bottom bucket?

Do you use hydroton in the top bucket?

Are the roots allowed to grow into the bottom bucket?

What forces the water back into the res from the bottom of the buckets?

Sorry, But i've only seen very small pictures of this setup, and I'm pretty much guessing at how all this would work.