[zababadoo]

right on man
i have also thought about duct taping the res to keep light out because ou can pretty much see right through but also if your changing your water regulary i wouldnt fret about algae growth
ice cubes do work temporarily but only for 2-3 hours(i had to do that for a while too)

also heres something that i do to speed up clean time
step by step
1- figure out exactly how many gallons you put in and mark a line there
2- fill a couple jugs of water up with the nutes already added( distilled(i use)-spring-RO)
3-always make about 1 gallon extra w/o nutes but ph balanced
4-i made a rack to hold the lid up in the air so the roots dont touch anything
5-i found a old 10 gal tub and i empty it into that(but any tub that has a bigger res than the bubbleponics one will do)
6-quickly take all air stones/disk out(im using 3 4'' disk and a hydraiter(petsmart they're awesome) and then sand the tops if there is build-up and make sure to rinse out before you put it back in
7-have cleaning solution ready( i just use distilled water and some elbow grease becuase i dont want to risk bleach harming my babies)
8-take your ph balanced water and pour around the net pots through the hydroton to keep dust out of your system
9- while that water is dripping off your lid/net pots take and fill your res back up with your alreasy ph balanced/nuted/baby makin water
10- pop that lid back on there

it takes a couple of times to get the routine down but i think the total time for me is about 10-15 min at a half-assed pace
also: i got an awesome humidifier off ebay for like $40 all together when it cost $90 at all the stores around me its even got a humidistat so i set it to the humidity i want and it automatically turns on and off when the RH drops