Interesting question. What type of hydroponic system will/is be(ing) used? A medical marijuana gardener I know uses smart pots with a drain-to-waste system, it works wonderfully. Some gardeners call smart pots, salt pots, because there is theory that salt is not as capable of passing through the material/fibers, causing EC and pH to rise in the medium and this burns plants. As long as you keep the E.C. in your fertilizers recommended range and ensure a thorough run-through every watering, there should be no problem with salt build-up. Air pots could be convenient if you can find a way to protect root mass from light and pests, but I have no experience or knowledge regarding this container. Good luck, I look forward to you hearing what you find.
I don't know much about these air pots, but I've used a variety of smart pot-style bags. The Smart Pot brand is by far the lousiest- I couldn't even use them for subsequent runs, it was so flimsy after a round. That said, I've used other style smart-pot setups, and those by far outrank the previous. Aurora is a great smart pot style pot to use, they're usually round, rigid, and pretty tall, to allow for a nice deep rootmass, which is of course what the cannabis plant wants. I used the 5 gallon Geopots as well (the square style) and they were great, very rugged. I no longer use any of those pots, because I like to bottom-feed, and the porous fiber allows too much air circulation for proper negative pressure, and therefore wicking-up of water and nutrients to the higher parts of the rootmass. You're doing drain-to-waste, so you should be good to go!
I've heard air pots referred to as a 10 story apartment building for bugs. That said, I'm using smart pots(not smart pot brand though) right now and I enjoy using them; I would recommend smart pots over air pots.
I use bags (smart pots style). 15 gallons, I think the brand is Dirt Pot, not totally positive that is what it is. I think hands down the bag style is ideal for coco. I use a drain to waste, water with a hose from multiple 45g garbage cans. Works perfect, plus roots are incredibly healthy and aren't all bound up, never hand a root bounding issue with them. The handles on the actual "smart pots" are garbage. My veg and flower room are a good distance apart and the handles on the Dirt Pots are the best I've used for coco. As previous member stated, got to make sire to allow aqueduct run off to avoid salt buildup.
I am using cheap fabric pots off ebay, I guess they would be considered smart pots. They are about $1.20 or so. Not sure if they are that good or if you can use more than one grow but so far I have no problems with them except roots growing out of the bottom. Roots look great in them, seem to grow fast. I water about every other day. Here is the link Ebay Fabric Pots I am going to try to just start planting them inside each other here soon when the roots do come out of the bottom. I hope it works, tranplanting coco is kind of a pain.
Used 2-gallon smart pots last year for my first grow. I had lot's of Noobe issues in that grow, but root development was not one of them. They air prune as advertised, and fill up with roots quickly. I have to agree with the poster who said they don't hold up for a re-run. That was my impression too. But since I only run a few plants, I did not mind picking up new ones for my second grow.