Connecting dwc without a reservoir

Hey guys, I currently have 2 hydro/ aero setups running, I have one 18 gallon bubbleponics tote, And one stinkbud Aeroponic veg/cloner going. Each one can hold 6 pots. But here's my plan: I plan on using the aero setup to get my roots long enough to touch the water (3-5"), then move them to the bubbler setup. Once the plants reach flowering size I plan on moving them to 5 gallon dwc buckets.

I'm still building the buckets now, I wanna connect them(so I only have to monitor one bucket instead of 4-6 buckets), but I'm not sure I wanna do a under current setup. The reason I'm hesitate to do under current is this, 1- I don't wanna eat up space with a reservoir and 2- I'm not 100% sure on how it works, or how to set one up.
So my question is this, if I do a under current setup, do I have to setup a reservoir? Or can i do a UCDWC without one? And will I be okay using 3" pots or should i order some 6" pots/lids, and if I should use 6"pots is it possible transfer 3" pots to 6"s once they have rooted?
Sorry for so many questions, questions I'm sure that have been asked over and over again.

I already ordered my 2" uniseals to connect the buckets, and I already have the buckets, and lids cut for 3" pots.
Thanks in advance.

Simply have your tent/pots elevated, gravity return from the last pot to the rez (which is below elevated pots) pump, pump in rez returns feed to pot 1 of chain.. Hope this helps

you could, but you would end up essentially needing to monitor all of them independently. The under current is needed in that large of a system to make sure nutes and other additives are circulated evenly throughout the system. Without a current you could be dumping 6 buckets worth of nutes into a single plants bucket and that would just settle there where are as the others would starve.
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This is how I did mine, external pump so the res is not needed, but adjustments have to added very slowly mine is even weird though and I would just do normal DWC buckets (each on with its own air supply and no connections). With 2 like mine you can get away with it as I wanted to keep my top feeders which is the only real reason for the pump. As other pointed out to me, if you dont have a rez your just adding heat into your system using the pump and connecting the buckets (luckily my basement takes care of that for me).

Scroga said:

Simply have your tent/pots elevated, gravity return from the last pot to the rez (which is below elevated pots) pump, pump in rez returns feed to pot 1 of chain.. Hope this helps

Click to expand...

okay that's what I assumed, but let me as u this, what happens when the power goes out? Then your roots will dry out mighty fast right?

Depends how high up the pots you have your drain pipes..can leave a little rez in pots by means of drain placement

This means you have a window in case pump fails

Scroga said:

Depends how high up the pots you have your drain pipes..can leave a little rez in pots by means of drain placement

Click to expand...

Scroga said:

This means you have a window in case pump fails

Click to expand...

Okay thanks, good points. In theory I could put my connecting lines at the top of each bucket turning the drain into an overflow type of drain.

So I can take and put a return pipe into the first bucket, then from there I can connect the rest of the buckets using 2"pipe, installing my uniseals just under that lip where the handle attaches right? Or should I connect them all at the bottoms except for the last drain which will be towards the top?

The reason I'm so concerned with this is because I live in an area that's prone to power failure. I already have a bunch of battery operated air pumps from my aquarium, so oxygen won't be an issue.