Thanks for all the comments
The system is very simple, it's comprised of 5x 5 gallon buckets connected
by 2" PVC via rubber grommets called Uniseals. There is a 3/4" barbed hose
connection on the back of the system between the last two buckets where
there is an inline pump pulling water from the back center and redepositing
the water to the epicenter (front bucket). The pump is a 495gph pump and
it keeps the nutes very mixed up. For air pumps, I just have a small 1/4" hole
in the side of the bucket where the air line comes into the buckets for aeration.
The bucket in front (epicenter) is where I can monitor my nutes/ph/temps as
well as add in and subtract the nutes. I simply have a submersible pump with
a hose that is long enough to reach the drain. I simply drain when needed and
refill, there is still a small amount of water in the bottom and if I need to get to
that the wet vac does a great job.
I mix all my nutes in a separate rubbermaid to make sure I can easily get them
exactly where I want them, and then pump it into the system once I'm ready.
PH stability seems more dependant upon nutes, my new greenleaf nutes that I
get in powdered form let me mix it with my PH balanced RO water for great results
that stay super stable. Nutes are constantly mixed, so PH is universal throughout
system.