cool - they work awesome - just need to get rid of the air pump (keep as a spare) and get a commercial one. The little air pump is not strong enough imo. Get one so each bucket will have a large (and I mean large) airstone and the res will have at least 2 or 3. The more air the better. I have a 4 bucket halo - i use a commercial pond air pump for 6 stones - makes a difference. Next you will need a pump timer for the water because constant running will overwater them. I ran my pump for 10 minutes on 30 minutes off (after I figured it out).
Next you will need a pH and TDS meter - will need to be checked daily - sometimes more.
a 6 bucket system is really too big for a 6x6 area and 600w light unless you will flower them when they are 12-15" tall. My bag s eed test with this 4 bucket system had the plants at 26-28" from s eed in 4 weeks. I had one male out on me and one hermie on me leaving 2. Those 2 were over 72" tall and had to add a 600w light to my 400w as there was not enough light since the plants were so big for indoors (in a 4.5 x 6) area. So if you get it in the groove, the plants will grow super fast and you may be out of space or light if you let them get too big. The 2 lights added alot of extra heat but kicked as s. I wanted to Veg for 6 weeks but due to the growth I couldn't - if I waited another 2 weeks I think they would have been 3.5-4' tall so be careful with your heights.
Other hints - I would get some tubing/fittings that will connect the buckets together - the tubing they give you is too short if you need to maneuver the bucket positions. I would add cut offs to each bucket in such a manner that each bucket could be removed without effecting the others in case 1 or more have a problem ie 1 hermies, male shows up, 1 gets sick,etc. I disconnected my hermie that way and finished her elsewhere (turned the bucket into a bubbler bucket using the Now extra air pump (original one with system). I also removed the male with bucket using a terminal tube end fitting (thats how I know). I also always kept the water at 10 gallon level no matter how many buckets I used and changed the res every 7 - 10 days or whenever I have replaced 1/2 the res. qty i put in originally (root balls will take up space reducing water). Otherwise no leaks - no problems. I'd pick up a spare water pump also - never know what could go wrong and would want to be able to replace it quickly.
I have switched to Hempe buckets for the time being as I needed a break from the hum of the pumps, lights, fans, air pump and so on - it seems so much more quiet now. Will def use the system again when I order up some fem s eeds.
overall - pretty happy with this system-hope that helps. Also used recipe for success nutrients so not sure if that made any difference or not.
