I have molested my plants all imaginable ways, topping, fimming, supercropping, tucking of course, removing undergrowth, accidentally breaking branches and taping them back together... and you know what? The plant just comes back stronger almost every time. Go ahead and beat her up a little. You can clip off fan leaves that overlap each other, as long as you leave a few fan leaves coming out of each bud stalk you aren't likely to slow her down, not in hydro... I also got crazy bushy dense out-of-control growth when I did DWC
Yes, they make net pot lids, intended for buckets, it's a whole round flat lid with a net built right into the center. That's a hell of a wide lip, should hold your weight a little better next time.
It's looking amazing, I really love the color of those leaves in the closeup. You did good with the nitrogen balance. You can probably start easing up on the veg nutes over the next couple weeks. Clipping some leaves and cutting back on the N will help control the growth, but really, I don't think you have to worry about stunting your buds.
A little controlled stress, low stress techniques and when you get more experienced moderate use of higher stress techniques, will yield more than not stressing her at all. At least that's true for every photosensitive strain and pheno I've grown. I'm still not clear on how much to abuse Autos. Not enough experience yet.