So I am working on my old hempy dripper solution - as all my pics disappeared, here are new ones
simple bucket with outlet
View attachment 1458440
added pump inside (placement of the pump is crucial, look at which position it sucks without sucking in air)
View attachment 1458441
now you can stack another bucket with some holes into it to raise the hight of the res even higher (if you plan some days off during the grow) and to prevent roots from going into the pump, or you can just stack a medium container into it.
I chose an airpot - with some cutoff on the lower end to let the cable and tube through. With the bottom plates it is easy to manipulate the size of the growing medium - roots can go down to the res. Because of the flooding while feeding from the drippers, the roots shouldn't and didn't rot. And even if the res runs dry, theres enough moisture for some time, so they don't dry out - the airpots holes guarantee a dark root zone but with possible airflow and a moist microclimate.
connect a tube with some dripholes, and make a simple ring in the center
View attachment 1458442
fill some stuff to prevent the perlite from flooding to the res (still needs to be washed, was just for the show )
View attachment 1458443
stuff perlite on it and let it run (with a timer)
View attachment 1458444
the thing ist in my tent to save space where I can, even in height, so with stacking buckets to the res hight I want/need, thats pretty easy and cheap. And even with no bucket stacked, the res can be about 5l in my buckets - even for heavy drinkers thats two days.
the only bad thing that happened to me, was when a pump failed when the plant fills the tent, so I try to optimize with an external flow pump, perhaps connected to some fan controllers to adjust flow, but that's for rainy days
Thats it for my rebuild of my old DIY setup just as it was back then, only new buckets, pumps, tubes are originals from 2012.
Next grow there will be two girls in such a bucket, when I am ready with the second setup.
Cheers!