Easiest way for multiple plants in hydroponics...??

Alright guys, i'm a bit stuck. I bought some 10 gallon totes and thought I was good with the drain/water level indicator I rigged up but I was wrong. Still am actually. I hot glued the seems and it's still a no go. I need a better rig I guess. I'm debating the square gutter technique and using it for DWC but I have yet to see that done. Is it possible? In theory it is, not so sure in practice.

I plan to grow nothing larger than leafy veggies and pepper plants. Tomatoes will be micros if any at all. Far too large any other way.

I don't guess I have to have a drain...though dumping a 10 gallon res over into the bat tub is all but enjoyable when you want to run 3 or 4 of them with 6 plants each. I'm open to any ideas really.

I decided to just go against the drain and deal with the consequences. Too many things to fail while i'm away honestly. I did buy some new tubs though so I can run smaller pots and more of them.

RDWC system can be good to use for many reasons and I might go with RDWC over time because.....

1 - Instead of having the plants in a main bucket and you have to take the lid off and such to test the PH level the RDWC system has its own water res with a air pump and water pump in it. The air pump puts air into the water and the water pump takes that water and pushes it though the system.
2 - Each plant if you want will have their own bucket so you don't have to deal with all the plants in one. Also it makes it easier if you have to move the plants because there is a shut off valve for the buckets to prevent water from leaning out all over the place when you d/c it.
3 - You can have more water in a RDWC system then in a regular DWC system because you can fill every thing up (you also need air pump to pump air into each bucket) (make sure the flow of the water pump and every thing else works so you don't get over flow).
4 - It would be easier to empty water , add water and PH the water in the RDWC tub over trying to empty and refill and such that 1 DWC tub also it will let you to be able to distill water for the RDWC system to and add it with no problems.
5 - If you want you could also add a water chiller into the RDWC system before the water goes back into the res.