I'm glad you fixed your leaks, I knew you would.
I keep the center of my bulb 18" from the tops as much as possible. Just do your best to do this even if it's not always possible.
1. When pumping water from the reservoir to one of the grow buckets (to add water/adjust pH) will these buckets attain equal level? Or will the grow bucket overflow?
2. You said you mix the solution in the buckets w/ the reservoir before checking pH right? How do you mix buckets? During mixing will the buckets maintain equal level?
3. Also to be sure, the reservoir bucket has two drain valves right? One to stay connected to all the buckets in the series, and one to mix/add solution.
If you hook them all together at the base and open the valves, they will all find the same level. To mix, I fill the right one till it almost overflows (my pump works faster then it can adjust). Then I fill the left one. I go back and forth a few times like this and it all gets mixed real nice. I hook my pump to the center bucket drain valve. So my center bucket has two valves at the base. My set-up is only one of a hundred correct ways of doing this.
